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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1839
credit, without arms or munitions of war, had to meet a nation numbering 12,000,000 of people, with a well disciplined army of 20,000 in the field, and with ample means of meeting any expense which she might incur by the war. She had command of the gulf, and could prevent us from receiving any supplies in that way, and the distance was so great that to receive them over land, was almost impossible. War is at all times a national calamity, and such a war was doubly so. Under these circumstances the consultation met. Was it a time to be consulting whether we should make 1,000 desperate Indian warriors our foes -and by forcing them to co-operate with the Mexicans, insure the certainty of our destruction? Or was it better to secure their neutrality, when it could be done by only extending to them their own legitimate rights? The con- sultation took the wise and prudent course, and that course se- cured the salvation of Texas. This was a question of .expediency, and the members believed it fraught with the greatest importance to the country - they believed the Indians owned the land, and that to give them a grant was but to confer upon them a right which they already possessed. They had seen a political chief, acting under the authority of Mexico, put them in possession of the land - they had seen the sheriff of Nacogdoches, acting under the same authority, sent to remove intruders from their territory - they had seen the In- dians in peaceful possession for fifteen years, and had never heard their rights questioned. The Indians seeing a different order of things was about to rise, would very naturally want a pledge from the new government that their rights should be re- spected. If we had refused that pledge they would very naturally cling to their ancient friends and we should have become an object of their deadly hatred. They would not have failed to take up the tomahawk in defence of their rights, and in addition to the Mexicans we should have had a powerful Indian foe to con- tend with. In this situation the pledge was made, and we might as well say that the consultation had no power to borrow money - or pledge the faith of the nation in any other matter, as to say she had no right to make this pledge to the Indians. Their rights are guaranteed by the principle of eternal justice, and let it not be said of Texas that she would violate a sacred pledge under such extraordinary circumstances. He spoke of A. Hotchkiss - he ,vas a large land holder and speculator. He had made large locations in their lands, and had
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