359
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1840
who had deceived one by promises, and [ torn] the other by false representations? The Indians he would again remark, were not intruders; the_y had been invited there previous to the time that David G. Burnet obtained his grant; and as their lands were excepted in that grant, it was clear that they had a good bonified title. This was clearly the case if we could rely upon the official acts of the Mexican government. But a few years ago, we looked to that government as our mother country; arid shall we, now that we . have separated, pretend to deny the validity of her acts at that time? No, sir, said Mr. Houston. We have clearly the right to sell this land-the fiat of the nation has said so, and the only ob- jection to it comes from speculators; who would sacrifice the food of the nation to their own private interests. The land clearly belonged to the Indians; we have conquered it, and it reverted to the government. Through our ministers to the United States, it had been in part pledged as a sinking fund to pay off the national debt. It could not be the property of individuals, and belongs only to the Texas government. Neither truth nor honor, nor honesty, could give it to those misnamed settlers, who were merely intruders, and had done more than anything else to bring on a war with the Indians. Go to the east-the much slandered and much abused east; you would find the people kind and hospitable, and you would find them in favor of selling the Cherokee lands. A few excep- tions among the honest speculators of Nacogdoches. When the commissioners to examine into the condition of the land office arrived at that place, they had been informed that twenty thou- sand dollars could be made up if they would only report favorably upon their lands. Those were the men for whose benefit this reservation is to be made; they are the men who, during the war, refused to sell the government a portion of ammunition, or pro- visions to sustain the suffering soldier. But they would sell to the wandering Caddoes, and thus enable them to wage war upon our suffering frontier. They have located the principle part of the land. Are they so much the objects of charity as call for an act of injustice to sustain their rights? The voice of an indignant people answer No! One of them 3 had once wished to introduce 30,000 ferocious Creeks-those Indians which all the power of the United States cannot conquer-into our country. He had
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