135
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
go off to the Delawares, or somewhere else, without the means of securing an abiding place on earth, and the rest of them be slaughtered by intruders. The question is whether this sale shall be ratified; whether these few families shall be benefited by the receipt of this amount of money, so as to enable them to purchase a location amongst the Delawares, or return to Canada. This sale must be con- firmed under the sanction of the Secretary of the Interior, so as to secure to the Indians the realization of this contract. This is the way that I understand the matter, and I believe that I am literal in the statement that I have made of the facts. I will say to my friend from New York, that I really intend no collusion, or controversy. I am sure that he was actuated by the purest motives. I am sure that his prejudice was not stronger than mine was, until I examined into and investigated the case. It was referred to the Indian Committee; and I believe that they were united in the opinion that it was a fair, bona fide transac- tion, to be executed in good faith; and it was liberal at the time the land was purchased, and that no injustice was done to the Indians whatever. This is my candid opinion. 1 Congressional Globe, 1857-1858, Part 3, pp. 2628-2629. The Christian Indians, about six families, of not more than thirty or forty souls, who were the subject of these remarks had settled on four sections of land located about five miles from the city of Fort Leavenworth. They claimed individual title to this land and, under pressure from intruding whites, sold it to one Isaacs representing a group of Moravian missionaries. Objec- tion was raised that the Indians had no right to make the sale, and a relief bill was presented in Congress and referred in the Senate to the Committee on Indian Affairs. It was upon this relief bill that Houston spoke. There is a semi-legendary story that on the night following this speech Edwin Booth and a number of other guests met in Houston's rooms and that Booth recited Charles Sprague's eloquent oration upon the decline of the Indians. For this oration see Poetical and Prose Writings of Chal"les Sprague. The passage concerning the Indians may be found on pages 152 to 155 of the 1876 edition. See Dictionary of American Biogra])hy, XVII, 470, for a good sketch of Sprague's life. CONCERNING PAYMENT FOR "SURVEYS OF THE PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS IN CALIFORNIA," JUNE 2, 3, 1858 1 Perhaps I am not well enough acquainted with this subject to give an opinion understandingly upon it; but I really think that the rates now given are very exorbitant. I have no idea that the survey cost five dollars per mile. I think that in our contracts that three dollars is the usual price for surveying, and people do
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