176
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
He has received Captain Ford's report. He has had details of the condition of things before him, and he speaks from home without a desire to increase the expenses of the Government, or to pro- duce any excitement. He is not a man subject to excitement. He is one who would be calm and considerate under the influence by which he is surrounded; but he says there is a tumultuous excite- ment amongst the people there, and I do not wonder at it. The aggravation is great; our necessities have been urgent; no relief has ever been furnished us. We have had to stand on the defen- sive as much with your regular troops, as we did battling for our liberty with a little band in the glorious days of our revolution. [Mr. Johnson speaks]. [Brief dialogue between Senators Johnson and Houston.] Mr. Houston. I should not have occupied much longer time than the gentleman has now done; but I am not going to be· choked down in this Senate. If Senators consume, unnecessarily, the time of the body for months, and for years, it shall not cut me off from reasonable debate when necessary to vindicate the rights of my people, and arrest the scalping-knife and tomahawk. I do not wish to consume the time of the Senate. It has not been my habit to do so. A certain degree of courtesy that I have never withheld from other Senators, I am determined to exact for myself when the rules of the Senate guaranty it to me. This is a matter of no ordinary importance to my State. It is a matter that enters into its vital existence and the lives of its ciizens. It is justice, and the true policy to the Indians, that I have risen to vindicate. I do not intend to occupy the time of the Senate, but •I rise to say emphatically, that there is no ·reason on earth against my proposition. · My friend from Arkansas knows that the superintendency is on the extreme verge of the State of Arkansas. It is two hundred and forty miles from where she is cut off by this reservation.... It is as disconnected from Arkansas as it is from California. Arkansas has no claim upon it. The Choctaw Indians have never protested against the measure. Their agent-has protested. He protests against it-for what purpose? It is to be detached from the southern superintendency and create a new superintendency of the Chickasaws, Choctaws, and this new reservation of the Witchitas. There are three nations, and he is carving out a superintendency for himself. That is the movement here. I will have none of it. I assure my honorable friend from Arkansas that I have never intimated a wish to have the appointment of
> I
i I I
Powered by FlippingBook