WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1859
381
unity and a coop~ration of the different parts of government, and that which falls within the constitutional power of the Executive. As regards the public domain, the intelligence of the legislature whose attention has been called to it, is capable of devising a system for its future disposition, and such an one will embrace a liberal policy towards the settler. From the in- ception of the Goverment of the Republic of Texas a provision was contained in the Constitution providing for sectionizing the public domain; and if such a policy had been carried out, it would have prevented a vast amount of litigation which has since that time occurred. If the legislature of the State should, at any time, adopt such a measure, it would have a tendency to dispel a thousand anxieties which the settler now entertains, because, when he would then settle upon a tract of land, he would know his metes and bounds, and that he could assuredly repose in the guarantees which the State afforded him for the occupancy of his homestead. In an inaugural address it is not expected that subjects which would be more appropriate in a general message to the legislature, which I contemplate making, should be embraced; yet there are subjects which demand of me attention. The subject of our frontier defenses is of absorbing interest. Where it is possible for the Government to give protection to its citizens, it is a duty which cannot be disregarded. The extent of our frontier, stretch- ing as it does, from the Red River to El Paso, on the Rio Grande, and from thence to the mouth of that river, comprises a distance of but little short of two thousand miles. One half of that dis- tance is exposed to Indian depredations, and the other borders upon Mexico, which is in a state of anarchy. Depredations by the Indians are so frequent that to hear of them has almost ceased to excite sympathy and attention in the interior of our State. We have a right to look to the Federal Government for that pro- tection which, as a part of the Confederacy, we are entitled to. The Federal Government has stationed troops on our frontiers, but they are Infantry, and not calculated for that effective war- fare which should be carried on against the Indians. When depredations are committed by the Indians, they escape, and the Infantry cannot overtake them. Were a force authorized by the Federal Government of Texan Rangers, who understood the Indian mode of warfare, and whose animals would be capable of subsisting upon prairies, without other forage, the expense would be less to the Government, and their efficiency greater in
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