WRITINGS OF SA:.\1 HOUSTON, 1837-1841
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security and confidence resulting from acts of a Government, which were intended to subserve the present moment, by expe- diency, and so soon as they acquired sufficient power to inflict wrongs upon the Indians with impunity, that they would disre- gard their national faith, oppress the Indians, and after repeated wrongs, expell them from their wigwams, drive them from their little farms houseless with their women and children to the prairies, where they must encounter the wild Indians, out- numbering them twenty to one, whose hostility would overwhelm them, and fleeing from persecution on the one side, they would have no refuge but massacre to embrace. That the Executive should be satisfied as to validity and cor- rectness of his opinions in relation to the obligations of the Texian Government, he has sought for the best lights which were within his control. Accordingly, he called upon the Attorney General, whose clear intelligence, calm judgment, and philosophic wisdom seems to claim much weight for his opinion in relation to the subject. An extract of that opinion will be found, marked No. 8, to which the Honorable Senate is respectfully referred. It will be observed by the Honorable Congress, that on the first day of March following the treaty, the Convention of Texas met at Washington, when the Commissioners submitted the Treaty to that primary and honorable body; but owing to the peculiar crisis then existing, it was not acted upon substantively and apart from other matters, but came under the general provision of that body, sanctioning the acts of the General Consultation as well as those of the General Council, which gave to it all the force and effect of the supreme law of the land. Subsequent to the treaty, and ever since the present Executive came into office, it has been his constant endeavor to establish friendly relations and secure peace with all the Indian tribes. In doing this, his only object was the interest of his country, and he feels perfectly assured that he has in no case transcended the powers delegated to him by the Constitution and laws of the land. It is worthy of remark, and will certainly claim the considera- tion of the Honorable Senate, that the conditions, as far as they affect the compact between Texas and the Indians, have been preserved most scrupulously on the part of the latter. They have preserved peace which was the only requirement to ensure the fruition of the pledges given by the Texian Govern- ment, notwithstanding many provocations have been given them to have departed from their peaceful course. .
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