Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/295

Rh of peace and amity, and maintenance of good faith with the Indians, present themselves to my mind as the most rational grounds on which to obtain their friendship. Abstain on our part from aggression, establish commerce with the different tribes, supply their useful and necessary wants, maintain even-handed justice with them, and natural reason will teach them the utility of our friendship.

Admonished by the past, we can not in justice disregard our national enemies; vigilance will apprise us of their approach, a disciplined and valiant army will insure their discomfiture. Without discrimination and system, how unavailing would all the resources of an old and overpowering treasury prove to us. It would be as unprofitable to us in our present situation as the rich diamond locked in the bosom of adamant. We can not hope that the bosom of our beautiful prairies will soon be visited with the balmy breezes of peace. We may again look for the day when their verdure will be converted into dyes of crimson. We must keep all our energies alive, our army organized and disciplined and increased agreeably to our present necessities. With these preparations we can meet and vanquish despotic thousands; this is the attitude which we at present regard as our own. We are battling for human liberty; reason and friendship must characterize our acts.

The course which our enemies have pursued had been opposed to every principle of civilized warfare; bad faith, inhumanity, and devastation marked their path of invasion. We were a little band contending for liberty; they were thousands, well appointed, munitioned, and provisioned, seeking to rivet chains upon us, or extirpate us from the earth. Their cruelties have incurred the universal denunciation of Christendom. They will not pass from their nation during the present generation.

The contrast of our conduct is manifest. We were hunted down as the felon wolf; our little band driven from fastness to fastness; exasperated to the last extreme, while the blood of our kindred and our friends was invoking the vengeance of an offended God, was smoking to the high Heaven, we met the enemy, and vanquished them. They fell in battle, or suppliantly kneeled, and were spared. We offered up our vengeance at the shrine of humanity, while Christianity rejoiced at the act, and viewed with delightful pride the ennobling sacrifice. The civilized world contemplated with proud emotions conduct which reflected so much glory on the Anglo-Saxon race. The moral effect has done more toward our liberation than the defeat of the army of veterans. When our cause has been presented to our friends in the land of our origin, they have embraced it with the warmest sympathies. They have rendered us manly and efficient aid. They have rallied to our standard, they have fought side by side with our warriors, they have bled, and their dust is mingling with our heroes.

At this moment I discover numbers around me who battled in the field of San Jacinto, and whose chivalry and valor have identified them with the glory of the country, its name, its soil, and its liberty. There sits a gentleman within my view whose personal and political services to Texas have been invaluable. He was the first in the United States to espouse our cause. H is purse was ever open to our necessities. His hand was extended to our aid. His presence among us, and his return to the embraces of his family and friends, will inspire new efforts in behalf of our cause. (The attention of the Speaker, and that of Congress was directed to Wm. Christy, Esq., of New Orleans, who sat, by invitation, within the bar.)