Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/336

 this time. These things have been the subject of representations to the Government of the United States, and as a reparation has been asked for the injuries and indignities thus inflicted, it does not appear necessary that the present Congress should take any special action in reference thereto.

Although officers of the United States Government were concerned in these matters of complaint, either before or after their perpetration, the Executive can not for a moment suppose that when the facts are presented, with the proofs of which they are susceptible, that the Government of the United States will withhold that reparation due from a great nation to a power unable to coerce a compliance with the rules of justice. The characteristic magnanimity of the United States, their immediate neighborhood to this country, and all the circumstances connected therewith, induce the belief that speedy and ample justice will be accorded to Texas, and all cause of complaint cease to exist.

Through agents appointed by the Executive, the Government has succeeded in approaching and concluding treaties of friendship and intercourse with the various tribes of Indians inhabiting the territory of Texas, south of Red River, with the exception of the kindred bands of Comanches and Kiaways. These latter tribes, owing to the occurrences of some few years since, the recollection of which was still strong, were disinclined to any intercourse with the Government or the people of Texas, and much time and trouble were necessarily required to conciliate them so far as to consent to a suspension of hostilities, which, I am happy to say, has been done. They have agreed to meet the commissioners of the Government for the purpose of concluding a peace.

Everything has been done, commensurate with the means appropriated by Congress, for pacificating and tranquillizing all our border enemies. The three commissioners of the Government were for months arduously engaged in executing the duties assigned them. Their zeal, ability, and disregard of privation, enabled them to triumph over every obstacle that energy and patriotism could overcome. With a suitable appropriation, it is confidently expected that relations of intercourse and friendship with all the tribes, to whose depredations our frontiers have been exposed, can be established; and with some slight amendments to existing laws we may look forward to the preservation of uninterrupted peace. It is clear to the mind of the Executive that if good faith is maintained on the part of the whites, and the Indians treated with mildness and justice, the best protection will be afforded to our frontiers, with all the advantages of a lucrative commerce through our traders. Those tribes which desire to establish habitations and cultivate the soil will find inducements to settle near the sources and upon the tributaries of our rivers; and those who adhere to their roving habits will find the prairies sufficiently extensive, far beyond the abode of the white man, to furnish them with game for their families; whilst their friendly intercourse with our traders will enable them to engage with more facility in the chase. By rendering them dependent upon us for the most essential articles of Indian use and consumption, they will find it to their interest to maintain peace. Our Government, at the same time, by enacting and enforcing salutary laws, can restrain the whites from aggression, and thus impress the Indians with a due sense of our justice toward them. In this way, our former enemies may be converted into useful and lasting friends.