Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/454

 would have them start in three several bodies in the course of the year, so that they should accomplish the trip properly, and let them start at such distances that they should not be more than one hundred miles apart. In this way they would be enabled to march across the plains without difficulty. I would have a fort at each end of the road to prevent the passage of a company incompetent to defend themselves, and not let them undertake to cross the wilderness alone. This is the course which I would pursue, and, I think, in this way perfect security would be given to the emigrants. Thus, if our citizens would make the venture, they would have an escort and a protection capable of resisting all the Indian power which might come upon them.

Sir, in the course of my remarks I have said some things which might seem to bear upon the officers of the army as a class. My partialities for military men, and for gentlemen of the army, are of a character not to be doubted. I know their high-toned feeling, their honorable bearing, and their chivalry; and when I commented upon some of them, I only spoke of such as brought themselves within the purview of my remarks by impropriety of conduct, deserving the reprobation of every man who appreciates honorable feelings, integrity, and truthfulness. As a class, however, 1 admire and respect them. I have experienced their hospitalities. Once I enjoyed their association with pleasure; and my recollections of early habits, formed in their companionship, always mark a verdant spot in memory's waste. It is only the guilty and the culpable that I condemn.

Sir, I believe the honorable chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs has withdrawn that portion of the amendment relating to the appointment of three commissioners to treat with the Indians. But, Mr. President, if we wish to do good to the Indians, we have it in our power; if we wish to destroy them, we can starve them out. If we intend to save them, we can do it by appealing to their best feelings. There is one pathway to an Indian's heart. If you show him that comforts and benefits are to result to his wife and children, you may command him absolutely, and he yields implicitly. He has no opposing thought to their interest. I have always seen that if you could impress an Indian with the conviction that comfort and security would inure to his squaw and pappooses, from the adoption of a particular policy, he would submit to it. My colleague [Mr. Rusk] knows that this is the way to the heart of an Indian. The proudest warrior is humiliated at the thought of his wife and little ones being in the least uncomfortable. Whenever an Indian intends to conciliate the whites, he brings his family and settles as near as he can to a fort or agency, and says, "Here are the hostages I give you for my fidelity to you; if I do wrong, I know they will suffer; they are dearer to me than my life." The Indians can be brought around trading-houses.

I have lost all hope of the stations in Texas doing any good. I would not have more than twenty-five men at a trading-house to give protection, in the event of any ebullition among the Indians of a violent character. It would be entirely accidental if such a necessity happened around the trading-houses as to require protection to be given to the caravans emigrating to California and Oregon. I would encourage the Indians in the arts of peace. You need no armies; you need no Indian allies to butcher them. All you have to do is to maintain your faith in carrying out the treaties which have