Some years before the independence of Texas, a
small number of these Cherokees had settled as planters upon the Texan
territory, where, by their good conduct and superior management of their
farms, they had acquired great wealth, and had conciliated the goodwill
of the warlike tribes of Indians around them, such as the Cushates, the
Caddoes, and even the Comanches.
As soon as the Texans declared their independence, their rulers,
thinking that no better population could exist in the northern districts
than that of the Cherokees, invited a few hundred more to come from the
Red River, and settle among them; and to engage them so to do, the first
session of congress offered them a grant of two or three hundred
thousand acres of land, to be selected by them in the district they
would most prefer. Thus enticed, hundreds of wealthy Cherokee planters
migrated to Texas, with their wealth and cattle. Such was the state of
affairs until the presidency of Lamar, a man utterly unequal to the task
of ruling over a new country.
Under his government, the Texans, no longer restrained by the energy and
honourable feelings of an Austin or a Houston, followed the bent of
their dispositions, and were guilty of acts of barbarism and cruelty
which, had they, at the time, been properly represented to the civilized
people of Europe, would have caused them to blot the name of Texas out
of the list of nations.
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