not
condescend to deal with them, but punished them with rigour, subjecting
them to their own code of laws. These ruffians nurtured plans of
vengeance which they dared not themselves execute, but, knowing the
greedy spirit of their countrymen, they spread the most incredible
stories of Cherokee wealth and comforts. The plan succeeded well, for
as soon as the altercation between the Texians and Cherokee Indians was
made known to the Western States, several bands were immediately formed,
who, in the expectation of a rich booty, entered Texas, and offered the
Congress to drive away the Cherokees. As soon as this was known,
representations were made by honourable men to the government of the
United States, but no notice was taken, and the Western States, probably
to get rid at once of the scum of their population, gave every
encouragement to the expedition.

For a few months the Cherokees invariably discomfited their invaders,
destroying their bands as soon as they were newly formed, and treating
them as common robbers; but, being farmers, they could not fight and
cultivate their ground at the same time, and they now thought of
abandoning so unhospitable a land; the more so as, discovering that the
Cherokees were more than a match for them in the field, a system of
incendiarism and plunder was resorted to, which proved more disastrous
to the Cherokees than the previous open warfare.

The Cherokees wisely reflected, that as long as the inhabitants of the
Western States would entertain the hope of plunder and booty, they would
constantly pour upon them their worthless population. They, therefore,
destroyed their farms and their bridges; and collecting their horses and
cattle, they retreated upon the Red River among their own people. The
Cherokee campaign is a topic of much boasting among the Texians, as they
say they expelled the Indians from their country; but a fact, which they
are not anxious to publish, is, that for every Cherokee killed, twenty
Texians bit the dust.

Since that period the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks have had several
war councils, and I doubt not that they are only waiting for an
opportunity to retaliate, and will eventually sweep off the entire
eastern population of Texas.

The fact is, that a democratic form of government is powerless when the
nation is so utterly depraved. Austin, the father of Texian
colonisation, quitted the country in disgust. Houston, whose military
talents and wel