the chiefs were making their speeches of peace
and amity, a few hundred Texan blackguards rushed into the room with
their pistols and knives, and began their work of murder. All the
Indians fell, except one, who succeeded in making his escape; but though
the Comanches were quite unarmed, they sold their lives dearly, for
eighteen Texans were found among the slain.

I will close this chapter with a few remarks upon the now acknowledged
republic of Texas.

The dismemberment of Texas from Mexico was effected by the reports of
extensive gold-mines, diamonds, &c., which were to be found there, and
which raised the cupidity of the eastern speculators and land-jobbers of
the United States. But in all probability this appropriation would never
have taken place if it had not been that the southern states of America
had, with very different views, given every encouragement to
the attempt.

The people of Louisiana and the southern states knew the exact value of
the country, and laughed at the idea of its immense treasures. They
acted from a deep, although it eventually has turned out to have been a
false, policy. They considered that Texas, once wrested from Mexico,
would be admitted into the Union, subdivided into two or three states,
every one of which would, of course, be slave-holding states, and send
their members to Congress. This would have given the slave-holding
states the preponderance in the Union.

Events have turned out differently, and the planters of the south now
deplore their untoward policy and want of foresight, as they have
assisted in raising up a formidable rival in the production of their
staple commodity, injurious to them even in time of peace, and in case
of a war with England, still more inimical to their interests.

It is much to be lamented that Texas had not been populated by a more
deserving class of individuals; it might have been, even by this time, a
country of importance and wealth; but it has from the commencement been
the resort of every vagabond and scoundrel who could not venture to
remain in the United States; and, unfortunately, the Texan character was
fixed and established, as a community wholly destitute of principle or
probity, before the emigration of more respectable settlers had
commenced. The consequences have been most disastrous, and it is to be
questioned whether some of them will ever be removed.

At the period of its independence, the population of Texas was estimated
at