100
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1854
which, it appeared upon the face of the commission, he was authorized to exercise; for every officer holds his commission dur- ing the pleasure of the President. It was so in General Washing- ton's commission; it is so in every commission down to the present time. It was so solemnly adjudicated in a case decided thirty years ago. When Commodore Porter was upon trial, it was decided that the President had the right to dismiss him, without the intervention of a court. Mr. Adams laid it down as a correct principle, and it was acquiesced in by Congress, that it was a right appurtenant to the President. If it were not, what would be the consequence? If an individual who was the general-in- chief, were to invite an enemy into your camp, or attempt to be- tray the nation, would not the head of the Government have the right to arrest him, though it might have been arranged improvi- dently that he could only be tried by his peers? Sir, it is a very strange and remarkable thing that the sym- pathies of Texas should be so much enlisted in behalf of this individual, who has traduced and denounced for years to Senators the person who is now addressing you. It is stranger still, that notwithstanding all his efforts to shield his immaculate honor, his redoubtable courage, and his "dodging" faculties, he should find that the person whom he has assailed continuously has been in- dorsed by the almost unanimous voice of Texas, by three succes- sive senatorial elections, although he never visited the seat of government from the time it became a State until his third elec- tion, and never wrote a letter to a member of the Legislature upon the subject of the election, and one who intends, if he lives to restore to them the office which he holds, not grudgingly, but to return it to them unspent, with the time unexhausted. But, sir, I will not descend to the petty incidents connected with the transactions of this individual. All I wish is to vindicate Texas against the imputation of having received any man's services without making compensation. Sir, she has had no contributions of valor, of blood, or of chivalry, which she has not rewarded amply and munificently. Some of them who claim to have ren- dered her great benefits·are like the one. of whom I spoke of the other day, and like the one who is now the subject of remark. They say they conferred benefits on Texas, when the fact is that they never met an enemy in the cause of Texas, and never raised an arm to defend her honor or her flag under the orders of the Government of Texas. If they have been filibusters on other nations·, I care not for them. I will vindicate Texas to the last.
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