253
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1856
of this two-column article, but I will read those parts which I think important. What does it say? Listen: "The scheme submitted by the present able Secretary of the Navy reconciled the apparently incompatible requirements of avoiding ingratitude and a pension, while substituting efficient for incapable men in the performance of active and responsible duties. The plan involved the necessity of the consent of officers of the Navy, for the public good, to accept and discharge the duties with less than the regular compensation of the higher rank; and their patrioti'sm has given a prompt response. Congress have met them in a spirit of equal liberality, accepted their plan for the relief of the service and the country, and placed in their own hands the execution of the law to promote the efficiency of the Navy." In the hands of the Navy! The Navy comes forward gener- ously and makes this proposition of sacrifice, and Congress ac- cords to them all that their liberality can demand! That is the statement. But again: "The eyes of the country are on the proceedings of the board with anxious, but confident, hope." Who cared about it? The country was never aroused to it. The Country cared nothing about it, because they knew that our Navy, whenever it came in contact with an enemy, always acted gloriously, and achieved honor for their country, and they were willing to confide it to the proper hands. The people, far off, remote in the interior, had no distrust in our continuous achieve- ments of glory whenever our tars came in contact with an enemy. The country demanded no such thing. It was the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Senate who demanded it. The Senate ac- quiesced in it, and the House of Representatives approved it. It was done without consideration-without the people ever think- ing anything about it, and knowing less; yet this assumption is made in this article with great gravity. It continues: "If it fail in its duty, whether from want of nerve, or want of judgment, or want of honesty, the next Congress will respond to the national demand for an efficient Navy by some short, sharp, and salutary remedy. If officers now sacrifice the country to their interests, they may rest assured the country will have small hesitation in sacrificing them to the paramount necessities of the public service."
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