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WRITINGS OF 5AM: HOUSTON, 1856
his former cruise a month or six weeks before, to call on the Bureau of Construction and Equipment, to tell them of the diffi- culty, and have everything fiitted up-have all the deficiencies fixed, and the vessel in complete order; and if it had not been done then they would have been to blame? He was bound to report to that Bureau, and, if he did not, it was manifest to the Secretary of the Navy on this showing that he was deficient and culpable in his duty; and, instead of remaining a member of this board to try his fellow-officers for misconduct, for delin- quency, for want of qualification for duty on shore and at sea, would it not have been becoming in the Secretary of the Navy to notify him that he was released from further action on the board, owing to the stigma that had been placed by this report upon his reputation? Was it fit and seemly that he should remain as a judge on gentlemen of chivalry, of carefulness, and atten- tion to their duties? But what did he do? Why he gives him one of the most courteous, kind, amiable responses, perhaps, that has ever been written or printed. The Secretary, after referring in his letter to the correspondence that had taken place, says: "I deemed it my duty to call your attention to the report, and am gratified that my expectations have been realized in receiving a satisfactory explanation." He called attention to the matter because it was his "duty"; he did not wish to do it! Did you ever see a gentleman so amiable? The explanation was perfectly "satisfactory." He ought to have removed Stribling instantly; and if the President had cognizance of it, and knew his duty as an executive officer, instead of placing him in a position to strike off the heads of honorable men-men who had performed their duty, and dis- charged the trust which the Government demanded of them, and strictly adhered to discipline and principle-he should have re- lieved him from further service by notification that, "by virtue of the prerogative placed in my hands by the Constitution, I relieve you, Captain Stribling, from further service-notwith- standing you have been the foster-father"-no ! I beg pardon of my distinguished friend from Delaware-I believe it was Cap- tain Du Pont who was the foster-father of the Naval Academy; but this gentleman was the principal there-was at the head of it for a long time. What will be thought after this exhibition-the strangest that has been made in the face of the American people or the Ameri- can Senate? This gentleman was at the head of the Naval Acad-
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