WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1856
274
dated December 16, 1839. I will remark that this is a copy taken from the letter received by Commodore Hull, but I find in the printed documents among the information called for by the Senate, .that the word "sex" is omitted in page 46; but in the copy that I have, that word is used when referring to the action of Mr. Du Pont, Mr. Pendergrast, Mr. Missroon, and Mr. Godon, all of whom were members of this board. [A query from Mallory.] Mr. Houston. It is not a departmental copy. I went to the Department, and the copy there contains the error which is in the printed documents on our tables; but the sense will show, as do also the circumstances notorious at that time, that the dis- respect to Commodore Hull's family was one ground of complaint between these officers and the commodore. The insertion of the word "sex" will make it sensible, and without that word it will not be so. [A query_from Senator Clayton.] Mr. Houston. I will be very happy, Mr. President, to respond to the inquiry of the honorable Senator. If I were disposed to be disingenuous, or to evade the truth in any way, I might do so, but I will not. My friend from Delaware the other day took full latitude in spreading all these disavowals through the chan- nel of the newspapers, so that he is in advance of me; but he did not read this letter; and I will convince him that Secretary Paulding did not, according to his letter published the other day, disclaim what he had before done, or say that it was ex pa·rte. I will show what Commodore Hull said in relation to the matter afterwards. I intend to treat the subject with great fairness, and I do not intend to exonerate these men from charges with which they are justly branded, and which neither time nor cir- cumstances can ever wipe out. Mr. Clayton. Does not the gentleman admit that Secretary Paulding says, in his last dispatch, that his dispatch of the 16th of December, 1839, did injustice, and that he virtually retracted the whole of it? Mr. Houston. Yes, sir; but then he did not say that he was a liar, which he would have to say if he justified them; because he stated facts, which he never revoked. Let the world judge. I will ask that the word may be marked in my speech in brackets to show that "sex" is wanted. My copy is identical with the one
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