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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1856
taken by Commodore Hull's captain, who was with him on the station when the letter was received. The letter does not make sense without that word. Mr. Paulding says: "Yet it is with great regret that the Department is obliged to state, that no sooner had they set foot on board this noble ship, than the officers of the ward-room, who ought to have set an example of respect and subordination to their juniors, entered into combinations and cabals calculated to defeat every object for which she had been fitted out. They clamored against the arrangements that had been made by the navy commissioners for their accommodation, as if a ship of war was intended for that purpose alone; they lost sight of the respect and consideration due to that [sex] which every gentleman, and most especially every officer, should feel it his pride to cherish on all occasions." Without the word "sex" it would read: "They lost sight of the respect and consideration due to that which every gentleman, and most especially every officer, should feel it his pride to cherish on all occasions." The insertion of that word makes the passage complete, and that it should be there I -have no doubt. I shall not insert the word as though it were undoubted; but it shall go to the world that I believe it should be there, and I think my opinion will be vindicated. Such a charge as that would be a very grave thing, and would impugn the chivalry of the gentlemen implicated; but I will waive all remarks on that, and not attempt to make any capital out of it at all. The next thing he says is, that Du Pont, Missroon, Godon, and Pendergrast-- -"appealed to the public in communications disrespectful to their superiors, and violated the long-established rules of the service by publishing an official correspondence without the con- sent of the Department." I call on my friend from Delaware to notice that, and I ask if Mr. Pauling took that back?· Mr. Clayton. Yes, sir, he did. Mr. Houston. That is a matter of history. Did he take that back, and say that they did not publish an official correspondence without the consent of the Department? Mr. Clayton. He took it all back. Mr. Houston. No, sir; for that would contradict himself; but he says that he excuses them: and why? Because, after they
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