287
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1856
Congress, and leave the command of the Pacific squadron to some one whose ardor is yet undamped by disappointment." What was there to damp his ardor? Was it the fact that he had asked to be 1·eturned home in January, and the Secretary of the Navy ordered him to be relieved by Commodore Jones in May, and nine days afterwards Commodore Biddle arrived, sooner than Commodore Shubrick expected? Were these circumstances cal- culated to damp his ardor or impair his efficiency? No one had complained of his want of efficiency, or of his not having per- formed his duty to the Government. Mr. Mason had not charged him with delinquency or misconduct in office. Lieutenant Maury having had his leg broken, when traveling to join a sea-going ship, had to be relieved when his service was not material, and when he was suffering under great bodily injury. If that was reason justifying his removal, here you perceive that, in time of war, shortly after its commencement, a commodore commanding a squadron asked to be relieved and to be allowed to return home from scenes of active military operations where one of the finest theaters was opened.to him-the whole coast of Mexico lay open to his operations, our whale fishermen were out in that sea-and everything opening to him a field of glory. I have not known any occasion during our war with Mexico, except some of the heavy battles, where there was so great an oppor- tunity for reaping glory. I do not say he was wrong in this; but I say that Lieutenant Maury's asking permission in time of peace, when he was suffering bodily inconvenience and infirmity, to be relieved from sea service would not justify the board in striking him down; when Commodore Shubrick, the president of the board, in time of war, when in command of a well-manned and gallant squadron, wished to leave it, after he had been with it only a few months, because his ardor was damped by the dis- ingenuousness or uncandidness of the Secretary of the Navy. The facts show no provocation for the charge of a want of candor, or dissimulation against the Secretary. Sir, if the Secretary of the Navy had instituted proceedings against Commodore Shubrick for using such language, it would have been a matter of grave investigation whether the words were not defamatory, and whether they could be sustained by evidence. Sir, I have no unkindness of feeling towards the President of the United States or his Secretary of the Navy; yet I do think it very unfortunate, to say the least, that the Navy has fallen
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