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297
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1856
in reference to the board I relied on official facts. The private letter was no accusation against him; and it was not arraigning his conduct as an officer. The arraignment lies entirely in the official documents. Mr. Mallory. The private character of Captain Du Pont, and of every member of the board, has been invoked here. For what purpose? To show that their finding was unreliable? To show that the character of the men themselves unfitted them for the high trust which was reposed in them? If that is not the pur- pose with which the innuendoes of the Senator have been thrown out here, I should like to know what the purpose is? As the Senator says that he only alluded to official documents and rec- ords, I should like to know whether the declaration made by him in regard to Captain Skinner, and the Navy Register which he found, was based on public documents? If so, where are they? What is the declaration of Captain Skinner worth, when seen in its true light, even supposing it to be precisely as the honorable Senator from Texas states it? He found five commanders and lieutenants looking over a Navy Register on which thirty-five captains were marked. Admit it-what does it prove? Upon neither of these captains had those men any right to sit in judg- ment and pass an opinion. Mr. Houston. But they did pass upon them. [A long rebuttal by Mallory, with short replies from Houston, is omitted.] 1 Congressional Globe, Appendix, 1856-1857, pp. 242-252, 257-258, 260. Upon reading this speech, it will be interesting to read, also, the speech made upon practically the same subject on April 23, 1856. (See p. 306 in this volume.} Actually these speeches were made during the long protracted debate on the Naval Retiring Board, and, while separate speeches, they are closely related. ~Houston is quoting from his speech at Austin, November 23, 1855, which see, in this volume, p. 209. 3 Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806-February 1, 1873), naval officer, oceanographer, scientist, was the son of Richard Maury. .M. F. Maury's attainments in oceanography were world-wide in their recognition. Even foreign governments vied in bestowing honors; universities awarded him many honorary degrees, and he was elected a member of many learned societies. Prizes of many kinds were bestowed upon him; in 1853, the mer- chants and underwriters of New York presented him a solid silver service and a pur_se of $5,000. Notwithstanding all this homage, Matthew F. Maury was an exceedingly modest, reserved man, who loved the quiet of his family life and found his highest pleasure in teaching his children, especially his young daughters. But the Naval Retiring Board which convened by an act
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