316
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1856
his character. No, no; I can not do it; I will not; out of respect to the Senate I will not. Well, sir, how does the letter read now, when we have the cor- rection? I will show. I have been charged with foisting this matter on the notice of the Senate, as if it had not all been taken back and the subject concluded forever, as the venerable Senator from Delaware [Mr. Clayton] said-forever! Well, sir, I have before read this letter to show the facts which were charged specifically, and to see whether the Secretary of the Navy could expunge, or obliterate, or take them back, at any subsequent period, under an undue influence, either political or personal, or through misrepresentation. The letter in which the word occurs is_a reprimand which was sent to Commodore Hull to read to these gentlemen in the Mediterranean. The records will show that they began a cabal and insubordination before they left the port of New York, and violated the rules and regulations of the navy. They ought unceremoniously to have been stricken from the rolls. This transaction was not in the days of Jackson, which have been referred to by the venerable Senator from Delaware, or these gentlemen would have been dismissed, because the man who showed the least defection in chivalry, in honor, or in deference to the female sex, was then compelled to walk the plank, no matter how deep the plunge. Here is what is said in the letter of the Secretary of the Navy : "Yet it is with great regret 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 combina- tions 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 accomoda- tion, as if a ship of war were 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; appealing to the public in communications disrespectful to their superiors, and violated the long established rules of the service by publishing a11: official correspondence without the consent of the Department." The venerable Senator from Delaware put these gentlemen on their trial originally, and raised an issue about their infallibility. Here is corroborative testimony, of what I said before, in the same dispatch of Secretary·Paulding:
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