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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1854
demeanor is too well known in this body, his standing is too fair and exalted, to require any eulogium at my hands. I shall there- fore, leave that reputation which has been so well established by himself, and which has been assailed, to sustain him in his absence. The letter to which I allude, signed by ex-Commodore E. W. Moore, and addressed to the Senator from Maryland, was first published in the Richmond Examiner, a paper printed in Virginia. I find that the part impugning the veracity of the Senator is in these words : "I come now to that part of your remarks in which you went out of the record, and made what I regret to say was an unjusti- fiable attack upon my reputation, not founded in law or fact." This, sir, is the allegation. The letter is too long to occupy the time of the Senate with its reading. I shall now advert to an editorial remark, that commends itself to the notice of the world, or to that of the parties concerned, at least, from the high position in which the individual who wrote and published it has been placed. That gentleman is now our resident Minister at Turin. This publication took place in the month of March, as well as I recollect, or about that time; and the gentleman received his appointment in the month of August following. I have no disposition to animadvert upon his character, or his editorial privileges, or the manner in which he has sus- tained himself in his appointment to the responsible situation which he now fills; but, Mr. President, I will call the attention of the Senate to the facts stated in his editorial. He says, in reference to the officers of the Texan navy: "These officers have very naturally applied to the Congress of the United States for redress; and at the last session they would have obtained it, in spite of frantic opposition from the placemen of our naval service, had not Mr. Pearce, of Maryland, chosen the moment when the bill was about to pass the Senate, to make the grossest misstatement of facts in relation to the whole business, that could have been made. In this honorable movement he was aided to the extent of his ability by Senator Houston. The motive of the latter was long borne malice to Commodore Moore, with whom, in common with every other distinguished public man in Texas, he had involved himself in personal quarrels during his regime of that Republic. "What the misstatements of Mr. Pearce were, we leave the reader to learn from the letter of Commodore Moore, who details them, and refutes them, with equal fairness, ability, good taste, and good sense."
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