WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1857
409
i.
world; and to relieve the feelings of his friends. I have no per- sonal knowledge of any man but Captain Tatnall, who is embraced in this resolution, or to whom it has the slightest reference. Him I have known for thirty years, and I need not commend him. His own acts, and his own high qualities as a gentleman, are com- mendations greater than I could bestow. But, sir, I want the facts known to the nation concerning his case. The honorable chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs a year ago urged, as a matter of great necessity, that really we should have an increased number of naval officers to give efficiency to the Navy; but now what is the condition of the Navy? We have no less than ninety-six captains, I believe, because those who were retired or furloughed are subject to the order of the Department. Commodore Perry said some of them were the best officers in the Navy. When we have so many captains, it seems strange that subordinates should be called to perform the duties of captains when they are superabundant-I might say, super- numerary. I believe it was said by the chairman of the Naval Committee that these captains had their alternates-that means second-rate, or not first-rate, or something rather in the quality of a counterfeit. Some of them are called, in sailors' phrase, "bogus captains." These captains are supposed to be prepared to take the place of those higher in grade if they should not meet the requisition of the Department in going to sea. We have now, I think, over sixty captains on the active list. There are but thirteen of those captains in sea-service. Where the remainder are, or what they are doing, or why they should not be required to perform tli.e duties pertaining to their station, I know not. But, Mr. President, I wish to know why it is that a commander takes the place of an efficiency captain when there are so many captains, over thirty, reported on the Naval Register as "waiting orders." Out of over thirty waiting orders it appears one could not be obtained to supply the place of Captain Tatnall when Commodore Mervine ordered him home. If we have not captains enough, and we undertake to maintain a Navy, we should pass a law creating a sufficient number to give efficiency to that arm of the service. In a former discussion on this subject-I allude to a <;lebate in the Senate on the 10th of July, 1856-the Senator from Florida, in reply to some remarks of the Senator from Georgia, [Mr. Toombs,] said: "Very well. I have corrected the Senator ns to the increase of captains. We have simply put active men in the place of inefficient men at the same price; and the duty of the country now is done
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