WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 184-6
496
States should make Texas feel the rod of a stepmother? or did not the true honor, the real glory of this Government consist in its justice and its generosity? Mr. H. was actuated in this matter by no selfish considerations. He had no consanguinity with the officers of her navy or army, or (and he thanked God for it) with any person in office on earth. He viewed it as a great blessing, and he would say that, if the officers in question had not enjoyed all the opportunities which fell to the lot of our own for finishing their nautical education and improving theory by practice and experience; if they did not possess all the adornments and embellishments which put the last finish on a military man, it was a happy circumstance for them that these were not always necessary to success. Some of the most gallant commanders of the American navy, who had distinguished themselves and added lustre to the character of the country during the last war, had been taken from our com- mercial marine, and had of course been without any previous training in maritime war; and yet they sustained the honor of the American flag as proudly and as gallantly on the briny surge as could have been done after the most assiduous preparations. He trusted American officers ever would do so ; and he was pre- pared to pledge himself that those of Texas never would disgrace that beloved star-spangled banner which threw its folds to the wind in every sea. If any of them, owing to sickness or other Providential intervention, had been prevented from that personal experience which they might have obtained in active service; and if others, following the bent of an ardent temperament, and weary of the inactivity of peace, had voluntarily engaged in the service of a foreign friendly Power, was it to be made an objec- tion against their being admitted to a place and a command in the American navy? As well might objection be made to those who had resisted the invasion of the Texan soil, and achieved and maintained the independence of the Texan Republic, that they were not graduated at West Point. As well might Texan citizens be excluded from seats in the two Houses of Congress because they had not received a collegiate education, nor enjoyed the same facilities with others of consulting libraries and becoming familiar with the classics. If a doctrine like this was to be established, Texas might not be fully represented in either House of Congress. But it was not by such a test that the merits of this bill were to be tried.
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