Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/500

 slaughter-house of reputation. Let that be their indorsement. What I say, humble as I am, is to become history, and I will not give them immortality by stating their names. They do not deserve it, and I will not do it. They may look for fame to what the venerable Senator from Delaware said of them; though I believe he has no indorser; but as it was his "sincere testimony." I suppose it will pass current. [Laughter.] They are the men who happen to be retained.

I am perfectly aware of what has produced this excitement. I have not had persons contributing to my means of information who had access to the Navy Department. I have not had such persons to run to the department for me and obtain every musty document that would assail the reputation of any man. But, Mr. President, when you compare the documents which I have read and the evidence on which I relied, with that introduced by the venerable Senator from Delaware, I think the inference must fairly be drawn that I am less obnoxious to the charge of having used a drag-net than that Senator himself. How has he assailed Maury? He has gone back for fifteen years. I can very well understand the object of the venerable Senator in that. He did not intend to insult the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Bell], who had taken an interest in Maury's case. He read from a speech which I had made, where I said that I had been Maury's patron, and was proud of it. Sir, I am, I was, I will be, proud of him! I feel that he has been wronged; and I hope that he will be redressed, and that the country will be benefited by honoring him with what he deserves.

But what has the venerable Senator from Delaware done? Was it necessary for the examination of any matters connected with the action of the board that he should present what he did present in regard to Lieutenant Maury? I did not go into the personal affairs of Mr. Du Pont or other gentlemen; but he went into the personal affairs of Mr. Maury. He commented on the present salary of Lieutenant Maury as if he were not entitled to it by law. He spoke of the vegetable garden, the kitchen, and the cart-horse allowed him. The Senator traveled over every intermediate step, beginning at the pedestal of his fame, and going down to the very mud of his garden. That was to assail and mortify the feelings of that man who honors his country. As Franklin contemplated and grasped the philosophy of the clouds and tamed the fierce lightning of heaven, so Maury has fathomed the ocean, and controlled by his calculations the fury of the storm and the violence of the tempest; he has mastered the waves of the ocean, and played familiar with her name. Can the Senator tarnish his name? Never, never; the attempt to do it will only make the country suffer.

Sir, the name of Maury is endeared to every American heart. It is a name that will live as long as the odium which attaches to the inquisitorial action of the retiring board shall be remembered; and that will be forever. If the venerable Senator from Delaware had only confined himself to the use of a drag-net on these officers, and had not employed official scavengers and pimps to minister to his appetite, and enable him to assail Maury as he has done, it would have been well for him.

But, sir, what is the tremendous influence that is brought to sustain this board? Look at it. There is the Executive of the nation. What has he done? Has he not indicated the strongest disposition possible to sustain the board? What has the Secretary of the Navy done? Has he not imitated the example?