Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/526

 "'And here I beg leave to ask of the Department if these extracts do not contain a repetition of 'specific acts,' 'definite charges,' and 'official misconduct,' alleged against ' a portion of the officers of your (my) ship? ' And does not the Department carry out, in part, its previous judgment by detaching Dr. Ticknor from the Ohio? Surely I could not have erred in believing that, in the promise of 'co-operation and support ' by the head of the Navy Department, further action was left to my discretion. Permit me to refer to the case of Lieutenant Du Pont, and to ask why the Department left me to judge of the sufficiency of an apology which he was to make to me, as one of the grounds on which his application to return to the United States was to be granted, and thereby leaving to my discretion an act of 'humanity'? With such a guide, calling on me in terms precise and almost imperative, to exert the power to the utmost which the laws and regulations of the service give me to protect myself from disrespect and to enforce subordination, with a promise of co-operation and support in the exercise of my lawful authority, and the example set me in detaching Dr. Ticknor, the inference was as direct and positive, to my mind, as a peremptory order would have been; and I acted in good faith, and with a single eye to the good of the naval service.'"

Now, I will read the last extract which I propose to present from Commodore Hull's letter, to show that to his last hour he felt it as a fatal blow to his influence, fatal to his honor, and dangerous to the well-being of the navy of the United States. He says: "I dare not question the propriety of the decision reversing my acts; but I trust I may say that, in my humble conception, the Department has not fully assumed or taken upon itself the responsibility of the course pursued by me; and, as a consequence, I feel that I am placed before the navy and the country as resting under the disapprobation of the Government of the United States, which will be to me a severe injury, unless averted by the head of the Navy Department.

"That any immediate evil will ensue to the navy generally, or to my immediate command, remains to be seen; but I must say, I much fear that my reputation and authority, as a commander of a foreign squadron, have received a shock from which they will not speedily recover.

"It is somewhat remarkable that this station— the Mediterranean—was the scene of my early services in our then infant navy. I witnessed its rise, its progress, and its advancement; bound myself to it, and hoped its course would ever be onward; and that now it is the scene of my last service, and I am here, I fear, to be a witness of its fall, retrogradation, and ruin; but my hopes and wishes are, to live long enough to see harmony and union, discipline and subordination, restored among its officers."

Mr. President, I have read these communications because they are important, and they contain a clear refutation of what was suggested by the venerable Senator from Delaware, when he said that the whole transaction was closed by the retraction by the Department of the first reprimand. The Committee on Naval Affairs inform us that they have thoroughly investigated this subject, and they have reported the results of their examination, and I understand it is a unanimous report. They have suggested