Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/228

 20O THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

taken before a naval committee and expressed by the acting Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, said : —

"That is a wholesale denunciation by an officer of the Navy ao^ainst a class of officers. Mr. President, I believe there are but five of tiiese officers now in com- mission, at least on the Atlantic coast. They are the Xavy agents at Kittery, at Boston, at New York, at Philadelphia, and at Washington. It is my fortune to be acquainted with tliree of theni^with two of them I am not acquainted.

I will begin with tlie Xavy agent at Kittery. Thomas L. Tullock; and I say what every citizen of New Hampshire, what every citizen of Maine that knows anything of Mr. Tullock will bear me out in sajing, a more upright, conscientious, honest, faithful, vigilant officer never held a commission under this Government from the days of Washington to the present time. A Christian, who illustrates the sincerity of his faith by the purity of his life; a man of the most exemplary integrity; a man against whose reputation the breath of scandal never breathed, and a calumny was never uttered. Mr. Tullock I have known for many years. You know him, Mr. President (Mr. Clark, President pro tempore, in the chair). I think other

fentlemen on this floor know him. I take pleasure and pride in saying to the enate that he is my friend, my personal friend, and I am proud of the honor of being allowed to call him so ; and I tell you, sir, that he stands as much higher in public estimation than those who detract and decry him, as it is possible in the present constitution of things for one man to stand above another.

I have read — I think it is in ^dEsop's Fables — that a viper once, impelled, either by the cravings of hunger or the demands of his nature, thought he could make a meal of a file. He gnawed at it some time. What the efi^ect upon his teeth was, is not recorded; but I believe from that time to this the attempt of vipers to feed themselves with files has been gwen over. Just exactly as useless will it be for any man anywhere to undertake to build up a reputation for himself, or for any Department of this Government, by attacking such men as Mr. Tullock."

The distinguished officer in the Navy to whom Senator Hale referred, wrote to Mr. Tullock immediately after the delivery of the Senator's speech, assur- ing him that the opinion he expressed before a committee concerning Navy Agents and Naval supplies, and which inspired, in part, the speech vindicating them, had not the remotest reference to him, and was not in the least applica- ble to the Navy Agent at the Portsmouth Naval Station.

In 1865, Mr. Tullock was elected Secretary of the Union Republican Con- gressional Committee at Washington, a committee which was formed to secure a more efficient organization of the Republican party, especially at the South, and to disseminate among the people a thorough knowledge of the great principles which formed the basis of its action. It was composed of one member appointed from each State, having a Union Representative in either House of Congress. He was also Secretary of the Executive Committee. Mr. Tullock reluctantly accepted the position, and conducted the important political campaigns of that critical period, involving the great work of recon- struction, and the cdnvention and ratification campaigns in the seceding States, and also the presidential canvass which resulted in the election of Grant and Colfax in November, 1868. He continued in charge until March, 1869, when he resigned, and the office was temporarily closed.

One who was connected with the Congressional Committee during this event- ful period, and who had an excellent opportunity of judging of the value of Mr. Tullock's services to the country during his management of its affairs, bears testi- mony to the discretion, ability and fidelity with which he discharged its grave duties, and to the very great benefit that resulted to the nation from the wise and patriotic exercise of the high trust imposed upon him.

For the indefatigable and systematic labors of Mr. Tullock, he received many encomiums ; but we have space only to quote from a few of the public notices. One of the New Hampshire papers paid a well-merited compliment to him for his able and^^efficient services, which was extensively copied and endorsed] in the most flattering^manner.

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