The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-08-11
THE ASSAULT ON THE NAVY.

THE ASSAULT ON THE NAVY.
We profess not to know who is the author
Of the infamous attack upon the Navy, that
has appeared in the Government official, UNI
der the editorial head. Il is evidently by au-
tho,ity, and consequently, the greater the
enormity. Great as we believe The power of
this editor to be with the President and his adj
visers, we are confident that he would Eever
have hazarded this reckless step Of madness
and folly without its having been decided in
council that il must be done. We therefore
say il is by authority.
As we expected, il has called up the tempest
of a just indignation as far as the libel has ira
yelled, and however indurated the feelings Of
the authors, the lash will be applied with un-
mitigated severity until justice shall be sa-
tisfed.
All the parties concerned in this nefarious
assault will be more than discounted, what
ever may have been their calculations Of turn
Ing it to political account; they will close
their campaign ignominiously. Shame and dis
honor will rest upon the dark Decd and il will
be an indelbIe stain upon the page Of this adj
mnistration. This attack has not even the
solitary merit Of being defended with valor;
its authors are skulking from the fire of the
first guns in the action. See them on their
retreat, giving up the tone Of the bravo for
the language OF contemplate apologists. The
official Of the 9TH, says We were disposed to
put an end to that campaigning at Washington,
on the part Of certain officers Of the army and
navy, as well as the other offences to which
we have adverted, that the great mass of those
engaged in the military and naval service
might no longer be obnoxious to such attacks
in Congress" This worse than pitilul SUBJ
teriuge IS now resorted to as an apology, and
the plain import Of the original attack is TO be
tortured into kind and considerate act of
friendship 10 the Navy! Why it is only add
ing insult to injury. to imagine that they can
palm this shallow artifice upon the officers Of
the Navy. They will he held to strict ac-
count FIR every letter in their indictment, and
neither their practised cunning nor their n.y.
pocrisy can save them.
The official further remarks, they had it
specially in view to vindicate the late Secretary
of the Navy from the imputation that he was
culpable for n course Of conduct in persons in
the public employment, which had been ripen-
ed into an abuse, long before he became Sc.
cretary of the Navy" This may propitia,e
the ex-Secretary for having been damned with
faint praise, at the expense of the Atlass Of
the Treasury, but by the aggrieved party--the
Navy-it will be treated as it deserves, as The
babbe of dastards, and as the mean tribute
that falsehood pays to dishonor.
The official also says, "a little while ago,
Mr.. Clay proclaimed in the Senate, while de-
nouncing every thing else, the Army and
cause he understood the great mass Of the Off
GERS were his political partizans." Aye
there's the rub This tells much Of the NOV
ing cause of the attack. If .'the great mass
of the officers" had been "the political parti-
zans'' of the administration, would this libel
GUS attack ever have been made? No, never.
They would then have been Of the household
faith, and the mantle of the official would
have covered them. But they looked kindly
upon Mr.. Clay, and this was the unpardona-
BILE transgression, for which they have been
sandered with a malignity of purpose, that is
only equallcd by the grossness of the attack.
The right of opinion, and the freedom Of
speech, the darling attributes Of liberty, nre
denied this gallant band, and for daring to ex-
ercise them, not as politicians, but as free
men, they are to be lampooned by authority,
and their characters are to be covered with
d'shonor As well might their assailant at
tempt ito pluck bright honor from the pale
faced moon," as to profit by this. The gal
liant spirits that adorn our Navy, know their
rights and dare assert them, when necessary,
TO tue lace OF power. They may be won by
kindness and magnanimity, but never by in.
suit and oppression.
The veterans who have gathered enduring
honors at the lannon's mouth. and have
shed an unexlinguishable blaze of glory upon
their country, may rest without apprehension
as to the consequences of this attack upon
their regulations. The younger and not less
gallant part Of that same service, may poise
themselves upon the proud name that digni-
hes an American Naval Officer, without one
care as to the effect of this assault upon them
these men all belong to their country; are
endeared to it by the bright achievements
OF The past, and the confding hopes oil