finite length of time: Sir Edward Hughes' fleet, in particular, may be said, many of them, to have lived and died in the East Indies, ten, twelve, and even fourteen years' wages being by no means an uncommon arrear at that time due to them. There was no system then either, enabling seamen to assign a portion of their current wages to their families at home; even pursers charges for slops were not looked after as they should have been; tradition accuses them accordingly, we hope without foundation, of having given into many abuses; and, on the whole, it is certain that seamen then served, in many cases, merely for their clothes and prize-money-they died, or deserted, before returning home. The commissioned-officers were the only individuals exempted from these hardships; they drew their pay quar terly, then as now. Of late years, how ever, much of this has been reformed. No ship is ever more than three years abroad-men are allowed to assign half their current pay to their families -it is impossible for irregularity or imposition to creep into a purser's accounts without detection-slops are both very cheap and very good, and the warrant-officers and mates draw for their pay quarterly, under the same testification by the captain, as the commissioned-officers. But this will go further yet, and probably in the following gradation:-The resident commissioners abroad will first be authorized to pay seamen's wages, as well as those at home-the periods when these are considered due will be shortened and ultimately the captain, and other signing officers, as they are called, of each ship, will be empowered, conjunctly, to draw for them, or for such portion of them as the men want, almost at any time. Books, of the nature of savings-bank books, will at the same time be opened, to account for the remainder, under the men's own eyes, and open to their fa miliar inspection. They will be enabled, without question, to draw every farthing, if they want it; and they will receive interest, on whatever they chuse to leave behind. They will thus feel their money to be their own, as though it were in their pockets-become familiarized with its possession; and the following are a few of the advantages which would be derived from such a change in their situation, which will be found to apply both to discipline and character, and to be both remedial and preventive. Rating and disrating are now, and have long been, familiar rewards and punishments in the navy; but they are felt at present only as honour or disgrace, their consequences on emolument being so remote. Did these appear, however, at the conclusion of every monthly balancing, their effect, whether as stimulus or caution, would be increased many-fold.-To prevent the sale of clothes by seamen, a monthly inspection-in some ships it used to be even a weekly one-of their effects is constantly held, at the minute scrutiny of which the shy proud tempers, in particular of our north-country seamen, (the best in the world,) especially revolts; and it is their first ambition accordingly, when they become petty officers, to escape from it. In old times, officers did not care for their people's sulks there were ways and means to bring them out of them, or carry through all; but they would mar completely the best possible system of influence; and the occasion in question for them would thus, in the way proposed, be altogether removed. Again, the disposition of seamen to sell their clothes to raise the wind, is connected with some of the very worst circumstances in their situation, with regard to morals and good order; and this is the only way possible by which to overcome it, or even make it very reasonable to repress or punish it. It is one of several lures, (all growing It ought to gratify Scotchmen to be reminded, that a Scotch family, ennobled for this and other services, has had the high honour, and special good fortune, to preside at the Admiralty, father and son successively, almost the whole time that the improvements which we have endeavoured to trace have been in progress in the navy; and that its name is thus identified with them in the memory of every sailor. The truest political wisdom is to catch, in its infancy, the spirit of the age in which we live ;—the highest political fortune is to be entrusted with its guidance, and to be able to bequeath the trust, as an inheritance, to a son, together with the maxims by which it was administered. This good fortune was the late Lord Melville's. out of the pay system which we have explained,) which make it a matter of course that sea-port towns should be the common resort of knavish brokers, who purchase seamen's tickets for long arrears, give them money on false assignments of pay, put a thousand falsehoods into their mouths, (of which, and the corresponding habits, they are not unfrequently themselves victims, it is true,) but which, when they come fresh from their mint, are designed to impose on the officers who take an interest in keeping their people out of their clutches; and finally, coax these to drink, and indulge in every similar excess, just on purpose to profit by their prodigality and distress. Sailors know very well that this is their character, and these their arts; and if they could touch their current pay, or even a part of it, as they wanted it, would never go near them. But they will not want money altogether; and, as matters stand now, they only make bad worse through this knowledge, by reconciling to their consciences accordingly, upon the approved principle of diamond cut diamond, every imposition which they can put upon them. And lastly, however small the arrears due to seamen at any time upon our plan, and its amount would always depend on themselves, it would in truth keep them from deserting a thousand times more certainly than any undefined and distant sum can possibly do. A sailor's balancing turns much more on present and future time, than greater or smaller emolument: "What's the use," says he, "of my hanging on here for this wage? I may be dead or ever I get it." And thus, although seamen seldom leave their ships with the intention of deserting, it is inconceivable how small a lure will sometimes spirit them away. The change in question, however, would first apply to their present character, and, as shall be afterwards noticed more at length, will ultimately modify it; and, we repeat it therefore, all these reasons together will certainly produce it in the long run. The rather, and we ought to notice this, that the mode of enabling seamen to touch a portion of their current pay abroad, by conniving at their selling their clothes taken up on credit, is now almost methodized in the service at any rate, in consequence of the circumstances in which it has been placed; and that thus all the objects contemplated by the present regulations are certainly defeated, and the only ones really gained are the plun der of the seamen by pawn-brokers, and their prosperity and multiplication. The following anecdotes we subjoin, considering them important, as illustrating two points here insisted on; the one, the indifference of seamen, under ordinary circumstances, even to a very moderately distant pecuniary motive; and the other, their accessibility to it, notwithstanding their proverbial carelessness, when it is directly brought home to them ;they both occurred within our own observation. A seaman who was invalided on a foreign station, on his way home took a passage in the ship he had belonged to, from one port to another; but the vessel touching at an intermediate port on her way, he was permitted to go on shore with his comrades to take a walk. And he deserted, that is to say, he got drunk, outstaid his time, was afraid to return, (the prospect of his money within a few months not even weighing down this,) and not appearing, was marked as "run," on the ship's books, the only way of disposing of him. Two years afterwards, however, when the shoe began to pinch, and he saw others getting their wages, while he was cut out of his, the same fellow walked 400 miles, from London to Edinburgh, and back again, to get his captain to speak for him that he might be forgiven; and as his case was certainly a peculiar one, and he never could have meant to desert, a representation was ultimately made to the Admiralty to this effect, and was successful. Again, a ship on the Halifax station, in 1815, received orders to proceed to Quebec, collect convoy, and return to England, with a tolerable certainty of being paid off. was not a farthing among her crew, and accordingly, the officer who commanded her was familiarized with the system of clothes-selling, and allowed for it; but on the present occasion, on his way to Quebec, he acquainted his ship's company with their destination, and their near prospect, in consequence, of receiving their arrears. Meanwhile, he added, they should have leave as usual, and, he knew, would sell their clothes as usual; but There that those who wanted slops should, notwithstanding, have them, to the present diminution of their balance; and on coming out of port, he would make every man complete to two suits, to cross the Atlantic with, in further diminution of it, if it was necessary. The men could not resist the temptation of taking up some slops at the moment, that they might enjoy them selves while in port; but there they had leave till they would not go out of the ship even to take a walk, not one deserted, and on putting to sea, it was only necessary to issue four jackets among them all. Let us add, at the same time, with respect to their not deserting, that several of them had really no arrears at all, and were scarcely out of debt when they came home; these did not remain, therefore, from a pecuniary motive, but a much better one, a sense of obligation for sympathy with their feelings, and regard for their interests, peremptorily expressed, but cordially felt, and timeously extended. As it happens, there is nothing attaches sailors in their present state so much as this, and it retains their respect at the same time. In dealing with them, it is necessary to invert the old adage, and write, fortiter in modo, sed suaviter in re-using, perhaps, a strong invec tive, even while the action is benevo lent, and the feeling most kind.* If they fancy themselves courted, like children, they cast all control behind them; but, like the same children, they are very sensible of real interest, although neither deceived by a soft nor a gruff voice; and when they feel themelves obliged, surrendering entirely to the present impulse, (it does not generally last long,) they will go through fire and water to indulge in it, and make personal sacrifices which calculators would never do. Only they will do just the same, as the whim moves them, in the opposite direction; and the strong bit which was once in their mouth being broken, we must ride them with the snaffle, and this spirit is therefore inconvenient. Their character, in one word more, is just Burke's character of Lord Chatham's 66 a tesselated last administration, of black stone, pavement, here a bit and there a bit of white, most beautiful to look at, but nozʊ utterly unsafe on these occa certain state of we cannot bear * We do not mean here that it is ever absolutely necessary to swear sions, although, no doubt, it is sometimes exceedingly convenient, we only generally renew an argument on which we once before touched, that in a society men must be ruled peremptorily; and add, that in the same state, a bark does not offend their ears, and they are the better for being reminded by it, even when you are most kind to them, that a bite may follow, should they come to want it. There is no argument tempts us so much at all times as this,to hear the old institutions of the navy sweepingly condemned, without a single re ference to the change of times; and it most especially moved our spleen, only the other day, when we observed that the surviving relations of the late Admiral Bur ney could not even eulogize his memory without descending to this cant. People should have more sense than thus institute invidious comparisons, when they are in no degree called for, or conceive that they can only praise an individual by depreciating the profession to which he belonged. Admiral Burney was, unquestionably, an able and highly-gifted officer; every thing, in a word, which this eulogy, abstractly, calls him. What then? He early took to sea with him those literary accomplishhave already ments, the operation of which, in moderating the tone of discipline, noticed. And, with them, he had a measure of the faults of the state of society to which he thus properly belonged. And be it said, with every proper respect to his memory, he would have been neither a worse man, nor a less eminent officer, had his failings been those rather of the age in which he lived. we occurs to us, toleOn the fatal To return to our argument, however, we may observe, that the beau ideal of a chief, in a rude people's fancy, is always a bluff speaker; and an anecdote rably in point, which seems to shew that this is not without reason. morning of the charge on the American lines before New Orleans, on the 8th January, 1815, a brigade of black troops in the field hung back a few moments, half frozen, in truth, for the night had been very cold. An officer, thinking to encourage them, called out, "Come along, my brave fellows; come along!". "Me no brave, massa, dis morning, me no hab rum," was the cool reply of one of their number; but which very naturally enraging the officer, changed his note; and, well rated, perhaps well cuffed, poor Mungo warmed forthwith to his task, and behaved well throughout the remainder of the affair. to stand on." We say now, for it once was otherwise; and as we write, the whole scene, like every thing else in this world, for which there is no longer a direct use, is shifting. It is not yet time to say all that occurs to us as we make the observation; nor to express the regret which, spite of ourselves, we feel, when we think that the romance of this character must pass away with its rudeness, and that what it gains in outward decency, perhaps in morals, perhaps in wisdom, it must lose in what are honestly worth them all,-generosity and feeling. The next change in the situation of seamen on board of men-of-war, which we shall now notice as bringing about by the spirit of the age, relates to the limitation of their service. Formerly this was quite indefinite-once impressed, they were kept till worn out, and then dismissed without pension or allowance of any sort, unless they had the good fortune to be desperately wounded. Towards the close of the last war, however, those who had served twelve years, got their discharge, if they chose it; and, at the general dismissal, all retired pensioned according to their length of service above seven years. A sense of justice dictated these regulations: A sense of justice and policy mixed, will, we think, modify and improve them. We shall endeavour to state our own views on the subject. The navy is not a profession by itself for seamen, it is only a branch, making a greater or less demand on the maritime population of the country, according to circumstances; and yet it is necessarily a very different school for sailors from the merchant service. So many men are required to work the guns of a man-of-war, the other duty on board her is comparatively lighter than in a merchantship; and habits of what are deemed in this last skulking, are thus speedily generated in her crew. But twelve years are too long to keep a man in such a service against his will, unless the country burdens itself with his entire future provision, which no scale of pension, hitherto proposed, at all pretends to; a seaman's pension, unike the half-pay of an officer, being nerely a contribution to his support, aying no restraint on him, debarring im from no means of ekeing out his ivelihood, and being, therefore, cal culated on a much more limited scale. We think, therefore, that în time, seven, or even five years, will come to be considered as entitling a man to his discharge; and a very reasonable tax such service will then be, considering that those who will pay it, will owe the prosperity and security which constitute their other means of existence, to the same navy which they will thus for a short period contribute to man. On the other hand, however, such a system of pensions as was lately resorted to, was perhaps indispensible at the conclusion of a war like the last, in which we had forcibly detained the persons, and exhausted the manly vigour of a number of men, whom we could not, in common decency, abandon in the end without provision. Practically, however, it has its inconveniencies. Men enjoy their pensions only while out of the navy; if they rejoin a man-of-war, although their prolonged service gives them a claim › ̈ to a higher rate of allowance when again dismissed, what they have at the moment, merges in their common pay, which has not, at the same time, been raised. It operates thus as a bonus against entering; and although we have not yet experienced much inconvenience from this, it has been in some degree felt, and on an emergency would be so yet more. Besides this, however, it in no material degree benefits the seamen, unless on occasion of such a temporary pressure on business as was lately experienced, when work was not to be had upon any terms. In ordinary circumstances, it merely enables merchants to lower the rate of their wages, for Jack asks no more than just to be able to live and work; and if his pension will keep his family, and give himself now and then a cruize ashore, he will go to sea for his grub (provisions,) rather than remain idle. In time, then, we think that this system will be thus far amended; pensions will be given even to those who have served the shortest time in the navy entitling them to their discharge, graduating, however, up to the longest; but they will be given to none until they retire, in old age or testified disability, from all active employment; when they will be made, in some degree, comfortable provisions for their entire support. The expence to the country of a sys tem like this, would not be more than it is now; were it substituted for the present bounty system, it would even be less seamen do not usually live long. And we can conceive no higher light in which the navy of a country like ours could be placed, than that it should thus employ and protect the youthful industry of our maritime population, while it sustained the feebleness of their declining years;-on the condition only that a short period of their manhood shall be contributed to its own support. according to their perseverance, but always a comfortable addition to what ever they may amass besides. The power of ever afterwards going and re turning on their avocations in perfect security from violence, will be connected in idea to them with a few years voluntary service in it; and this service will accordingly come to be considered by them all as a necessary debt, well over when discharged. They will enter young accordingly, if they can; the rather that it is in youth that the imagination is most struck by the tales of merry days and occa sional sharp service, such as those will delight to tell whose time is over, and their battles fought. And even among them, should any sudden emergency call at a moment for an increased force, numbers will be found willing again to try their luck for a brief period, certain of increasing their rate of su perannuation, in hopes probably of coming to blows, demolishing a Frenchman, blowing up a galleon, &c., all on the approved pattern of elder times; which, whatever may have been their hardships to those actually engaged in them, we may be sure tradition will paint to our posterity as days of life and spirit, which their own eras will never equal, far less surpass We shall now state but one more change, which the springs thus at work in the navy and in the times, will yet produce, we think, in the situation of seamen with regard to it; which is, that thus the system of impressment will be virtually, if not for mally, given up. While the fleet was ruled by force, it was necessary that it should be manned in like manner; and we repeat a sentiment, which we once before expressed on the same occasion-so beautiful is the structure of our nature, the wind was tempered to the lamb thus shorn, and sailors laughed and made jests on the one system, while they came to lean on the other as a guide. As coercion, however, ceases in the one case, and even its means are withdrawn, it must also In drawing up this brief sketch of cease in the other, for no man will be the future in the navy, such as we influenced to do his duty in a man-of- think we are able to read it, we war, if the very scene is hateful to have purposely omitted to mention. him, from a recollection of the vio- minute points, relating to internal relence, the anomalous violence, as it gulation; for example to giving leave, will then have become, which brought breaking up men's chests him there. The truth is, however, bringing their bags on deck through that when the whole system shall the day, &c., on all which, and many come to be matured and perfected-we more, we see changes in progress, likeshall not say, as we have attempted to ly, in our opinion, to be limited only sketch it, but as the elements of im- by what is physically impossible in provement, now at work, must make the way of relief, but which might it in time, and which may be much thus give occasion to difference of opibetter than we have divined-it will nion, and bring in question the soundbecome a matter of competition for ness of our views, on the very score sailors to get into the navy, rather that they are wire-drawn. We have than a matter of dread. It will ne- tried to notice the spirit, rather than ver be so to the present generation, we the particulars of innovation; and, will be at all events well taught, well paid, kindly treated, not severely work on board, we shall conclude the subject by a brief exposition of its last division, the probable effect ed, and not necessarily long detained of the whole on the character of our in it. Besides this, if we augur right, they will earn a provision for their declining years in it, greater or less, 8 |