THE SCHOOLMASTER AFLOAT.
The union of abstract or theoretical study with actual practice, is
one of the most important characteristics of a naval life; and the
distinction is rendered still more remarkable, from its extending
throughout the whole range of an officer’s career, from the very
hour he enters the service as a midshipman, till he ends his life in
battle, like Nelson, or worn out, like Collingwood, in command of a
fleet. Every officer in the Navy, in short, who really cares about his
business at all, may be said to be perpetually learning his profession,
and as perpetually putting in practice what he learns; for by no
exertion of talents or industry, can he ever expect to reach the top
of his knowledge, or that point where further instruction will no
longer prove useful to himself and his country. A naval man, therefore,
however professionally employed, is kept constantly alive and active,
as far as the pursuit of information is concerned. For there is a
permanent and high bounty, as it were, upon every fresh acquirement;
and the advantages of each new attainment are so great, and generally
so soon felt, that, with a little address on the part of the higher
authorities, there can never be wanting opportunities for bringing such
information into useful operation. As, therefore, there is very seldom
any want of stimulus amongst the young men on board a well-regulated
ship; it becomes of great consequence, not only to create and keep
alive this impulse, but also to give it a right direction, and so to
guide its energies, that the result may be productive of benefit, not
merely to the officers themselves, but to their country.
The nature of the sea service is such, that it must be entered at an
early age, otherwise its duties are sure to disgust. But unless a boy
happens to be one of those prodigies, (who, in the long run, seldom
turn out worth sixpence!) he must almost necessarily be very ignorant
when he commences his sea life. Once afloat, however, the occupations
of the ship are quite sufficient to keep his body in healthful
exercise, and the variety of new objects he sees will generally prevent
his mind from ever wearying. Yet unless some consistent, uniform means
be taken to cherish his nascent mental energies, and to give a right
direction to that desire for knowledge which belongs to his age, and,
above all, to found and regulate his principles; the chances are but
too great that he may speedily run to weeds and waste, in spite of the
best possible disposition on his part to do right.
Persons who have not had the means of becoming acquainted with the
dangers that beset a young man, on his first going to sea, and even
for some time afterwards, can form no adequate conception of the risk
which he incurs of having his taste and morals corrupted, and the best
faculties of his mind not only neglected, but often irretrievably
shaken. Nor must people hope, that by sending a boy under the
protection of the captain, or one of the officers, these evils will
always be warded off. The danger may be lessened, it is true; but it
cannot be effectually guarded against, and for a very plain reason.
In ships actively employed, hardly any officer has leisure to devote
the requisite amount of time to the superintendence of a boy under his
charge; and still less frequently has he either capacity or temper
for the arduous task of education. To which it may be added, that,
even under favourable circumstances, the duties of an officer, and his
assigned position in the ship, generally keep him too much apart from
the midshipmen to enable him to exercise, to the extent we could wish,
that degree of watchfulness over his protégé’s habits, without which
the utmost care may often prove ineffectual in maintaining his young
friend in the right path.
The kindness of a captain, or any other of the officers, certainly
goes a long way to render the situation of a youngster on board ship
happy, and useful. But these advantages can be fully extended only to
a few cases, even in ships where the captain’s disposition has that
kindly bent which takes delight in opening his cabin to the midshipmen,
and prompts him to go out of his way in other respects, to make them
pleased with their situation. It is deeply to be regretted, indeed,
that in most ships in His Majesty’s service, no such advantages can
be reckoned upon; and unless there be something more direct and
imperative than the mere good-will of the captain, too many youngsters
will inevitably be neglected, not only to their own loss and eventual
sorrow, but to the manifest injury of the public interests.
There is a very mistaken notion entertained by many officers in the
Navy, who conceive that parental care and kindness to the midshipmen
under their command, do not fall within the strict line of their duty.
And this would be reasonable, if it were right to govern His Majesty’s
ships exclusively by the strict letter of the Printed Instructions and
the Articles of War. But how could the service go on for a single day
on such principles? Every thing falls within the line of a captain’s
duty which contributes to the advancement of the public good; and who
shall say that an attention to the morals and manners of those young
men, who are destined to command the ships and fleets of the country,
is not an object of vital public interest?
There is no law, strictly so called, by which parents on shore are
compelled to educate their children, or to shew them kindness; but what
father of a family will plead this omission in the statutes in excuse
for neglecting his family? Yet the case is even stronger on board
ship, where the dangers of evil communication—that corrupter of good
manners—are far greater, and where the value of kindness is enhanced a
hundred-fold, by the many hardships and privations to which the poor
boys must be exposed.
To say that these young persons are merely public servants—that they
must take their chance with the rest of the crew—and that a captain
has enough to do besides making himself a dry-nurse for every child
sent on board his ship, is a bitter and most unworthy mockery, implying
little genuine public spirit, and still less private feeling.
At the very best, as I have already said, the captain cannot accomplish
all the objects that could be desired; but in every case, even of
the most actively employed ships, the exercise of his authority, in
a generous and kindly spirit, must contribute, in a most essential
degree, not only to the present comfort, but to the solid virtue of the
youngsters on board. Indeed, these two results must always go together,
afloat as well as on shore; and exactly in proportion as the captain
can ameliorate the habits of his young officers, or win them to a
conviction of the value of acting upon principle, so will they become
happier men and more useful public servants.
It has already been stated, that a captain’s time is generally so much
taken up with official duties, that, even if he be so inclined, he
cannot devote an adequate portion of his attention to the moral care
of the important class of rising officers of whom we are speaking.
But it requires only a slight acquaintance with any description of
public business to shew, that although a commanding officer may often
not be able to execute a required task himself, he may usefully
superintend its right performance by another. Indeed, it will happen,
in most cases, that such work will actually be better done by another
person, under his inspection, than it could have been done by the
chief himself. This observation applies, in a remarkable manner, to
the numerous and varied duties on board a man-of-war. Nor is it too
much to say, that in a well-regulated ship the captain is bound not to
attempt the execution of all, or, perhaps, any of these duties himself,
but rather to devote his attention to their right performance by the
officers especially named to such charges.
It is on this principle—that is to say, exactly in the same spirit
by which every other duty is carried on afloat—that I consider it of
so much importance to the well-being of the Navy that the captain
should be provided with a duly-qualified officer in a most essential
department of his discipline, at present absolutely vacant. He cannot,
by any exertion, execute the duties of instruction himself; nor is
there any other person on board to whom he can delegate them, at least
as things are now constituted; and the consequences, we all know, are
in many cases every way deplorable.
Fortunately, the remedy for these evils appears neither difficult
of discovery, nor costly in its application; and as it has had the
advantage of frequent and successful trial, it is to be hoped that,
ere long, its adoption as a matter of official regulation will become
general throughout the Navy.
It must have occurred to every one who has attended personally to this
subject, that the duty of superintending the progress of youngsters
circumstanced as the mids are, to any good purpose, can be performed
only by a person who shall have this exclusive business to attend to,
or whose chief duty and interest it shall be. Neither can there be a
doubt, that if a proper salary were given, in connexion with some
advantages which would cost the country nothing, a class of officers,
fully competent to this high and important task, might soon be created,
and placed as much at the disposal of the administrators of our naval
affairs, as any other description of public servants. I use the word
officers instead of schoolmasters, because it appears to me quite
essential to the success of the measures under consideration, that the
person having the superintendence of the young gentlemen in one of His
Majesty’s ships should be permanently placed, as nearly as possible, in
the situation eventually to be filled by his pupils, in order that he
may become practically familiar with those professional feelings and
habits, the value of which it is his duty to teach, along with those
still more important principles, and sacred instructions peculiarly his
province to inculcate.
Many of these useful refinements, however, cannot be looked for in men
who are not placed in situations in which alone, as all experience
shews, they can be acquired; it, therefore, becomes indispensable,
as I have said before, that the instructors of our naval youth should
be made to feel that they really are officers, to all intents and
purposes, not only in rank, but in the enjoyment of every other
technical advantage possible.
A preceptor, under any circumstances, but most particularly on board
ship, in order to have the power of doing any permanent good, should
not only respect himself, but ought to be supported in such a way as
to command, at all times, the respect, not alone of his pupils, but
likewise of the people about them. Unfortunately, few things can be
more inefficient, or, generally speaking, more ridiculous, than the
present situation of a schoolmaster afloat; and until his position
there be materially improved, it is almost hopeless to look for any
good results.
“The average pay of schoolmasters,” observes a well-informed writer,
“is about £50 and their provisions. They rank with the ship’s cook,
mess with the midshipmen, and have no cabin. With so small a pittance,
and with such rank and accommodations, it would be unreasonable to
suppose that a very highly-educated class of persons could be obtained;
and consequently we find, that many ships are totally unprovided.
Where they are found, they are often persons who make it convenient
to serve for a time; but it rarely happens that they continue in the
business. No prospect of advancement is held out to them, nor are they
in any way recompensed or provided for when their term of service is
complete. The naval instructions ordain that ‘the schoolmaster is not
only to instruct his pupils in mathematics, but to watch over their
general conduct, and to attend to their morals; and if he shall observe
any disposition to immorality or debauchery, or any conduct unbecoming
an officer or a gentleman, he is to represent it to the captain.’
This appears very plausible in the printed instructions; but its
execution, under the circumstances just detailed, must be pronounced
chimerical. It may readily be supposed, how totally inconsistent with
this dignified surveillance, living in the same hole with their pupils
must be, particularly when the democratical form of government, or
club-law, which is generally to be found there, is remembered. The
habits and awkwardness of a landsman are of themselves a constant theme
of irresistible ridicule with their joyous associates; and when it
is considered that the highest authority often finds it difficult to
restrain their happy thoughtlessness and practical jokes, what, it may
be asked, must be expected to be the fate of an unhappy equal?”[2]
This is by no means an exaggerated picture of the situation of a
schoolmaster on board a man-of-war; and whatever the remedy be,
I believe there can hardly exist a difference of opinion amongst
professional men as to the great improvement of which this department
of the service is susceptible.
In the able paper above quoted, the well-known advantages of uniting
the two situations of chaplain and schoolmaster, are stated with
considerable force; the practical good results, indeed, which have
attended many of the experiments which have been made of that union,
are so generally recognised, that in a short time we may expect to see
it established in every ship. But the pay of either of these situations
is too trifling to render it a sufficient motive for a man of abilities
and classical knowledge to go on board ship. The consequence is, either
that most of our ships are left without such instructors; or that
these stations are not very well filled; or, finally, if occupied by
qualified persons, they are held by men who accept them only for a
time, till something better shall offer.
In the Leander, on the Halifax station, we had an excellent
schoolmaster for about a year, when the situation of professor of one
of the colonial colleges happening to fall vacant, we lost his services
immediately; and although ours was the flag-ship, on board of which
the inducements were considerably beyond the common run, we could never
afterwards procure a proper person to fill the office. The youngsters,
therefore, who, as usual, flocked on board the Admiral’s ship, were
ever after left completely adrift.
What would become of the arrangements of a man-of-war, I should
like to ask, if any one of the other officers—the first lieutenant,
for instance, the purser, or the boatswain—were at liberty, without
warning, to quit the ship the instant he saw an opportunity of
bettering himself? And yet, if there existed no prospective benefit in
these officers remaining, on what principle could we expect to maintain
any permanent hold over them? How then can we wonder that chaplains
and schoolmasters, whom as yet we have taken no pains to form into a
distinct, respectable, and well-paid class of officers, should scruple
so little about abandoning a service in which no proper means have yet
been adopted to give them, as in the case of every other officer, a
determinate life interest?
The obvious remedy, as has been urged a hundred times, seems to lie in
this plan of uniting the situations of chaplain and schoolmaster, and
joining the pay of the two. In all probability, the truest economy will
be found in still further augmenting this pay, so as to make it really
worth the while of properly-educated men to look to it, not merely for
a season, but as a fixed provision. The discomforts, however, of a
midshipman’s birth—to all but the mids themselves, who are hastening to
get out of it—are so intolerable, that hardly any amount of pay will
ever be thought a full recompense for the sacrifices which a person
grown up to man’s estate, and properly qualified in other respects,
would be called upon to make, were he required to mess in the cock-pit.
In the event, therefore, of such union of offices, the gentleman in
whom they are joined ought to bear a regular commission, mess with the
commissioned officers, and walk the weather side of the deck; perhaps
also he might advantageously wear a suitable uniform. At all events,
he ought to possess a distinct rank, and be considered as essentially
a part of the ship’s complement as the surgeon, purser, or any other
officer in the civil department of the fleet.
People unacquainted with the nature of naval discipline may smile,
perhaps, at some of the privileges glanced at above, as essential
to the right exercise of power. But long experience has shewn that
the distinctions in question are the recognised symbols or indexes
of due subordination and general good order. They unquestionably
contribute, indirectly, to the maintenance of that prompt and effective
obedience, and respect to constituted authority, which, combined
with self-respect, go so far to form the sinews of naval strength.
If, therefore, it be of real utility to have the schoolmaster’s work
as well executed as that of the other officers, it surely follows
that he ought to be placed in a situation to command, not merely the
dogged attention of the midshipmen, but in one which will insure the
official reverence of the boys, together with a proportionate degree
of consideration from those whom they command. If these minute
particulars in balancing the scales of discipline be not duly attended
to, the respect of the pupils will dwindle into familiarity, and the
schoolmaster, if he be not a strong-minded person, may end by losing
his own self-confidence. All lessons then become a farce, and the
teacher either relapses into a useless appendage to the ship, or, if
forcibly sustained by the stern authority of the captain, he is apt to
degenerate into a mere pedagogue.
It may safely be laid down as a pretty general principle, that to
render any man of much use, he must be placed permanently in a station,
which of itself, and by the ordinary workings of the established order
of things, will insure attention both from superiors and inferiors.
Without this adjustment, there can be no good service performed any
where—on land or at sea.
It is sometimes not sufficiently recollected, that schooling on board
ship differs materially from what it is on shore; for it not only
treats of very different matters, but has other objects in view, both
immediate and remote. Before a young person actually engages in a
profession, the great purpose of a school appears to consist in mere
training—that is to say, in carrying his faculties through a course of
preparatory discipline, without any more specific object than mental
exercise. But when the youth is once fairly embarked in the pursuit
which is to furnish employment for his life, an immediate modification
takes place. The system which it is necessary to follow at sea is then
placed in distinct contrast to that previously observed.
On shore, education and business are two separate things, one of
which does not begin till the other ends; while, on board ship, the
two always go hand in hand. As the lessons of the teacher may be put
in practice immediately, the utility of theoretical knowledge is
exhibited on the spot; and thus a gradually increasing impulse is
given to the whole course of study. A boy who learns from his master
what the word Latitude means, and what is the method of obtaining it,
instantly runs upon deck, takes a quadrant in his hand, observes the
sun’s meridional altitude, and is filled with amaze and delight on
discovering: within what small limits he has been able to determine the
ship’s place relatively to the equator. Next day he sets to work with
increased eagerness to conquer the more difficult problem of finding
the Longitude, which he has immediate opportunities of bringing to
the test of actual experiment. The theory of Gunnery, likewise, when
studied by itself, is frequently found to be intricate, and often far
from satisfactory; but, when all its results can be brought to the test
of experiment, the aspect which this very important pursuit assumes is
totally different. How few officers, for instance, understand correctly
the meaning of the elementary term Point Blank, or have any useful
conception of the mathematical principles which it involves! How often
do we hear people gravely assuming that the shot rises between the
gun and the point-blank mark! The laws which regulate the action of
fluids directed against plane surfaces are by no means easily explained
when grappled with alone; but, when brought to bear on the use of the
rudder, or the trim of the sails, there is hardly a boy afloat who
fails to appreciate the value of true science over what is called
‘rule of thumb;’ or rather, who may not soon be taught to feel the
mighty advantage of uniting the two, so as to make theory and practice
mutually assist each other.
Nearly the same thing may be said of almost every other branch of
knowledge: with languages, for instance—I mean more particularly
the modern languages—French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian,
most of which are made to tell generally as soon as acquired. The
Mathematics in all their wonderful branches, and Science in almost
every department, furnish ample objects to fill up the leisure hours
of an officer. Geography, history, and the law of nations, come into
professional play at every turn. A young man, therefore, of any
capacity or industry, is nearly sure of rendering himself useful in a
short time, be his particular pursuits what they may, provided only
that his zeal is duly encouraged by the captain, and seconded by the
ready assistance of a properly qualified preceptor whom he has been
taught to respect. It must never be forgotten, however, that along with
all this knowledge of a professional, literary, or scientific nature,
there ought to be mixed up instructions of a still more important
description, upon which the formation of a young man’s character will
mainly depend, whether we view him merely as an officer, or in his
wider capacity as a member of the civil community.
Every one acquainted with the difficult task of bringing boys
safely through the intricate labyrinth of temptations which must be
encountered in the early stages of a sea life, will acknowledge, that
the superintendent of a young man’s habits has little or no chance
of success, unless he can secure the confidence of his pupil. I very
much fear, however, that there can be little hope of establishing such
a relation between them, unless the preceptor be truly the superior,
not only in station but in attainments, and unless it be his peculiar
study to acquire this ascendency over his pupil’s mind, in order to
the better regulation of his manners. I use the word manners in its
largest sense; and it is clear that, unless the schoolmaster have
leisure to keep these objects constantly in view, he cannot hope to
gain the proper degree of influence over any boy’s mind. As chaplain
of the ship, however, his religious duties, so far from interfering
with the objects alluded to, would blend admirably with all of them,
and furnish the best means, and, if it were needed, the best excuse,
for a judicious and parental sort of interference. To expect that any
such interference of the schoolmaster, under the present system, can be
efficacious, is, I much fear, a complete delusion; and this furnishes a
strong reason for uniting in one person the kindred duties of chaplain
and teacher. It shews, at the same time, how inefficient any such union
must be, unless care be taken to secure fitting persons to fill a joint
office of such delicacy.
There is still another, and by no means an unimportant benefit, which
might arise to the naval service from this improvement: I mean its
effect on the higher classes of officers. If there be nothing more
shocking than a disreputable clergyman in a mess-room, so, on the
other hand, I conceive there can be nothing more useful, in many very
material respects, than the constant companionship of a right-minded
and well-educated person of this description. I say nothing of
the obvious and salutary influence which his presence never fails
to exercise over the manners of men, already too much disposed to
laxity in their habits; but it may be well to consider, likewise,
the great additional benefits which may arise to the officers from
their possessing the means of instructing themselves in the different
branches of knowledge, with which a chaplain, regularly qualified to
teach, would be able to impart.
Except on board ship, and at sea, few of the senior officers of the
Navy, in war time, have the opportunity, and still fewer the means,
of improving their acquaintance with those pursuits, of which, in the
earlier periods of their service, they may have gained a smattering. I
allude to the classics, to modern languages, and the belles lettres
generally, to the higher branches of mathematics, and to many of
those sciences formerly deemed abstruse, but which have lately become
popular; such as chemistry, geology, and natural history in all its
departments.
The time is not remote when it was held by high naval authorities, that
all or any of these refinements, instead of being useful to an officer,
actually stood in his way; and, as far as they went, interfered with
the due execution of his duty. Nor can it, or ought it, to be denied,
that the principle of extra instruction is very apt to be carried too
far, and the refining system overdone. Nor must it ever be forgotten in
these discussions, that the service—that is to say, the hard, regular,
seamanlike round of official duties, in all seasons, and under all
circumstances, ought always to be the primary objects of an officer’s
thoughts, before which every thing else is not only to bend, but, if
need be, must break. And it is chiefly on the principle of rendering an
officer only the more fit for such technical routine, that any of the
pursuits alluded to can ever be considered as having legitimate claims
on his attention. If such studies become so engrossing as to detach
his thoughts from his sterner duty; to make him a scholar instead of
a seaman, a dandy instead of a disciplinarian; or if he allow himself
to attend to these extraneous matters with any other view than to his
improvement as a strictly professional man, he will, of course, find
them, one and all, prejudicial, and not be encouraged. Under proper
regulation, however, there seems little or no danger of any thing of
this description proving injurious to an officer’s character, as a
useful, hard-working servant of the public.
It was formerly thought, that high-born, high-bred, and even
well-educated men, were less fitted to make good officers for the
ordinary course of professional work, than persons who had sprung
from a lower origin, or whose education was limited to the mere
technicalities of the profession, and who were without taste and
without manners—men of the Hawser Trunion school, in short. But the
copious experience of the late arduous war seems to have shewn, both
in the army and in the navy, that the contrary is the true state of
the case. And certainly, as far as my own observation and inquiries
have gone, I have found reason to believe that those officers who are
the best informed and the best bred, and who possess most of the true
spirit of gentlemen, are not only the safest to trust in command over
others, but are always the readiest to yield that prompt and cheerful
obedience to their superiors, which is the mainspring of good order.
Such men respect themselves so justly, and value their own true dignity
of character so much, and are at all times so sensitively alive to the
humiliation of incurring reproach, that they are extremely cautious how
they expose themselves to merited censure. From the early and constant
exercise of genuine politeness, they become habitually considerate
of the feelings of others; and thus, by the combined action of these
great principles of manners, officers of this stamp contrive to get
through much more work, and generally do it much better, than persons
of less refinement. Moreover, they consider nothing beneath their
closest attention which falls within the limits of their duty; and, as
a leading part of this principle, they are the most patient as well as
vigilant superintendents of the labours of those placed under their
authority, of any men I have ever seen. It is not that they watch their
inferiors with a view to entrap and pounce upon them, but solely with
the public-spirited and generous object of keeping all parties right,
in order, by checking errors in the outset, before they have grown into
crimes, to prevent the hard necessity of punishment.
This is a pretty fair sketch of the method of acting observed by a
thorough-bred, gentlemanlike, well-instructed officer; and every one
who has been in command, and in protracted difficulties, or has merely
been employed in the ordinary course of service, will readily admit
that, with the assistance of such men, every department of his duty has
gone on better and more pleasantly than it could have possibly done if
the persons under his command had been of a coarser stamp.
It is quite true that the full degree of refinement alluded to
can hardly ever be fully taught on board ship. But it may often be
approximated to good purpose. It is quite within our power, for
example, so to train up young men, that they shall gradually acquire
not only that sort of knowledge, but also those habits, which
experience has shewn to have the most direct tendency to enlarge the
understanding, and to chastise the taste. Precisely as this amount of
intelligence increases, so will the capacity of an officer to do good
service increase likewise; and it is absurd to suppose that he will be
less disposed to do his duty well, from knowing better how to comply
with its obligations.
Weak minds and perverse dispositions, under any system of instruction
or of discipline, will, of course, defeat these calculations; and
there will, therefore, always be many effeminate and idle persons in
a fleet, who, by mistaking mere acquirements for the knowledge of how
to turn them to useful account, deserve the title they receive of ‘the
King’s hard bargains.’ But, taking the average run of officers in the
Navy, it may safely be expected, that if, in other respects, they are
kept to their duty, and if they themselves have a real interest in
the service, the more information they can acquire upon every subject
worthy of a gentleman’s attention, the better will they be fitted for
the performance not only of those higher exploits which all the world
understand and admire, but even of those humble and unseen professional
avocations, which make up by far the greater and the most important
part of our daily duties.
If, then, we can furnish all ranks of our naval officers afloat with a
ready and agreeable means of filling up their time, of which most of
them have a good deal to spare, we may fairly hope that they will not
be slow to avail themselves of the opportunities placed within their
reach. In order, however, to render these measures of any extensive
utility, this plan of furnishing assistance must be carried a long
way. A chaplain-schoolmaster should be allowed even to the smallest
class of ships on board which, by any contrivance, the proper degree
of accommodation can be obtained. And if these ideas were followed
up in the admirable spirit with which some recent improvements have
been carried into effect in the Navy, for instance, in the discipline,
victualling, payment of wages, ratings, and other matters, a very great
boon would be conferred on the service.
It is not likely that the measure proposed would materially augment
the expenses of the Navy, if, indeed, it had that effect at all; since
both a chaplain and schoolmaster are expressly allowed to all ships,
from the first to the sixth class, inclusive. But, even supposing
the expense were to be augmented, there can be no doubt, I should
conceive, in the mind of any person who has reflected seriously on
these subjects, that the return for such outlay would be speedy and
certain. The religious, moral, and intellectual character of officers,
on whose good conduct so much depends, must, in every conceivable state
of things, be an object of material consequence to the country. And
it were really almost a libel on the nation, to imagine that they
would not cheerfully agree to the additional expenditure which might
be required, if the advantages be such as are stated. There can be
no truer economy, than expending money for the promotion of virtue
and sound knowledge amongst this class of public servants. For their
duties, it must be recollected, generally lie so far beyond the reach
of ordinary scrutiny, that almost the only security we have for their
good conduct rests on their own sense of honour. A dishonest officer
on a foreign station might often divert from its proper purpose, by a
single stroke of his pen, and without much danger of detection, more
of the public money than would furnish the Navy with chaplains and
schoolmasters for ten years.
It is to accomplish only one-half the great task of instruction merely
to fill a boy’s head with technical information—his principles and
habits ought to be likewise taken into our safe keeping. It is also
greatly to be desired, that, when the period arrives at which he is
expected to become, as it is called, his own master, he should find
no difficulty in continuing, from choice, those pursuits to which he
had previously applied himself on compulsion, or merely as a means of
promotion. And there seems to be no method more likely to accomplish
this desirable purpose, than affording the young commissioned officer
the companionship of an instructor, or, at all events, of a person
whose duty it should be, if required, not only to continue, in the
ward-room, the course of information commenced in the cock-pit, but
whose aim ought to be, so to modify these studies as to adapt them to
the altered circumstances of the pupil, and to win his attention to
their pursuit by rendering them agreeable and useful.
It is not pretended, by any means, that such a task is an easy one; on
the contrary, it will require not only considerable abilities, but high
attainments, and no inconsiderable degree of good taste, together with
a long apprenticeship of self-discipline, and an exclusive application
to these arduous duties, as the grand object and business of the
instructor’s life.
There really appears, however, to be no situation but that of a
clergyman which offers any reasonable chance of these conditions
being fulfilled. And as the education of such a person is necessarily
expensive, and the double office which it is proposed he should fill,
one of great responsibility, labour, and difficulty, as well as one
of peculiar and irremediable discomfort and privation, without any
of those energetic excitements which stimulate every other class
of officers to exertion, the remuneration ought clearly to be very
considerable, otherwise no set of properly qualified men will engage
permanently in its pursuit.
A distinct class of officers, of this sacred character, although as
yet they do not exist, might be readily created. If the emoluments of
the chaplain of a man-of-war were respectable, the situation rendered
as agreeable, in point of comfort, as the nature of the elements will
admit of, and if the prospects of future provision be made certain,
or contingent only upon a right performance of duty, there cannot,
I think, be a doubt that, in a short time, there would be an ample
and steady supply of chaplains, as highly qualified, in point of
attainments, as the Admiralty might choose to fix on the scale.
If this important professional object were once fairly carried into
effect, we should probably soon discover an improvement in the whole
system of naval discipline, the best evidences of which would be, the
increased efficiency of the whole service, arising out of the gradually
ameliorated habits and higher intellectual cultivation, as well as
improved tastes and more rational happiness, of every class of the
officers, from the oldest captain down to the youngest first-class boy,
just untied from his mother’s apron-string.
In all that has been said, I have taken into view almost exclusively
the advantages which would accrue to the officers from the adoption
of this plan of uniform instruction. It is to them, individually
as gentlemen, and collectively as a body, upon the certainty of
whose hearty exertions the government can at all times depend, that
the country must ever look for that energetic momentum in our
naval strength, upon which the national power, in this department,
essentially rests. Surely, however, it is not too much to say, as a
matter of experience, that the influence of a resident clergyman on
board ship, wherever there is one, over the minds of the crew, is felt
to be quite as salutary, when properly exercised, as it is to the
labourers in any parish of the empire.
It signifies nothing to say that the structure of naval discipline is
widely different from the civil administration of the land; for the
very same principles, and, more or less, the very same motives to right
or wrong action, must always be in play in both cases. A judicious
chaplain, therefore, who shall have become acquainted by personal
experience with the habits, tastes, feelings, and pursuits of the
seamen, may undoubtedly contribute an important share to the efficiency
of the whole of our naval system. So far from interfering with, or in
any way checking the strict course of nautical affairs, I conceive
that the chaplain’s influence, rightly exercised, acting in cordial
understanding with the captain, and sanctioned by his authority, might
advance the best interests of the service by greatly diminishing
offences, and thus lessening the melancholy necessity of punishments.
Whenever this benevolent purpose can be effected, in a greater or less
degree, both those who obey and those who command are sure to be better
pleased with one another, and, it is reasonable to suppose, far more
desirous of co-operating heartily in the accomplishment of the common
purpose for which they are brought together.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
LONDON:
J. MOYES, TOOK’S COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] I quote from a paper on the State of Education in the British Navy,
printed in the United Service Journal, Part XI. for October 1830. The
performance and the promise of the very rising officer, who wrote this
article, help to furnish the fairest practical answer to those who
object to the early advancement of young men of rank in the Navy.
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 219 Changed: when on board passage vesssels
to: when on board passage vessels
pg 225 Changed: half of sound snoose
to: half of sound snooze
pg 308 Changed: as the captian can ameliorate the habits
to: as the captain can ameliorate the habits