section second.

Whenever, what is called, the natural disposition of the captain is severe; whenever he has a strong love of fame, and is careless or ignorant of the legitimate means of acquiring it, terror, from its temporary success, is made the means of promoting that activity in the minutia of duty which has been thought to deserve, and has received much praise. Custom sanctions flogging in all cases when the captain thinks fit; and the particular article of war that sanctions it for wanting activity is a part of the 27th, which says, “No person shall negligently perform the duty imposed upon him under pain of death, or as a court martial shall think fit.” Captains are the sole judges of what is negligence, and the duty to be imposed has been interpreted by them as an obligation on all beneath them to do every thing in what ever manner they may think fit; and who can affix any other interpretation but captains? Any opposition to their will, any hesitation in obedience, and want of alacrity in fulfilling it, is punished by flogging. Some of the captains have insisted upon their people’s flying, but not having the genius of a Kali,Edition: current; Page: [42] have enforced obedience by flogging. Lest the reader may be too much alarmed, it is necessary to state, flying, in sea language, means running up and down the rigging, in and out upon the yards, with breathless haste.

A great part of the punishments I have witnessed on board ship is classed under this head of neglect of duty; and when the punishment annexed to the offence is stated at from one to three dozen, it will, doubtless, be inferred, that there must have been some egregious inattention, some neglect, by which the ship has been endangered, or some want of exertion, by which an enemy has escaped. No such thing: such instances are very rare; but the captain has imposed some duty upon them which could not interest them; exertions have been required when no zeal existed, but this never was when an enemy was to be encountered. Some accident has happened from hurry, which it was the duty of the unfortunate culprit to prevent; perhaps his anxious wish to beat another ship, when they have been exercising together, and frightened by the terror-striking voice of his captain, or first lieutenant, has made him neglect it.

I have heard it has been avowed as a principle, by an officer of the highest reputation in his majesty’s service, and I have seen it acted upon, “that no such thing as an accident could happen;” consequently, any misfortune must have Edition: current; Page: [43] arisen in some person’s neglect, and some person must be punished to prevent its recurrence. To this, as a principle, between man and his Creator, I have no objection; in his all-seeing eye it is probable all the misfortunes of the human race may justly be imputed to themselves; but surely, man’s fellow-creature, though his superior, is not his God. To continue the enumeration of those things that are punished as the neglect of duty:—Some of the iron allotted to a man to polish does not shine well; his hammock has not been clean scrubbed; his clues have not been blacked; his clothes have wanted mending; his shirt has been dirty; or, perhaps, he may have neglected the captain’s stock, or the wardroom dinner: These, and a thousand similar trifles, are what seamen are flogged for, as neglect of duty. The captain’s orders have made doing these things their duty; and custom sanctions his inflicting flogging for their neglect. No person who reads over these items for which sailors are flogged, whether sailor or not, but must know greater part of them have no real value in themselves; they have a beginning in the captain’s will, and when he is pleased their utility ends. Those that are necessary or useful, must flow from regulations, and their being made honourable and praise-worthy should be the stimulus to conformity. Those polishings, &c. that are of no real use with a better system of discipline Edition: current; Page: [44] would not be wanted; for now they are adopted, as the means of employing the people, so averse to our common feelings is naval discipline, so dreadful are the means used to establish order, that, for a sailor to have a moment’s leisure is, by many officers, dreaded more than a pestilence. As the real duties of a ship can never occupy the time of half of the men employed, the captain has recourse to his invention to find the seamen work; for so conscious are the officers that the seamen cannot reflect without being sensible that they have been unmeritedly punished, that they have received almost unlimited injury, that they are fearful reflection should make them compare their situation with the rest of their countrymen, with what they themselves once were, and that this reflection should rouse them to vengeance for oppression. What a thread is this for the existence of our country to depend upon? And not only our country, but every thing that can be dear to the reflecting part of civilized Europe.

It is those things which, in themselves, are indifferent, which have never been objects of praise, and which there exists no motive for doing, but the arbitrary will of a captain, or some capricious superior, that flogging is employed to produce. A seaman never neglects his duty in time of action, for success then has been an object of praise. In any time of trouble or of danger, whenever great Edition: current; Page: [45] energy, noble courage, or manly fortitude, are wanted, terror, in any of its branches, is never applied to call them forth. In such times is the seaman’s greatest glory and his highest pleasure; then he feels that his efforts will entitle him to praise; then, cheered with the smiles of his officers* and the prospect of fame, death only limits his endeavours.

Once, indeed, I have seen an instance of British seamen’s backwardness in a time of danger, when they were heartless, pusillanimous, and cowardly, but this was in a ship where a severity of flogging, and all the niceties of discipline were carried to a greater extent than I ever before witnessed; where the captain never permitted any other motive for action but fear of him; where, if the men were disposed to do well in their own way, but, from other motives, they were not permitted; and where every action was prescribed by regulations, and enforced by terror; but, in a moment of danger, no terror could be employed, and, consequently, no exertion took place. By the operation of Edition: current; Page: [46] this terror, the men were deprived of every lawful and pleasing mode of excitement; they were debased into slaves, and slaves are incapable of energy. This circumstance is a strong proof, how much more powerful the hope of good is in promoting human labours than the fear of evil; for here no chance existed that was known to the seamen, but that they would be punished when fine weather should again return; and, if the fear of evil could excite men, I know no evil greater than flogging, and none was more certain of being realized. I have before observed, that from the power that is entrusted to captains, different things are punished, as crimes, by different individuals, and the same individual is, at times, so unlike himself, that what he once punished he is now inclined to applaud. This is so much so on board ship, that the seamen scarcely know themselves what will be punished and what will not. No principle, therefore, shorter in its duration, or more transient in its good effects, than fear of capricious man, can be applied to govern men.

I have once, and but once, heard of an instance of the seamen feeling any thing but pleasure at going into action. This took place, in a ship recently manned, in the West Indies, where scoundrels of every denomination are gladly accepted and classed with British seamen. The men were mostly foreigners, and very soon after leaving port, Edition: current; Page: [47] this ship fell in with an enemy of much superior size to herself. Her appearance frightened these men; the captain was informed of it by the few Englishmen on board, and with such base minds as these people possessed, punishment was effectual in exciting courage*

Another customary mode of forcing men’s labour in men of war sometime ago in use, though now gradually and very happily going out of fashion, was to flog the whole of the men stationed to perform a particular service, such as the main-topsail-yard men, &c. if they were last at executing a part of their duty, or if, in the captain’s opinion, they stood conspicuous for neglect. This custom, though now growing into disuse, had, and yet has the evil effect of begetting hatred to the service in the minds of the community; it has deterred Englishmen from voluntarily resigning the Edition: current; Page: [48] blessings of existence, by submitting to such horrors, though prompted by the love of fame. In compliance with this custom, not many years have passed since I saw all the men stationed on the main topsail-yard severely flogged for their dilatoriness.

This wholesale mode of punishment, this darling of what is called the St. Vincent system, was the pride and glory of discipline; its effects were exultingly pointed out to you in the superior alacrity with which men so punished performed their duty on the next occasion. Happily, public opinion has tended to eradicate this glory of discipline.