section third.

The second article of war is, “All flag-officers, “and all persons in or belonging to his majesty’s ships and vessels of war, being guilty of profane oaths, cursings, execrations, drunkenness, uncleanness, or other scandalous actions, in derogation of God’s honour, and corruption of good manners, shall incur such punishment as a court martial shall think fit to impose, and the nature and degree of their offence shall deserve.”

Of all the crimes mentioned in this article, and which, with the others, is read to the seamen once Edition: current; Page: [49] a month, drunkenness is the only one for which custom sanctions the infliction of much flogging; of the other crimes mentioned here, cursings, execrations, &c. are known to exist in immense quantities, and are never noticed: indeed, it is a general opinion in the navy, that his majesty’s service cannot be carried on without (on the part of the officers) cursings and execrations. As for uncleanness and other scandalous actions, they are tolerated, allowed, and encouraged; why these words are permitted to exist in the same article with drunkenness, occasionally so much the object of abhorrence, and flogging, can only be accounted for in the ignorance of the people who made these laws, or in the changes to which the affairs of men are liable.

Of all the crimes that frequently meet with severity of punishment on board ship, and which are the cause of much flogging, drunkenness stands pre-eminent for the enormity of its consequences; for, whenever suffered, it can cause nothing less than destruction to every ennobling sentiment, of every regularity that can keep up order or preserve health. It deserves no palliation, and must, by some means or other, be repressed; but with the advocates of discipline I cannot agree, that flogging, inflicted at the will of an individual, is the proper mode of repressing it. This vice is as condemnable, in a moral point of view, as it is Edition: current; Page: [50] from its effects on order on board ship, and, consequently, habits of it ought never to be tolerated or allowed; but in the navy they are frequently encouraged and praised.

In the opinion of many officers, a sailor is not worthy of his name who goes on shore (though it is very seldom this is permitted) and fails to get drunk. A knowledge of this opinion, and a desire for the praise consequent on it, and in being deemed a good hearty fellow, prompts sailors to get, as fast as possible, rid of their sobriety whenever they set foot on land. When there, the civil inhabitants of our country give strength to this opinion, and act as if they were in a conspiracy to undermine the morality of our seamen; they are encouraged, by their smiles, to commit all sorts of excesses. Poor fellows, it is said, after their labours, indulgence is necessary: thus a most brutal state of intoxication is called an indulgence; and what general opinion pronounces an indulgence will be eagerly sought for, without any conviction of the pleasure arising from committing it. Who, that has ever been in a sea port, has not seen drunkenness encouraged in this way, and drunken sailors cheered and applauded while doing all sorts of mischief? But the privilege of getting drunk, as an indulgence, does not stop here; in many ships it is given to seamen, when in harbour, as a compensation for their other numerous privations. Edition: current; Page: [51] They are allowed to purchase liquor in certain proportions, but generally sufficient, with the usual allowance of spirits or beer, to produce intoxication. As this is always granted as a favour, it, of course, is an indulgence, and is sought after as a pleasure. Whenever this permission is given, all attempts to preserve any kind of order are perfectly fruitless. The horrid, the brutal scenes which I have known ensue from this indulgence, will not bear minute description: Mutinous expressions, horrid blasphemies, and perpetual fighting, distinguish the evenings of the days devoted to intoxication.

It is from this forbearance and indulgence at one time, together with a greater allowance of spirits than is necessary, that habits of drunkenness are produced among seamen of men of war, which, afterwards, the utmost severity of discipline can scarcely subdue, and can never destroy; yet the drunkenness produced in this way, is made the principal argument for the necessity of severity. Like other crimes, it is left to the captain to punish or not; it is encouraged or repressed; punished lightly or severely, just as he may be indolently good natured or diligently severe. Can there be a more effectual means of destroying the distinctions between vice and virtue, (remember that they are not innate) which it is the business of religion and education forcibly to impress on Edition: current; Page: [52] the mind, which it is one great business of laws to make, than in thus making convenience alone the test of guilt, than in thus reducing the eternal and immutable principles of morality to the narrow and vibrating scale of this man or that man’s pleasure; than in superiors punishing at one time what at another they practise, encourage, and applaud. Goaded once to madness, by severities, the seamen mutinied, and, like other beings in their situation, they knew not, exactly, what to claim as their due; they thought more grog would drown every care, and hence, that greater allowance of spirits which they receive than is necessary for their health, and which is sufficient, under some circumstances, to produce intoxication.

Here was one instance, out of many, that might be produced, that where justice is not done, something that is not justice, will be obtained. When ever the seamen shall become sensible of their present situation; and, from the wide diffusion of knowledge, they are fast arriving at it, they will obtain, from the fears of their superiors, more than justice; they may, perhaps, (I fear it) hurl destruction on their country.

Reflecting, that men’s characters are, in general, formed from the institutions of their country, or the immediate society in which they live, combined with the influence of climate, I formed an opinion that it was probable drunkenness in men Edition: current; Page: [53] of war, arose wholly from their existing institutions, and I enquired of many captains of merchantmen, if they found seamen to be frequently drunk with them; the answer invariably was, “not particularly, not more than the other inhabitants of our country, of their class, unless,” it was rejoined, “they had been in a man of war.” And more than one instance has been related to me, of sober, young men, who had been pressed, returning to their former employ at the peace, corrupted, drunkards, and unfit to be trusted; and after some short period of good example and seclusion from grog, returning again to habits of sobriety and decency.

I have witnessed many instances of young men just pressed, never being in the daily habit of drinking spirits, but in a man of war, aided by example, they have soon become drunkards.—But the fact, that the system of discipline which exists in a man of war corrupts a man, is too notorious to need much elucidation.