The British navy has hitherto displayed in all its honours, and rewards, an admirable union of ranks, and its archives bear testimony that ability may gild a coronet, or spring from a cottage. We possess hundreds of officers, of all grades, whose example may stimulate, and whose success may encourage the candidate for naval renown, without his resorting to petty acquirements. Earl Howe, and in such a case he is undeniable authority, remarked that half a gentleman and half a sailor made the best officer. Besides, we must not forget that a sprig" may be well extracted and ill-educated, and though family pride ought to be an additional incentive to rectitude of conduct, it has not always proved so. We have witnessed, with heartfelt pleasure, the cheerful alacrity with which young nobles have served, but we cannot advocate the cause of those "splendid paupers" who have been pensioned on the fleet, with scarcely any experience of the hardships and privations of maritime. life, and who, in the emphatic words of Collingwood, are "living in the navy, and not serving in it." Secure of their promotion, and of employment if they choose, many prove refractory understrappers, and tyrannical masters. Nor is this all the evil of the system: of the expensive mischief of these "constant plagues" to the service, in waste of stores, spars, and loss of vessels, the admirable veteran just quoted says,--"Better to give them pensions and let them stay on shore." We not only admit that every opportunity should be afforded for the improvement of young officers, but have frequently advocated it. The picture of sea-life, however, is very far from being so gloomy as the "Patrician" depicts it. We have seen an attentive and anxious solicitude paid to the comfort and studies of midshipmen; and the more this is insisted upon, the greater will be the benefit. But this, as we have said, requires no revolution of that which time has demonstrated to be excellent. All questions which are of moment to the public welfare, should be proposed, not only on comprehensive and philosophical principles, but also with a direct bias to the particular institutions of the nation. Nothing should be changed for the sake of change, nor usages supported simply because they are established: we would neither swell an indiscriminate outcry against innovation, nor brand those as bigots, or fools, who preferred a steady attachment to the customs of their ancestors, to the adoption of speculative principles and desperate expedients. For these reasons we will contrast the liberal feeling of Cavendish, by the manly advice given to a midshipman, so far back as 1769, by the celebrated Falconer. After reasoning upon the danger of relaxed discipline, because there was a tide in favour of the "common" sailor to the prejudice of the officer, he forcibly recommends the latter to a timely application to those exercises which can alone protect him from the contempt of the former, and he thus sums up : "If the midshipman is not employed in these services, which are undoubtedly necessary to give him a clear idea of the different parts of his occupation, a variety of other objects present themselves to his attention. Without presuming to dictate the studies which are most essential to his improvement, we could wish to recommend such as are most suitable to the bent of his inclination. Astronomy, geometry, and mechanics, which are in the first rank of science, are the materials which form the skilful pilot and the superior mariner. The theory of navigation is entirely derived from the two former, and all the machinery and movements of a ship are founded on the latter. The action of the wind upon the sails, and the resistance of the water at the stern, naturally dictate an enquiry into the property of solids and fluids: and the state of the ship floating on the water seems to direct his application to the study of hydrostatics and the effects of gravity. A proficiency in these branches of science will equally enlarge his views, with regard to the operations of naval war, as directed by the efforts of powder and the knowledge of projectiles. The most effectual methods to excite his application to those studies is, perhaps, by looking round the navy, to observe the characters of individuals. By this enquiry he will probably discover that the officer who is eminently skilled in the sciences will command universal respect and approbation; and that whoever is satisfied with the despicable ambition of shining the hero of an assembly, will be the object of universal contempt. The attention of the former will be engaged in those studies which are highly useful to himself in particular and to the service in general. The employment of the latter is to acquire those superficial accomplishments that unbend the mind from every useful science, emasculate the judgment, and render the hero infinitely more dexterous at falling into his station in the dance than in the line-of-battle. "Unless the midshipman has an unconquerable aversion to the acquisition of those qualifications, which are so essential to his improvement, he will very rarely want opportunities of making a progress therein. Every step he advances in those meritorious employments will facilitate his accession to the next in order. If the dunces, who are his officers and messmates, are rattling the dice, roaring bad verses, hissing on the flute, or scraping discord from the fiddle, his attention to more noble studies will sweeten the hours of relaxation." This is advice worthy of a British sailor, for although an officer's acquirements are frequently made in the face of every disadvantage, studies are prosecuted with vigour by those who do not mistake microscopic ideas on discipline for skill. The great Des Cartes did not neglect his philosophical studies when serving his arduous campaigns as a soldier; Cervantes wrote none the worse for the loss of a hand, nor Camoens for that of an eye. The various duties of a sea-life did not prevent Columbus from becoming, in addition to an elegant scholar, the most accomplished geographer and astronomer of his time. Nelson was skilled as a diplomatist, and Collingwood's literary merits claim equality with his skill as a sailor, and his benevolence as a man; of him the poet has truly said "He who, though thus endued as with a sense Is yet a soul whose master-bias leans To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes." The reader will have discovered, by this time, that we are not proselytes to the Cavendish system of REFORM; and it is because we perceive it to contain only the principal incitements to conceit, foppery, and a separation of interest between the sailor and his officer. In the portrait of himself, which we suppose to be in identity with the new school to be produced, we find him constantly attending balls, parties, and scenes of dissipation ashore; and throughout the work there is not a sentiment in praise of moral or religious obligation, or upon any one object of professional studies. In evincing his horror of Marsala and grog, he carefully blazons his taste for Montefiascone, and Lafitte, which, together with guitar-playing, Princeza snuff, and all the mighty nothingnesses of fashionable life, are complacently dwelt upon. This attention to the animal propensities of our nature forms a primary object with the "cold-blooded" school, albeit the daily desire of pabulum, by proving our imperfection, affords but humiliating reflections to the philosopher: For how much however," says old Guevara, " it is for him to be able to talke in martial feates or chivalry; so much more dishonour and reproach it is to him to be skilfull in dressing of meates, and all to fill the belly." In other opinions, the hero of the novel holds to the dicta of all true levellers, and therefore every thing that suits not his notions, is the "trash of the croaking set," and " abhorrent tyranny;" the tri-colour is only an emblem of revolt in the eyes of the "silly," and in bitter enmity to tories he is as violent, though not so formidable, as Carlisle, Cobbett, or O'Connell. We may sum up the character of Cavendish,—a man at once irritable and irritating, a supercilious shipmate, a sensual intriguer, a rabid radical, and just the officer who could walk the deck, during an action, "with his hands in his pockets, doing nothing." STANDARD NOVELS.-The 10th Number of this series contains the conclusion of Schiller's Ghost Seer, and the Tale of Edgar Huntley, by Brockden Brown. The 11th comprises Miss A. M. Porter's Novel, The Hungarian Brothers, complete. We can add nothing at present to our repeated recommendations of this excellent and interesting publication, but the advice to our readers to judge for themselves. THE NEW CHARTER.-Under this title we have received a "cut-and-dry" body of legislation, which may be deemed a characteristic specimen of the capacity for Government which is being so widely assumed by the members of the "March." The principal blessings we are to gain by this new "spic-and-span" system, which was charitably drawn up as a substitute for the late rejected "Bill," are as follows: Every one shall be authorised to judge whether what he chooses to do, be injurious to another. Every individual shall be educated, and that at the public expense. And there shall be a free intercourse of thought. The mental capabilities of both sexes being equal, they shall enjoy the same civil rights; and the "masculine pronouns are designed only to except females in that part which relates to the appointment of a civil and military force." All trade is to be perfectly free : every duty entirely annulled; and all con tracts, whether public or private, to dissolve at the end of fifty years. Pure magistrates are to be appointed, and the punishment of death to be no more inflicted, because (by Utopian logic?) a moral reformation, which is to take place some day, "will produce future respect to the laws." "It is the duty of Government to protect private property." Yet, in the next paragraph, the Charter-maker tells us it is the duty of Government to enforce the sacrifice of private property should the community require it. "It is the duty of Government to provide such laws, especially in regard to inheritance, that the land shall not become the property of the few, to the exclusion of the many." The principal person in every hamlet shall be called the præfect. Every ten hamlets shall be called a borough, and its head is to be a mayor. From ten to one hundred boroughs shall constitute a county, which shall be superintended by a lieutenant. Ten counties shall form a state, whose head shall be styled governor; and the assemblies of the states shall elect a parliament, which parliament is to elect a king! But enough. The sum of the panacea for the evils of our misgovernment is this:-Whoever governs for the day shall have a boundless right to force his hand into the rich man's pockets, and help himself freely, crying aloud at the same time, “It will be all one fifty years hence!" GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL. War on the Grand Scale. MR. EDITOR,-In the Westminster Review, and in one or two other periodical publications which have noticed Colonel Napier's "War in the Peninsula," I have been struck by an observation which is, to me, totally incomprehensible. I shall take this observation as given in the words of the review: In point of systematic knowledge of the military art, he (Colonel Napier) is probably inferior to some of the more distinguished writers of the Continent, who, besides the benefit of regular scientific education, have enjoyed the advantage of serving in campaigns, when war had been made upon the grandest scale, and its maxims were sanctioned by the most enlarged experience." Now, Sir, I hope the writer of this article in the Westminster will pardon my presumption, (for he is surely some great General who has stepped out of his own ponderous jack-boots into the reviewer's morocco slippers,) if I ask him a few questions. First, I beg to know what is meant by "systematic knowledge of the military art," in which Colonel Napier is said to be "probably inferior to the writers on the Continent?" I have known Colonel Napier in common with other officers of the famous "light division." Like Napoleon, he began by being in the artillery; from that corps he passed into the infantry; he then entered the cavalry, after which he again returned to the infantry, and, as far as my knowledge of his adventures go, he has been some thirty years and upwards in the army. In the engineers he was not; his book, however, indicates a sufficient acquaintance with fortification, as far as I am capable of judging. Now, Sir, if Colonel Napier possesses the extraordinary endowments of 'mind justly ascribed to him by the writer of the article referred to, it is not much to say, that having been regularly trained in three out of the four branches of service which compose an army, and possessing an evident knowledge of the fourth branch, in which he did not actually serve; and moreover having been at the Military College, and on the staff of the army in the Peninsula, he may surely be said to have been trained to as " systematic a knowledge" of the military art as it is possible to be; and as, added to the theory, he has seen much of the practice of war, I do not comprehend why he should be "probably inferior to any of the "most distinguished writers of the Continent." Colonel Napier has certainly gone through the "regular course," "walked the hospitals," and taken out his diploma." Pope, speaking of a rogue, says "Lame of a leg, distorted of an eye, 66 His hair and beard are of a different dye. If thou 'rt an honest man, thou art a devilish cheat!" Colonel Napier, who happens to be a very handsome man, will pardon the comparison, but, like Pope's rogue, he must be a "devilish cheat," if he has not a "systematic knowledge of war," having certainly had a systematic education, and by no ordinary masters. Among the dead, he counts Alexander, Cæsar, Hannibal, Turenne, Marlborough, Frederick the Great; while the practical part of his apprenticeship has been under, (for enemies teach as well as friends,) Napoleon, Soult, Moore, Wellington, Massena, &c. That he is an apt scholar can scarcely be denied by the reviewer, who says, (with more justice than he is aware of,) that Colonel Napier is "intimately conversant" with all the "intricacies of war and politics.' Here then we have a man who has "served his time," been at "all the U. S. JOURN. No. 39. FEB. 1832. R "" 66 colleges," possessed of "uncommon natural endowments," yet in point of "systematic knowledge" of his own profession," he is probably inferior to some of the continental writers." All I can say is, that I congratulate the Continent, with all my heart, on its wonderful crop of military genius; its miraculous draught of military fishes. False praise and false blame are both offensive to sense; now the reviewer seems to deal a little in the latter of these qualities. He thought that he could, by praising Napier, get into good company. He reminds me of the dirty old fable of the "Pimlico Trout," which, in floating down the river, associated itself with some apples, exclaiming, "How we apples swim." I beg this very able reviewer ten thousand pardons for the simile, but it really slipped out so naturally, (as such matters will,) that I could not help myself. The fact is, the reviewer thinking it necessary to find some fault, and finding no hold for animadversion on what he did understand, fell foul of what he evidently did not understand; and jumping up, cock-a-whoop, on the back of the continental writer, like a monkey on a poodle-dog, fancied himself a great general on a war-horse. "There," quoth he, "probably inferior," systematic education," "distinguished continental,” “war on the grandest scale." "There, that will do neither I, nor anybody else, can tell what I mean, and every body will take it on trust, and think me very clever. Lord Chesterfield made a speech on astronomy, without knowing mathematics. Why should not I write on military matters, without knowing war?" Gently, dear monkey; softly, dear poodle; not so fast. Lord Chesterfield was really a very clever fellow, and got a mathematician to prompt him: in that little circumstance there is all the difference, and the result was, that mathematicians saw Lord Chesterfield spoke sound sense, and that his words would bear analysis; but soldiers, Mr. Reviewer, see your critique on Napier will not bear analysis, and that it exhibits you as a Charlatan, holding forth upon a subject that you do not understand. The vanity of the reviewer made him forget the proverb "Ne sutor ultra crepidam," which is better expressed in English by "Let every man mind his own business." Let us proceed. These admirable Crichtons of the Continent, these "distinguished foreigners" (that's the regular cant)-these "distinguished foreigners" have also enjoyed the advantages of, &c. "Oh! they have, have they? lucky dogs! I have heard of a certain Sir Boyle Roach, an Irish Member of Parliament, who said, " By Jasus, Mr. Spaker, I can't be in two places at wonce't, like a bird." Had Sir Boyle's head contained the reviewer's brains, he would have said, "like a continental writer;" for if these wonderful men were not able to be in two places at wonce't," their "enjoyment of war on the grandest scale" could have been of small use to them. As mere soldiers serving on foot, or on horseback, and only at one place at a time, with the ordinary faculties of men, they could only see in battle, what smoke and the accidents of ground allowed them to see; and that would, probably, not be more, but less, in a great battle than in a small one, because in the former the above-mentioned obstructions are generally greater and more numerous than in the latter; so that if there be any difference in the knowledge acquired by sight, it is in favour of the small battle! Oh! but I don't mean the mere battle; I mean the sublime," quoth the reviewer: " I mean the grand movements." That is just what I thought, my friend; but it is good to be precise, to analyse, and to know accurately what we are talking about. 66 Now, as to actual fighting-a small battle, or a skirmish, is as good as a large battle; because folks come very close: there is more personal aim taken, and shots come equally sharp about one's ears. Now, whether this is better or worse, is a matter of taste, and not "systematic education." My own private opinion of fighting is, that, as the soldiers say of bad soup, "He that gets least is best off." Leaving, then, the simple "skivering" of each other to the privates, let us hasten to the " awful," the "sublime," the marches" from Acton to Ealing and Ealing to Acton." We have said that |