The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-01-09
From The Southern Literary Messenger.
REORGANIZING THE NAVY.
JcoNrINugp.l

REORG AIMING THE NAVY.
[coNTNueD.l
The human ydas sa cje oa " a ,R
schools and medical colleges, with diplomas in
hand, we find them ever eager to be engaged in
the duties Of their profession. We consider
their Impotence TO enter upon the new calling,
as an earnest of success and we look upon their
zeal, as pledge of future usefulness and dis
JUNCTION, Should we expect Mdshipman, or
the young Surgeon in the Navy, after having
devoted six or eight years, instead Of two or
three, to the requirement of his profession, to be
less impatient than they TO enter upon his new
field OF du les? Are the allurements of promo
tion-the insignia of office, with all the pomp
and circumstance of Naval life-less tempting to
the young asplrant for military renown, than
briefs and prescriptions are TO raw surgeons and
green barristers? Suppose that the law should
forbid your doctors and lawyers to take out a
license until SIX years after they had been gra-
duates think you, that under such regulations
your physicians would be more skilful, or your
jurlsts more profound, than they are? And vet,
as preposterous and as absurd as such law
would be in the civil code, one similar TO il in
all respects Is, at this moment, in force among
the Midshipmen and Assistant Surgeons of the
Navy. And its effects are obvious and most
rulnous upon the service, Can it be expected
that body Of young officers, ambitious as they
should be OF advancement by all honorable means,
would be content TO stop short in md-career,
and patiently endure, as Midshpmen are requir-
ed to do professional syncope for years2 AT
ter Midshipman has undergone examination,
and been found qualified for promotion, he is
then put upon this retired list, without an ncen-
tive to call forth his energies, and with scarcely
an object or an ann to give them direction. No
exertion, however great or noble on his part, will
push him forward, or hasten, for single mo-
ment, the long-sought and vet distant promotion.
He is sent back to the steerage, and is required
to resume the boyish duties OF Midshpman for
seven years longer, and until casualties shall thin
for him the ranks Of his superior officers then,
and not till then, is he honored with promotion
Had an enemy designed to break down the
spirit of the Navy, could any system have been
devised which would prove more effectual than
this is likely to do-lhis, which requires officers
to spend the prime of their life, with mo parti-
cuar duty before them, except that of waiting
for dead mems shoesP A commission in the
Navy confers honor, and opens the way to dis
tinction. And with the young Naval aspirant, a
commission has charms, that, in his eyes, make
it earnestly to be desired than the object of
his first love- But at the very time when his
ardor is most fervenl, and his notions of chivalry
are tuned to the highest pitch, his time-serving
'Uncle'--into whose service he has entered
gives him Leah for Rachel. Like Laban, he
changes his wages, but more fathless, requires
him TO drag out another weary term of servitude
before he is permitted TO enjoy the object of his
first ambition.
But as war is the great end for which the
Navy is designed, it should be regulated in all
things with view TO war. In times of peace,
the proper consideration is, by what means may
it be held in state of the greatest readiness and
efficiency, at the least eXpenseY Let us then
suppose state of war, that we may see how the
Navy with regard to officers alone is prepared
to meetit. With commissioned officers in service
for but little more than half of our ships, all the
ships of the Navy would be Immediately launched
and put in commission others, for which mate
rails are already prepared would be built and
got ready for sea and many of the fine packets
and traders of our merchants might be bought,
equipped and armed straightway, as corvettes,
sloops of-war, briggs, &c. Indeed, availing her
self of the finest commercial marine in the world,
the United States has the materiel-the ships
and sailors-for fitting out Navy, which would
prove more destructive than that which any other
nation could send out against the commerce of
an enemy many of her merchant ships are
swiiter than the feetest men ofwar. But of
what avail are all these resources-this multi
tude of ships and men-without oiiicers2 Her
list of two hundred Passed Mdshipmen, if pro-
NOTED tomorrow, would not afford due quota
of officers for all the ships that are now in the
Navy nor could the number of regular officers
that are yearly trained for the Navy be increased
in a shorter period than six years. Where then,
in such an event, are officers TO be procured for
our ships? The only resource, at present,
would be among the mates and shippers Of mer-
chant craft-a class Of recruits less to be desired
for the Navy, and far more inefficient, than
would be reinforcement TO an army of raw
militia, commanded by officers who had ne
yer fired musket or fixed bayonet
Possessing then Navy so abundant in all the
resources of mdteriei, does il not become ma
tional desderatnm of the first Importance, to en-
dow il with commensurate resources with re-
gard to officers? Its powers of expansion should
be the same in every department II ships and
men may be increased almost dd HbitHm, GO
vernment should possess the means of creating
officers pori pdsSu. These means are TO be de-
rived from the schoolship, in the manner propo-
sed for creating body of well-trained officers TO
constitute corps u reserre for the Navy
Surprising this plan Immediately TO be put into
operation, its first fruits would not be given to
the world till after the lapse OF six years. Mil
lions are yearly spent on the Navy--the object
of which is to give security 10 American com
merce-and millions Of that commerce are yearly
lost from improper management and bad naviga-
ton on the part of those who conduct IL and
surely no measure could be more national in its
objects, or philanthroplc in its results, than one
which should have for its aim the creating OF a
corps of wcll-trained and skilfu officers, who
should serve the double purpose of conducting
| that commerce safely in peace, and OF protecting
| and defending il valiantly in war. If il be adj
mtted that Midshipmen during their apprentice
| ship, land many whose opinions are entitled TO
weight maintain that they do, rendera qaid pro
| quo, independent OF their prospective value as