Washington sentinel., 1853-12-09


ment to maintain even the small naval force
now allowed by law. Hundreds Of merchant
I vessels are almost daily darting forth from our
\ busy marts, readily filled with cheerful seamen,
courting danger upon the element on which
! they love to live, while our ships-ofwar are lin
/ gering in port until the recruiting officers, by
hard effort, can manage, by the aid of the ex-
acting landlord of the sailor tavern and a small
bounty, to procure tardy enlistments
! Our cities, towns, and villages are thronged
with athletic young men, struggling anxlously
| for employment in petty Offices and in every
department of labor and when disappointment
and idleness beget dissipation, and dissipation
reduces to degradation, and friends regard them
as burdens to family and nuisanccs to society,
then, and often not till then, do we hear the
remark that they are now only fit to become
sailors in the navy!
Why are the laboring young men of our
country so reluctant to sail and serve under
! their country's flag? Is it dishonorable call
ing? Why do our merchant marine find COM
paratively so little difficulty in procuring sea-
men? Is it because they care more for them
-encourage them more-pay them better?
While am far, very far, from proposing to
relax discipline, to tolerate insubordination, to
hesitate at administering punishment
punishment to correct the offender and to deter
the Innocent do propose some reform of our
system so as to reDdrd the meritorious, to ele-
vate the character of our seamen, to give more
responsibility to their pursuit, to cause them
to become identified with, incorporated into,
and a part of the navy itself; to pay them bet
ter, to encourage them to love the flag under
which they sail, and when they walk the deck
of the man-of-war in foreign port, and COM
! pare their condition with the sailors of other
governments, TO feel some pride in being Anne
rcan sailors under American colors
} There is much in the character of the sailor
! to excite our admiration-much to enlist our
sympathy He is brave, generous, selfsacri-
fcing; and when, after a long cruise far from
home and friends, tempest-tossed and weather.
beaten, he treads upon the soil of his country
again, discharged from the service, improvi-
dent and wasteful, unfit for land service, the
victim of the more cunning, soon bereft of his
hard earnings, surely it is but natural that this
wanderer should look to his government to
care for him, and invite him to return to a
service for which alone he is fitted, and in which
he is SO much relied upon to protect the COM
merce, the rights, the honor of that govern
ment. Without welldisciplined, conte,lted, and
efficient seamen to man our ships, we may have
officers of gallant bearing, vessels of storm
defying strength and beautiful symmetry, but
the vital spirit will be wanting.
1t becomes, therefore, matter Of grave in
quiry how shall this branch of the public SER
vice be modified so as to secure the best sea-
men and prevent expensive delays in dispatch
ing vessels whenever ready for commission.
In the first place, deem it indispensable
that some plan be adopted by which our sea-
men shall become more distinctly and pe'ma
neatly,a part Of The nary and attached to the
se,rice. Whenever ship-of-war now returns
from her three years cruise, the officers are de-
tached and granted leave of absence for three
months, with leave of absence pay but the
seamen are peremptorily discharged-discon.
nected from the sercice. If they have been
meritorious, propose that on their return they
be granted an honorable discharge Ito be con-
sidered leave of absence on pay if within
certain time they choose to re-enlist in the SER
vice. This would possess a two-fold virtue-of
fair and generous treatment at parting, and an
invitation to continue member of family |
caring for them during temporary absence.
! They will soon regard the ship-ofwar as their |
home they will feel that they are q part of the
navy of their country; they will compare their
condition with that of the seamen of the mer-
camille marine, appreciate their advantage, and
cling to the service.
1t may be also well worthy of consideration
whether it would not be wise, very gradually,
: and never beyond reasonable limit, to in
crease the pay of the seamen in proportion to
| tHe number Ol cOntlnuOuS cruises he makes,
thereby creating an additional incentive to re-
main in the service. 1t is believed that by the
officers in command on returning from cruise
filing in the department a certain list of those
who are honorably discharged, there will be
but little difficulty in simplifying and executing
this plan, and SO systematising it by registra-
ton as to produce the good results incident to
making them regular part of the navy, and
thus touch their pride as well as their hearts
Many interesting suggestions this subject
were commended to the consideration of Con-
gress by my immediate predecessor
Another change indispensable to the prompt
securement of the services of first class sea-
men is to pay them at least as much as their
skill, experience, and character aoM command
in the merchant serrice. 1t is the effort of the
department to regulate the pay of the hun |
dreds of mechanics and laborers in the various
navy yards, so as to correspond with the pay of
similar employees in private establishments
outside of the yards. Such, however is uot
the case in regard to seamen. The appropri-
alton will not permit it. 'Tis trne that necesi- |
ty has recently driven the department to pay
ing bounty, which will be suspended so soon
as the vessels indispensable to the service are
manned.
Busy enterprise is dotting every ocean and sea
and riverwith vessels. The demand for seamen is
proportionally increased. The wages now range
from fifteen to twenty dollars per month, where
as in the navy the best seamen are paid but
twelve dollars. Can we expect therefore, to
command readily any seamen-much less the
best-under this state of things? My opinion
is, therefore, that the pay should be increased
| But, perhaps, the most practical and impor
tant reform to promote efficiency in the corps
of mariners is the blending together system
of REGARDS and punishments, to encourage the
meritorious and to su6due the disorderly.
The abolition of punishment by fogging,
without legalizing some substitute therefor, has
already occupied the attention of Congress and
the country, and severely tested the forbearance
and ingenuity of officers, and the character of
our seamen. This subject has engaged my
earnest and anxious inquiry, and l have no
hesitation in expressing opinion against its
restoration. Having recently visited MANY of