The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-05-09

The MERCANTILE MARINE.--The increased num-
Der OF mutinies and the frequent complaints OF sea-
men against their officers, indicate great fault
somewhere in the merchant service. An attempt
has been made to correct this by the establishment
ofnautical schools. These are so few in number,
and have been established so recently, that there
has not been time to demonstrate their utility.
Certainly the abolition of toggtng has not i'm
proved the service. Shipowners themselves are
greatly to blame for the scarcity OF good seamen,
as atelyit has been difficult to induce to ship
a green hand or boys, thus causing them to look
to other fields of employment. Our attention has
been called to a letter from Captain Goldman,
thorough practical seaman, to the "Hon. Charles
Sumner, United States Senate" The captain con-
tends that it is not the officers who are the enemies
of the sailor, but the landlords and petty lawyers
who seize them the minute they land. In regard
to the maintenance of discipline Captain Goldman
says that the difficulty is for captain to
vince his men that he is their friend; this, he
thinks, can be done by little indulgence. He
gives the following description of Il seaman of the
present day:-"1f discharged from his ship he is
dragged into the landlords den; often, worse
still, is induced by him to desert, and violate his
obligations to pursue his voyage. He is kept, for
few days, stupefed with liquor, then he is shipped
on boaad vessel of which he knows nothing, and
awakes in strange forecastle, good for
nothing to himself or to any one else; finds
a shirt, and pair of trowsers and plug of to-
bacco in his chest, the landlord having possession
OF the balance of his pay for the last voyage it any
advance for the present one. He curses his bad
luck and thinks perhaps that he has lost his money
in spree So he goes on through miserable
existence till, worn out with lntemperance, expo
sure and disease, he dies" "Formerly. the Cap
tain says, "the American merchant service was the
best in the world; signal need only be raised and
could Immediately be procured" The
change he attributes entirely to the owners. He
says that no good seaman is ever punished If he
does his duty, only those who ship to do what they
know is out of their power. Unless a thorough re-
form is soon introduced, he thinks it will be neces-
sary to establish school ships for producing officers;
young men now object to entering the forecaste,
which is the foundation of seamanship, on account
of the debased condition of the seamen. In conclu-
sion the Captain earnestly urges the Importance of
some arrangement by which the difference between
the officers and men may be speedily adjusted. He
says: "W hat we require, what we have right to
demand, is court of simple equity, without any of
the surroundings of judicial shoregoing humbug,
to try seataring men within two DAYS after their
arrival in port to punish them if guilty. to acquit
them if innocent; and thus to have done with it
We want a commission, whose decision shall be
binding; and we want at least one of the commits
sioners to be practical man, who can tell his legal
associates some few things which they do not
know Condensed from Boston Journal
The NEGRO IN THE SoUrH.-The correspondent
of the Cincinnati Commercial, attending the
Charleston Convention, has been looking at the
Constitution as it is. He says:-fThe Southern
people who addressed negroes within my hearing
during the journey TO TINS point, spoke mucn more
kindly to them than negroes are in the habit of be-
ing spoken to in Cincinnati. There was, gene
raj rule, the kndest of demeanor the part of
the whites, and the greatest Difference and perfect
submission on the part of the blacks That intense
horror of a niger because he is niger, which
see in the North, does not exist here. A boy
they call all the six foot darkies down here, grey
headed or not, 'boys'-was very polite to gentle
man and lady at of the South Carolina stations.
The boy was going down to Charleston. The
gentleman said to him: You're very polite and
thoughtful to-day The boy smiled with intense
pleasure, and replied: 20 yes, masser, | allus po-
ite allus polite That's right said the gen
tleman, you're good fellow And the bow of
the boy, if made by one of our sham negro min
strels, would bring down the house. As the lady
was turning away, she stopped and said to the
boy whose eyes and ivory flashed white as she
did so William, be a good boy in Charleston;
don't let any of the bad fellows lead you into temp
tation there These are her very words, and the
tone in which they were uttered made them genu-
inc. William repeated his bow, and if an Ethio-
plan statue representing perfect felicity were
wanted he would have answered excellently well
then to stand for a model
NAvAL.-The new steam sloop-ofwar Dakota,
now fitting out at Norfolk, Va, was put in COM
mission the LIST instant. She is beautiful little
vessel and a very fast sailer making sixteen knots
under steam and twelve knots under sail alone
Her armament consists of four Dahlgren shell guns
and two l2-pound boat howitzers. Her crew will
number about 120 men, all told and her destina-
ton will be the coast of Brazil.