Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-11-23
LIFE AND PROMOTION IN THE
BRITISH NAVY.
mow oaleers are Made ana P,omO.s.l

How officers are Made and Promoted. |
The Saturday ReU1eD gives, in 6 recent
number, some interesting particulars Of
life in the British navy:
HOW BOYS BECOME OFFICERS.
Boys become naval cadets of the first
class about the age they would enter at
Harrow; and the trsining-ship is, in effect,
public school ahost, without cricket, foot
ball, or "hare and hounds" The young
ster is examined before joining it and
before leaving it; and is expected to
get through it In year, in the course
Of which time there are also four quar-
terly examinations. He then passes ou q
2 MILDLY, perhaps in his fourteenth year,
undergoes an intermediate and again q
| final examination for his lieutenancy,
which he is competent to achieve when
nineteen years of age His sdmiring coun-
try is by this time convinced of the salts
factory character of his sttsinments,
and ceases to regard him as in stdtu pupil
lari. The protracted period of naval edu-
catiod has Oecasioned call for large
number of inaval instructors" who often
| combine with that responsibility holy Or
i ders and the post Of Chaplain
| a bows outfit for the Britannia training
! ship, including his niSeelIGnea of personal
! equipment instruments, books, and what
not, appears to come to about $50, and a
similar list of necesssries on going to ses
l. estimated at &1l0. Then, for his keep
while in the training-ship, &1O is expected TO
be paid down before he JONES her, and flO
more at the end of each quarter. Them
par contra, ,theinaval cadets pay is Id day
and that o.. a midshipman nearly double,
nor, after the outfit OF a sea-going ship, is
there any increase in the annual outlay
of father to his son when MILDLY, have,
of course, ss the youths taste for extrava-
gance may unfold itself We should be
glad to hear Of any profession, carrying
the stamp of gentleman indellibly upon
it, IN which boy of thirteen can earn
! lid day, or nearly Ella year, rising at
fifteen to over ESQ, while he mixes at the
same time freely in the society Of his
equals, and is kept out of harms way, for
about f40 or ESQ annually, This amount
is one-third or one.fourth Of what the
same boy who'd cost at Harrow or Eton,
and is not more, we believe, than what q
clergyman can get his son schooled for
at Marlborough College, where the chsrg-
es are supposed to be kept studiously low.
We have not taken into account in this
view the aforementioned charges for out
fits, because they chiefly represent, as we
have said, the expenses of personal equip
ments and the appliances of study, which
equally would not be included in the gen
eral school cesrge. We say nothing of
the cost Of boys subscriptions to cricket
or rowing, which swell school expenses, nor
on the other hand, Of the saving to the
cadet of the possible contingency of doc
tors bill, which on board the ship costs the
patient nothing.
Thesroyal. navy, we conclude; offers in
these early stages large advantages in or
der to coneiliate maternal reluctance, and
takes boy on terms ofeconomy inst when
he is beginning to prove ordinarily an ex-
pensive burden. But we ought not to
omit the fact that the moral OF religious
care of the cadet or MILDLY falls regular
ly under the charge of the naval chaplsins
of the Britannia, on of the ships chaplain
in which he may be launched sfoat. II
the naval chaplains are not inferior in zeal
and charity to their blsck-costed brethren
ashore-and We see no reason to assume
such inferiority-this ought to be viewed
as 8 great blessing to the boy, not only
for his intrinsic value, but because it is
wrought into the whole fabric Of discipline,
and is backed by the grand principle ol
obedience TO authority. OF course the ac-
tual contact of the chaplain with his young
charges is liable TO be ciroumseribed BY
the routine of the service, and may easily
sink into perfunetory minimum. But
on the other hand, where life touches life
: so closely as on board ship a chaplain
who has the gift Of personal influence car
: exercise it to an extent Unknown among
the relations Of secular business ashore.