The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-12
NAVAL DISCIPLINE.

press exactly what we mean-that to very
great extent governs that branch of the mill
tary service. The navy is in great measure
cut off from the ordinary influences of Ameri-
can society, its officers are thrown a great
deal among foreigners, and without in the
slightest degree imputing want of patriot
ism to the navy, we have no hesitation in
saving that il is too much under the influence
of foreign ideas for its own good. The cadet
at the Naval Academy, from his first entrance
into that institution, is instilled with no.
tions of his own Importance, and is encou-
ragged to cultivate those accomplishments
that will fit him to shine in the
gay society that he will meet in foreign
ports. We have nothing to find fault with
in this, for it is a matter of great Importance
that the naval officers who represent us abroad
should be polished gentlemen, but we do com
plain that what ought to be the essentials of a
naval education are sacrificed to superficial
accomplishments. 1t is a notorious fact that
the Naval Academy is far inferior to West
Point as an educational institution, and as
natural consequence of the system of training
that the midshipmen undergo, the navy is
less liberal in its ideas than the army, less
progressive, and less disposed to admit any
innovation on the old way of doing thiags.
Every improvement that has been made in
the navy has met with the bitterest opposi-
tion. Steam is considered a nuisance
even now by a large number of the
older officers, and even the abso-
lutte necessity of putting down the
Rebellion by every possible means could not
reconcile them to the monitors and iron-clads.
This same spirit has been manifested towards
the staff officers, who are often treated as if
they were an inferior order of beings. The
surgeons of the navy have been contend
ing for the past thirty years for such a recog-
milton as is accorded to their brethren in the
army, without being able to obtain what they
ask for, and the engineers are only endured
as necessary evils, like their greasy, noisy
machines, that have done away with the good
old race of sailors who could handle a ship
under canvas in any kind of weather.
The case of Surgeon Green of the Nipsic
is a case in point that has elected but one
opinion from the newspapers of the country
with the exception of the Washington CtrO-
a,icIe, which has apparently constituted itself
the organ of Admiral Porter and the Navy
Department. Surgeon Green was courtmar-
tailed and sentenced to degrading punish
ment because he declined to take mans
name off the sick list when ordered to do so
by his commanding officer. Secretary Robe
son, with an appreciation of the great injustice
of this sentence and of the merits of the
case, remitted the major part of the penalties
imposed by the court and let off the offenl-
ing surgeon with reprimand. The Chronicle
looks upon this as most magnaimous act on
the part of the Secretary, and as if it left the
surgeon and the corps that he represents no
grounds whatever for complaint.
We do not intend to dispute the authority
of the commanding officer to order all the sick
men in his ship on duty if he thinks it neces-
sary to do so, and indeed there may be times
when the commander would be perfectly JUS
titled in such an act But where from mere
whim he endeavors to supersede the surgeon
it is nothing more than brutal tyranny The
commander of the Nipsic would not take the
responsibility of ordering the seaman in ques-
tion to go to work, but he ordered the surgeon
to take him off the sick list, and thus to
vitiate the record, and to declare him we'll
man. There does not appear to be any two
sides to such question as this, and although
a court-martial may declare the surgeon guilty,
such sentence cannot degrade him in the
eyes of just men, and it is impossible that it
should be conducive to good discipline. The
New York Tribune, in commenting upon the
sentence of Mr.. Green, tersely says, ''Sup-
posing it to be in strict accordance with quar-
ter-deck law, there must be some better, and
there cannot well be meaner, way for gen.
tleman to earn his living than by serving as O
surgeon in the navy of the United States"
The result of policy of which this case is
but an example is, that it is almost imposs
BILE to get competent men to enter the medi
cal corps of the navy. The standard of fit
ness is high, as it ought to be, and gentle
men who are competent to pass the required
examination do not care to submit to sucl
indignities as will certainly be offered merel,
for the sake of very moderate salary an(
the privilege of wearing the uniform of th
naval service.
The Chronicle makes some reference to dis
creditable articles that have appeared in Ger
tain Philadelphia papers, and deprecates th
washing of dirty naval linen in public.
portion of this we suppose is intended fo
The EVENING TELEGRAPH, and we are force'
to admit that the articles on this subject tina
have appeared in our columns are discredit
able, not to us, certainly, but to the Nav.
Department and the men who control it
policy. There are certain evils existing IL
The manacement of the naval Service, AM