The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-29


manently. The Secretary very wisely thinks
that the seamen in the navy should not need
lessly be denied such indulgence as may be
consistent with the efficiency and disci-
pine of the service. This is a rather
hard rap over the knuckles of certain
commanding officers, who seem to imagine
that discipline can only be maintained by a
constant exercise of severity, and who, by their
conduct towards those under their command,
SO far from making the navy popular, cause
many gallant tar to swear that if he ever
gets out of Uncle Sans clutches he will
never put himself in like predicament
again. Many officers dole out few hours
liberty on shore and other indulgences as if
they were granting personal favors, and many
men, after being confined on board ship for
long cruises, are deprived of their liberty on
shore as punishment for the most trivial
offenses. Indeed, this is one of the favorite
punishments with many officers, who infict it
for reasons that are often exceedingly made
quate, while to the men it is particularly
calling, tending to make them dissatisfied far
more than some apparently severer penalties
would do. In the year 1862 Congress passed
law forbidding, under heavy penalties, such
punishments as tricing up by the thumbs,
bucking, gagging, and others equally outra-
geous, and the officers of the navy were re-
stricted to certain prescribed modes of re-
ducing incorrigibles to subiection, which,
however severe, were not necessarily cruel
There is good reason to believe, however, that
this law is frequently disregarded, and q
number of cases have been lately brought to
the notice of the public in which commanders
of vessels have been charged with cruelty to-
wards their men, and with practicing the very
modes of torture that are forbidden. The
enlisted men in cases of this kind have q
remedy, it is true, if they can only get a
hearing; but there are innumerable difficulties
in the way that, in large majority of cases,
practically leaves them no redress. Any
complaints to the Navy Department against a
commanding officer are obliged to pass
through the hands of the officer
himself and to receive his endorse
ment before the Secretary will take
any notice of them and the consequence is
that if complaint is made, it is the easiest
thing in the world for the offender to pocket
it and TINS prevent it from coming under the
notice of his superior. This in reality is
often done, and if the aggrieved seaman
waits until his ship comes into port and he is
discharged, he finds himself without the
means to employ counsel, and is beset by
other difficulties, so that he is really without
a remedy and must submit in silence. The
Secretary of the Navy will be doing good
thing for the service if he will follow up the
Instructions of his circular by Offering the
subordinate officers and seanen more oppor-
tunities than they have at present to obtain
Justice when they are wronged; and unless he
does this, his humane and kindly recommends
tions might as we'll never have been made,
so far as some of the officers in the service
are concerned.
The Secretary, in addition to his wish
that the seamen should be allowed more privi-
leges condemns the practice of Withholding
their pay until the end of the cruise and espe-
cially the practice of taking away their pay by
summary courts-martial. He wisely and
humanely remarks that summary courts
martial are intended to punish cases not
serious enough for the attention of a general
court, and there are variety of punishments
proper to be inflicted, which will be found
effective to maintain discipline, without TAX
ing from the sailors the compensation for
their time, labor, and exposure.
That the Secretary of the Navy should be
obliged to issue such circular as this shows
that the service is not popular with seamen,
as it ought to be. Almost absolute power,
like that welded by the command
ing officer of United States man
of-war, too often has the effect of
making men arbitrary and cruel in their treat
ment of subordinates; and there are officers
now in the service who sigh for the good old
times when they could order poor fellow up
to the gangway and give him dozen lashes
on his bare back for such offenses as splitting
on the deck, not tying up his hammock neatly,
and others of like character Although this
sort of thing is now done away with, life on
board man. war can be made utterly un-
bearable by series of petty annoyances if
the commander happens to have an ugly dis
position; and while discipline must be main
tanned at all hazards, there is no reason why
the sailors should not be treated as men, or
that they should not have any indulgence
consistent with the good of the service. We
hope that Secretary Robeson will see that his
circular is not made dead letter; for if its
recommendations are carried out in proper
spirit, it will do more to attract good, reliable,
and skilful sailors into the navy than any
other policy that could be adopted.
----A
The ECUMENICAL.