The herald., 1893-09-20
DISCIPLINE AND CHARACTER.
Tribute to the Austere Training which
Produced Man Like Tryon.


Produced a Man Like Tryon.
To our minds the charm of Admiral
Tryon's bearing in the hour of his fate is
the perfection of the system which for
centuries has bred men capable of his
conduct and his death. They have not
had his opportunity of being visible, not
his strangely scenic surroundings, not
perhaps the temperament which could
have inspired them to that farewell in
the moment of disappearance, but there
have been hundreds of men in the navy,
and even in the merchant. service, who
would have died as bravely as he did.
1t is the tradition of both services
not, we think, the order-that the high
est in rank on ship in peril must be the
last to quit the vessel; that. as occurred
q few years ago, even a stowaway, who
is almost criminal in sailors eyes, must
take precedence of the captain in secur-
ing safety. The origin of the rule is, we
fancy, policy-that the state or the own
er be protected by the captains author
ity to the last-but it has become an eti-
quette and pride, and in the records of
hundreds of wrecks you will find few in
which it was ever broken. 1.-THE cap
tain was the last to leave the ship" is the
end of almost every telegram of marine
disaster.
In other words, discipline has continued
for centuries under the pressure of the
same necessities, and the same ideas, has
extinguished in class by no means de-
void either of faults or vices, most ma
tural and tempting form of selfshness
has induced whole series of men, many
Of them hardly educated, to face slow
fail in the performance of professional
duty. That is wonderful result of train
ing, and it is one which makes those who
see it clearly doubt whether the modern
world is altogether in the right path.
The old ideal for the formation Of
character was discipline, hardship, pres.
sure, alike from the law and from teach
ers and from opinion, and it certainly
produced many of the virtues, especially
that one of obedience, which the world
everywhere but on shipboard-where
there are few unrealities and men carry
their lives in their hands-has taken to
despising. The modern idea is that dis
cipline even for children is an oppressive
thing; that it turns men into machines,
and it quenches individuality-that it is,
in short, unpleasant, whereas pleasant
ness is the end of life.
We see the result of the change in the
disappearance of many forms of oppres-
sion, and lighter atmosphere for men
to move in, and we see it also in the
slow disappearance of many noble ele-
ments IN character. The old system,
working with good material, produces
as its perfect result Admiral Tryon. The
new, working also on the right material,
produces the British agitator.
Admiral Tryon was no doubt brave
man and gentleman without help from
the service or its traditions, but the
service had annealed his character into
what it was, something for nation to
be proud Of, which would hardly have
been exhibited or have existed amid the
indiscipline and softness of civil life.
When one hears of such man so meet
ing such an end, it is difficult. not to
doubt whether liberty as now inter
preted is such a perfectly good thing;
whether instant obedience to command
is not bettertraining; whether pressure
from all sidess from service rules, opin-
ion and hardship together, does not weld
men into something worthier of the as
pirations which, while men have con-
sciences, they never quite get rid Of
London Spectator.