The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-09-01
DISCIPLINE AND cnAHAe1En.


Produced 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 lie 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
10 few years ago, even a stowaway, who
i3 almost q 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
Ter be protected by the captains author
lily to the last--but it has become an Ell
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
Isame necessities, and the same ideas, has
distinguished in class by no means de
void either of faults or vices, most ma
tural and tempting form of seliishness
has induced whole series of men, many
of them hardly educated, to face a slow
land painful form of death rather than
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 formal ton oil
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--whert
there are few unrealities and mon carry
their lives in their hands--has taken tC
Ilespising. Tho modern idea is that dis
cipline even for children is an oppressive
Thing; that it turns men into machines
and it quenches Northumberland it is
in short unpleasant, whereas pleasant
ness is tho end of life.
We see the result of the change in tht
disappearance of many forms of oppres
sion. and lighter atmosphere for mel
TO move in, and we SEQ it also in tn,
slow disappearance of many noble ele
ments in character. The old system
working with good material, produces
las its perfect result Admiral Tryon. Tn,
new, working also on the right material
produces the British agitator.
Admiral Tryon was no doubt BRAY,
man and gentleman without help from
the service or its traditions, but tn,
Iservice had annealed his character int,
what it was, something for nation t.
be proud of, which would hardly hay,
lbeen exhibited or have existed amid tn,
Iindiscipline and softness Of civil life
when one hears of such man SO meet
ling such an end, it is difficult not Il
doubt whether liberty as now inter
Ipreted is such perfectly good thing
whether instant obedience to command
$ not better training; whether pressur,
from all sides, from service rules, opin
lion and hardship together, does not welt
men into something worthier of the Ms
lpirations which, while men have con
sciences, they never quite get rid Of
London Spectator.