n, have afterwards returned to the thoughts of those who have had
influence, have been considered as their own ideas, and have been acted
upon. The conduct of Captain Tartar may be considered as a libel on the
service--is it not? The fault of Captain Tartar was not in sending them
on board, or even putting them in irons as deserters, although, under
the circumstances, he might have shown more delicacy. The fault was in
stigmatising a young man as a swindler, and the punishment awarded to
the error is intended to point out the moral, that such an abuse of
power should be severely visited. The greatest error now in our
service, is the disregard shown to the feelings of the junior officers
in the language of their superiors: that an improvement has taken place
I grant, but that it still exists, to a degree injurious to the service,
I know too well. The articles of war, as our hero was informed by his
captain, were equally binding on officers and crew; but what a dead
letter do they become if officers are permitted to break them with
impunity! The captain of a ship will turn the hands up to punishment,
read the article of war for the transgressing of which the punishment is
inflicted, and to show at that time their high respect for the articles
of war, the captain and every officer take off their hats. The moment
the hands are piped down, the second article of war, which forbids all
swearing, etcetera, in derogation of God's honour, is immediately
disregarded. We are not strait-laced,--we care little about an oath as
a mere _expletive_; we refer now to swearing at _others_, to insulting
their feelings grossly by coarse and intemperate language. We would
never interfere with a man for damning his _own_ eyes, but we deny the
right of his damning those of _another_.

The rank of a master in the service is above that of a midshipman, but
still the midshipman is a gentleman by birth, and the master, generally
speaking, is not. Even at this moment, in the service, if the master
were to damn the eyes of a midshipman, and tell him that he was a liar,
would there be any redress, or if so, would it be commensurate to the
insult? If a midshipman were to request a court-martial, would it be
granted?--certainly not: and yet this is a point of more importance than
may be conceived. Our service has been wonderfully improved since the
peace, and those who are now permitted to enter it must be gentlemen.
We know that even now the