The fact was, he was frightened at their determined courage and
their decided conduct; and he fled, not from the guns, but from the
_men_.

I do not know on record any greater instance of heroism on the part of
British seamen; and I am delighted that Newton Forster was in the
conflict, or of course I could not have introduced it in this work.

And now, those who read for amusement may, if they please, skip over the
next chapter. There are points connected with the India service which I
intend to comment upon; and as all the wisdom of the age is confined to
novels, and nobody reads pamphlets, I introduce them here.

When one man is empowered to hold in check, and to insist upon the
obedience of a large proportion of his fellows, it can only be by
"opinion" that his authority can be supported.

By "opinion" I mean the knowledge that he is so empowered by the laws of
the country to which they all belong, and by which laws they will be
punished, if they act in opposition to his authority. The fiat of the
individual commanding is in this case the fiat of the nation at large;
to contend with this fiat is not contending with the individual, but
with the nation, to whose laws they must submit, or to return to their
country no more. A commander of a vessel, therefore, armed with martial
law, is, in fact, representing and executing, not his own will, but that
of the nation who have made the law; for he is amenable, as well as his
inferiors, if he acts contrary to, or misuses it.

In the merchant service martial law is not permitted; the bye-laws
relative to shipping, and the common law of the country, are supposed to
be sufficient; and certainly the present system is more advisable than
to vest such excessive power in the hands of men, who, generally
speaking, neither require nor are fit to be entrusted with it. Where,
as in the greater number of merchant vessels, the master and his
subordinate officers compose one-third, if not one-half of the
complement on board, nothing but the most flagrant conduct is likely to
produce insubordination.

But in the East India service the case is different. The vessels
themselves are of dimensions equal, if not superior, to our largest
class of frigates, and they carry from thirty to forty guns; the
property embarked in them is also of such an extent, that the loss
almost becomes national: their commanders are men of superior
attainments, as gentlemen and as officers; finally, the