complement of
seamen under their command is larger than on board of many of the king's
ships.

The above considerations will at once establish that those bye-laws
which afford protection to the well-governing of the merchant service in
general, are not sufficient to maintain the necessary discipline on
board of the East India ships. The greater the disproportion between
the unit who commands and the numbers who obey, the greater the chance
of mutiny. Sedition is the progeny of assembly. Even where grievances
may be real, if there is no contact and no discussion, there will be no
insubordination; but imaginary grievances, canvassed and discussed in
assembly, swell into disaffection and mutiny. When, therefore, numbers
are collected together, as in the vessels of the East India service,
martial law becomes indispensable; and the proof of it is, that the
commanders of these vessels have been forced to exercise it upon their
own responsibility. A letter of marque should be granted to all vessels
carrying a certain number of men, empowering the commanders, under
certain sureties and penalties, to exercise this power. It would be a
boon to the East India ships, and ultimately a benefit to the navy.

To proceed. The merchant ships of the Company are men-of-war; the
men-of-war of the Company are--what shall I call them? By their right
names--they are all _Bombay Marine_: but let me at once assert, in
applying their own name to them as a reproach, that the officers
commanding them are not included in the stigma. I have served with
them, and have pleasure in stating that, taking the average, the vessels
are as well officered as those in our own service; but let us describe
the vessels and their crews. Most of the vessels are smaller in
scantling than the run down (and constantly _going down_) ten-gun brigs
in our own service, built for a light draft of water (as they were
originally intended to act against the pirates, which occasionally
infest the Indian seas), and unfit to contend with anything like a heavy
sea. Many of them are pierced for, and actually carry fourteen or
sixteen guns; but, as effective fighting vessels, ought not to have been
pierced for more than eight I have no hesitation in asserting that an
English cutter is a match for any of them, and a French privateer has,
before now, proved that she was superior. The crews are composed of a
small proportion of English seamen, a small proportion of Portugu