y 
q 
1825.) - 
éven were it granted, that in times of 
peculiar emergency the Government 
should be armed with the power of 
comipelling the setvice of certain classes, 
the doctrine of its right to avail itself 
of that service at /éss than the market 
price, ¢an never surely be maintained 
with any appearance of justice or good 
policy, when the obvious effects of 
such a system are aversion, flight and 
concealment. In the United States’ 
navy, where the discipline is generally 
considered more severe than ours, there 
is no scarcity of men ; they enter for a- 
limited time, and the seaman’s pay is 
regulated by the fluctuation of the mer- 
chant’s wages, or in other words, it fol- 
lows the market price; though, we be- 
lieve, never fully up to its level. From 
1800 to 1816, it varied from ten to 
seventeen dollars a month ; the smallest 
of these sums is, nearly one-third more 
than the pay of an able seaman in the 
British navy ; and the largest a great 
deal more than double, while the neces- 
saries of life are generally much cheaper 
in that country than in this. 
_ That there are not two opinions on 
the expediency of abolishing this odious. 
custom, which is “ more honoured in 
the breach than the observance,” if a 
less exceptionable substitute can be 
pointed out, must be apparent to every 
body; hence it becomes almost incum-' 
bent on individuals; who may have re- 
flected at all on the subject, to give 
their opinions publicity, and leave them 
to stand or fall by their own intrinsic 
value: such a procedure can do no 
harm, and may render some assistance 
‘to the cause, if it only call forth an 
answer; the simple discussion of the 
uestion will familiarize it to the pub- 
» and any notice, however meagre 
_and unworthy, may nevertheless call 
forth the sentiments of abler men, and 
a plan be ultimately struck out that 
will reconcile all opinions—for there 
must be a remedy somewhere—death’ 
is the only thing which has none. 
_ We are told that, were it not for im- 
pressment, we should, at the commence- 
ment of a war, be in want of men to 
: our ships; that they would re- 
main sailorless—inert masses, floating 
on the face of the waters: in shoft, 
that while our fleets continued stagnat- 
ing in port, those of our enemies would: 
be riding triumphant over the ocean. 
In'the first place, it is by no means ap- 
hotest bie our adversaries should be 
_ beforehand with us, unless tlreir syster’ 
be preferable to ours; and if so, let us’ 
~ 
A Scrap of Criticism: 
211 
profit by their example ;—let us change 
this illiberalsystem—alter this narrow 
and penurious policy—give the miuri- 
time part of the community fair play— 
make the only difference between’ a man- 
of-war and a merchant-man, the supe 
rior discipline of the former; and’ let! 
the restraints necessary to ensure that 
discipline be no greater than will effect 
their object. You will then find little 
difficulty in giving animation to thosé 
splendid bulwarks of the British empire, 
and they will become palaces instead 
of prisons. : 
As the cause of a diseasé is 1tecés- 
sary to be known before an efféctuaf 
remedy can be applied, let us now en- 
deavour to discover the reason that 
occasions such unwillingness in the séa- 
men of England to’ sérve on board his 
Majesty’s ships. 
(To be continued. / 
—a— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
. A Scrar of Criticism. 
i our Notices to Correspondents at 
. the end of our preceding nambery 
we quoted, as a sentence of prose, some’ 
lines rejected frony our poetic columns; 
and suggested an experiment, by means’ 
of which an author might always, not 
only know whether it was versé, or 
prose that he was writing, but also’ 
where it was that his verses, if any 
such there were, began, and where they 
énded—which, most assuredly, the fin- 
gers alone (maugre the editorial Shak-’ 
peare-marrings of Messrs. Malone and 
Co.) can néveér tell him. 
As poetical criticism is with us a 
sort of morality—because we look upon 
poetry as oné of the real goods of life /— 
we will push fhe application of the 
principle, there suggested, a littlé fur- 
ther; or, explain it rather, by a prac- 
tical illustration, for which nothing 
could be more convenient than the 
lines in question. And as (if the poet’ 
can keep his own. secret) nobody ¢at 
know, but hintselfy to whose effusions’ 
the animadversions apply, they may 
preserve towards hint all the delicacy 
of a private and friendly criticism, while 
even our great Poet Laureate hitiself, 
if ever he should write another “ Ke- 
hama,”* may take a hint from them, 
perhaps, that may not be quite unprofit- 
able. ‘The lines in question are thus 
arranged in the author’s manuscript. 
do not tél! tion the ea in exietdecortali 
with thei? whimsical arraignment. © 
* Sevéral lines’ of which, och a 
ati é 
Q2P2 We. 
