1826.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



301 



discipline ? Very, very lew, if any. True 

 bravery is sedate and kind-liearted. For- 

 merly, men were started whb terrible seve- 

 rity — that is, were beaten with a rope's 

 end, by one, sometimes two boatswain's 

 mates — fjften the rope was lieavy, and 

 shockingly bruised the man ; if a rope was 

 i\ot used, a twisted bull's-hide siip])lied tlie 

 ])liu:e. Does this system now exist ? Ury 

 swipes were often served to men — that is, 

 were riov'gcd witii a cat o'niiie tails without 

 being lashed u|>, or made to strip. Is this 

 now practised ? We believe that some 

 tiiousiinds of such lashes as these last, 

 given on board a frigate, caused the restrict- 

 ing regulations : men cannot now be pu- 

 nished witli sucli wanton cruelty for trifles. 

 Allow the captains to retain the power of 

 punisliing, but keep a tiglit and watchful 

 restraint on tliem. 



. We are higlily pleased with the praise so 

 justly bestowed on the cor])s of marines, 

 and heartily agree in the author's proposi- 

 tion of giving them the motto, " Sans petir 

 vt sans reprochc," only let it be in Eng- 

 lish, without fear and witliout reproach. 

 If any body of troops in the «'orld merit 

 this motto, the marines do. The account 

 of tlie frigate filled with religious fanatics is 

 not over-charged : it is a melancholy pic- 

 ture ; but sucli an excess of folly, to use 

 the mildest term, is not likely to be often 

 repeated. The account of the attention 

 to religious duties is rather exaggei-ated. 

 Ships in harbour are filled with prostitutes 

 of tlie lowest description ; to muster them, 

 and the men keeping them, to prayers, is 

 a i)erfect farce. At sea, the service ap- 

 pointed is seldom performed ; indeed, not 

 one ship in ten had a chaplain. Fanati- 

 cism, as well as total neglect, should be 

 equally deprecated. A clieei'ful, consis- 

 tent, and noble piety, might be more gene- 

 rally incidcated than it is in the mwy. This 

 is a vei-y diriicult and delicate subject to 

 handle, and requires more room than we 

 can bestow on it. It may be justly re- 

 marked, that sincere and clieeifid piety are 

 not inconsistent with valour, activity, and 

 enterprize, and would certainly be attended 

 with obedience, respect, and temperance. 

 Blany of the subjects touched on in these 

 volumes are so important, that to discuss 

 them would require all our pages ; we 

 must, therefore, briefly remark on one or 

 two more of them. The discussion on 

 naval promotion is not good ; the scale of 

 merit at the Admiralty must necessarily be 

 imperfect, as the information must come 

 from variously disposed men, and some de- 

 plorably deficient in discrimination. The 

 patronage should, in some measure, belong 

 to the active members of the profession : 

 it gives them, politically speaking, impor- 

 tance and connexion with the people, and 

 enables them to push fonvard indigenous 

 merit. The navy has ever been 01-treated, 

 and always will be, because its members 

 constitute a rope of sand. Even if they 



could pull more together, their constant 

 separations and changes would prevent 

 tJieir acting with mucli efficacy. It i« 

 clear to common observers, that the pro- 

 portion of i)atricians employed is too great, 

 and far too great a proportion of the same 

 class promoted. This «as the ca.se in 

 France prior to the revolution. liefore 

 the 12th of Apiil, a French captahi and 

 his next in command were seen by an 

 English officer, a prisoner, working in the 

 cabin at a tambour ! — -fas est ub lioste 

 tloceri. This book we caimot sincerely 

 commend : it falls several degrees below 

 what it should be. Some of the stories 

 are vulgar and without point : we refer 

 ])articularly to that of Sir Edmund Nngle. 

 In otiiers, the language is unnecessarily 

 coarse. There are too many sesquipe- 

 dalian expressions, and the Latin quo- 

 tations are in bad taste and out of ))laee. 

 The criticisms on others unmercifully 

 severe. There are, however, some quaint, 

 and some amusing anecdotes, which tend 

 to illustrate the character of a certain stamp 

 of seamen and officers. 



/setters to a Friend on the State of Ire- 

 land, tite lioinan Catholic Question, inul the 

 Merits of Constitutional Reliifious Distinc- 

 tions, \»j E. A.Kenju.\ll, ii«(/., r.s.A. 3 vols. 

 8w(. Part I. — It would be a pentct farce, 

 a mere imposition on the public, to i)re- 

 tend to review three large volumes, on the 

 most intricate and difficult subjects, within 

 the limits of so confined a review as tJiat 

 of the Monthly Magazine. We shall only 

 offer that general opinion which, with jus- 

 tice to the able writer a cursory perusal 

 will permit us. These volumes are clearly 

 written and well-arranged : tlie general line of 

 argument is clo!5e, and there exists through- 

 out a boldness of opinion, which, even in an 

 adversary, must command respect. Mr. 

 Kendall is a stem and able supporter of the 

 laws which restrict the Roman Catholics from 

 partici])ating in the legislation of the coun- 

 try, or in holding high and official situations. 



Mr. Kendall takes up his main position 

 on very defensible ground — namely, poli- 

 tical and religious zeal produce similar 

 effects. The democratic Revolution of 

 France tolerated neither person, nor thing, 

 which did not accord with the sanguinary 

 intolerance of the leaders and their ad- 

 herents. The Roman Catholic religion, 

 Mr. Kendall attempts to prove, from the 

 numerous formidse of prayers, from public 

 declarations, from ack^lowledged tenets, 

 and fair deductions, to be equally intolerant, 

 and considers every other sect of Chris- 

 tians as infidels and heretics. The various 

 formulse of prayers justify him in the use 

 of the words in which he has expressed his 

 opinions ; the public declarations are nearly 

 as strong as words can make them : the 

 tenets, the symbols of Pius IV. (which 

 Mr. Kendall has not, we believe, referred 

 to), leave no unbiassed man the power of 

 contradicting him - and, without a doubt, 



