210 Notices respecting New Books. 
follows the civil part of the naval administration as divided into 
the departments of the pay-master of the navy, navy board, and 
_ Surveyors of the navy. ' 
Mr. Dupin examines at great length the office of transports as 
it was in time of war, and the’ victualling office. He describes 
with peculiar minuteness the humane provisions which have been 
made to secure the health of the troops when embarked and very 
often crowded in great numbers; and shows from some striking 
facts the happy result which has been produced by the im- 
provements thus introduced. 
Mr. Dupin is still more particular about all the means of im- 
proving the food of seamen. He details at length the allowances 
in food and drink; and expatiates on the care which is taken to 
procure for our gallant tars the best bread, beer, spirits, meat 
and fish, as well as the excellent rules for distributing equally 
and impartially the allowance of a ship’s company. Mr. Dupin 
also speaks in warm terms of the peculiar attentions taken to 
prevent disease, and gives several remarkable instances of the 
consequent diminution in the number both of sick and dead on 
board the ships of the English navy. The author confesses that 
in addition to his own observations, he has drawn a good deal 
from the learned productions of Sir Gilbert Blane, formerly one 
of the principal medical officers in the British navy. 
Mr. Dupin has consecrated a chapter of his first volume to 
the treatment of prisoners of war. He mentions only what he 
saw of the hulks in which these prisoners were confined, what 
our illustrious and humane Howard declared to have seen when 
he visited these places of seclusion, and what is officially avowed 
in the reports of naval revision. We meet in Mr. Dupin with no 
such disgusting and injurious declamations as those of General 
Pillet and other libellous writers. However, we must confess 
that his picture is sad enough to make us desirous to see in future 
wars, the unhappy prisoner treated in a manner more worthy of 
the justly boasted British humanity. 
Having finished all that concerns the general or as he calls it 
central administration of the civil affairs of the navy, the author 
describes the civil administration of the sea ports and dock yards. 
Here, as well as in most parts of our institutions, the author finds 
a great superiority on our side compared with the institutions of 
his own country. So candid a confession from such a judge as 
Mr. Dupin gives us the best proof that. our splendid naval vic- 
tories are equally due to the unparalleled bravery of our officers 
and sailors, and to the excellence of the institutions by which such 
successes are prepared and facilitated. 
After explaining the general regulations on which the consti- 
tution of our navy is founded, the author considers the state ‘a 
the 
