Notice of Sketches of Naval Life. 323 



to style himself. He says, "I was among ships, as a travel- 

 ler in a strange country — I give things, just as they aflected 

 me, and as I beheve they would affect all landsmen, for 

 whom, chiefly, the book is intended. As our men of war 

 present the singular spectacle, of a thorough monarchy, 

 sheltered under the wings of republicanism. I well recol- 

 lect, too the pleasure, with which I saw our navy, slowly but 

 surely building up a fair character for our nation abroad, and 

 my first wish, after enjoying these things myself, was to have 

 people ai home enjoy them too, and hence the copious join*- 

 nals from which the materials for these letters have been 

 drawn." 



He says, that yielding to the judgment of persons whose 

 opinions he respected, he has said more than he intended of 

 the countries which he visited, but he did this the more 

 readily, " as the countries are interesting and he wished to 

 make the book just what the cruise was, a mixture of land 

 and sea, or in other words, to give in all their characters, 

 sketches of a sailor's life." 



We look at the progress of our navy, as we do at every 

 thing connected with the country, with pleasure and sur- 

 prise. In October, 1775, a committee was appointed by 

 Congress, to provide two fast sailing vessels, one often guns, 

 the other of fourteen. We have now our men of war in 

 every sea; they are spoken of with admiration wherever 

 they appear ; we are founding navy yards and docks ; amass- 

 ing stores and filling magazines ; and shall soon launch the 

 largest ship in the world ; efficient in a tremendous degree, 

 but, after all, probably a pageant of national vanity ; and a 

 pageant may she always remain ! 



Such a rapid increase has necessarily been attended, as 

 in the case of every sudden growth, with imperfections and 

 errors, and as each minute of the present is doubly valuable, 

 from its necessary influence on the future, he merits the 

 thanks of his country, who will place before us these imper- 

 fections and errors with their remedy. Naval men are, of 

 course, best qualified to do this, but from them it must not 

 be expected ; the strictness of naval discipline will not suffer 

 it -, he who should venture to point out an error would fall 

 under the charge of censuring his superiors, and subject him- 

 self to arrest. Still this subject, like most others, is capable 

 of deriving benefit from candid investigation. The volumes 

 before us open the way. The author seems to have felt 



