THE ROYAL NAVY & MERCANTILE MARINE; ALSO BELLIGERENT AND NEUTRAL RIGHTS IN THE EVENT OF WAR. A REVIEW OF THE PAST AND PRESENT METHODS OF MANNING, THE FORMATION OF MORE RELIABLE AND PERMANENT RESERVES: ALSO AN INQUIRY INTO THE OPERATION OF THE DECLARATION PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY PEWTRESS & CO., 15, GREAT QUEEN STREET, W.C. 1877. [Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.] DISABLED by infirmity of body from the active participation in public affairs or private business relating to maritime commerce, in which I was formerly engaged, both as a Member of Parliament and a shipowner, I have occupied myself, in my enforced retirement, with an examination of some important questions affecting the maritime interests of the country. The opinions I have thus formed have been published in a series of articles in the Nautical Magazine, in order that they might receive the consideration of its readers who are professionally qualified to form a sound judgment on the subject, and, finding, from the suggestions with which I have been favoured, that the articles have excited considerable interest amongst a portion of the seafaring community, I am encouraged to re-publish them in a revised, and, I hope, materially improved form, for the consideration of the public in general. In the brief historical outline of the efforts of statesmen and others during the last two centuries, to establish an efficient system for Manning the Navy in times of peace and war, I have deemed it superfluous to re-open, in any way, the discussions respecting navigation laws or others. having for their object protection for shipping, which, during the early part of my political career, engaged so much public attention. All these were finally relinquished by the complete recognition, a quarter of a century ago, of the principles of free commerce and free navigation, under which the enterprise and industry of the nation, and its consequent increase of wealth and resources, have reached their present greatness; so that no thoughtful persons can desire their restoration. On the contrary, I have endeavoured to show that, however great may be the changes made in our national laws as affects shipping, they have not kept pace with the progress of events; that they should be better adapted to the present state of our maritime affairs, so as to ensure more complete discipline in our Merchant Service; a more adequate supply of trained and educated seamen, alike for Her Majesty's Navy and for the Mercantile Marine in time of peace; and a sufficient Naval Reserve to meet the exigencies of war. in Former plans proposed by high authorities, as described my short review of them, were based on the amalgamation of the Naval and Mercantile divisions of the maritime service, but they failed for want of a satisfactory method of providing for a suitable and sufficient source of supply whence the men might be derived. The zeal, however, now manifested for the education and improvement of destitute and abandoned children has gathered into our union-schools, asylums, reformatories, and training-ships many thousand boys who would otherwise become outcasts and pests of society. I have pointed out how, by educating and turning to account a portion of these boys, inclined to follow seafaring pursuits, and who are fit for them, the causes of former failure may be obviated; and that, while an economy |