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"Whenever any officer shall be employed in the command of a squadron, on separate service, the allowance of rations shall be double, during the continuance of such command, and no longer; except in the case of the commanding officer of the Navy, whose allowance, while on service, shall always be at the rate of sixteen rations per day, agreeably to an act of Congress, passed 25th February, 1799."*

Able seamen receive twelve dollars per month, ordinary seamen ten, and landsmen and boys eight.

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"The commandant of Marines receives, in addition to his pay, eight dollars per month, for forage of three horses. The Adjutant, Quarter-master, and Paymaster, thirty dollars per month extra.” †

When the officers of the Navy are not employed, they can, by applying to the secretary of the Navy, obtain leave to take the command of Merchant Vessels or to serve on board them. Many unem

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ployed officers avail themselves of this excellent regulation, and by making long voyages to India, China, or round Cape Horn, improve themselves extremely in seamanship and navigation, and at the same time amass a little money for themselves and families.

Promotion is managed with the greatest justice and impartiality; for no officer can pass over the heads of his seniors, unless he has rendered some very important service to the nation, or has captured a vessel of superior force to his own.

"Once a year, a board of officers, for the examination of Midshipmen requesting promotion, is instituted. This rule was introduced in the regulations of the Navy, at the suggestion of the Navy Commissioners. The officers constituting the board are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. It consists of three Captains, aided by a Mathematician. Public notice of the place and time of sitting of the board is given, and all Midshipmen deeming themselves qualified for examination are requested to attend for that purpose. The examination is very rigid, and is conducted with so severe a scrutiny into the acquirements of the applicants, that it is presumed all passed by the board, are, from a full knowledge of the duties of their profession, qualified to take command of a ship." * After passing this examination, they

*National Calender.

are promoted by seniority, as vacancies may

occur.

If we admire this system, what shall we say of our own? Every officer of the British Navy with whom I have had the honour of conversing upon this subject, has acknowledged, that in our service, promotion entirely depends, not on merit, but on interest. If a man have no interest, he may, though an excellent officer and navigator, remain a Midshipman or Lieutenant all his life; and must submit to those keen and galling feelings of disappointment and vexation, which naturally arise at seeing one's juniors and inferiors promoted over one. If it were not that the generality of our meritorious but neglected officers are men without any private fortune, and possessing nothing but their swords, they would no doubt throw up their commissions in disgust, and leave a service, where court favour mocks at humble merit. Every well wisher to his country must regret, that a system is not altered, which, if continued, will ultimately ruin the high character of our Navy. When two hostile ships are bearing down upon one another, the palm of victory, is not for the smile or the bow of the courtier, but for the science and the courage of the man.

CHAPTER XIX.

COMMERCE.

IN contemplating the United States, it must strike every one as very extraordinary, that they should have become, in so short a time, the second of commercial nations, with a reasonable prospect of soon becoming the first. What has caused this wonderful prosperity? The answer is short-free institutions, and free trade.

There are no excise officers in the United States. An American farmer would not, were any one to tell him, believe that there is a country, where a man can neither make his superfluous barley into malt, nor grow a little tobacco for his own private use, although he might raise it as easily as cabbage where he cannot drive a cart on springs, without paying extra tax for it-where &c. &c. &c. for enumeration is impossible.

This unshackled state of domestic industry gives an astonishing impulse to internal, and consequently to external commerce. No sooner has an American made a certain quantity of candles, spirits, leather, or &c. than he loads a boat with it, and sends it down the great rivers to some large commercial town, where he sells it, or exchanges it for any article of foreign produce.

The advantages of free trade are at present so

universally acknowledged, that it is unnecessary here to expatiate upon them. It may not however be amiss to, observe, that no government, except that of the United States, has acted up to this knowledge. The Americans have no monopolies ; and they impose none of those overwhelming duties, which impede commerce, diminish the revenue, and serve as a premium to smugglers, In what country, except the United States, can a man trade in any sized vessel to any part of the world whatsoever?

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There is nothing perhaps, in which the people of the United States so immeasurably excel all others, as in the construction of their merchant vessels.

The plan of building their larger merchant ships, long and sharp, and in that respect like fighting vessels, has been introduced for some time, and has answered beyond expectation. Hence the carrying trade from Liverpool to New York has been completely taken out of the hands of the English. Even the manufacturers of Glasgow, as I have been informed by a respectable merchant of that place, find it answers better to send their goods to Liverpool, to be shipped from thence in American vessels, than to send them direct from Glasgow to America, in English vessels. The Americans may indeed triumphantly ask: "Who sails, or who sends goods in an English merchant ship, when he can sail, or can send them in an

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