rom his last ship, I place
him under your Lordship's protection as _a child of the service_." When
a man thus bears others' deserts and the profession on his heart, he can
retain the affections of his subordinates even though he show all the
unbending severity of Jervis, and despite the numerous hangings, which,
for that matter, rarely fell except on the hopelessly bad. A most
significant feature of his rule as a disciplinarian was his peculiar
care of health, by instructed sanitary measures, by provision of
suitable diet, and by well-ordered hospital service. This was not merely
a prudential consideration for the efficiency of the fleet; he regarded
also the welfare of the sufferers. He made it a rule to inspect the
hospitals himself, and he directed a daily visit by a captain and by the
surgeons of the ships from which patients were sent, thus keeping the
sick in touch with those they knew, and who had in them a personal
interest. An odd provision, amusingly illustrative of the obverse side
of the admiral's character, was that the visiting captain should be
accompanied by a boatswain's mate, the functionary charged with
administering floggings, and, "if they find the patients do not conduct
themselves properly and orderly, they are to punish them agreeably to
the rules of the Navy." It was, however, on his care of health, in its
various exposures, that the admiral specially valued himself; it was, he
said, his proudest boast among the services to which he laid claim.

But while he labored thus for the welfare of the seamen, it was
naturally upon the professional tone of his officers that his chief
reliance must be placed; and the leaders among them he grappled to his
soul with hooks of steel, as they recognized the wisdom and force of his
measures, and the appreciation given to them and others. Whatever
beneficent influence might issue from him as a fountain-head must
through them be distributed, and by them reinforced and sustained. "The
discipline of the fleet," he said, "is in the ward-room;" and greatly
did he lament the loose insubordinate talk, the spirit of irresponsible
criticism that found voice at mess-tables, within the hearing of
servants, by whom it was disseminated throughout the body of the ship.
Not only he, but many, attributed to this hot-bed the fomenting of
discontent into organized mutiny. This could not be stopped by direct
measures, but only by imposing a feeling of fear, and nurturing that of
o