ll hope that the principal cause, to which we may ascribe the
good conduct of our sailors in the trying hour, when there seems to be
a span only between life and death, is the religious feeling which
they bring with them to their ship from their homes, whether from the
cabin on the sea-shore, or the cottage on the hill-side. The scene
described in page 115, and the anecdote of the poor boy, in whose hand
was found an open Bible when his corpse was cast on shore, show the
power of religious feeling in the soul of the sailor. It may be a very
imperfect feeling, but the sailor has it; and even in its
imperfection it has a strong hold on his mind. From the first outbreak
of the Revolution; the French sailor entered the service of his
country as a volunteer or a conscript, embued with infidel notions: or
to say the least, with the religious indifference which had become so
common in France. Not so the English sailor. He was not one of the
fools to say in his heart. 'There is no God!' It is not easy to define
the nature of that awe which fills the mind of a religions mariner;
but most certainly those 'who see the works of the Lord and his
wonders in the deep,' face danger more steadily, under the solemn
belief that there is a ruling power to control the waters, and to say
to the winds, 'Peace! be still.' They are predisposed to 'cry unto the
Lord in their trouble,' and to implore Him to 'make the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof may be still:' and this fear of God, which
is before their eyes, has its influence in making them willing to
adopt every expedient proposed to them by their officers for their
common safety. Under this higher impulse, the spirit of obedience
works in them more confidingly; and humbled before the Supreme Power,
they are prepared to yield submission to every intellect superior to
their own. Now if there be a feeling of this kind already at work for
good in the minds of our seamen, it is of the utmost importance to
strengthen it,[2] to give it a sure direction, and to make it run in
a deeper and a broader channel, by all the appliances of instruction
and education.

To the credit of the official Boards, under whose administrative
authority provision is made for the religious and educational
improvement of men and boys in the Navy, very much has been done
lately to secure this great object. Within my own memory few seamen
could read, still fewer could write, but now the majority of them can
do bot