ards his captain or towards the
service.

It happened to me once, when in command of a ship in the Pacific
Ocean, to have occasion to punish a very good seaman. The offence was
in some degree a doubtful one, but, upon the whole, I felt it my duty
to correct it rather sharply. On mature reflection, however, I began
to suspect I had done wrong; and on joining the commander-in-chief,
some weeks afterwards, I laid all the circumstances of the case before
him, and begged him to tell me fairly what he thought. He examined the
details minutely, cross-questioned me about them, and, after some
deliberation, said, that although I had the letter of the law with me,
I had acted hastily, which in this instance was acting unjustly; for
had I waited a little, the true bearings of the case must, he thought,
have made themselves apparent. This judgment of Sir Thomas Hardy
squared but too well with my own feelings upon the matter, and doubled
the shame I was already suffering under. From that hour to this, I
have never ceased to catch with eagerness at any suggestion which I
thought might contribute to save deserving men from a similar
misfortune, and well-disposed officers from the fatal errors of
precipitancy. A little incident has perhaps had its effect in
quickening these speculative ideas into a practical shape.

Several years after the period alluded to, I happened to be sailing
about Spithead in a gentleman's yacht, when a man-of-war's cutter came
alongside. As no officer had been sent in the boat, the message was
delivered by the coxswain, whom I did not recognize as an old shipmate
till he came to me aft, took off his hat, and held out his hand. I
then recollected the face of the seaman I had unjustly punished! To
all appearance he had entirely forgotten the circumstance: but the
commodore's words, "You ought to have let that man off," rang in my
ears, and my heart smote me as I felt the honest fellow's grasp. "I
shall never rest," I afterwards vowed to myself, "till I have
succeeded in suggesting some regulations which, as far as possible,
shall prevent other officers from falling into the same error."

It seems to be now generally admitted, by all who have attended to the
subject, that ever since the period when it became the duty of
captains to make periodical reports to the Admiralty of the corporal
punishments inflicted, those punishments have gradually decreased.
Meanwhile the discipline has gone on improving; and there