fore it
becomes a matter of much practical importance to investigate the true
bearings of a measure by which such invaluable results have been
brought about. It should never be forgotten, that there is an absolute
necessity for maintaining the present strictness of our discipline,
which is one of the most essential sources of naval success; and, next
to the spirit of honour and patriotism which pervades the profession,
it may be considered the very life-blood of that branch of our
national strength. But there are two very different methods by which
this vital object of exact discipline may be accomplished: one is the
prevention, the other the punishment, of offences. Some officers have
endeavoured to do away with corporal punishment altogether; and some,
on the other hand, have had recourse to hardly anything else. The just
union of the two systems will, I believe, in the end, perform the
greatest public service, at the least cost of human suffering.[7]

Antecedent to June 1811, the date of the order by which officers in
command of ships were required to send quarterly returns of
punishments to the Admiralty, there was little or no restraint upon
the despotic authority of the captain, as far as corporal punishments
were concerned. And it must be in the recollection of every one who
served in those days, that captains, not really cruel by nature, nor
more intemperate than the ordinary run of men, were sometimes led, by
the mere indulgence of unlimited and unscrutinised authority, to use a
degree of severity not only out of proper measure with the crime, but,
by reason of its questionable justice, hurtful to the discipline of
the ships, and to the general character of the service. Such things
may also possibly have happened even of late years; but certainly,
they have been much less frequent; for although no Admiralty
regulations can convert a hot-headed captain into a cool,
experienced, or reflecting person, nevertheless, it does seem to be
quite within the legitimate range of official power, to compel all
intemperate officers, whether young or old, to behave, as far as their
nature will allow, in the same manner as men of sense, feeling, and
thorough knowledge of the service would act in like circumstances.

It is a rule, now very generally observed by the best authorities in
the Navy, never to punish a man on the day the offence has been
committed. And experience having shown the wisdom of this delay, there
seems no