heir grievances had afterwards been properly
investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the
authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with
gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been
difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It
is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the
law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit
and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good
cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few
soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision
of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny.
Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans,
and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect
involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always
been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were
alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could
desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be
prompt to assert his authority. If he waver--if he allow the men once to
feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another--his
influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them,
it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the
confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders
against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting
their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first
Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals
whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with
equals--when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently
feared to resist--and the Parliament hastened to legislate at the
bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The
fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow
of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of
the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or
fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost
every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and
considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses,
and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disg