must that First Lord of the Admiralty be, who, with the full and uncontroled patronage of the naval service,, suffers his judgment Cto be biased by any influence but that which attaches to long and meritorious services and established character; and we again repeat, that the best security for due attention being paid to the claims of the great body of naval officers will be found in the unwarped and unprejudiced mind of an able, upright, and honourable civilian.

With unfeigned concern, we now advert to the latter part of the paragraph above quoted. It is known, and has long been a subject of regret, that the mode of manning the fleet forms an anomaly in the constitution of our free government; but so much have imperious necessity and long usage sanctioned the practice, that the most violent reformers and outrageous philanthropists have carefully abstained from bringing a subject of so delicate a nature into public discussion. What excuse then can possibly be found for an officer who has attained the highest rank in the service, who denies having any cause for discontent, who makes no complaint of being neglected or unrewarded, and who from his standing on the list may one day expect to arrive at the enviable situation of • Admiral of the Fleet,' what possible excuse, we say, can be found for one so circumstanced proclaiming to the world that British seamen collected by violence' are, in consequence thereof, in the habit of deeming both mutiny and desertion as privileges attached to their situation.' At a moment like the present, when not only the liberties of Great Britain, but the only remaining hope of the civilized world, rest chiefly on the exertions of the British navy, is it politic, is it becoming, is it honest we would ask, for an officer of Admiral Patten's rank, to hold out opinions of so dangerous a tendency, were they even true? But how shall we characterise those assertions, if they be false? How, but as foul and malignant libels on our brave seamen! They know too well the enormity of the crimes of mutiny and desertion, and the punishment which, by the Articles of War, awaits every man in and belonging to the fleet,' no matter how he came there, who shall be found guilty of either, to entertain the senseless notion that these are privileges attached to their situation.' They know too that every attention has been paid, every indulgence granted, to make their situation as comfortable as the nature of the service is capable of admitting; and in return they are satisfied and grateful. Their condition indeed was never so good, the general state of discipline never better than at this moment: and the happy effects resulting from it, are proclaimed to the world in every gazette.

After endeavouring to find fault with every part of the present system of naval management, we naturally expected that the gal

VOL. IV. NO. VIII.

43

lant admiral would have something of his own to propose in lieu of it; and accordingly we find towards the conclusion of his book, a sketch of a plan for attaching real seamen to the royal navy.' And here, by the way, we think we have discovered the secret wound which rankles in his bosom, and the principal cause of his dislike to a landman' being placed at the head of the Board of Admiralty. The ideas on which his plan is grounded were communicated, it seems, to Lord Spencer, about two years before the mutinies took place in 1797, but his suggestions were not attended to by that noble Lord, who, he tells us, 'greatly misapprehended the whole subject.' p. 65. And, as projectors are persevering people, and not easily put out of conceit with the offspring of their own brain, it may readily be supposed that the Admiral's plan was brought before Lord Melville, who gave him a seat at the Board; but with no better success; hence the sneer against catamarans. From his friend Lord Barham it cannot be supposed that he would withhold his plan; still nothing was done upon it; and hence the gentle thrust at the Board of Revision, whose object,' he says, would seem to be that of looking out for matter to continue its labours, rather than to present any thing useful.' p. 13. We leave to Lord Barham and his coadjutors, the task of answering this part of the book.

We have but few observations to make on his plan for attaching real scamen to the royal navy.' His first proposal is to increase the pay of the warrant officers, and to fix it by some 'infallible criterion;' for instance, that their emoluments should exceed the advantages arising to masters of merchant vessels aggregately considered.' A more fallible criterion he could not well have stumbled upon; some of these masters having 87. some 10%. and others even 20. a month; some having shares in the vessels they command, and others in the cargoes, and almost all of them carrying on a petty traffic of their own. The admiral leaves entirely out of sight the important circumstance of the pay of warrant officers being continued to them for life, and of the pensions granted to their widows; he seems to forget that the pay and emoluments of masters of merchantmen cease with their capacity to serve; and that they have no provision to look forward to for accident, old age, or infirmities. If therefore the immediate pay and emoluments of warrant officers are somewhat less than the earnings of masters of merchantmen, their situation is eventually by no means inferior, and perhaps, on the whole, is more eligible, But we are told that 'valuable seamen refuse to accept them, (that is warrants,) or accept them only to desert, without being subject to corporeal punishment, for such is the rule with respect to this class of officers.' p. 82. We know of no such rule in the service, nor do we believe that

any such exists. We know, however, that desertion, by the 16th article of war, is punishable with death, or such other punishment as the circumstances of the offence shall deserve, and a court-martial shall think fit; and, under so dreadful a penalty, none but a profligate or a madman would voluntarily put himself into a condition to be hanged in order to escape a flogging. With great confidence we can assure the gallant admiral, that the situations of warrant officers are not now filled by men of inferior or doubtful characters, who encourage mutiny, wink at desertion, and sometimes join the seamen in both these alarming transgressions.' p. 82. Such might be the case when his flag was flying at Deal. We believe it did then frequently happen that vacancies were filled up with idle, skulking, along-shore fellows, hangers-on on the flag; but all this has been done away, aye, and under the direction of a • landman' too! The best and most deserving seamen only are now taken out of ships returning from sea, and removed into the several flag-ships to await the vacancies which may occur; and we can farther assure the admiral, on very good authority, that there is no deficiency of candidates, nor any dissatisfaction expressed, whatever he may say about his experience that warrant officers' situations are not attractive.'

Another object of his plan is to increase the number and pay of petty officers; to give them the preference of admission into Greenwich Hospital, or to the out-pension, and, in the event of their death, to continue the out-pension to their families. Farther, 'any of those petty officers having served 5 years during actual hostilities, to enjoy the out-pension of Greenwich during life, amenable to a call for future service; for 15 years service to have double the out-pension, and a silver anchor as a badge of distinction.' We have but one objection to make to the latter part of the admiral's plan ;the adoption of it would turn adrift the 2,500 poor old sailors now within the Hospital, and deprive the 4000 and upwards, who enjoy the out-pension, of all future support from it; for we will venture to assert that, on the present extended scale of the navy, the plan, if adopted, would swallow up the whole of the revenues of that magnificent establishment. The number and the pay of petty officers have both been increased, not perhaps exactly according to Admiral Patten's scale, but in such proportion as was deemed expedient. They have also received an increased share of prize-money; but the Admiral says that prize-money has no perceptible influence on the mind of a seaman.' This is not one of the least striking proofs of the Admiral's ignorance of human nature man, in all conditions of life, is influenced by the prospect of eventual good, however distant or uncertain.

The second part of the plan proposes the institution of a society of seamen for the purpose of a voluntary registration; to withhold

from those who do not register themselves, all the benefits and encouragements given to seamen by existing acts of parliament; to refuse them all bounties, leave of absence, &c. That all registered seamen voluntarily entering the navy, and faithfully serving five years, shall have five pounds a year upon being regularly discharged, in order to encourage voluntary registration; and, that a duty of one shilling a ton be laid on all merchant vessels carrying unregistered seamen.' So many schemes on this subject have been proposed by able and intelligent men, and so many considerations and difficulties have constantly arisen in the progress of carrying them into execution, that we fear the crude and undigested project of Admiral Patten is not likely to meet with much attention.

We now take our leave of the Admiral with a few observations on the concluding paragraph of his book.

The patriotic sentiments which pervade this nation are so conspicuous, that the weakest attempts to preserve its independence will be tolerated. To this universal sentiment the subject of the natural defence of this kingdom is submitted, although zeal may have superseded judgment in the execution of this design. The view may be false, the principle erroneous, but the beneficent intention can scarcely be doubted, when the effects of this communication are evidently unpromising, from the consequences of revealing invidious truths to the unwilling ears of powerful men.' p. 74.

Most willing as we are to give him full credit for 'his beneficent intentions,' we deem it but a poor excuse for publishing to all the world false views,' 'erroneous principles' which cannot possibly be productive of any good, and may be attended with mischievous consequences to the naval service and the nation. Such a plea is only deserving of attention that it may be reprobated, as being equally weak and wicked with the principles which it would excuse. There is nothing extraordinary in his having flattered himself into an opinion that a very weak attempt' to preserve the independence of the country would be tolerated; but, in making this weak attempt, if he had any doubts, that 'his zeal may have outrun his judgment,' that his views may be false' and his 'principle erroneous,' of what avail are his beneficent intentions?' Surely he has not, he cannot have, exercised them for the mere gratification of revealing invidious truths to the unwilling ears of powerful men?' This would be to suppose him to harbour feelings which we are pretty certain he does not possess. Though the view he has taken of the subject be a gloomy one, and exactly such as we should have expected to come from some of the growlers mentioned in the former part of this article, we are fully persuaded that the gallant Admiral is, at heart, a true friend to our brave seamen; and that he was swayed in his weak attempt' by a wish to promote the honour

and interests of the British navy. But we most sincerely hope that he will write no more books; or, (if the itch of scribbling should still continue,) that he will not think, now that he has brought his crazy vessel into port, of putting to sea again until he has given her large repairs, and by very considerable additions of ballast, contrived to keep her steady and upright in the water.

ART. III. A Description of the Feroe Islands, containing an Account of their Situation, Climate, and Productions; together with the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants, their Trade, &c. By the Rev. G. Landt. Illustrated with a Map and other Engravings. Translated from the Danish. 8vo. pp. 426. London. Longman. 1810.

TWO and twenty rocky islands, lying between the latitudes of 61° 15′ and 62° 21', extend 67 miles in length from North to South, and 45 in breadth from East to West. Ab ovium multitudine, says Arngrim Jonas, Færeyjar, seu rectius Faareyjar dicta sunt. But though faar in Danish signifies a sheep, and oe an island, Landt distrusts this derivation of the word Feroe, because he is not certain that faar was used in the same sense by the Norwegians; and he traces it to fier, feathers, from the abundance procured from the sea-fowl there, or to fier, or fiarn, far distant. The islands consist of a group of steep rocks or hills, lying so close to each other, that their bases are merely separated by a brook. Towards the sea they generally terminate in perpendicular rocks, from two to three hundred fathoms in height; those which decline more gradually have, for the most part, two or three sloping terraces, formed by projecting rocks, and covered with grass. The sides of some are formed of hillocks, lying close like the hills themselves, and appearing, especially when covered with snow, like tents. There are no vallies of any extent among them, only a few broken and craggy dales between their summits. The sides are in many places so steep, that no earth can remain on them; and from many of the heights, where mould might otherwise collect, it is swept away by the winds. In those parts which are arable the depth of soil never exceeds four feet; frequently it is not more than eight inches. Strata of basaltic columns are found among the hills; in the isle of Suderoe they extend to a considerable height, and from the base of the hill stretch out several fathoms into the sea, gradually lowering till they are lost beneath the water. The relationship of the Feroe islands to Staffa and the Giants Causeway is evident; but it must be left to the Neptunists and Vulcanists to settle the pedigree. Deep fissures of considerable length are met with between the hills; ca