to an end. The arrangements nor to the bravery of words, except for moving her are important, it be corroborate by custom."" but less so than the way in After giving instances of the predominancy and tyranny of custom, he proceeds: which she is used. The working of the sails or machinery is entirely secondary to questions which govern the fighting -to tactics, to strategy, to the discipline and spirit of the crews, and, in fact, to all that is embraced under the general term, "conduct of war." In these fundamental matters the change in the motive power has not introduced any alteration in principles. To a complete practical knowledge of their ships, and of everything in them, officers must therefore add a wide and thorough knowledge of war. The foregoing arguments, if true, seem to indicate that the system of training which produced the Hawkes, Ansons, Rodneys, St Vincents, and Nelsons of the past, may be a safe guide for the future. That system was based the idea that he who goes down to the sea in ships should become early accustomed to a sea life, and should possess a practical working knowledge of a ship and everything it contains. on The general importance of custom has never been more forcibly put than by Francis Bacon in the following passages from his essay on "Custom and Education": "Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed. And there fore, as Machiavelli well noteth, there is no trusting to the force of nature "Therefore, since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. Certainly custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years; this we call education, which is in effect but an early custom. So we see, in languages the tongue is more pliant in all expressions and sounds, the joints are more supple to all feats of activity and motions in youth than afterwards." Who can doubt the truth of The irksome these words? nature of a sea life to the majority of those who embark late is a notorious and wellknown fact. Nothing is more pronounced and continuous on the part of such officers than their anxiety to get shore appointments. The difference is very marked between English officers who go to sea early and those of other nationalities who do not. Not long since an international squadron was assembled in the same waters for several months. Foreign observers remarked of it that the British officers appeared to be happy and contented, whereas the others were quite the reverse, and were longing to get home. The remark was just. The reason is believed to have been that the majority of the former had become acsea life at an customed to a early age. It may be said that steamers are not as long at sea as were sailing-ships, and that the discomforts of a modern sea life are not great. The experience really an education in itself. of the Japanese navy during It is noteworthy that by such the present war has proved a competent observer as Prothat steam fleets in time of fessor Main of the Portsmouth war pass quite as much time College the men produced in at sea as did the sailing fleets. the past were considered to It is believed that the crews of have an extraordinary capacity certain ships did not set foot for hard mental work when on shore for months. Ships a distinct object was to be may be somewhat less uncom- gained. fortable now than they were in the past, but life on land is now more luxurious, so that the differences between life afloat and ashore are unchanged. It is this that tells the restraint and confinement especially rather than the absolute amount of discomfort. a Another well-known and important advantage of going to sea young is that boys acquire quickly the habit of command and a knowledge of men and things, coupled with a quickness of eye and a readiness of resource which do not come so easily later in life. This argument only holds in the case of those who are allowed to take their proper share in the duties of the ship, as was the practice in the past. Unfortunately there arose custom of abandoning this practical training in favour of mere book knowledge. This was brought about largely by the pressure of men who, having little or no sea experience, were unable to appreciate the value of practical training. These argued that naval officers were not taught to think under the old system. It was forgotten that they were trained to observe, and acquired habits of order and a knowledge of men and things which was It will be interesting and useful to trace the gradual change in naval education which has taken place during the last century. At the close of the French war in 1815 cadets were entered between the ages of 12 and 14. Some were sent straight to sea, others to the college at Portsmouth where they underwent a course of instruction for two years. Between the two classes existed much antagonism, doubtless due to the diverging lines of thought produced by difference of training, and not allayed by the advantages accruing to the successful "Collegians." These advantages varied from time to time. At one period the cadet who passed out first was awarded a gold medal, which carried with it a lieutenant's commission on passing in seamanship at the age of nineteen. This was found to be too great a prize to be won at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and was abolished. In 1835 the maximum reward to the most successful cadet was a silver medal and one year's time. After serving six years at sea, including any sea time allowed for meritorious passing out of the college, and being nineteen years of age, they were ex at sea. amined vivá voce to ascertain fell the Crimean War, and the whether their practical knowledge was sufficient to qualify them for the charge of a ship No other qualifications were required. Beyond the above two years at the Portsmouth College - which was abolished in 1837 and the desultory instruction given by naval instructors to the limited number of midshipmen borne in large ships, no further educational facilities were given. The officers produced were good practical seamen, and the socalled "Collegians" possessed a grounding in mathematics, navigation, and cognate subjects; but the majority lacked the knowledge of the higher branches of their profession, including war, which their predecessors had acquired during the long struggles of the eighteenth century. War and its requirements dropped more and more out of sight during the long peace. The leading men were left to educate themselves, and did so. The Admiralty gave them no assistance or encouragement until 1839, when men began to have a glimmering of the necessity for a higher education. The Portsmouth College was then reopened, not for cadets but for a certain number of officers and mates who were to be instructed for one year. The education given was narrow, and was limited chiefly to mathematics, navigation, astronomy, steam, and fortification, War was not studied, and the importance of naval history was quite unappreciated. To the men thus trained changes from sail to steam, from smooth-bores to rifled guns, from wooden ships of the line to armoured battleships. If war had been studied, and higher education of the right kind properly encouraged, during the period 1839-59, the reader is asked to reflect on the difference in progress which might have resulted during the eventful period 1859-85,-between 1859, when the Warrior, the first ironclad, was laid down, and 1885, when the imminence of war with Russia exposed the backward state of the navy and initiated the naval renaissance. Quite twenty years are required to give full effect to radical changes in an educational system. Would minds trained to deal with the fundamental principles of war have clung to sails quite so long? or misreading the lessons of the American Civil War, have sanctioned the building of ships fit only for coast defence? or have failed to acquire a thorough knowledge of the new motive power? or have depreciated the efforts of the late Admiral Colomb to direct naval thought to the study of tactics and strategy? It is a noteworthy fact that the neglect to study war systematically continued until the year 1900, when the Board of Admiralty directed a war course to be started at Greenwich College. It is true that the Order of January 1873 establishing the College for the higher education of naval officers contained this clause: 10. Naval history and tactics, including naval signals and steam evolutions. But so little attention was paid to this that it was not included in the Regulations dated November 1888. The Navy was too much occupied with questions connected with the material to trouble about such matters as strategy and tactics! May this not have been due to the influence of the "Collegians," whose mathematical training would fit them to deal with questions connected with ships and their fittings, but would neither help them much in the study of war nor turn their thoughts in that direction? The late Sir Cooper Key, the most distinguished 'Collegian," was the first President of the Greenwich College, and, as has been shown by the late Admiral Colomb, never fully understood the fundamentals of naval strategy. This must have been due to some extent to his education, The Crimean War reacted powerfully on the naval mind, and paved the way for many innovations steam, armour, and the rifled gun- and for educational reform. The system of entry and education, which had enjoyed a struggling existence from the year 1729 until its abolition in 1837, was again introduced in 1857. But instead of the Portsmouth College, a harbour trainingship-eventually the Britannia -was used. The age on entry remained practically the same from 1815 until 1898, when a material increase was made. The facts are as follows:: in which the cadets passed one year; but this was abolished in 1873, as it was rightly held that the fleet itself, with all its varied experience, must necessarily give a professional training far better and more real than could be obtained amid the artificial surroundings of a special training-ship. In 1902 the Britannia was found to be too small for the increased number of cadets. Regardless of past experience, a sea-going training-ship was started to provide the necessary accommodation. The professional training of the boys would have gained by drafting them direct into the fleet, but a special training-ship was more favourable to producing officers of the same pattern and to the passing of examinations. What would the modern Navy be without superficial examinations!!! It is in the education after leaving the training-ship that the great and vital change was made. For a practical training unsurpassed was gradually substituted a very inferior book education. A Chinese system of examinations was the engine by means of which this was brought about. The original examination in seamanship for the rank of lieutenant was a vivá voce "pass to ascertain whether the candidate was competent to take charge of a ship at sea, and was conducted by three captains or commanders, as being most interested in seeing that the officers under them were efficient. This was supplemented by "pass" examina tions, in gunnery on board the Excellent, in navigation and steam at the Portsmouth College. During the 'Sixties accelerated promotion was given to those who took first-class certificates in the three subjects. The examinations thus became competitive instead of simply for a "pass." The advantages derived from early promotion were so great that this change soon began to make itself felt, and was wide-reaching in its results. Although candidates only went to the Excellent and College to pass, they were allowed time in each case to prepare for examination. Under the pressure of competition, demands were first made to equalise these times for all, and then to extend them with a view to education instead of merely preparation.. When the Greenwich College was opened this was done. Commencing 1st January 1874, the gunnery course in the Excellent was fixed at three months, and that for navigation at the College at six months. Subsequently were added a pilotage course, and in 1882 a torpedo course in the Vernon. By 1886 the system had been entirely changed, and was then as follows: Cadets entered at ages between twelve and thirteen and a half passed two years in the Britannia, went to sea between fourteen and fifteen and a half, served at sea five years less the time allowed out of the Britanniaone year being the maximumpassed in seamanship and joined the College between nineteen and twenty and a half. They |