thority and responsibility, inspired by exalted rank. How should it be otherwise? He is what his education has made him; and it has been a part, and a most important part, of his military education, to know, and, if he be touched with honorable ambition, to feel, that he never can rise beyond the rank of Captain; that the highest rank of his profession is denied him; that he cannot even hope to escape personal responsibility to his Lieutenants, who, if he lives, must eventually become his equals.

The personal intercourse between a Commodore and the Captains of his squadron, is modified in an unhealthy manner, by these same influences. It wants the cordiality and freedom of equality; neither does it possess the becoming and easy dignity, on the one hand, and the ready and complying respect on the other, which express the natural and harmonious relation between distinct ranks. It would be an endless and very difficult task, to enumerate the various occasions of collisions and misconstruction, springing from this cause, as it is a painful one to dwell upon their serious and lasting detriment to the subordination of the Navy. People of all professions and stations may learn, from their own experiences, how indispensable it is, in filling up the daily detail of duty, that each one's place, degree, and authority, should be perfectly defined. This is eminently the case in military rule, where peremptory command and implicit obedience must go together. Rank, it is further to be considered, endows the possessor with adventitious qualities and merit. Not that we mean to say, that

"A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn."

But a higher rank is a higher form of the invisible and irresistible power of the law. It addresses the sentiment of duty in a more solemn and impressive manner, sustains weakness, and represses rebellious encroachment. Rank, and its insignia, are the aids to legitimate authority, which, in all nations and all times, have been adopted by the common consent of mankind. This consent is conclusive evidence of their utility. No class of men is so perfect as to dispense safely with their help; otherwise, let us drop them altogether. They create respect, and this respect has its meaning and use. It is, in truth, the involuntary acknowledgment in the breast of him who feels it, of the right to order, and the obligation to obey.

We make bold to assert, that the superior officers require the stimulus, as they deserve the reward, of a higher object for their aspiration. Promotion is the very breath of military ambition; the great and constant incentive to exertion, the beginning of youthful ardor, and the end of venerable renown. It is the theme of daily discourse among military men, the active and undying hope. The stimulus is not less essential to Captains, than to other officers. No effort, or but a feeble one, can be expected of a man, who believes that he has arrived at the highest distinction within his reach. Such a belief must be paralyzing to the best impulses of his nature. Moreover, a moral effect, which belongs to preferment while it is still before the eyes of the aspirant, is to keep up a livelier sense of duty and accountability, by presenting a continually rising aim for the thoughts to fix upon. We cannot but think, that if all prospect of the creation of this new grade were taken away, the consequences would be hurtful to the spirit of the Navy. But a hope, a cheerful hope, that justice would at length be done them, has animated the older officers to continued exertions. Their services, some of them most brilliant, are entitled to this reward. They expect, that the country will place them on the same footing with officers of their age, and term of service, in the navies of other countries.

But we will not dwell upon an argument, though sound, which wears an appearance of selfishness on the part of those who most feel its force. We will observe, that we have heard, with unmingled disgust, the proposition to select the Admirals from the list of Captains, passing over those who have worn out their lives in the Navy, and are unfitted, by age and infirmity, for active duties. We trust, that no man, or set of men, will dare seriously to meditate such an act of ingratitude and injustice. The veterans have done their work; let them receive the reward. They are eminently calculated, by their age and experience, for those stations, which will bring them near the counsels of the Department. Let no such foul reproach, as this would bring upon us, stain the annals of the Navy. Let us, on the contrary, cherish the gratification of witnessing the dignified and honored retirement of these venerable public servants, who have escaped the blight of climate, "the battle-fire and the wreck."

We desire to see the creation of at least twenty-five Ad

mirals, Vice-Admirals, and Rear-Admirals; enough to command the principal foreign squadrons, and to preside over the naval bureaux at Washington, and over the larger and more active yards and home stations. It has been objected, that we have no appropriate commands for Admirals, assuming that fleets alone authorize their employment; and further, that, if they were introduced into the Navy, the Department would be limited to their list in the choice of Commanders for foreign stations, whereas they may now select from among all the Captains, without giving rise to a discontent, which, it is supposed, would grow out of the neglect of a superior grade. In cases, to which our own naval experience does not extend, we may be permitted to appeal to the practice of other navies. In matters of form, we are necessarily, in some measure, copyists, and this, particularly, in cases beyond our own usage. It is the custom, in the English and French naval services, to place an Admiral at the head of a foreign squadron. The nature of military subordination is too well understood there, for an attempt to make up for a deficiency of absolute rank by transient authority, and a misapplied term. In strict military propriety, and according to established naval usage, Admirals should be employed wherever the command transcends the limited power of a Captain, that is, where several ships are acting in concert under one leader. This, however, by no means precludes the employment of Commodores, on proper occasions, in the command of smaller squadrons, or detached portions of large ones. This is the usage

of foreign marines, where the title of Commodore is as distinctly recognised as with us. Neither would the Department be limited to the list of Admirals, in the selection of Commanders of squadrons. There is little likelihood, that the Adinirals themselves would assert any such exclusive claim. The power, which originates the grade, leaves it under legitimate control.

There is an idea, that the title of Admiral is aristocratic, and therefore not suited to our republican institutions. We confess, that we see no other ground for this prejudice, than that the title is not in use amongst ourselves. It is simply significant of a certain naval rank and command, corresponding to General in the army, and, like the latter title, is totally destitute of social or political value. A mere prejudice will not surely be suffered to interrupt the progress of improvement.

In relation to the subject of Admirals, it is not to be forgotten that it is highly important to the interests they protect, that our naval representatives abroad should be equal in dignity to those of other countries. Our stand amongst other nations will depend, in many instances, upon this important provision. We send our chargés to one government, and our ministers to another, according to their position in the national scale. Our naval commanders are our representatives to the whole world. Their rank should be such as to secure to the flag they bear to every quarter of the globe, its just share of consideration and respect. Something is also due to the feelings of the officers themselves. Not only their pride of place, but their pride of country, is often wounded by unfavorable comparisons, by seeing the respect and honors accorded to other flags denied to their own, as well as by an aching, mortifying sense of the injustice which withholds from them a rank comporting with their station and command. The petty Admirals of the South American States, who dare hardly venture upon their summer seas in their crazy hulks, may take precedence of our highest officers.

We have referred to the prospect of a war with Great Britain, as a danger which it is impossible for prudence to overlook. To the grave questions of the settlement of the Northeastern boundary, and the occupation of the Northwestern Territory, are added new perplexities by the repeated search and seizure of our merchant vessels, on the coast of Africa and elsewhere. The insulting report of the chairman of our late Committee of Foreign Affairs, (nations sooner forget injuries, than insults,) and the dishonorable mismanagement of the Bank of the United States, have deeply embittered the public mind in England, and would go far to create a unanimity of feeling in a war with this country. It is notorious that the latter transaction has excited an universal, as it is a just, indignation, through sympathy with the numerous sufferers, who, not perfectly understanding the separation of the bank from the government, or relying with an undue confidence upon the judgment and integrity of its directors, have been reduced to poverty by its failure. But in reciting these grounds and evidences of ill-feeling in England towards the United States, let us not be misunderstood. We desire peace earnestly, heartily. We believe it to be the highest interest of this country, of England, of the civilized world,

of humanity. Nevertheless, the thought of a war, if it is not to be honorably escaped, causes us no extreme anxiety. Acquainted with the resources of the United States, confident of the spirit of the people, faithfully trusting in the destiny of this wide spreading nation, the sound of war we regard not as the note of alarm, but as the call to preparation. Only, if it must come, let it find us ready at our quarters. Let us have no cause hereafter to mourn over a useless waste of blood and treasure; to lament the extravagant expenditure which will follow upon hasty and irregular construction and equipment, and, what would be still worse, the unprofitable loss of lives thrown away in unequal combat. Remembering how much of this preparation is to consist of an efficient navy, we shall do well to take to our minds the wise suggestion of Burke, that, "of all the public services, that of the navy is one in which tampering may be of the greatest danger, which can be worst supplied upon an emergency, and of which any failure draws after it the longest and heaviest train of consequences." The ocean is the proper field for deciding any controversy in which we may be engaged, and on that field our power should be concentrated to the utmost. Thither every auspicious indication points, and there the whole heart and soul of the country will go with her defenders. This is especially true, if England is to be our enemy. England has built her citadels on the deep, and it is there we must strike to wound her mortally. There "we are touching the very apple of her eye, reaching the highest feather in her cap, clutching at the very brightest jewel in her crown." It is a glory reserved for some administration, we hope the present, by a reorganization of the naval corps, by the creation of Admirals, by a large and sustained increase of the number of active cruisers abroad, and by the equipment of an efficient squadron at home, to give a new life and impulse to the service, and effectually to secure the country from the foot of the invader. It is a distinction yet to be enjoyed by some head of the navy department, to originate a new and most important era in the existence of the navy, and identify his name with its future usefulness and honor.

We trust this distinction may fall to the lot of Mr. Badger. It is now we look, and have a right to look, for a grand and comprehensive effort. We call upon the party in power to carry out the highly favorable views they have always declared