It must have occurred to every one who has attended personally to this subject, that the duty of superintending the progress of youngsters circumstanced as the mids are, to any good purpose, can be performed only by a person who shall have this exclusive business to attend to, or whose chief duty and interest it shall be. Neither can there be a doubt, that if a proper salary were given, in connexion with some advantages which would cost the country nothing, a class of officers, fully competent to this high and important task, might soon be created, and placed as much at the disposal of the administrators of our naval affairs, as any other description of public servants. I use the word officers instead of schoolmasters, because it appears to me quite essential to the success of the measures under consideration, that the person having the superintendence of the young gentlemen in one of His Majesty’s ships should be permanently placed, as nearly as possible, in the situation eventually to be filled by his pupils, in order that he may become practically familiar with those professional feelings and habits, the value of which it is his duty to teach, along with those still more important principles, and sacred instructions peculiarly his province to inculcate. Many of these useful refinements, however, cannot be looked for in men who are not placed in situations in which alone, as all experience shews, they can be acquired; it, therefore, becomes indispensable, as I have said before, that the instructors of our naval youth should be made to feel that they really are officers, to all intents and purposes, not only in rank, but in the enjoyment of every other technical advantage possible. A preceptor, under any circumstances, but most particularly on board ship, in order to have the power of doing any permanent good, should not only respect himself, but ought to be supported in such a way as to command, at all times, the respect, not alone of his pupils, but likewise of the people about them. Unfortunately, few things can be more inefficient, or, generally speaking, more ridiculous, than the present situation of a schoolmaster afloat; and until his position there be materially improved, it is almost hopeless to look for any good results.