People unacquainted with the nature of naval discipline may smile, perhaps, at some of the privileges glanced at above, as essential to the right exercise of power. But long experience has shewn that the distinctions in question are the recognised symbols or indexes of due subordination and general good order. They unquestionably contribute, indirectly, to the maintenance of that prompt and effective obedience, and respect to constituted authority, which, combined with self-respect, go so far to form the sinews of naval strength. If, therefore, it be of real utility to have the schoolmaster’s work as well executed as that of the other officers, it surely follows that he ought to be placed in a situation to command, not merely the dogged attention of the midshipmen, but in one which will insure the official reverence of the boys, together with a proportionate degree of consideration from those whom they command. If these minute particulars in balancing the scales of discipline be not duly attended to, the respect of the pupils will dwindle into familiarity, and the schoolmaster, if he be not a strong-minded person, may end by losing his own self-confidence. All lessons then become a farce, and the teacher either relapses into a useless appendage to the ship, or, if forcibly sustained by the stern authority of the captain, he is apt to degenerate into a mere pedagogue. It may safely be laid down as a pretty general principle, that to render any man of much use, he must be placed permanently in a station, which of itself, and by the ordinary workings of the established order of things, will insure attention both from superiors and inferiors. Without this adjustment, there can be no good service performed any where—on land or at sea. It is sometimes not sufficiently recollected, that schooling on board ship differs materially from what it is on shore; for it not only treats of very different matters, but has other objects in view, both immediate and remote. Before a young person actually engages in a profession, the great purpose of a school appears to consist in mere training—that is to say, in carrying his faculties through a course of preparatory discipline, without any more specific object than mental exercise. But when the youth is once fairly embarked in the pursuit which is to furnish employment for his life, an immediate modification takes place. The system which it is necessary to follow at sea is then placed in distinct contrast to that previously observed.