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Page 21
An effort, as is well known, has lately been made to elevate the
character of British seamen, by means of registries under the
Mercantile Marine Act, and the issuing of tickets, which must be
produced by sailors. Our belief is, that much of the legislation on
this subject has been injurious; as any law must be which attempts to
regulate the bargains of employers and employed. It may be proper for
master-mariners to be subjected to some kind of test of ability, but
it appears to us that it would be equally beneficial to encourage
young men to enter the profession. To pay well is, after all, the true
way to get good servants. Why do British sailors desert to the
American service? Because they are better paid. And having so
deserted, they unfortunately cannot again procure employment under the
British flag without producing a register-ticket, which, of course,
they cannot do. Thus, picked men are permanently lost to the British
navy. Besides offering higher wages, it might have proved extremely
advantageous to open nautical schools for youths desirous of going to
sea. According to existing arrangements, the sailor--like the French
workman with his _livret_--is considered to be a child not fit to take
care of himself; and the law interposes to say he shall do this, and
do that, under a penalty for neglect of its provisions. This is to
keep sailors in a state of perpetual tutelage; and being at variance
with the principles of civil liberty, it is to be feared that the
practice can lead to nothing but mischief.
As to wrecks, the cause of the chief disasters seems as often to be
imperfect construction of vessels and imperfect stowage, as anything
else; while loss of life for the greater part arises from a deficiency
of boats, and the means of readily unshipping them. As victims of
ill-made, badly-found, and rotten vessels, not to speak of land-sharks
and sea-sharks--as the sufferers in life and limb when shippers and
brokers may be actually benefiting from casualties--sailors, as a
class, merit public sympathy instead of reproach or discouragement.
'VISIT TO AN ENGLISH MONASTERY.'
We have received a letter from the Abbot of Mount St Bernard's,
pointing out, in courteous terms, several inaccuracies in the article
which appeared with the above title in No. 413 of this Journal. Meat,
it seems, is only 'strictly prohibited' to the healthy: it is allowed
to the sick and infirm when prescribed by the doctor. Every night
before compline the brethren meet to hear some pious lecture read, not
to confess their thoughts to the superior. Instead of one meal a day,
as stated by our correspondent, the lay-brethren, who are employed
chiefly in manual labour, have at least two meals every day during the
whole year, excepting fast-days; and the choir-brethren two meals a
day during the summer, and one during the winter. To the latter, when
they are of a weakly constitution, a collation is allowed in addition.
The greatest error of all, however, appears to us to exist in the
estimate formed of the abbot, who, judging by his correspondence, is
evidently as informed and intelligent a person as is usually met with
out of the monastic circle.
AMERICAN HOMAGE TO SHAKSPEARE AND MRS COWDEN CLARKE.
There is a work to which many of our readers are probably strangers,
but which has roused the enthusiasm of the New World. It is a work of
immense labour, which in writing and correcting proofs occupied its
author sixteen years. This author is a lady, and the production on
which she bestowed so much unwearied patience and perseverance, during
a space of time equivalent in most cases to an entire literary life,
is a Concordance to Shakspeare. 'Her work,' says Mr Webster, the
American Secretary of State, 'is a perfect wonder, surprisingly full
and accurate, and exhibiting proof of unexampled labour and patience.
She has treasured up every word of Shakspeare, as if he were her
lover, and she were his.' But Mr Webster and his countrymen were not
satisfied even with such generous praise: they determined to present
Mrs Clarke with an enduring testimonial of their gratitude and
respect; and, accordingly, the ceremony has recently been performed by
Mr Abbot Laurence, the American minister. The list of subscribers, we
are told, 'contains names from Maine to Mexico. Even the far, far
west, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, have contributed; whilst
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Carolina, swell the list of the most
distinguished American literati, embracing a fair sprinkling of fair
ladies. There is even a subscriber from the shores of the Pacific.'
The testimonial is an elaborately carved library chair, bearing on the
top rail a mask of Shakspeare, copied in ivory from the Stratford
bust, wreathed with oak-leaves and laurel, and shaded by the wings of
two of 'Avon's swans.' Although an elegant and costly gift, however,
in itself, there is attached to this testimonial a meaning and a value
which we trust will make its due impression in the native land of
Shakspeare--in that mother-country to which the eyes of her western
descendants are thus turned in the lofty sympathy which binds together
throughout the whole world the children and worshippers of genius.
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