In every branch of profeffional conduct an upright Officer will fteadily fix his attention on the public good; and regard himself as bound to promote it by all honeft means and to the utmost of his power, as far as his department extends. By this rule, and not by the the charge of the gunner; carpenter's ftores under that of the carpenter; cordage, fails, &c. under that of the boatfwain. Nothing is expended for the use of the ship without an order, and without its being regularly entered in a book, which ought to be examined monthly by the captain and master, and vouched by their signature. The officers however, to whom fuch valuable ftores are entrusted, are often extremely illiterate, and unable to write. Their accounts therefore, unless regularly examined, are not to be depended upon. Yet, as I am informed from the very first authority, it is not unufual with captains to defer the examination of them for months, perhaps till all traces of the tranfactions are loft, and to fign them without enquiry. Inftances of habitual dishonesty, by which the public is plundered to a very large amount, of courfe occur among warrant officers, as among men of other profeffions. And the temptation is fo great, that many who fet out with upright views are found ultimately to give way to it. These confiderations strengthen the obligation to attention and vigilance on the part of the superior officers. The usage too of the service is fuch as to have a tendency to ensnare men of every difpofition. Thus, if a captain wishes to have his fhip fupplied with a larger proportion of any par ticular the fuggestions of private inclination or conve nience, he will conduct himfelf whenever the orders of his fuperiors leave him to the exercife of his own difcretion. When those orders are precife and pofitive, he will implicitly conform to them. Prompt and punctual obedi ticular kind of ftores, for ufe or ornament, than is allowed, he can cause an exchange to be made, whenever the fituation of the fhip will admit; and, by expending fome articles which he does not greatly want, can procure what is more defirable to him. This is frequently done without any intention of fraud; though there have been many inftances wherein great frauds have followed. At any rate, the officer in whofe charge the ftores are placed, finding himfelf obliged to make his accounts tally with the captain's difpofition, instead of being drawn up according to the real expenditure, foon lofes that correctnefs which is neceffary in fuch accounts; and learns to take the fame liberty himfelf, when it anfwers any felfifh purpose. The mode of conducting this part of the naval fervice evidently appears to require alteration. The opinion of the Navy Board on this fubject, and on all other fubjects wherein the check of that Board is neceffary, was delivered to the Board of Admiralty in the year 1783. The facts ftated in this note may fuggeft to the military officer fome admonitions as to the duties incumbent on him in various circumftances and fituations in his ownprofeffion, refembling thofe in the naval line which have been mentioned. ence ence to lawful authority is the foundation of military excellence. Whether the order comes from a fuperior respected for his experience and talents, or from a raw youth raised by connections and interefts over the heads of his older and more deferving competitors; whether it proceeds from a perfon endeared to him who receives it by acts of kindness and friendship, or rendered obnoxious by injuries and diffenfions; it is to be obeyed with equal alacrity. Indeed, it is feldom if ever found that personal motives, fuch as have been recited, bias the conduct of officers in fubordinate ftations. The public fervice, however, has frequently fuftained great detriment from the jealoufies and animofities of rival commanders. And it has repeatedly happened, that when a General and an Admiral have been joined in a common expedition, and thus made in fome measure dependent on each other, they have been very blamably fet at variance. by a difference of fentiment refpecting the plans to be adopted; a difference aggravated by partiality to their respective lines of employment and customary modes of operation, The only circumftance likely to feduce inferior inferior officers from an active obedience to thofe of higher rank is the fpirit of party; which combining profeffional with political confiderations, has fometimes been powerful enough to invade almoft every individual in a fleet or army. It is recorded of Admiral Blake, that when he was employed in the middle of the laft century in the wars against the Spaniards, he continually inculcated on his Captains the duty of combating with unabated exertions the foreign enemies of the State; whatever might be their own private opinions and wishes as to the civil broils which divided their countrymen at home, or the perfons into whofe hands the Government had devolved. If this obfervation was just in the case of internal diffenfions of fuch magnitude as those which at that period agitated Great Britain; it may furely be applied with additional force to those party conflicts on topics of far inferior importance, which in the present settled condition of the Conftitution of this kingdom are, we truft, the only party conflicts likely to arife. It has been already obferved, that the obe 4 dience dience which is the duty of an Officer is prompt and punctual obedience to lawful authority. This ftatement implies that the thing commanded must be lawful; for otherwise the authority which prefumes to enjoin it is so far unlawful. Were an Officer then directed by his fuperiors to do what is contrary to the received laws of War and of Nations; to the laws and institutions of his country; or to the laws of God; his compliance with the order would be criminal. Thefe limitations are the more neceffary to be impreffed on the reader, as the habits of military difcipline, and of that indifcriminate fubmiffion which in the common routine of service is highly meritorious, have frequently ensnared the understanding and the confcience; and have led Officers to perpetrate, under false conceptions of duty, the most flagrant acts of injuftice. He who would have rejected with indignation and abhorrence an order from his chief to rób a single traveller on the highway, hesitates not to bear a part at his direction in attacking an unoffending Nation, ravaging its territories, burning its towns, maffacring its defenders, and reducing thousands, perhaps millions, of inno cent |