a ship, and how they are connected; the names of the masts, yards, and sails, and how lower masts and yards are built; to make all the bends and hitches, and to know the purposes for which they are used; to know all the signal flags and pendants, and to paint them in a book.

"Second Instruction.-Boat exercise, rowing, and sailing; to be able to pull an oar, to steer, and to understand the principles of managing a boat under different circumstances; to know the particular use of each signal flag and pendant, and be able readily to look out a signal in the signal-books; to be able to heave the log, and to calculate the length of the line for each knot.

Third Instruction. -Knotting and splicing; cutting out, fitting, placing, and setting up rigging; questions in the standing rigging; names and use of all the blocks in a ship.

"Fourth Instruction.-General principles of stowing holds and provisions; position and arrangement of all the stores; the general internal arrangement of a man-of-war; general principles of berthing, messing, watching, and stationing men; general duties of officers and petty officers with regard to the different parts of the ship.

"Fifth Instruction. -Methods of setting, reefing, furling, shifting, and taking in sails, and making them up; shifting a topsail and a topgallant-yard, and a topgallant-mast; principles of securing the yards for hoisting in boats; to learn how all the ropes are led, and

their use.

"Sixth Instruction.- Knowledge of the compass, hand and deep-sea leads, use of the helm, and the general principles of manoeuvring a ship; to know the names of the different parts of an anchor, and the gear used for stowing anchors; to understand the use of chain and hemp cables; the method of letting go and weighing an anchor, and passing messenger, nippers, and stoppers, and bending and bitting a cable, and the use of compressors; method of mooring and unmooring, keeping a ship clear of her anchor, also the method of clearing hawse; the effect of wind on the sails in turning the ship; the direction of pressure on the masts; the effect of altering the trim of the ship on the helm, and how she is balanced by the sails."

When it is considered that, in addition to all this, the cadets were likewise to learn drawing, and to attend lectures upon steam, chemistry, astronomy, mechanics,

and hydrostatics-not to mention the athletic exercises of the cutlassdrill, swimming, and gymnastics— and that the time allowed for the raw schoolboy to get through this programme was from six to twelve months; it may well be imagined what a process of " cram "it must have been, even to gain a superficial knowledge of such a variety of subjects, all previously unknown, and many perhaps even unheard of, by him; and how extremely improbable it was that learning thus preternaturally acquired could be afterwards retained. In fact, the Admiralty had overshot the mark, and had gone to the opposite extreme. In their laudable anxiety to steer the educational bark clear of the rocky Scylla of neglect, they had wellnigh swamped it in the Charybdis of excess. Not that the course of instruction was ill-calculated to the wants of the Navy-far from it; a better-digested scheme, one more suitable, could not have been planned; but the time allowed to get through it was far too limited. Two years at the very least should have been passed in the training-ship, and even this would not have been sufficient to gain a satisfactory knowledge of all the subjects embraced in the above scheme of instruction. This is strikingly evidenced by an anecdote related in a very interesting pamphlet, written by Captain Harris, R. N., late in command of the Britannia, from which we have obtained the above sketch of the past history of naval education. Captain Harris relates that he was much struck with a remark made by an Austrian professor, who had been sent by his Government to visit and report upon the system of training British cadets. After carefully investigating every part of the establishment, he asked, 'How many years were allowed for this course of study?' And the same question was asked by an intelligent Swedish captain, who had been at the head of their Naval College."

At the same time that the above

ex

system was instituted, the final examination of a midshipman for the rank of lieutenant was tended so as to be in accordance with the new course of instruction. The Illustrious, an old two-decker, was the first training-ship established; but she was soon found to be too small for the purpose, and the Britannia was fitted to take her place. In 1860 and 1861 the system was modified to that now in force. The age of entry into the Britannia is now from twelve to fourteen; the examination on entry is the same as that above mentioned for boys under fourteen years of age, except that any foreign living language may be substituted for Latin or French, the Euclid is reduced to the definitions only of the first book, and no algebra is required. The course of instruction is now uniform -twelve months; general quarterly examinations are held, and those cadets who do not exhibit satisfactory progress, or whose bad conduct shows them to be unsuited to the service, are reported to the Admiralty with a view to being dismissed. At the completion of the year's instruction, the cadet undergoes an examination, as before, on leaving the training-ship. The full number of marks obtainable at this examination is 3000; and if he gains 2100, he gets a first-class certificate, which entitles him at once to the rating of midshipman, and gives him a year's sea-time. 1500 numbers give a second-class certificate, with six months' sea-time: in this case the cadet must serve six months as such before he can be rated midshipman, for which he must pass a further examination. A third-class certificate requires 1200 numbers: this gives no sea-time, and the cadet must serve twelve months before he is eligible to pass his examination for a midshipman's rating. If he obtains less than 1200 marks, he is discharged as unqualified for the service. Prizes and distinctive badges are also awarded for good conduct and proficiency in studies.

The arrangements of the Britannia were excellent as far as they went. There was abundant work to be done, and there was not much fear that the boys would fall into mischief through lack of employment, at all events. But the period of training was still far too short, and the principle upon which the system was based is an erroneous one, as we will endeavour to show presently. Moreover, the situation of the Britannia was open to grave objections, moored as she was in Portsmouth harbour, within a stone's throw of the dangers and temptations of a seaport garrison-town. Every precaution was taken by the gallant officer in command to keep the lads clear of the snares which surrounded them, and he was zealously seconded by the staff of officers and instructors under his orders in fact, it may without fear of contradiction be said, that in no public school in the country are the boys more carefully looked after than on board the Britannia. But it was felt, nevertheless, that Portsmouth harbour was not a desirable situation (morally speaking) for a ship full of young lads; and the Admiralty, taking advantage of some cases of fever which had occurred, and which had caused a good deal of unfounded alarm in the mind of the public, sent the Britannia to Portland Roads as her future station, and since then she has been again moved to Dartmouth. And although the close vicinity of a first-class dockyard is a thing very desirable, for the purpose of practical instruction in many subjects which cannot be so well studied elsewhere, yet we think, under the circumstances, the removal of the Britannia from Portsmouth harbour was a very judicious and proper measure.

We have seen that in 1837 the Royal Naval College was closed as such for the education of volunteers -as naval cadets were then called. It was reopened two years afterwards upon a totally different footing, and for a different purpose;

but previously to this another institution had been established, which has proved of inestimable benefit to the Navy, and has fully borne out the wise prevision of its originators. It was determined in 1832 to provide for a want which had been very much felt throughout the service during the great war-viz., a uniform and comprehensive system of gunnery. For this purpose the Excellent was commissioned by Captain (afterwards Sir Thomas) Hastings, as a training-ship for officers and seamen in a regular course of gunnery instruction. The peculiar conformation of Portsmouth harbour rendered it a most advantageous situation for the gunnery-ship; and, moored head and stern in a creek at the north end of the dockyard, completely out of the way of the traffic in the harbour, with a practice-range of three miles dry at low water, the Excellent has for thirty-two years admirably fulfilled her destined purposes; and, under the command of Sir Thomas Hastings and his able successors, has trained annually a large body of officers and men, who are, when properly qualified, sent into the different ships of the fleet to instruct the ships' companies in the various drills, and so disseminate one general system. Among the many defects which the want of proper organisation has created in our naval service, it is a great satisfaction to be able to turn to an establishment which is deserving only of praise.

When the Excellent was instituted, it was determined to instruct the officers in the theory as well as the practice of gunnery. The utter want of mathematical knowledge possessed by all save the few who had been collegians, made it necessary to include a course of mathematics in the scheme of instruction; and as nearly every subject bearing upon the science of gunnery was likewise included, the "long course," as it was called, which an officer had to go through,

went far to make up for the neglect of his earlier education. Too much praise cannot be awarded to Sir Thomas Hastings and those who framed the course of instruction on board the Excellent. They felt the reproach upon their profession arising from the want of a proper educational system, and the serious inconveniences resulting therefrom; and if they could not reform the system at the root, where it was most required, they could now do somewhat to indemnify the service, and to make amends for the deficiencies of the Admiralty.

The stimulus thus administered was not without its result in another manner. In 1839 the College was reopened for the purpose of affording instruction to commissioned officers in scientific subjects; and as this establishment has been carried on to the present day upon the same footing, it requires special consideration. The building is the same as that before used for the volunteers, the cabins formerly occupied by them being now allotted to the officers studying. The establishment was placed under the general superintendence of the captain of the Excellent, but the immediate charge of the studies was assigned to a Professor. To this important office the Rev. Thomas Main was appointed, a gentleman not only himself highly distinguished for his mathematical attainments having been senior wrangler of his year-but who belonged to a very talented family, his brother, the Rev. Robert Main, for many years first assistant at Greenwich Observatory, being now Radcliffe Observer at Oxford. To assist the Professor were Mr Jeans, mathematical master, who had long been associated with the College in its former existence as assistant to Dr Inman, and who is well known as the author of a series of excellent works on navigation and nautical astronomy; and Mr Brown, chief engineer, who was appointed as instructor in steam-machinery, and has for many years most admir

ably filled this office. A captain of the Royal Marine Artillery was likewise attached to the College as instructor in fortification and mechanical drawing for the young Marine officers who came there to go through a course of study to qualify for the Marine Artillery. A lecturer on chemistry completed the staff of instructors.

Accommodation was provided for twenty-five half-pay officers-captains, commanders, and lieutenants -who were, of course, admitted free of all expense for instruction, and had also sundry allowances for messing, so that a small monthly subscription in addition was all that was required. A certain number of mates on full pay were likewise admitted, for whom a special course of study was instituted, and a lieutenant's commission was awarded to him who, at the sixmonthly examinations, showed the highest degree of proficiency. But a curious regulation was made: that every mate wishing to join the College for study should first go through the course on board the Excellent; therefore every one desiring to compete for the lieutenant's commission was compelled, whether he wished it or no, to become a gunnery officer. No doubt the course of study required in the Excellent was a valuable groundwork for the more abstruse and laborious subjects that lay before them at the College, and in most cases the mates were only too glad to take advantage of such a preparatory school; but there were occasional instances when an officer of true mathematical genius had attained a degree of proficiency which would have enabled him to enter the lists at once had he been permitted; and in such cases-rare, certainly, but the more important on that very account-it was unnecessary and impolitic to compel him to go through the drudgery of the various drills, because he wished to follow up his scientific inclinations. It would have been better, because it would have manifested a

more liberal tendency, had it been left to the option of the officers themselves as to whether they chose to go through the Excellent or not; and an examination on joining the College would have prevented any from entering who were not possessed of sufficient attainments, and who, therefore, might be supposed to join only for the sake of convenience. This is perhaps hypercriticism, however; for certainly, notwithstanding the above obligation, no measure was ever adopted calculated to do more good to the personnel of the service than this competition for the lieutenant's commission. In the earlier years of this arrangement, when the lieutenant's step was most difficult of attainment, and officers were frequently ten, twelve, and fourteen years a mate, the prize was of very great value, and the numbers competing were generally full. But when, in later years, matters became altered, and officers obtained their lieutenancy, in the regular course of things, after only a year or two in the mate's rank, there was no longer any inducement for them to go through the severe course of study at the College; it was only those for whom scientific pursuits had a special charm who then cared to join the establishment; and for the last few years there have been no mates—or sub-lieutenants, as they are now called-going through this course of study. Although it is greatly for the benefit of the service that the promotion to the rank of lieutenant is made more rapid than it was formerly, yet it is to be regretted that some other arrangements were not made, and inducements offered, by which, either as sublieutenant or lieutenant, officers should still find encouragement to go through this course; for the system of study for the half-pay officers is of quite a different nature, as we shall presently see. The papers set at the mates' examinations were very difficult, considering the time allowed to go