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- 8086
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 8039
- text
- It is no pleasing task, nor a thankful one, to dive into the souls of
some men; but there are occasions when, to bring up the mud from the
bottom, reveals to us on what soundings we are, on what coast we
adjoin.
How were these officers to gain glory? How but by a distinguished
slaughtering of their fellow-men. How were they to be promoted? How but
over the buried heads of killed comrades and mess-mates.
This hostile contrast between the feelings with which the common seamen
and the officers of the Neversink looked forward to this more than
possible war, is one of many instances that might be quoted to show the
antagonism of their interests, the incurable antagonism in which they
dwell. But can men, whose interests are diverse, ever hope to live
together in a harmony uncoerced? Can the brotherhood of the race of
mankind ever hope to prevail in a man-of-war, where one man’s bane is
almost another’s blessing? By abolishing the scourge, shall we do away
tyranny; _that_ tyranny which must ever prevail, where of two
essentially antagonistic classes in perpetual contact, one is
immeasurably the stronger? Surely it seems all but impossible. And as
the very object of a man-of-war, as its name implies, is to fight the
very battles so naturally averse to the seamen; so long as a man-of-war
exists, it must ever remain a picture of much that is tyrannical and
repelling in human nature.
Being an establishment much more extensive than the American Navy, the
English armed marine furnishes a yet more striking example of this
thing, especially as the existence of war produces so vast an
augmentation of her naval force compared with what it is in time of
peace. It is well known what joy the news of Bonaparte’s sudden return
from Elba created among crowds of British naval officers, who had
previously been expecting to be sent ashore on half-pay. Thus, when all
the world wailed, these officers found occasion for thanksgiving. I
urge it not against them as men—their feelings belonged to their
profession. Had they not been naval officers, they had not been
rejoicers in the midst of despair.
When shall the time come, how much longer will God postpone it, when
the clouds, which at times gather over the horizons of nations, shall
not be hailed by any class of humanity, and invoked to burst as a bomb?
Standing navies, as well as standing armies, serve to keep alive the
spirit of war even in the meek heart of peace. In its very embers and
smoulderings, they nourish that fatal fire, and half-pay officers, as
the priests of Mars, yet guard the temple, though no god be there.
- title
- Chunk 2