Two years and a half in the Navy: or, journal of a cruise in the Mediterranean and Levant, on board the U.S. frigate Constellation in the years 1829, 1830, and 1831

Front matter

TWO YEARS AND A HALF IN THE AMERICAN NAVY. LONDON : PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEV, Dorset Street, Fleet Street. TWO YEARS AND A HALF IN THE AMERICAN NAVY: COMPRISING A JOURNAL OF A CRUISE TO ENGLAND, IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, AND IN THE LEVANT, ON BOARD Oj¥ THE U. S. FRIGATE CONSTELLATION, IN THE YEARS 1829, 1830, AND 1831. BY E. C. WINES. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, (successor to henry colburn.) 1833. TO THE HONOURABLE THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, AND TO THE OFFICERS ASSOCIATED WITH HIM IN THE NAVAL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, AS A TOKEN OF SINCERE RESPECT, BOTH FOR THEIR PUBLIC SERVICES AND PRIVATE WORTH, THESE VOLUMES ARE INSCRIBED BY THEIR MOST OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. It shall be my endeavour not to exhaust my read er's patience in the Preface, however heavily I may draw upon it in the work itself. It is so much the fashion now-a-days for writers of travels to apologise for their productions, by stating that they are less the result of volition, than a sort of irresistible inspiration, breathed into their spirits by the genii loci ofthe spots they have visited, that I should not, probably, be be lieved, if I should say that I joined the Constellation without any intention of sporting my pen for the edifi cation of the public. As I do not wish to make my first — and probably my last — -appearance before the world in the character of an author with an assertion at the outset that would occasion my veracity to be called in question, I shall make no such declaration — albeit I might do it in good faith.

My object, then, — to dash at once in medias res, — in applying for my situation, was twofold — the acqui sition of the languages of the South of Europe, and the sight of those glorious regions where Genius wan toned in her young and vernal hour. Being somewhat fond of scribbling, I inundated my friends with letters, of which I was foolish enough to retain copies, and kept, besides, a copious journal of notes and ob servations for my own improvement and diversion. On my return to the United States, some of my friends were kind — perhaps I ought to say partial — enough to suggest that I had the materials of an

PREFACE.

. V amusing volume. My self-love was flattered by the suggestion, and my self-confidence so much confirm ed, that I set myself down to weave the web of what I intended to limit, at the utmost, to a moderate-sized octavo. In the process of arrangement and prepara tion, my materials swelled to an unexpected bulk, and for the result — ecce signum ! If I should profess indifference to the success of my labours, I should deceive neither myself nor anybody else. To the judgment of an enlightened and liberal public I leave the decision of their merit. In ex tenuation of their faults, which I feel to be numerous and of diversified complexion, I might plead inexpe rience in the art of composition, a want of previous practice in observing, and the often ill-discriminating judgment of youth as to the fittest objects of public curiosity, and the fittest circumstances and terms by which to place them before the public mind : but I forbear.

If these volumes should serve to beguile the tedium slf solitude — if they should furnish an agree able relaxation in the intervals of severer pursuits — or, more ambitious still, if they should rectify error and enlighten ignorance, though in the humblest de gree and to the most limited extent — if, I repeat, these ends should by my labours be secured to any portion of my fellow-citizens, I shall not have lost my reward. Philadelphia, 17th July, 1832. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Departuie from Washington — Mount Vernon — Tomb of Washington — Singular Adventure — Passage down the Potomac — Arrival at Norfolk — First Impressions of a Stranger in visiting that Place — Society of Norfolk — Beauty of its Females — Difference between Northern and Southern Ladies — Tribute to Female Excellence — Popularity of the Navy at Norfolk — Importance of the Naval Service — First Visit to the Constellation — Visit to the North Carolina — Etiquette — Introduction to the Cockpit — Description of the Constellation — Manning the Yards and Cheering — Departure of the Constellation from Norfolk — Feelings occasioned by the Operation of weighing Anchor, and other Nautical Evolutions — First Night on Board — Holy Stones — Cape Henry — Resemblance between the Coasts of Tripoli and Virginia — First View of the Ocean — Novelty of a Sea Life — Living on Board — Jovial Disposition of the Midshipmen — " Running" — Arrival at New York Page 1 — 27

Chapter II

Beauty of the Constellation — Description of a Frigate — Spar Deck — Quarter Deck — Etiquette — Forecastle — Booms — Chains — Hammock Nettings — Gun Deck — Captain's Cabin — Half Deck — Waist — Galley — Pumps — Berth Deck — Wardroom — Steerage — Mess Lockers — Forward Officers' State Rooms — Mess Chests — Sick Bay — Air Ports — Magazine — Hold — Forward Officers' Store Rooms — Discipline — Division of Time — Order — Officers — Captain — First Lieutenant — Other Lieutenants — Sailing Master — Purser — Surgeons — Chaplain — Midshipmen — Forward Offi. t ers — Subordination of Rank .... 28 — CONTENTS. VII of Highlanders — Commercial Aspect of Gibraltar — Description ofthe Town — Jewish Synagogue — Exchange — Market — Cisterns — Alameda — St. Michael's Cave — Excavations — View of the Troops parading — Prospect from the Signal House — Historical and Poetical Associations 173 — 215

CHAPTER VIII.

Gale of Wind on our Passage to Mahon — New Year's Day — " Splicing the Main Brace" — Death by Drunkenness — Duelling — Poverty ofthe Mahonese — Cheapness of Labour — Education — — Minorcan Language — Illiberal Policy of the Spanish Government — Morals — Masquerades — Clergy— Catholic Worship — Praying to the Virgin — Infidelity — Character of the Mahonese — Sprightliness of Spanish Ladies — Carnival — Dining in the Country — Mascaras — Manners and Customs of the Mahonese— Spanish Politeness — Winter in Mahon — Sailors on Shore — Their Fondness for Grog 216 — 249

CHAPTER IX.

Departure from Mahon for Algiers — " Scaling the Guns" — Delightful Day's Sail — View of Algiers from the Ship — Historical Recollections — The French at Algiers — Blockading Squadron — Arrival off Carthage — Visit to the Ruins ofthe City. — Natives — Description ofthe Peninsula on which Carthage was built — Cisterns — New Carthage — Insignificance of the Remains — Excursion to Tunis — The Goletta — Lake of Tunis — Bedouins — Singular Prophecy of Mohammed — Scene in the Market Square — Doctor Heape and his Family — Turkish Bath — Bazars — Adventure — Bashaw's Palace — Turkish Superstition — Visit to a Jewish Family — Reception — Jewish Worship — Description of Tunis- Commerce — Foreign Consuls — Visit at Court — Country between Tunis and Bardo — Goat's-hair Tents — Reception by the Bashaw — Minister of Foreign Affairs — Zapatapa — Bey's Country Seat at Manuba — Return to the Ship — Shallowness of the Lake of Tunis — Dinner-party on Board — Affair of a Tunisian Sentinel 250-294 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

Departure from Tunis — Tangiers — Beating through the Straits — Monkeys on Board — Bathing at Sea — Don Quixotte — French Surgeons in Mahon — View ofthe French Fleet — Bay of Palma- Approach to Barcelona — Visit on Board from three Spanish Gentlemen — Scene in a Coffee-house — Religious Procession — Costume of the Ladies in Spain— Female Beauty — Barcelonetta — Colossal Dolls in the Streets of Barcelona — Fondness of the Spaniards for Public Shows — Effect of the French Revolution in Spain — Suppression of the Newspapers — Espionage — Reflections on the Political State of Europe — Description of Barcelona — La Rambla — Alameda — Cathedral — Theatre — Exchange — Commerce — Harbour — Convent of Capuchins at Mount St. Geronimo — Garden of a Merchant — Spanish Politeness — Historical Recollections 295—328

CHAPTER XI.

Coast of Catalonia — Quarantine at Marseilles — Quarantine Regulations in the Mediterranean — Bay and Port of Marseilles — Quay — Marseilles — Old Town — New Town — Shops and Coffee-houses — Promenades — Monument to Homer — Cathedral — Museum — Cabinet of Insects — Public Library — Hotel de Ville — Royal Botanic Gardens — Mounts Bourbon and Notre Dame — Prospect from the Signal House— Chapel — Commerce of Marseilles — Advantages of having our Navy-Agent stationed at Marseilles — Society — Abbe de Ricasoli — Kissing common among Gentlemen — Ball on Board — Fourth of July — Ancient Celebrity of Marseilles — Southern Coast of France — Frejus and Cannes — The Alps- First View of the Coast of Italy — Feelings and Reflections occasioned by it 329—340 CONTENTS. IX

Chapter III

Divisions of the Crew — Petty Officers — Master-at-Arms — Quarter Masters — Boatswain's Mates — Quarter Gunners — Yeomen — Armourer — Cooper — Cook — Sh ip's Corporals — Seamen — Ordinary Seamen — .Landsmen — Boys — Military Divisions — Quarters — Exercising the Guns — Stations — Watches — After-Guard — Waisters — Holders — Captains of the Tops — Gangs of Mechanics — Marines — Respect paid to Superiors — Internal Regulations — Employment of the Men — Serving of Grog and Rations — Reception of Officers on Board — Ship's Boats . . . 54 — 73

Chapter IV

Anecdotes showing the Strictness of Discipline — Passengers — Departure from New York — Detention at the Hook — Scenery of New York Bay — Cockpit Mess — Inconveniences of living in the Cockpit — Getting under weigh from the Hook — Feelings on leaving America — Sea Sickness — Neglect of the Sabbath — Importance of observing it — Ascent to the Main-top-gallant Mast-head — Speaking of a Ship — Gale — Scene on Board, showing the Promptitude with which Improprieties are punished — Punishments of Midshipmen — Punishments of the Men — Prisoners — Roughness of the latter Part of our Passage — Scenes at Mealtime — Beauty of the Ocean under a fresh Breeze — Porpoises — Amusements of the Sailors — Romance of a Sailor's Life — Their Fondness for " Spinning Yarns" — Joy at Making the Scilly Islands — First View of England — Arrival at Cowes — First Visit ashore — Service on Board 74 — 103

Chapter V

Rush to the Purser for Money — Midshipmen going Ashore — Villages of East and West Cowes — East Cowes Castle — Norris Castle — Excursion into the Interior of the Isle of Wight — English Landscape — Newport — Parish Church — Carisbrooke Castle — Ride to Appuldurcombe Park — Delicious Scenery — Godahill — Appuldurcombe — Grave of the Dairyman's Daughter — Isle of X CONTENTS. Wight— Royal Yacht Club — Visit to Southampton — Bar-Gate — Royal Military Asylum — Trip to Portsmouth — View of Ryde — Harbour of Portsmouth — The Victory — English Servants — Sunset off Havre — Muster — Courts Martial of the Sailors — Voyage from England to Gibraltar — Evening Scene before entering the Straits — Current of the Straits — Disappointment at not stopping at Gibraltar 104—138

Chapter VI

Passage from Gibraltar to Mahon — Gale of Wind off Port Mahon — Arrival at that Port — Salutations of old Ship-Mates — Bomb- Boats — Harbour — First Visit ashore — Jackass Ride — Beggars — Description of Mahon — Jackasses — Public Buildings — Theatre — Cathedral — Its Organ — Franciscan and Carmelite Convent — Nunnery — Cemetery — Mahon on Sunday — Courting in Mahon — Love in the South of Europe — Female Porters — Antiquity of Mahon — Talyots — Los Huertos — Fort St. Philip's — St. Stephen's Cove — Lazaretto- — Quarantine Island— Hospital Island — Visiting between Sailors — Instance of Sailors' Generosity — Commodore Biddle assumes the Command — New Regime— Loosing Sails in Squadron — Sending down Top-gallant Yards— Crack Ship — The Delaware 139 — 172

Chapter VII

Getting under weigh for Tripoli — Object in going there — Affair of Major Laing's Murder — Promontory of Carthage — Sailing in Squadron — Beating — Tacking Ship — Reefing Topsails — Sunrise — View of Tripoli from the Deck of our Ship — Recollections — Features of the Country about Tripoli — Interest felt by an American in viewing the Harbour of Tripoli — Salutes — Gozo — Divine Service on Board — Coast of Sicily — Disappointment at not visiting Carthage. — Passage from Tripoli and Arrival at Mahon — Quarantine. — Return of the Delaware to the United States Arrival of the Ontario with Letters from America — Coming-to at Gibraltar — Bay and Rock of Gibraltar — Diversity of Appearance among the Inhabitants of Gibraltar — Fortifications Regiment TWO YEARS AND A HALF IN THE AMERICAN NAVY.

Chapter I

Departure from Washington — Mount Vernon — Tomb of Washington — Singular Adventure — Passage down the Potomac — Arrival at Norfolk — First Impressions of a Stranger in visiting that place — Society of Norfolk — Beauty of its Females — Difference between Northern and Southern Ladies Tribute to Female Excellence — -Popularity of the Navy at Norfolk Importance of the Naval Service — First Visit to the Constellation — Visit to the North Carolina — Etiquette — Introduction to the Cockpit — Description of the Constellation — Manning the Yards and Cheering — Departure of the Constellation from Norfolk — Feelings occasioned by the operation of Weighing Anchor and other Nautical Evolutions — First Night on Board Holy Stones — Cape Henry — Resemblance between the Coasts of Tripoli and Virginia — First View of the Ocean — Novelty of a Sea Life — Living on Board — Jovial Disposition of the Midshipmen — " Running"— Arrival at New-York.

On the first day of July 1829, I left Washington city to join the United States' frigate Constellation, then lying at Norfolk, but soon to sail for the Mediterranean station. Hav ing laid in the necessary supply of linen, packed VOL. I. B DEPARTURE FROM WASHINGTON. ray luggage, received the parting benedictions of my friends, and eaten my last dinner on the Capitoline Mount, I stepped into the coach I had ordered, with that mingled sentiment of melancholy and gladness naturally resulting from the thoughts of my exile and the anticipations of treading on classic ground. The driver, having folded-up the steps and shut the door of the coach, mounted to his seat, and gave his whip a crack that reminded me of the nose of the incom parable trumpeter of the Doubting Dutchman. The steeds started off with that alacrity which we may suppose the tremendous nasal peals of Van Corlear infused into the soldiers of the £.uber natorial Walter, and I was rapidly rolled over the descent from the Capitol to the steamboat wharf, where the concourse of hackney-coaches — each pouring forth its quota of luggage and pas sengers; the scrambling and bickering of porters; the prodigious roar of the steam, and the universal flurry, all gave indication that no time was to be lost in getting on board by those who did not wish to sup in Washington.

After a short but unyielding resistance to imposition — a penchant to which I have found to be, in all countries, the peculiar birthright of this class of persons — I arranged matters with my coachman, and had my effects transferred to tbe boat. Precisely at four o'clock, p. M. the last bell ceased tolling, the haw sers were cast loose from the moorings, and the music of contending voices and escaping vapour FRIENDS AT ALEXANDRIA. 3 gave place to the sounds occasioned by the regular play of the engine and the ceaseless plashing of the paddles. At Alexandria the same scene was repeated. Here many of my friends, " Plotius et Varius Sinuessæ, Virgiliusque; came down to the landing to extend to me the parting hand, and repeat their wishes that every gale might waft me a blessing, and that each suc ceeding wave might increase my debt of gratitude to the God of the land and the God of the ocean.

While separated from my natal soil by the wide-rolling Atlantic, the remembrance of these friendly offices has often been sweet and refresh ing. Let shallow misanthropes exhaust their in genuity in vilifying human virtue, I cannot join the heartless cry! I will never believe that friendship is but another name for selfishness, and I despise the wretch whose mercenary soul resolves it into a mere commerce of interests ! When storms and darkness were upon the deep — in the sweet vales of Italy — the wild mountain passes of Greece, and amid the filth and fleas of a Turkish Khann, the memory of the friends I had left behind, and who, I knew, were offering up their prayers for my safety and success, has often come over my soul like a stream of pure and heal ing waters. About six o'clock, we passed Fort Washington on our left, and shortly after the residence of the Father of his country on our right.

Mount Verb2 TOMB OF WASHINGTON. non is one of the loveliest and most romantic .spots I ever beheld ; its calm and chastened beauties accord well with the character of the man whose fame has rendered it the resort of pilgrims from every quarter of the globe. Fo reigners quarrel with our treatment of the vene rable hero's remains, but I cannot but think their criticisms in bad taste. We may admire the mo numents reared to the memory of a Hannibal, a Cæsar, or an Alexander; but the homage of the heart is the only offering made beneath the tree that shades the grave of Washington. Washing ton himself, in his last will and testament, has thought proper to order things just as they are. The ambition of a general who could weep that his victories were limited to the conquest of a world, might have been tickled at the anticipation of a gorgeous mausoleum ; but the modest pa triot, who was satisfied when the liberty and inde pendence of his country were achieved, would have been as averse to ostentation in death, as he had been during his life.

I was gratified at witnessing the effect which our approach to Mount Vernon produced on the passengers. When our nearness was announced in the cabin, every one hastily seized his hat and hurried up on deck, and, " Where is the grave?" — " Can the grave be seen from the water ?" — " On which side of the house is the grave?" were questions poured from a hundred lips at once. Such is the homage paid to exalted talents and MY FELLOW-PASSENGERS. virtue. Why are a thousand spots in the valley of our own Mississippi, richer in all the sublimi ties and beauties of Nature than the plains of Athens or of Troy, passed by without arresting the traveller's attention ? It is because the genius of a Themistocles — the heroism of an Achilles — the wisdom of a Plato, or the numbers of a Homer, have never consecrated or embalmed them.

From the deathless interest which the memory of the great, the wise, and the virtuous imparts to the places illustrated by their lives or honoured by their ashes, we derive glorious evi dence of the superiority of mind over matter, and of moral over physical beauty. The bell rang for tea shortly after we passed Mount Vernon, and I had an opportunity of sur veying my fellow-passengers together. So large a congregation of strangers always furnishes a wide variety of character, and is, of course, an excel lent school for the study of human nature. I selected a seat near the ladies (Heaven bless the dear creatures !) for the sake of a pretty, black eyed little beauty, with whom I had " knocked up" a sort of acquaintance ; and here I formed a new one, so exceedingly edifying to me, that I hope the reader will excuse me for giving some account of it, especially as it will teach him a les son of caution, if he should ever happen to be similarly situated.

Mr. , who was my right-hand neighbour, seemed to take a particular fancy to me ; whether SINGULAR ADVENTURE. it was that he discovered in me any qualities which really pleased him, or, as is more probable, a certain unsuspecting greenness, more pleasing to him than any thing else. He had been to Wash ington, he said, attending to some claims in Con gress, and was on his way to his residence in Charleston, S. C. He was dressed in a fine suit of black broadcloth, tall and commanding in his person, slightly bald, with a somewhat debauch ed expression of countenance, but altogether the air and manners of a gentleman. He was evi dently not an unskilful observer of the heart : he studied to accommodate himself to my tastes, and lost no suitable opportunity of flattering my pride. In Norfolk we stopped at the same house, and used frequently to walk out of an evening to gether.

On one of these occasions he informed me that he had determined to go to New York instead of Charleston ; that he had already taken passage on board a packet soon to sail for that city, and would probably arrive there earlier than the Constellation. He assured me that what he was going to say was vastly disagreeable, but that gentlemen were sometimes reduced to extremities — he wished me to lend him ten dollars, which he would return in New York ; or, in case he should not be there, he would give me a letter to his brother, a man of substance, who would hand me the money the moment I called on him. The lending of ten dollars to a friend is a small fa- PASSAGE DOWN THE POTOMAC. vour, and I could not refuse. On our arrival at New York, I went immediately to the Ameri can Hotel. Mr. had been there, but had left; and the result of the whole matter was, that his brother had been a poor man while living, and had been dead for about two years.

Thus I had the pleasure of losing my ten dollars, and, which was the " most unkindest cut," of being villanously gulled into the bargain. I would divide my last dollar with honest poverty, but polished villany I could see die of starvation with out one compunctious visiting. A letter of in troduction, containing an order for money on a dead brother, is a thing which, for the honour of humanity, I hope few, except myself, have ever held in their pocket. With the exception of the adventure just related, nothing remarkable occurred on the pas sage down the Potomac and Chesapeake. The company was generally agreeable, and with the aid of newspapers, backgammon, Horace, and the ladies, I managed to keep off the monster ennui. A prim, black-eyed little Frenchman, whose beauty had not been greatly improved by the small pox, amused us vastly with his politeness, snuff-box, and songs.

A Frenchman is an animal sui generis. Meet him whenever and wher ever you may, he is still a Frenchman, retaining, in all their vividness, his three master qualities, — vanity, gaiety, and hatred to Shakspeare. Yet with all their levity and devotion to gallantry and ARRIVAL AT NORFOLK. fashion, the French are unsurpassed, perhaps un equalled in the diligence with which they pursue scientific researches. They make better engineers than critics, and their mathematics are preferable to their poetry. There is but one Mount Vernon on the banks of the Potomac. Some handsome plantations are washed by its waters, but the country through which it flows is thinly settled, and the scenery has none of the romantic wildness of the hills which surround Lake George, the towering sub limity of the mountains that rise from the banks of the Hudson, or the picturesque beauty of the valley of the Blue Ridge in the interior of Vir ginia.

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 3rd of July, we hove-to to send our Old Point passengers ashore, and at half-past eleven, the roar of steam and the rush of porters announced our arrival at Norfolk. I was met by Captain Wadsworth, who had kindly interested himself in procuring my appointment, and who invited me to visit the Constellation with him in the evening. As I was a stranger in Norfolk, I abandoned myself to the guidance of my friend , to whom the reader has already had the honour of an introduction. He took me to the Steam-boat Hotel, where I was crammed into a room not much larger than a mouse-trap, not much cooler than a furnace, and not much cleaner than it should be ; and which, on the 5th, I was fain to exchange for a more FIRST IMPRESSIONS. commodious, airy, and cleanly apartment in a private boarding-house.

Norfolk has no such public house as it ought to have, and is well able to sup port. It has none that are even second rate. The first impressions of a stranger on visiting Norfolk, especially if he arrives in a steam-boat, must be unfavourable. He is jostled by a crowd of oily Africans, his eyes are disgusted by filth, and his nostrils saluted by a congregation of odours which make him " corrugere narem ;" and when, having manfully endured all these evils, and been put in good humour by a glass of mint ju lap, he inquires for the Lions, he is provokingly told that they are " not at home .'" There are only three, and one of them is in the Dismal Swamp and the other two over the river. To those who have been in Norfolk it would be un necessary to say that I refer to Lake Drummond, the Dry Dock, and the Navy Hospital.

The place, however, improves on acquaintance. It has a few pleasant streets and some handsome residences, but its society is its highest recom mendation. In their social intercourse, its citi zens are distinguished by that easy urbanity, that generous hospitality, and that freedom and warmth of manners, which are the inheritance and the glory of every true Virginian. I attended se veral parties, and was struck with the uncommon beauty of the females. As you advance towards the equator, female beauty — at least a certain class of it — diminishes in exact proportion to the b5 TRIBUTE TO FEMALE EXCELLENCE. latitude. In the southern states, that rich bloom which meets and charms the eye in the drawing rooms of our northern cities, is generally exchanged for a pallid or brunette complexion. Not so in Norfolk : Anacreon might have satiated his voluptuous eye amid the charms of its blooming daughters.

But if southern ladies cannot vie with those of the north in beauty — in the elegance and sweetness of their manners, in the ease, gracefulness and elasticity of their movements, and in the thrill ing eloquence of the eye and lip, they are greatly their superiors. Let females, however, vary as they may in beauty and manners, their hearts, as far as my observation has extended, are every where the same — gentle, kind, susceptible, pa tient, forgiving, and constant in their loves. Go where you will, woman is the cream of the world. We should be a set of demi-savages without her. Her beauty, her refinement, her gentleness, her fortitude, her ten thousand soft and winninar graces— outward and inward — material and spiritual — all fit her pre-eminently to be the com panion of the rougher and stei ner sex.

In Norfolk people amuse themselves at parties as they do in other parts of the country. Music, cards, chess, chitchat, and toddy ; each contri butes its share of entertainment. I met with some genuine blue-stockings, who could spout poetry like rain, who could give the lineages of all the heroes and heroines of romance, and who had POPULARITY OF THE NAVY. 11 read Gibbon without becoming infidels, or even discovering his hostility to the Christian system. I like to see ladies intelligent and well-educated, but I hate a blue-stocking as I do a bloodsucker. To female pedantry, of all things in the world, I would say, " Procul ! O procul !" The Navy is all the rage at Norfolk. Its officers are in great demand, and they contribute not a little to the agreeableness of its society. But it owes its popularity there partially to other considerations: it is one of the main pillars ofthe place.

Nearly all our public vessels return from their cruises and discharge their crews there ; and the money which from this source flows into the strong-boxes of the merchants and shopkeepers, gives an impulse to business felt throughout all the ramifications of society. I entertain no sentiments of hostility to Norfolk, but I cannot think it quite fair that it should be made the general rendezvous of our men-of-war on their return pas sages. Let them be equally distributed between the different Navy Yards. Such an act of justice would be attended with the certain advantage of making the navy better known to our citizens, and with the probable one of increasing its popularity throughout the country. If either branch of the public service should be a peculiar favour ite with the nation, it is unquestionably the navy.