Mr. Graves on Tuesday raised a most important debate on
the manning of the Navy, which we must discuss more at length next week. At present we can only ask a question. Mr. Graves is ex- tremely anxious to feed the mercantile marine with boys as the Royal Navy is fed, and to have them trained in the same training-ships, the Queen to take the pick of the whole, and the shipowners the remainder. The payment to the State for the education is to be enrolment in the Naval Reserve. That is an excellent idea, but there is this doubt about its working. Is it not true that boys thus trained extremely dislike the mercantile marine, with its comparative want of discipline, and dirt, and rough usage? Is not the real want of the mercantile marine a legal discipline, closely approximating to that of the Navy, which would strengthen the hands of the officers, and yet protect the men? And if it is, why do the shipowners, who could secure it, never ask for it?
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