One of the arguments advanced by officers of the Navy in favour of corporal punishment is this: it can be inflicted2 in a moment; it consumes no valuable time; and when the prisoner's shirt is put on, that is the last of it. Whereas, if another punishment were substituted, it would probably occasion a great waste of time and trouble, besides thereby4 begetting5 in the sailor an undue6 idea of his importance.
Absurd, or worse than absurd, as it may appear, all this is true; and if you start from the same premises7 with these officers, you, must admit that they advance an irresistible8 argument. But in accordance with this principle, captains in the Navy, to a certain extent, inflict3 the scourge9—which is ever at hand—for nearly all degrees of transgression10. In offences not cognisable by a court-martial11, little, if any, discrimination is shown. It is of a piece with the penal12 laws that prevailed in England some sixty years ago, when one hundred and sixty different offences were declared by the statute-book to be capital, and the servant-maid who but pilfered13 a watch was hung beside the murderer of a family.
It is one of the most common punishments for very trivial offences in the Navy, to "stop" a seaman14's grog for a day or a week. And as most seamen15 so cling to their grog, the loss of it is generally deemed by them a very serious penalty. You will sometimes hear them say, "I would rather have my wind stopped than my grog!"
But there are some sober seamen that would much rather draw the money for it, instead of the grog itself, as provided by law; but they are too often deterred16 from this by the thought of receiving a scourging17 for some inconsiderable offence, as a substitute for the stopping of their spirits. This is a most serious obstacle to the cause of temperance in the Navy. But, in many cases, even the reluctant drawing of his grog cannot exempt18 a prudent19 seaman from ignominy; for besides the formal administering of the "cat" at the gangway for petty offences, he is liable to the "colt," or rope's-end, a bit of ratlin-stuff, indiscriminately applied—without stripping the victim—at any time, and in any part of the ship, at the merest wink20 from the Captain. By an express order of that officer, most boatswain's mates carry the "colt" coiled in their hats, in readiness to be administered at a minute's warning upon any offender21. This was the custom in the Neversink. And until so recent a period as the administration of President Polk, when the historian Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, officially interposed, it was an almost universal thing for the officers of the watch, at their own discretion22, to inflict chastisement23 upon a sailor, and this, too, in the face of the ordinance24 restricting the power of flogging solely25 to Captains and Courts Martial. Nor was it a thing unknown for a Lieutenant26, in a sudden outburst of passion, perhaps inflamed27 by brandy, or smarting under the sense of being disliked or hated by the seamen, to order a whole watch of two hundred and fifty men, at dead of night, to undergo the indignity28 of the "colt."
It is believed that, even at the present day, there are instances of Commanders still violating the law, by delegating the power of the colt to subordinates. At all events, it is certain that, almost to a man, the Lieutenants29 in the Navy bitterly rail against the officiousness of Bancroft, in so materially abridging30 their usurped31 functions by snatching the colt from their hands. At the time, they predicted that this rash and most ill-judged interference of the Secretary would end in the breaking up of all discipline in the Navy. But it has not so proved. These officers now predict that, if the "cat" be abolished, the same unfulfilled prediction would be verified.
Concerning the license32 with which many captains violate the express laws laid down by Congress for the government of the Navy, a glaring instance may be quoted. For upward of forty years there has been on the American Statute-book a law prohibiting a captain from inflicting33, on his own authority, more than twelve lashes34 at one time. If more are to be given, the sentence must be passed by a Court-martial. Yet, for nearly half a century, this law has been frequently, and with almost perfect impunity36, set at naught37: though of late, through the exertions38 of Bancroft and others, it has been much better observed than formerly39; indeed, at the present day, it is generally respected. Still, while the Neversink was lying in a South American port, on the cruise now written of, the seamen belonging to another American frigate40 informed us that their captain sometimes inflicted, upon his own authority, eighteen and twenty lashes. It is worth while to state that this frigate was vastly admired by the shore ladies for her wonderfully neat appearance. One of her forecastle-men told me that he had used up three jack-knives (charged to him on the books of the purser) in scraping the belaying-pins and the combings of the hatchways.
It is singular that while the Lieutenants of the watch in American men-of-war so long usurped the power of inflicting corporal punishment with the colt, few or no similar abuses were known in the English Navy. And though the captain of an English armed ship is authorised to inflict, at his own discretion, more than a dozen lashes (I think three dozen), yet it is to be doubted whether, upon the whole, there is as much flogging at present in the English Navy as in the American. The chivalric41 Virginian, John Randolph of Roanoke, declared, in his place in Congress, that on board of the American man-of-war that carried him out Ambassador to Russia he had witnessed more flogging than had taken place on his own plantation42 of five hundred African slaves in ten years. Certain it is, from what I have personally seen, that the English officers, as a general thing, seem to be less disliked by their crews than the American officers by theirs. The reason probably is, that many of them, from their station in life, have been more accustomed to social command; hence, quarter-deck authority sits more naturally on them. A coarse, vulgar man, who happens to rise to high naval43 rank by the exhibition of talents not incompatible44 with vulgarity, invariably proves a tyrant45 to his crew. It is a thing that American men-of-war's-men have often observed, that the Lieutenants from the Southern States, the descendants of the old Virginians, are much less severe, and much more gentle and gentlemanly in command, than the Northern officers, as a class.
According to the present laws and usages of the Navy, a seaman, for the most trivial alleged46 offences, of which he may be entirely47 innocent, must, without a trial, undergo a penalty the traces whereof he carries to the grave; for to a man-of-war's-man's experienced eye the marks of a naval scourging with the "cat" are through life discernible. And with these marks on his back, this image of his Creator must rise at the Last Day. Yet so untouchable is true dignity, that there are cases wherein to be flogged at the gangway is no dishonour48; though, to abase49 and hurl50 down the last pride of some sailor who has piqued51 him, be some-times the secret motive52, with some malicious53 officer, in procuring54 him to be condemned55 to the lash35. But this feeling of the innate56 dignity remaining untouched, though outwardly the body be scarred for the whole term of the natural life, is one of the hushed things, buried among the holiest privacies of the soul; a thing between a man's God and himself; and for ever undiscernible by our fellow-men, who account that a degradation57 which seems so to the corporal eye. But what torments58 must that seaman undergo who, while his back bleeds at the gangway, bleeds agonized59 drops of shame from his soul! Are we not justified60 in immeasurably denouncing this thing? Join hands with me, then; and, in the name of that Being in whose image the flogged sailor is made, let us demand of Legislators, by what right they dare profane61 what God himself accounts sacred.
Is it lawful62 for you to scourge a man that is a Roman? asks the intrepid63 Apostle, well knowing, as a Roman citizen, that it was not. And now, eighteen hundred years after, is it lawful for you, my countrymen, to scourge a man that is an American? to scourge him round the world in your frigates64?
It is to no purpose that you apologetically appeal to the general depravity of the man-of-war's-man. Depravity in the oppressed is no apology for the oppressor; but rather an additional stigma65 to him, as being, in a large degree, the effect, and not the cause and justification66 of oppression.
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1 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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2 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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4 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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5 begetting | |
v.为…之生父( beget的现在分词 );产生,引起 | |
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6 undue | |
adj.过分的;不适当的;未到期的 | |
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7 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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8 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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9 scourge | |
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏 | |
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10 transgression | |
n.违背;犯规;罪过 | |
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11 martial | |
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的 | |
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12 penal | |
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的 | |
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13 pilfered | |
v.偷窃(小东西),小偷( pilfer的过去式和过去分词 );偷窃(一般指小偷小摸) | |
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14 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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15 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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16 deterred | |
v.阻止,制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 scourging | |
鞭打( scourge的现在分词 ); 惩罚,压迫 | |
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18 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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19 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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20 wink | |
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁 | |
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21 offender | |
n.冒犯者,违反者,犯罪者 | |
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22 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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23 chastisement | |
n.惩罚 | |
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24 ordinance | |
n.法令;条令;条例 | |
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25 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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26 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
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27 inflamed | |
adj.发炎的,红肿的v.(使)变红,发怒,过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 indignity | |
n.侮辱,伤害尊严,轻蔑 | |
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29 lieutenants | |
n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 );副职官员;空军;仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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30 abridging | |
节略( abridge的现在分词 ); 减少; 缩短; 剥夺(某人的)权利(或特权等) | |
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31 usurped | |
篡夺,霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 ); 盗用; 篡夺,篡权 | |
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32 license | |
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许 | |
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33 inflicting | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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34 lashes | |
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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35 lash | |
v.系牢;鞭打;猛烈抨击;n.鞭打;眼睫毛 | |
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36 impunity | |
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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37 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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38 exertions | |
n.努力( exertion的名词复数 );费力;(能力、权力等的)运用;行使 | |
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39 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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40 frigate | |
n.护航舰,大型驱逐舰 | |
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41 chivalric | |
有武士气概的,有武士风范的 | |
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42 plantation | |
n.种植园,大农场 | |
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43 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
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44 incompatible | |
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的 | |
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45 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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46 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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47 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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48 dishonour | |
n./vt.拒付(支票、汇票、票据等);vt.凌辱,使丢脸;n.不名誉,耻辱,不光彩 | |
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49 abase | |
v.降低,贬抑 | |
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50 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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51 piqued | |
v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 );激起(好奇心) | |
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52 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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53 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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54 procuring | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的现在分词 );拉皮条 | |
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55 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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56 innate | |
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的 | |
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57 degradation | |
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变 | |
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58 torments | |
(肉体或精神上的)折磨,痛苦( torment的名词复数 ); 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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59 agonized | |
v.使(极度)痛苦,折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 );苦斗;苦苦思索;感到极度痛苦 | |
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60 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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61 profane | |
adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污 | |
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62 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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63 intrepid | |
adj.无畏的,刚毅的 | |
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64 frigates | |
n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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65 stigma | |
n.耻辱,污名;(花的)柱头 | |
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66 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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