The increase of this twig (branch it cannot be called,) of the regular service, is once more about to be brought forward for the consideration of the National Legislature. Little or no hope is entertained, by its friends, of success ; for the bill has been defeated so often by the machinations of those who are inimical to it, that nothing short of inspiration would lead the writer of this to dream of a successful issue of the present demonstration in its favor. For the last past ten years, the absolute necessity for the increase of this Corps has been fully apparent, and many of our most prominent statesmen in Congress have strenuously advocated the measure ; but others there were, who, not being familiar with the requirements of the Naval Service, had conferred with men who should have been it3 firmest supporters, from their position in the Navy, but from some unaccountable prejudice, those very men had impressed them with an idea that the Corps of Marines was a useless appendage to the Navy, insomuch that several honorable gentlemen became determinedly opposed to it.
"I am credibly informed by naval officers," said one Hon. Member, in his plate in the House of Representatives, " that the Marine Corps is an excrescence upon the Navy." Another observed that he too, had been " informed by distinguished officers in the Navy, that the only use made of Marines on board a ship, was to dress them up as mountebanks to act ^. as waiters, assistants at balls, soirees, &c." This occurred about eight years ago ; since then, the hostile feeling against the Corps has gradually diminished year by year, as the Commodores of the old school, one after "another,"shuffled off his mortal coil."
There are but few officers of the Navy proper, who still cherish the ig:r, noble feeling of absurd prejudice which characterized those of the ancient , regime ; still it is to be regretted that there yet remains a few, and the only reason that can be assigned for their opposition to a measure which many of their compeers have honorably and urgently recommended, is, -~. that they entertain a jealous supposition that if the Corps should be inS~ creased to a brigade, it would not be so immediately under their control as at preset; y.et..d.ou.btiless,. they .were too honorable to give utterance to their ...a large increase of the rank and file would have* been* -voterd during the last session of Congress, but for the very able Hon. George Bancroft, late Secretary of the Navy.
' The Corps,'at present, although more than full, consists of very little over one thousand, all told. During the year 1815, a greater number of vessels were fitted out at the different naval stations, for foreign service, than in any previous year since The war; and frequently the marine depots were stripped almost to a man, to furnish forth the guards of Frigates, Sloops and Brigs, about to depart for some foreign station. This was precisely the dilemma in which the Post at the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, was found on the arrival of the Hon. George Bancroft at that station.
No doubt the Hon. Mr. Bancroft was very much astonished to find a Major commanding, a Captain and three Lieutenants, with an extensive paucity of the rank and file; and the only mystery is, why some officer did not make to the Honorable Secretary a correct statement of the disagreeable fact, that the privates of the Corps were sent on board vessels in small detachments, without a marine officer to command them ; consequently the officers remained at the Post anxiously awaiting orders from the Department for duty where their services were actually required, and might be beneficially rendered to the Government.
From the tenor of the Hon. Geo. Bancroft's report—doubtless in the misconception of the facts on the part of that Hon. functionary—Members of Congress were led to believe that it was the fault ©f the officers, and that the Corps of Marines, as a body, was little deserving of their consideration.
Now, if any gentleman should be called upon at present to report upon the subject, and one should be selected well acquainted with it, in all its ramifications, he would say: " On visiting the different naval stations, I have ascertained, from observation and inquiry, that the rank and file of the Corps of Marines is entirely inadequate for the well organization of Naval Service of a Government such as ours."
For Sloops of War and Brigs, only Sergeant's or Corporal's guards can be furnished. Ships of the line, Frigates and Steamers, are likewise very inefficiently supplied with Marine Guards, such as are requisite for a well organized internal arrangement, as a police and safeguard against dissension, riot and insubordination, among a heterogeneous crew composed of reckless seamen of almost every nation of the earth. From one of the oldest and ablest Captains in the Navy, I learn that the Marines are the most orderly, trust-worthy, sober and obedient men on board any vessel, of any class or size in our Navy.
The British Admiralty set a high value upon the services of their Marine forces. They have an army composed of thirty thousand Marines, and their drill is the most perfect of any arm of the Service. Not only are they made proficient in the exercise with musketry, as Infantry Soldiers, but, at two of their principal depots—Chatham and Woolwich—they are regularly trained as Sea-Artillerists ; and their competency has induced the Lords of the Admiralty to recommend that the crews of SteamFrigates shall be made up of nearly one-half Marines, and adduce for reason, that as the light sails of a steamer are only intended to bo used as aa auxiliary power, in pleasant weather, with favorable winds, the employment of seamen can be, to a greater or less extent, dispensed with, and Marines substituted advantageously. If the first maritime Nation of tho world sets the example of maintaining a large and well organized force of Marines, consisting of thirty thousand men, in her Naval Service, certainly the second can judiciously employ over one thousand; for the material of which an American Man-of-War's crew is made up, is far less orderly and well disciplined than that of a British Cruiser; because, foreigners enter our Naval Service, under an impression that liberty and equality prevail on board our national vessels in the same ratio that it does on shore; and, frequently, before they can be undeceived, their riotous conduct has a tendency to subvert the good order and regularity of a majority of the ship's company. And if England ha3 found it judicious and effectual to incorporate Marines so extensively with her Naval forces, how much more necessary it is that our Government should pursue a similar course, for of late we have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining seamen for the Navy. The cause of this is obvious to any nautical observer who has watched the rise and progress of our vast and extended commerce, and the surprising magnitude of our mercantile marine.
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