"I saw by his face," says one of Marryatt's heroes, "that the first lieutenant did not agree with the captain; but he was too good an officer to say so at such a moment." The phrase expresses one of the deepest-rooted merits of the English system, the want of which is owned by French writers:-- "Under Louis XVI.

the intimacy and fellowship existing between the chief and the subordinate led the latter to discuss the orders which were given him....

The relaxation of discipline and the spirit of independence were due also to another cause than that pointed out; they can be partly attributed to the regulation of the officers' messes.

Admiral, captain, officers, midshipmen, ate together; everything was in common.

They thee-and-thou'd each other like chums.