An effort, as is well known, has lately been made to elevate the character of British seamen, by means of registries under the Mercantile Marine Act, and the issuing of tickets, which must be produced by sailors.  Our belief is, that much of the legislation on this subject has been injurious; as any law must be which attempts to regulate the bargains of employers and employed.  It may be proper for master-mariners to be subjected to some kind of test of ability, but it appears to us that it would be equally beneficial to encourage young men to enter the profession.  To pay well is, after all, the true way to get good servants.  Why do British sailors desert to the American service?  Because they are better paid.  And having so deserted, they unfortunately cannot again procure employment under the British flag without producing a register-ticket, which, of course, they cannot do.  Thus, picked men are permanently lost to the British navy.  Besides offering higher wages, it might have proved extremely advantageous to open nautical schools for youths desirous of going to sea.  According to existing arrangements, the sailor—­like the French workman with his livret—­is considered to be a child not fit to take care of himself; and the law interposes to say he shall do this, and do that, under a penalty for neglect of its provisions.  This is to keep sailors in a state of perpetual tutelage; and being at variance with the principles of civil liberty, it is to be feared that the practice can lead to nothing but mischief.

As to wrecks, the cause of the chief disasters seems as often to be imperfect construction of vessels and imperfect stowage, as anything else; while loss of life for the greater part arises from a deficiency of boats, and the means of readily unshipping them.  As victims of ill-made, badly-found, and rotten vessels, not to speak of land-sharks and sea-sharks—­as the sufferers in life and limb when shippers and brokers may be actually benefiting from casualties—­sailors, as a class, merit public sympathy instead of reproach or discouragement.

‘VISIT TO AN ENGLISH MONASTERY.’

We have received a letter from the Abbot of Mount St Bernard’s, pointing out, in courteous terms, several inaccuracies in the article which appeared with the above title in No. 413 of this Journal.  Meat, it seems, is only ‘strictly prohibited’ to the healthy:  it is allowed to the sick and infirm when prescribed by the doctor.  Every night before compline the brethren meet to hear some pious lecture read, not to confess their thoughts to the superior.  Instead of one meal a day, as stated by our correspondent, the lay-brethren, who are employed chiefly in manual labour, have at least two meals every day during the whole year, excepting fast-days; and the choir-brethren two meals a day during the summer, and one during the winter.  To the latter, when they are of a weakly constitution, a collation is allowed in addition.  The greatest error of all, however, appears to us to exist in the estimate formed of the abbot, who, judging by his correspondence, is evidently as informed and intelligent a person as is usually met with out of the monastic circle.