done and very well. When an order is given it is carried out, but not with quite the machine-like precision which we are used to' the British Navy.
'The French sailor enters the Navy as a conscript, but it is a good profession and after his' service he often stays in; he's an intelligent, quick-witted man. He' lkes- to know what he is up to and likes to be treated as a rational being.- T got the impression that a truly democratic feeling obtains in the French Navy. There is less class-consciousness in France than there is in England and this makes the relations of men, whatever their social status, more fraternal. You see, the whole nation is in arms, men in every rank of society are together, bearing the same discomforts and exposed to the same dangers. The uniform of the French rating may clothe the body of a fisherman or a farm labourer, but it may also clothe the body of a smart man-about-town, the bearer of a great title or a millionaire. Discipline is maintained, of course, for discipline is essential, but I think in the French Navy there exists between officers and men not only confidence, but a sort of quiet friendliness. 'The rating' when he is speaking to an officer doesn't ad-but by his rank. And I mustn't forget to tell you that officers and men smoke where and when they please on board, during working hours and out of them, and T couldn't help thinking that this might have something to do with the sense of comradeship that \seemed to me so pleasant. Tobacco is a great leveller. It soothes the nerves and makes men feel sympathetic towards one another.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.