He Is
Liable At Common Law For Murder, Assault And Battery, And Other
Offences; And In Addition To This, There
Is a special statute of
the United States which makes a captain or other officer liable
to imprisonment for a
Term not exceeding five years, and to
a fine not exceeding a thousand dollars, for inflicting any
cruel punishment upon, withholding food from, or in any other
way maltreating a seaman. This is the state of the law on the
subject; while the relation in which the parties stand, and the
peculiar necessities, excuses, and provocations arising from
that relation, are merely circumstances to be considered in each
case. As to the restraints upon the master's exercise of power,
the laws themselves seem, on the whole, to be sufficient. I do
not see that we are in need, at present, of more legislation on
the subject. The difficulty lies rather in the administration
of the laws; and this is certainly a matter that deserves great
consideration, and one of no little embarrassment.
In the first place, the courts have said that public policy requires
the power of the master and officers should be sustained. Many lives
and a great amount of property are constantly in their hands, for which
they are strictly responsible. To preserve these, and to deal justly
by the captain, and not lay upon him a really fearful responsibility,
and then tie up his hands, it is essential that discipline should
be supported. In the second place, there is always great allowance
to be made for false swearing and exaggeration by seamen, and for
combinations among them against their officers; and it is to be
remembered that the latter have often no one to testify on their
side. These are weighty and true statements, and should not be lost
sight of by the friends of seamen. On the other hand, sailors make
many complaints, some of which are well founded.
On the subject of testimony, seamen labor under a difficulty full as
great as that of the captain. It is a well-known fact, that they are
usually much better treated when there are passengers on board.
The presence of passengers is a restraint upon the captain,
not only from his regard to their feelings and to the estimation
in which they may hold him, but because he knows they will be
influential witnesses against him if he is brought to trial.
Though officers may sometimes be inclined to show themselves off
before passengers, by freaks of office and authority, yet cruelty
they would hardly dare to be guilty of. It is on long and distant
voyages, where there is no restraint upon the captain, and none
but the crew to testify against him, that sailors need most the
protection of the law. On such voyages as these, there are many
cases of outrageous cruelty on record, enough to make one heartsick,
and almost disgusted with the sight of man; and many, many more,
which have never come to light, and never will be known, until the
sea shall give up its dead. Many of these have led to mutiny and
piracy, - stripe for stripe, and blood for blood. If on voyages of
this description the testimony of seamen is not to be received in
favor of one another, or too great a deduction is made on account
of their being seamen, their case is without remedy; and the captain,
knowing this, will be strengthened in that disposition to tyrannize
which the possession of absolute power, without the restraints of
friends and public opinion, is too apt to engender.
It is to be considered, also, that the sailor comes into court
under very different circumstances from the master. He is thrown
among landlords, and sharks of all descriptions; is often led to
drink freely; and comes upon the stand unaided, and under a certain
cloud of suspicion as to his character and veracity. The captain,
on the other hand, is backed by the owners and insurers, and has
an air of greater respectability; though, after all, he may have
but a little better education than the sailor, and sometimes,
(especially among those engaged in certain voyages that I could
mention) a very hackneyed conscience.
These are the considerations most commonly brought up on the
subject of seamen's evidence; and I think it cannot but be obvious
to every one that here, positive legislation would be of no manner
of use. There can be no rule of law regulating the weight to be
given to seamen's evidence. It must rest in the mind of the judge
and jury; and no enactment or positive rule of court could vary the
result a hair, in any one case. The effect of a sailor's testimony
in deciding a case must depend altogether upon the reputation of
the class to which he belongs, and upon the impression he himself
produces in court by his deportment, and by those infallible marks
of character which always tell upon a jury.
In fine, after all the well-meant and specious projects that have
been brought forward, we seem driven back to the belief, that the
best means of securing a fair administration of the laws made for
the protection of seamen, and certainly the only means which can
create any important change for the better, is the gradual one of
raising the intellectual and religious character of the sailor,
so that as an individual and as one of a class, he may, in the
first instance, command the respect of his officers, and if any
difficulty should happen, may upon the stand carry that weight
which an intelligent and respectable man of the lower class almost
always does with a jury. I know there are many men who, when a
few cases of great hardship occur, and it is evident that there
is an evil somewhere, think that some arrangement must be made,
some law passed, or some society got up, to set all right at once.
On this subject there can be no call for any such movement; on the
contrary, I fully believe that any public and strong action would
do harm, and that we must be satisfied to labor in the less easy
and less exciting task of gradual improvement, and abide the issue
of things working slowly together for good.
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