{"id":"01KG8AMK3JP53Z3JSZAZTWJH4P","cid":"bafkreibmcya724p6jadikephou5jlyqnmqunok6hrsbb65whzglgmlemsq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11672,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":11626,"text":"in their generation than our lawgivers in ours. Compare the sea-laws of\r\nour Navy with the Roman and Rhodian ocean ordinances; compare them with\r\nthe “Consulate of the Sea;” compare them with the Laws of the Hanse\r\nTowns; compare them with the ancient Wisbury laws. In the last we find\r\nthat they were ocean democrats in those days. “If he strikes, he ought\r\nto receive blow for blow.” Thus speak out the Wisbury laws concerning a\r\nGothland sea-captain.\r\n\r\nIn final reference to all that has been said in previous chapters\r\ntouching the severity and unusualness of the laws of the American Navy,\r\nand the large authority vested in its commanding officers, be it here\r\nobserved, that White-Jacket is not unaware of the fact, that the\r\nresponsibility of an officer commanding at sea—whether in the merchant\r\nservice or the national marine—is unparalleled by that of any other\r\nrelation in which man may stand to man. Nor is he unmindful that both\r\nwisdom and humanity dictate that, from the peculiarity of his position,\r\na sea-officer in command should be clothed with a degree of authority\r\nand discretion inadmissible in any master ashore. But, at the same\r\ntime, these principles—recognised by all writers on maritime law—have\r\nundoubtedly furnished warrant for clothing modern sea-commanders and\r\nnaval courts-martial with powers which exceed the due limits of reason\r\nand necessity. Nor is this the only instance where right and salutary\r\nprinciples, in themselves almost self-evident and infallible, have been\r\nadvanced in justification of things, which in themselves are just as\r\nself-evidently wrong and pernicious.\r\n\r\nBe it here, once and for all, understood, that no sentimental and\r\ntheoretic love for the common sailor; no romantic belief in that\r\npeculiar noble-heartedness and exaggerated generosity of disposition\r\nfictitiously imputed to him in novels; and no prevailing desire to gain\r\nthe reputation of being his friend, have actuated me in anything I have\r\nsaid, in any part of this work, touching the gross oppression under\r\nwhich I know that the sailors suffers. Indifferent as to who may be the\r\nparties concerned, I but desire to see wrong things righted, and equal\r\njustice administered to all.\r\n\r\nNor, as has been elsewhere hinted, is the general ignorance or\r\ndepravity of any race of men to be alleged as an apology for tyranny\r\nover them. On the contrary, it cannot admit of a reasonable doubt, in\r\nany unbiased mind conversant with the interior life of a man-of-war,\r\nthat most of the sailor iniquities practised therein are indirectly to\r\nbe ascribed to the morally debasing effects of the unjust, despotic,\r\nand degrading laws under which the man-of-war’s-man lives.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVA5SMZ8S3QW279SSFPM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMJGMHQM2BW3Q9G8CR49R","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.098Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.817Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}