LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, TRANSMITTING, In compliance with resolution of the Senate of January 19, the report of Lieutenant-Commander F. E. Chadwick, U. S. N., on the foreign systems of training seamen for the Navy. JANUARY 21, 1880.-Referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs and ordered to printed. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 20, 1880. SIR: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, of the 19th instant, I have the honor to communicate to the Senate, herewith, "the report of Lieut. Com. F. E. Chadwick on the foreign systems of training seamen for the Navy. I am, sir, very respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM A. WHEELER, Vice-President of the United States. R. W. THOMPSON, SIR: I beg to acknowledge, through the department, the many kindnesses I met with while abroad in the prosecution of the inquiries or dered. My thanks are due the Hon. John Welsh, late minister at the court of St. James; General Noyes, minister at Paris; and the Hon. Andrew D. White, minister at Berlin, for the aid most kindly given in bringing me in communication with the authorities whom it was necessary for me to meet. I am under great obligations in England to Vice-Admiral Phillimore, superintendent of naval reserves; to Captain H. D. Hickley, head of the English naval training system; to Chaplain and Naval Instructor J. B. Harbord, inspector of naval training schools; to Captain Burney, superintendent of Greenwich hospital schools; to Edwin Chadwick, esq., C. B., and Edward Tufnell, esq. (two gentlemen to whose influence the es tablishment of the present English school system is largely due), and to all others in official station, whether military or civil, whom I met, for unceasing courtesy and assistance. In France, my special thanks are due to M. LeBeau, chef du bureau des équipages de la flotte, et de la justice maritime, whose aid was invaluable to me; to Vice-Admiral Bourgois, préfet maritime at Brest, and to all the officers of that station with whom I came in contact. In Germany, though my visit there was wholly unofficial, my thanks are due to Captain Blanc, chief of the bureau having charge of the recruiting and instruction of boys, and to the officers of the station at Friedrichsort, Kiel, for the great kindness and attention which I received during my visit there. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The honorable R. W. THOMPSON, F. E. CHADWICK, Lieutenant-Commander, U. S. N. Secretary of the Navy. |