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continual running of the youngsters, no order in the messes, sometimes no food & then a crash and the loss of Cups, Saucers, plates & pitchers, some laughing, others bemoaning, all disjointed & out of humour. Indeed, it was no wonder a mid's life is none of the sweetest, particularly from the variety of dispositions which are brought together, and the freedom of the Mid's apartment to wrangle and grumble is held to be inviolate. When too boisterous, a message from the 1st Lieut, requesting the young gentlemen to make less noise, for a moment allays the skylarking or other boisterous feats to be again after a few minutes renewed. The rights of the steerage are inviolable and in all steerages are observed pertinaciously. There were many differences and difficulties, but upon the whole the Mids with a few exceptions were highly respected, and under our worthy & gallant Captn treated with attention & great kindness and showing an example which none could mistake or avoid.
The Guerrier was preparing to take out Mr G. W. Campbell and family to Russia consisting of his wife & several children and nurses. There is nothing that is more to be reprehended than sending a minister aboard a Man of War. The fact of passengers on board a Man of War is always detrimental to the Service & expensive to the Govt and totally inconsistent with the duties which ought to be assigned the vessels and officers. Every department of the Service feels it more or less, and accommodations are assigned to the accommodation which in right belong to the Comdr and causes him great expense as well as inconvenience & almost always bring him in collision with the Minister. The difficulty of supplying stores and their kind and quantity is a constant source of complaint, and the Diplomats are not willing to pay. Capn Macdonough, with all the high toned feeling of an officer & gentleman, was desired by the Minister to furnish the stores necessary. Everything was provided of the very best, and even the children were not forgotten, but amply supplied with confectionery, &c. To this, at the start of the voyage, Mr Campbell objected & refused to pay or disputed the account. It terminated in his being obliged to conform to the customs of the Navy in such cases and to pay his share, and Captn MacDonough was obliged to pay a proportion; when it is well known what the pay of the Navy was then, it was a very onerous debt. Mr Campbell fell into disgrace with the officers & suffered greatly in character. He was an incumbrance on board and no sort of pleasure to any one.
But Mr Campbell was not the only diplomat we had on board. The well known Silas E. Burrows was also a passenger on his way to Sweden, as Bearer of dispatches I believe. He messed economically in the wardroom, had his Claret and crackers and the good things of the wardroom table, but declined paying any or the amount of his mess bill. He got the reputation of being a mean White Man & once he left us at Copenhagen, invited the officers on shore before we sailed & gave them a pint of Wine! Thence his name of a Mean White Man—from the experience of the officers he was a great bore to them, crowded as their quarters
