"Great Britain has the less to say on the subject, as it is in direct con#radiction to the principles on which she proceeds in other cases. Whilst she claims and seizes on the high seas, her own subjects voluntarily serving in American vessels, she has constantly given, when she could give, as a reason for not discharging from her service American citizens, that they bad voluntarily engaged in it. Nay more, whilst she impresses her own subjects from the American service, although they may have been settled, and married, and naturalised in the United States, she constantly refuses to release from her's, American seamen pressed into it whenever she can give for a reason, that they are either settled or married within her dominions. Thus when the voluntary consent of the individual favors her pretensions, she pleads the validity of that consent. When the voluntary consent of the individual stands in the way of her pretensions, it goes for nothing. When marriage or residence can be pleaded in her favor, she avails herself of the plea. When marriage, residence, and naturalization are against her, no respect whatever is paid to either. She takes, by force, her own subjects voluntarily serving in our vessels. She keeps by force American citisens involuntarily serving in her's. More flagrant inconsistencies cannot be imagined."

Never since the world was formed was there a stronger, or more irresistible train of argument, or collection of facts, than in the preceding paragraph. Never were flagrant injustice, outrage, and violence more completely proved, and eternally shut out from the possibility of defence.

From a letter of J. Q. Adams, Esq. to H. G. Otis, Esq.

"The impressed American citizens, however, upon duly authenticated proof are delivered up. Indeed! how unreasonable then were complaint! how effectual a remedy for the wrong! an Amerian vessel, bound to an European port, has two, three, or four native Americans, impressed by a British man of war, bound to the East or West Indies. When the American captain arrives at his port of destination, he makes his protest, and sends it to the nearest American Minister or consul. When he returns home, he transmits the duplicate of his protest to the Secretary of State. In process of time, the names of the impressed men, and of the ship into which they have been impressed, are received by the agent in London. He makes his demand that the men may be delivered up-the lords of the admiralty, after a considerable time for enquiry and advisement, return for answer, that the ship is on a foreign station, and their lordships can therefore take no further steps in the matter-or, that the ship has been taken, and that the men have been received in exchange for French prisoners-or, that they had no protections (the impressing officers often having taken them from the men)-or, that the men were probably British subjects; or, that they had entered, and taken the bounty; (to which the officers know how to reduce them)-or, that they have been married, or settled in England. In all these cases, without further ceremony, their discharge is refused. Sometimes, their lordships, in a vein of humor, inform the agent that the man has been discharged as unserviceable. Sometimes, in a sterner tone, they say he is an impostor. Or, per haps, by way of consolation to his relatives and friends, they report that he had fallen in battle, against nations in amity with his country. Some

times they coolly return that there is no such man on board the ship: and what has become of him, the agonies of a wife and children in his native land may be left to conjecture. When all these and many other such apologies for refusal fail, the native American seamen is discharged; and when by the charitable aid of his government he has found his way home, he comes to be informed, that all is as it should be-that the number of his fellow-sufferers is small—that it was impossible to distinguish him from an Englishman—and that he was delivered up, on duly authenticated proof!"

Extract from Cobbett's Register.

"Our ships of war, when they meet an American vessel at sea, board her, and take out of her by force, any seamen whom our officers assert to be British subjects. There is no rule by which they are boundThey act at discretion: and the consequence that great numbers of native Americans have been thus impressed, and great numbers of them are now in our navy. The total number so held at any one time canuot, perhaps, be ascertained; but from a statement published in America it appears, that Mr. Lyman, the late consul here, stated the number, about two years ago, at FOURTEEN THOUSAND. That many of these men have died on board of our ships-that many have been wounded-that many have been killed in action—and that many have been worn out in the service, there can be no doubt. Some obtain their release through the application of the American consul here: and of these the sufferings have in many instances been very great. There have been instances where men have thus got free after having been flogged through the fleet for desertion.

"But it has been asked whether we are not to take our sailors where we find them? To which America answers, yes; but take only your own; “take,” said Mr. Lyman, "your whole pound of flesh? but take not a drop of blood." She says that she wishes not to have in her ships any British sailors: and she is willing to give them up, whenever the fact of their being British sailors can be proved. Let them, she says, be brought before any magistrate, or any public civil authority, in any one of your own ports, at home or abroad; and she is willing to abide by the decision. But let not men be seized in her ships upon the high seas (and sometimes at the mouths of her own rivers) where there is nobody to judge between the parties, and where the British officer going on board is at once ACCUSER, WITNESS, JUDGE, and CAPTOR!"

From Niles' Weekly Register, vol. 3, page 303.

"If the most dignified officer in the naval service of our enemy were to plunder neutral vessels of a box of cod-fish or a bale of cotton, on suspicion that it was even enemy's property, it might cost him his whole fortune, with an ignominious dismissal. The law of nations allows him to send in the vessels for adjudication: and it becomes him to prove the fact he suspected. If he fail in this, he is often mulcted in heavy damages by the courts of law of his own country. But in the business of man-stealing, he himself is judge and jury-he takes when and where he pleases, and is irresponsible for his conduct. If complaint is made, he silences it by the broad plea," that his majesty wanted men"-and, if the man stolen is restored to liberty after years of dangers and servitude, without one cent for his hazards and toils, there are knaves who produce his case in evidence of "British magnanimity !"

After the reader has carefully perused the preceding arguments, I request he will read and compare the sentiments of Mr. Pickering on the subject of impressment at two different periods, the first when he was secretary of State, and the second when he was senator of the United States.

64 The British naval officers often impress Swedes, Danes, and other for eigners, from the vessels of the United States. They have even sometimes impressed Frenchmen!! If there should be time to make out the copy of a protest lately received, it shall be enclosed, describing the impress of a Dane and a Portuguese. This sun is an abuse easy to correct. They cannot pretend an inability to distinguish these foreigners from their own subjects. They may with as much reason rob American vessels of the property or merchandize of Swedes, Danes, or Portuguese, as seize and detain in their service the subjects of those nations found on board American vessels. The president is extremely anxious to have this business of impress placed on a reasonable footing."*

It is perfectly well known that GREAT BRITAIN DESIRES ΤΟ OBTAIN ONLY HER OWN SUBJECTS.†

"The evil we complain of arises from the impossibility of always distinguishing the persons of two nations who a few years since were one people, who exhibit the same manners, speak the same language, and possess similar features.

"The British ships of war, agreeably to a right claimed and exercised for ages, -a right claimed and exercised during the whole of the administrations of Washington, of Adams, and of Jefferson, continue to take some of the British seamen found on board our merchant vessels, and with them A SMALL NUMBER of ours, from THE IMPOSSIBILITY DISTINGUISHING ENGLISHMEN FROM CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES."||

OF

I cannot allow these extracts to pass without beseeching, and imploring the reader to ponder well on their contents-to compare them together carefully. The history of the human race, from the earliest records of time, furnishes no stronger instance of contradiction, or inconsistency. Mr. Pickering, when his station as Secretary of State rendered it a duty to defend the rights of his country, clearly & explicitly asserts, that the British impressed Swedes, Danes, Portuguese, and even Frenchmen, from on board our vessels. Afterwards, to answer the purposes of party, he states that they impressed Americans merely through "the impossibility of distinguishing" them from their own subjects! What an awful perversion of facts!

* Letter from Timothy Pickering, Esq. secretary of state, to Rufus King, Esq. minister at the court of London, dated Oct. 26, 1796.

Letter from Timothy Pickering, to the hon. James Sullivan, governor f Massachusetts, Feb. 16, 1808-page 9.

Ibid.

From the same to the same-Feb. 13, 1808, page 13.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Impressment during the administration of General Washington.Letter from T. Jefferson to T. Pinkney. From Mr. Jay to Lord Grenville. From T. Pickering to Rufus King. From Rufus King to Lord Grenville.

Extract of a letter from T. Jefferson, Esq. secretary of state, to Thomas Pinkney, minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London.

Department of State, June 11, 1792.

"THE peculiar custom in England of impressing seamen on every appearance of war, will occasionally expose our seamen to peculiar oppressions and vexations. It will be expedient that you take proper opportunities, in the mean time, of conferring with the minister on this subject, in order to form some arrangement for the protection of our seamen on those occasions. We entirely reject the mode which was the subject of conversation between Mr. Morrris and him; which was, that our seamen should always carry about them certificates of their citizenship. This is a condition never yet submitted to by any nation; one with which seamen would never have the precaution to comply-the casualties of their calling would expose them to the constant destruction or loss of this paper evidence; and thus the British government would be armed with legal authority to impress the whole of our seamen. The simplest rule will be, that the vessel being American, shall be evidence that the seamen on board of her are such. If they apprehend that our vessels might thus become asylums for the fugitives of their own nation from impress gangs, the number of men to be protected by a vessel may be limited by her Lonnage; and one or two officers only be permitted to enter the vessel in order to examine the number; but no pressgang should be allowed ever to go on board an American vessel, till after it shall be found that there are more than the stipulated number on board, nor till after the master shall have refused to deliver the supernumeraries (to be named by himself) to the press officer who has come on board for that purpose; and even then the American consul shall be called in. In order to urge a settlement of this point before a new occasion may arise, it may not be amiss to draw their attention to the peculiar irritation excited on the last occasion, and the difficulty of avoiding our making immediate reprisals on their seamen here. Your will be so good as to communicate to me what shall pass on this subject, and it may be made an article of convention to be entered into either there or here."

From the same to the same.

Oct. 12, 1792.

"I enclose you a copy of a letter from Messrs. Blow and Melhaddo, merchants. of Virginia, complaining of the taking away of their sailors, on the coast of Africa, by the commander of a British armed vessel. So many instances of this kind have happened, that it is quite necessary their government should explain themselves on the subject, and be led to disavow and punish such conduct. I leave to your discretion to endeavor to obtain this satisfaction by such friendly discussions as may be most likely to produce the desired effect, and secure to our commerce that protection against British violence, which it has never experienced from any other nation. No law forbids the seaman of any nation, to engage in time of peace, on board a foreign vessel: no law authorizes such seaman to break his contract, nor the armed vessels of his nation to interpose force for his rescue."

From the same to the same.

Nov. 6, 1792. "I enclose you now the copy of a letter from Mr. Pintard, our consul at Madeira, exhibiting another attempt at the practice on which I wrote to you în my last, made by Capt. Hargood, of the British frigate Hyæna, to take seamen from on board an American vessel bound to the East Indies. It is unnecessary to develope to you the inconveniences of this conduct, and the impossibility of letting it go on. I hope you will be able to make the British ministry sensible of the necessity of punishing the past and preventing the future.” Extract of a note from Mr. Jay, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London, to lord Grenville, secretary of foreign affairs, dated

London, July 30, 1793.

"The undersigned finds it also to be his duty to present, that the irregularities before mentioned extend not only to the capture and condemnation of American vessels and property, and to unusual personal severities, but even to the impressment of American citizens, to serve on board of armed vessels. Heforbears to dwell on the injuries done to those unfortunate individuals, or on the emotions which they must naturally excite, either in the breasts of the nation to which they belong, or of the just and humane of every country. His reliance on the justice and benevolence of his majesty, leads him to indulge a pleasing expectation, that orders will be given, that Americans so circumstanced be immediately liberated, and that persons honored with his majesty's commissions do in future abstain from similar violences.

It is with cordial satisfaction that the undersigned reflects on the impressions which such an equitable and conciliatory measure would make on the people of the United States, and how naturally they would inspire and cherish those sentiments and dispositions which never fail to preserve as well as to produce respect, esteem and friendship."

Extract from the instructions given by Timothy Pickering, Esq. secretary of state, to Rufus King, Esq. minister at the court of London.

June, 8, 1796.

The long but fruitless attempts that have been made to protect American seamen from British impresses, prove that the subject is in its nature difficult. "The simplest rule would be, that the vessel being American, should be evidence that the seamen are such. But it will be an important point gained, if, on the high seas, our flag can protect those of whatever nation who sail under it. And for this, humanity, as well as interest, powerfully plead. Merchant vessels carry no more hands than their safety renders necessary. To withdraw any of them on the ocean, is to expose both lives and property to destruction. We have a right then to expect that the British government will make no difficulty in acceding to this very interesting provision. And the same motives should operate with nearly equal force, to procure for us the like exception in all the British colonies, but especially in the West Indies. In the latter the consequence of an impress is

the detention of the vessel. By the detention, the vessel is injured or destroyed by the worms, and the remnant of the crew exposed to the fatal diseases of the climate. Hence a longer detention ensues. The voyage becomes unprofitable to the merchant and humanity deplores the loss of many valuable lives. But there is another cogent reason for an exemption from impresses in the British coloniesthat THE PRACTICE WILL BE, AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, SUBJECT TO MONSTROUS ABUSES: and the supreme power is so remote, that THE EVILS BECOME IRREMEDIABLE, BEFORE REDRESS CAN EVEN BE SOUGHT FOR.

"To gnard against abuses on the part of American citizens, every master of a vessel, on his arrival in any port of the British colonies, may be required to report his crew at the proper office. If, afterwards, any addition be made to them by British subjects, these may be taken away. In the ports of Great Britain and