The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-16 00:00:00

IMPRESSNIENT OF SEAMEN.

Mr. BUCKINGHAAI rose to move a resolution that
the forcible impressment of seamen for his Majesty's navy
is unjust, cruel, inefficient, and unnecessary; and that it is
the duty of the Rouse to avail itself of the present period
of profound peace to provide some means of mantling tl e
ships of his 11Iaj—ty in t.me of war without a violation
of the liberties of one class of his M ijesty's subject..
The Hon. Gentlemrn condemned the •ysti m as unjust,
cruel, and it,. fficacious. He found, upon rridin! t n this
tudnect, that :here was no statute law which authoriz d
this air .ctice; and ti e I 6,h of Charles 1., r. 28 declared
the inipiessrneor of s ddters to he ill-gal ; and under that
Act many persons were fined f•r forcing people to enter
t',e army. Lord Cao.den had challenetd the whole
Bench of Judges to prove the 'reality of this practice;
,nd (Alr Buckingham) w is not aware that that chal
brig had ever teen accepte.l. Lord Al in-field had held
that impre.stnent ,A as riot to he justified by statute or
common law, hut that usage only warranted it. Thus in
sea wheie p r-ons engaged in press gine. had acted with
violenc a and had been sh t by those whom they sought
to rapture, Ju ges had held that the parties were not
emir), 01 anything n ore tlitia..n
Then, as to the cruel ,
sys em—it was to he
remembered that it was not the merely taking of sea-
firing men, to whom the haidship might tim. be so
vreat, hut lindsmen were als. impressed. The fact
was, that, when sailors were not to he had, thin lands-
men at cue carried off. and hence arose the fact of inefficient
crews in our men-of-war. The gaols w re often resorted
to to make up crews, to find out Britleweil so, n and gaol-
birds, a. Pepys had termed them. Smugglers hail been
subsequently added to the service ; and thus they employed
all sorts of thieves and va,abonds, whi e a slur was ctst
upon the navy by that system. The ,mprestin,ent service
had been long a terror, and hence arose the fact that the
privates ring service was much superio• and much m ,re
popular. Whenever a proelamat.on for impressment of

men was issued, it caused an immediate feeling of horror,
and men left their homes, and districts were often forsaken.
It appeared that in 1803 there were upwards of 5,000
able seamen and 3,000 lan !men, all of whom were im-
pressed into the service. He maintained that the system
of impress was more expensive than a more regular and
honest system of manning the fleet. The keeping up of
tenders and receiving-ships was attended with a great
cost. An eminent pilot at Yarmouth had calculated
that every impressed man cost the country from first
to last 6001. A substitute could he obtained for a tenth
of that sum, and, after all, many of these men escaped
in spite of every effort to retain them. The effects of the
impress were to raise the wages of merchant seamen,
and to increase all the prices in the merchant marine,
so as to enhance the price of all goods to the
consumer. Dr. Trotter had mentioned a case where a
Captain of a merchantehip had offered the sum of five
hundred pounds to the Captain of a man-of-war to let
his vessel pass without overhauling the vessel and Im-
pressing the crew. He begged the House particularly to
take notice of this important truth, that not one man was
impressed for the service of the navy, who did not cost
the country 6001. ; and that fifteen thousand some odd
hundreds had deserted from the navy in the short space
of two years. Amongst the suggestions which he should
offer to the House for the purpose of rendering practica-
ble the abolition of impressment was this—to employ a
half-pay officer of the navy in every port of the empire
as an inspector, for the purpose of seeing that no vessel
left that port for foreign service, without her proper
complement, and without being duly provided with
all the requisites for her voyage. He should also
propose that all sailors should be required to pay a
certain per centage upon their wages, for the pur-
pose of creating a fund to procure men enough
to avoid the necessity of impressment. This, with a classi-
fication of the sailors in the navy into three classes—
namely, into men of fifteen, ten, and five years' service,
with additional pay of Id., 2d., and 3d. continued to
them as a retaining fee, so as to render just the requisition
of their services at a future period. He should further
propose that there be established in every sea-port town a
register of all persons connected with a seafaring life, and
that the persons required for the service of the navy should
be ballotted for from amongst that class in the same
manner as the inhabitants of the country generally
were ballotted for to serve in the militia. Thus the
moment a war broke out the Admiralty could at once
procure the necessary supply of men. The maritime po-
pulation of the country amounted to nothing less
than one million of men, and one in one hundred
of these would yield 10,000 men. The Hon. Member,
after dwelling upon the practical slavery involved in the
practice of impressment, insisted that it was that practice
which made flogging necessary—if that species of punish•
meet could, under any circumstances, be considered ne-
cessary. The Hon. Member concluded, by submitting
his resolution.
Mr. G. F. YOUNG seconded the motion.

Tee qtiestion eves then it.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM had listened with attention to
the speech of the Hon. Member, because he particularly
wanted to know what was the motive the Hon. Gentle-
man had in bringing forward his motion on the 15th day
of August, when the Hnuse was already overwhelmed with
business, and exhausted with the fatigue of a long and
laborious session. He could not, with all his attention,
make out the Hon. Gentlernan'm motive. They had not
as yet got annual Parliaments, when every Member, on
returning to the hustings, would be obliged to give an ac-
count of his recent conduct in Parliament, and when he
might he able to justify that conduct by pointing out the
popular notions he had lately originated. It could not,
therefore, be on that ground, nor for that reason, that the
Hon. Gentleman had thought fit to bring forward, almost
at the end of the session, the present popular motion.
However, be did not mean to accuse the Honourable
Member of any sinister motives, for he felt satisfied the
motion was not made with the intention of causing dis•
satisf tetion among those who served as seamen on board
his Majesty's ships. Yet he was afraid that the motion
might have some such tendency, particularly when he
considered the strong analogy the Hon. Member ende.-
vnured to draw between absolute slavery and the condition
of those persons. Above al!, be oeprec.teil, as most dare
germs, what the Hon Member said about the prerogative
of the Crown in this matter—a prerogative acknnwledged
by the Wgliest authorities_a prerogative which lay dor-
mant, and which was never exercised but in case of
extremity. He would direct the attention of the Hon.
Member and of the Hnu-e to the opinions of Mr. Justice
Foster on impressment, who, in support of those opinions,
brought forward every argument, the eteeneth of which he
cv uhf not we ,ken by any additional arguments of his own.
What he alluded to was, the well known report d judg-
ment of Mr. Justice Foster, who-e great argum. nt w
that in moments of imminent (linger, every subject owed
allegiance to the State. There was a question raised by
the Hon. Member whether there was any difference be-
trvion the land and sea service, an f the Hon. Gentlem in
alluded to a statute of Charles the Second, where it was
declared that the impressment of soldiers was illegal.
Upon that statute the Hon. Gentleman founded the
areument that the impressment of sailors must be also
illegal. Now he came to a very different conclusion
from that of the Hen Gentleman, for if the law was
silent about the impressment of sailors, he considered that
the inference was that the silence of the law was giving a
sanction to it. There was one proposition of the Hon.
Member that he could not assent to. The Hon. G ntleman
contend d that impressment was unjust and cruel, be-
cause it was partial, and tell on seafaring men only. Now
lie took the very converse of that proposition, arid main-
tained that it was right that impressment should be con-
fined to te afaring prisons, since, if it fell on the other
classes of the community, it would he highly cruel and
unjust. Not only was the proposition of having impress-
ment fall on I .ndsmen cruel, but by common law it was
an indictable offence. If ever it had been done in the
course of the war, as he believed it had been done, it could
only be looked upon in the light of a gross abuse of the
system, and it was strictly prohibited by naval officers.
Besides, he was just told by his Hon. and Learned Friend
near him (the Solicitor-General) that a landsman so im-
pressed could be actually discharged. The Hon. Member,
in talking of the partiality of the practice, bad alluded
both to Russia and France. In Russia certainly there was
nothing like partiality, since every one could be forced
into the naval service, and it often happened that whole
regiments were marched from the interior and forced
on board the Imperial ships. Was that better than the
partial system of impressment of this country ? Now,
with respect to the French system, it would be seen on a
little reflection, that it was little better than our system
of impressment. All seafaring men in that country were
registered, and the Sovereign had a right to compel to
serve on board his ships every man so registered. That
was certainly something vet), like impressment. There
were, however, three principles laid down by the Hon.
Gentleman to which he was glad that be could give his
assent. The first related to the well-regulating Of the
merchant service. No one more than he felt the import-
ance of having that service better regulated, for many
reasons, and particularly as it was the nursery for the
Royal Navy. The Government should pay the hest
possible attention to the better regulation of the mer-
chant service, and nothing but the weight and pressure
of official business had prevented him fru., directing his
attention to a better code of laws for the regulation of that
service. There were several abuses in the merchant ser-
vice, and one very great one, which related to the waves
of men dud Le assured the House that he was
most willing to direct his attention to them, and should
apply hims. If durina the recess to the subject, so chat be
trusted he should he enabled to propose some specific re-
medial measures by the time that Haute met next ye tr.--
(Hear ) The next pint on which he agreed with the
Hon. Member was, that it was extremely desirous to
stimulate as many of the King's subjects as passible to
wish to become seafaring men. He would assure the
House that -iii- e the peace all successive administrations
hot done everything in their power to induce persona to
embrice the prof shoo of the navy. He trusted that tie
Hon. Gentleman would not suppose that he was arguing
the principle of impressment in the abstract ; be confessed
that it was an evil, and it was only as a necessary and
unavoidable evil that he argued the question. Ev ryti
etas now being (bole th .t his evil might be avoided for
the future, since the G vernment was makitie every rife t,
in the event of the lir-eking on- of a war, to have the best
and fit-eat men for the naval service, by nd aveuring to
make that service acceptable to them. G.iveininent hail
recourse to the coassitication of the tnen on beard, by
which they might be better known, their conduct an ,
set vitos more easily distinguished. and as they were aw-tre
that their merits must come to light, th re was a greater
stimulus to exertion. But this was not ail, eines-
ttore was provijed by the bout ty of Parliament a
pension list, framed tor the benefit of every man
ho I ad served above ten years. net pension and
the pay the men were to tee ive were gr tduate l ac-
cording ti, tie newt e of the a evict. perterneed,
and the period of it. The Hon. Geutlem in touched
upon another question, that of DUNki MP t WII i .h was,
re allowed, . •
eery mut pertsnt question. Gevernmeni
bad taken it into their serious consideration and had
a restriction on arbitrary punishments.' They
had ordered that evidence should be transmitted as to
the 4 Ef-riee, and that it should be corroborated by the
other officers. Puuiehmeut wag to be Mei red twenty-

four hours in all cases except mutiny. In consequence
of the regulations upon this point, punishments in the
navy were now one. third less than they were before these
regulations had been put in practice. With respect to
what the Hon. Gentleman said about diminution of pay,
he would find, that if he compared the v .lue of money
now with its value in former periods, no disparity in
seamen's pay would appear. Another stimulus to make
the service more acceptable had been provided. Formerly
the patronage of the Coast Guard Service lay with I .nds-
men. The boatmen in that service are paid three shillings
a day. The patronage was taken from landsmen and
transferred to the Admiralty, and no men now serve as
boatmen in that service who have not been in his Ma-
jesty's service three years, and who cannot produce a
certificate from his captain that his conduct was
good, and that he deserved to be rewarded for it.
This had been found a considerable inducement to
make men enter the service. He also concurred with
the objection of the Honourable Gentleman, that
smugglers should not be sent aboard King's ships, and
he pledged himself to bring forward in the next session of
Parliament a measure to abolish flagging as a punishment
in the. navy. He had now, he believed, gone through the
principal points upon which the Hon. Gentleman had
touched. He would now state the opinion of one of his
colleagues on the subject of impressment. That colleague
was as brave and as humane an officer as ever served, and
had served with the greatest honour—he alluded to Sir T.
Hardy. It was the opinion of Sir Thomas, who also said
it was the opinion of Lord Nelson, with whom he had
served, that every measure possible should be devised to
prevent the necessity of having recourse to impressment__
that every stimulus should be applied to the men, in the
way of indulgence and pay, to make them take to the ser-
vice ; but Sir Thos. Hardy also said, that if ever a wit
should arise, he would not be responsible for the success
and honour of the navy, if he was not allowed to man the
British navy by having recourse to impressment in the
hour of danger. The Hon. Gentleman had quoted the
opinions of Lord Camden and Lord Mansfield against the
practice of impressment. They were great authorities,
but he thought he could quote in favour of the practice as
eminent an authority, the opinion of an individual cele-
brated for his love of country, and for his ardent love of
liberty—he meant Lord Chatham.—(Hear, hear.)
That Nobleman thus expressed his opinion on the
subject in the following manner :—" The subject
on which I am speaking seems to call on me, and I
willingly take this occasion to decl ire my opinion upon
the question on which much wicked pains have been
employed to disturb the minds of the people, and to
distress Government. My opinion may not be very
popular, neither am I running the race of popularity. I
am myself clearly convinced, arid I believe every man
who knows anything of the English navy will acknowledge,
that without impressing it is impossible to equip a re-
spectable fleet, within the time in which such armaments
are usually wanted. If this fact be admitted, and if the
necessity of arming on a sudden em; rgency should appear
incontrovertible, what shall we think of those men who. in
a moment of danger, would stop the great defence of
their country ? Upon whatever principles they may act,
the act itself is more than faction ; it is labouring to cut
off the right band of the community. My Lord-, Ido
not rest my opinion merely on nec.-ssity ; I am satisfied
that the power of impressing is founded on uninterrupted
usage, it is the consuetude reyni. and part of the com-
mon law preroeative of the Crown." That was the
opinion of an ardent lover of liberty, but who preferred
the honour and safety of his country to populur applause.
He would not depart from such a sound opinion, and as
he would not seek popularity at the expense of the honour,
dignity, and safety of the nation, he would not hesitate
to eive his most decided negative to the motion of the
lion. Gentleman.

Mr. HUME had heard with great satisfaction many
parts of the Right Hon. Baronet's speech, but he was at
a loss to know how, after admitting the force of many
of his Hon. Friend's objections, h- had come to the con-
clusion of so decidedly opposing the motion. The Right
Hon. Baronet seem, d to found his chief argum nt in
favour of impressment on the circumstance that it was
established by old custom. But was tha a reason
that if it was bad it should not o.e change,' ? The 1)1.1
custom of electing Members of Parliament w is bad, but
that was thought no reason why it should not be altered.
He was at a loss io know what the Right H ,n. B.tonet
meant by his argument of necessity ; for he had not
poi -ted out what constitut.d that necessity. He thought
the House should pronounce themselves in a distinct man
net against th a system, which was both cruel and illegal.
He made use of the word illegal designedly, because the
practice w ,a illecal. sitter it tell upon one class of persona
in particular. Whether the Right Hon. Baron. t was for-
tunate in alluding to Russia and France, it mattered not. ;
what they wanted to know was, whether an illegal and
cruel practice was necessary for the good of the service or
not. He did not think it was. He had met in the
course of his experience with many distineuished naval
officers, whom he consulted on the subject; and he
had scarcely ever met with one who i'id not say that
the system did not insure that cordial co-operation
on the part of the men which was absolutely necessiry for
the success of the service. If, as Ile held it was, the
practice was unconstitutional—if, in its operation, it was
cruel and partial, and inefficient for the service of the
Government, and that it did not give satisfaction in the
bumble ranks of life—if all this could be proved, and if
the House found that such was the truth, he would ask
the House whether the motion of his Hon. Friend ought
not to be entertained ? But the Right Hon. Baronet
said the 15th of August was not the proper time to bring
forward such a motion. Such an argument came rather
awkwardly from a Member of a Government who were
bringing forward, almost at the same time, millions that
ought to be made at an earlier period of the session, if
they ought to be made at all. For such a motion as the
Present, no day of the session was too late—no, not even
the very last day of the session—since it was likely to be
productive of good. He considered the Right Hen.
Baronet had not dealt with the subject fairly and candidly,
that he should have shown that it was necessary to con-
tinue the practice, and that he should have pointed out if
it were not necessary how it might be prevented. Upon
those points the Right Hon. Baronet bad completely failed.
His Hon. Friend deserved the thanks of the House
for having brought forward the motion, as it would
be productive of benefit. He himself for five years
had made motions on the same subject, but it was not one
that could be dealt with by individuals, it was one that
must be undertaken by the Government. He believed,
however, that since he first brought the question before the
House many ameliorations had taken place, and that the
consequence of his motions was increased comforts for the
persons engaged as sailors in the royal navy, so that some
good had resulted from the agitation of the subject, though
he had not completely succeeded. He was glad to hear
that sailors were not to be immediately punished, but that
some time was to elapse after the committal of the offence,
and he should. he glad if there were lair! annually on the
table of the House a return of the number of punishments
inflicted on board each ship in his Majesty's service. He
considered, that if the Fiona:: negatived die present motion,
and refused to entertain it, that would be construed into a
desire of their wishing that the system should be conti-
nued.—(No,
Sir E. CODRINGTON thought that if the Hon.
Member for Sheffield would consent to alter the latter part
of his motion, he would render it more acceptable to the
House. The Gallant Admiral then alluded to the cruel-
ties inflicted on seamen by the system of impressment.
One case hail come under his notice which he would locu-
tion :—A sailor was impressed at Douglas, in the Isle of
Man, some years ago, and carried on board the fi et. He
was sent on foreign service, and kept there for several
years, till at last he fill into a consumption, and came
home merely to die. This man was the last of a large
family, who hail al! died in his Majesty's teirvice. He
riaild, if necessary, give many ooh ,r instances of the same
kind. His objection to impressoient was, that under the
pretence of impressing, it gave an opportunity of sending
all the rogues and vagabonds in the country that the M a-
gistrates were anxious to get rid of, on hoard the fleet.—
(A
e laugh.) He remembered, when he w last appointe
t,
seven. an 3-twenty min were sent fill hoard
, aiin
who had just been tali, n out of irons. In order to ascer-
tain whetoer they were tit for any thine, they lied a wit,
thein f trying whit-.their hands .• ere made ;
un iok nia.vgy
to the h ands of these wen, be !nand they were
:
as soft as those of Nailing ladies, and fit tor no purvise to at
he knew of but picking packets.—(A tau di.) He gave
novice that was Impossible they could be usetu' to hitt.,
arid they would il-rtiorabz • his crew ; lout the answer was,
that 't was desirible that they should leay.. Landon, an
that the Lot fi alayor wished rt. He conti iced, boo ever.
t() vet rid of them tiltinuate:y. Anielter class of persons
Jen sent to the fleet uav poachers—a class nut very
se reeafole on hand, and who certainly did not ini•
!:rove, either as comp my or in u•efulttess, at sear
With regard to the impressment, of seaman, he thought
that if it were lawful, the law ought to be aim le,
rated* Atl e law at present st od, die m n wear
not askdd if they chose to serve; they were turned ao
Wahl the t; they were not ahowrd to r•ommatrii. a,e wi h
their friends, and there.was a I ,tv by which they tv, re not
allowed 10 go ashore for ft ar they siteuld desert. If hers
was anything in the vvorld to wt itch he could apply crock)
and oppresa on, it was tr is.—(Hear, hear.) Bat t' e
ovum's of these regulations was, t:,at the more valuable the
man, the more he suffered. He bad known an ansianee

of a moat valuable man—a boatswain, who had served for
five years 'with the fleet. He (Sir E. Codrington)
had never refused him leave to go ashore when he wished
to go, for he knew that the confidence would not be abused.
At the end of five years that man came to him (Sir E. C.)
to ask his discharge, as he wished to go to London to at-
tend en his father (who was a waterman) and mother,
both of whom were old and infirm ; and he added that
he had no wish to leave the service, but would return to
it as soon as he had seen his parents laid in the grave.
His (Sir Edward Codrington's) answer was, that he was
so valuable a seaman th at he was sure it would he useless
to ask his discharge, for he was sure it would not be
granted. The sailor then said that he would willingly
give eighty guineas to get his discharge. Upon this he
(Sir E. Codrington) wrote to the Admiralty, stating
the circumstances of the case ; that this man had been
impressed, and that be was willing to give eighty gui-
neas for his discharge; hut the answer was a direct
refusal. Jr was such conduct as this which gave
disgust hi the navy. He, therefore, said, that if
the motion of the Honourable Gentleman had been so
worded as not to be decidedly objectionable, he would sup-
port it. His opinion was that the King ought to have the
power to call every man into the service of the country in
times of absolute necessity ; hut he also thought that
every man ought to be recompensed according to his ser-
vices whenever an opportunity offered. So far, however,
was that from being the case at present, that the more va-
luable the seaman was, so touch more cruelly did he suffer
It was impossible to say that justice was done to the navy
even in times of peace. He (Sir E. Codrington) knew
that when he presented memorials to the House com-
plaining of a hardship, the Right Hon. Baronet, the First
Lord of the Admiralty, was himself the first to oppose it
lie was surprised then to hear the Right Hon. Baronet
speak of justice as he had done. He (Sir E. Codrington)
chuld produce an order issued by the Admiralty which
had disgusted the whole naval service; and he could as-
sure the House that it would not be so easy, in conse-
quence of the aiisgust, to man the navy, even at present,
were it not for the difficulty of obtaining other employ-
ment. He hoped the Hon. Member would word his
motion so as to meet the opinions stated in the House,
and he was sure that he would get the better part, and
perhaps a majority, in his favour ; and he would have his
(Sir E. Codrington's) support at all events.
Alderman THOMPSON was rejoiced to hear the state-
ment made by the Hon. anal Gallant Admiral opposite, and
he hoped it would meet with attention from the House.
He had long felt that it teas a gross abuse of power to
press seamen into the service against their will. Why
should the system of impressment be necessary in the navy
inure than in the army? Wray should not bounties be
given to individuals volunteering into the Navy? He was
aware that bautyies would entail a considerable expense on
the country, but that was preferable to such gross injus
flee. He could not altogether approve of the resolution
as proposed by the Hon. Member for Sheffield. If the
Hon. Member, instead of the abstract proposition, had
made a motion, pledging, the House to take the qtiestion
into consideration next session, or for the appointment of
a Select C arnosittee to inquire into the subject, he (Alder-
man Thompson) was sure that the House would be more
ready to assent to it. He did not think there could be a
better p-riod for calling the subject of impressment into
consideration thin the present.
Mr. ROBINSON said, the resolution declared that the
sys-em was cruel, inefficient, and so on. If this were
affirmed try the House, the system must necessarily be (Jim-
continued, and that without any inquiry. He would,
therefore, oppose the motion, but mere!), on the point it
form ; but he could nut affirm such a resolution as this
was, looking as he did to the pass to which it might
bring them
Captain ELLIOT did not see what the faults which
the Hon. and Gallant Admiral found with the Admiralty,
had to do with the question of impressment,—( Hear,
hear.) The Hon. Member for Sheffield had alluded to
the extent to which desertion was carried on at Gibraltar
during the war. He (Captain Elliot) adrui red th at there
was desertion to a consider able extent, but he hail feund,
in the course of his experience, that the desertion was less
freqiient among the imp essed men that, among the volun
tens. Time volunteers had teen always found ready to
desert, because it gave •hem en opportunity of getting the
bounty over ag lin. But desertion was not confined to the
British navy, and could not, therefore, b• a triboted to
the impressment. D sertion was frequent from both the
French and A rierican navies.—(Hear, eear.) The French
system, which the lion. Member had 40 highly p z ,d,
was no oth r than a system to impressment under a dif-
ferent name. A ca e had oreorr din Fiance, in which,
out of 1,500 seamen, 700 had deserted, and not seven nil
that num ter ever retut lied to their duty. This s owed
that ti sertiot, was even inare common in the French than
in the RI itish navy. With reg ird to the opinion of St,
E 'ward Pellew, he (Captain Elliot) had had the lomoor
of serving under Ilia., anal he knew that, so far from
not approving of impressing seamen, he had on many
occasions pressed men fr m merchantmen in the Me
diterranean, and had blamed him (Captain Elliot)
and other officers, whom he thought too remiss in doing
the same. If it were necessary, he could produce Inure
than 20 plans which had been laid before the Admiralty,
for toe abolition of tne system, but what they all recom-
mended was forced servitude and registration.—(Heat,
hear.) Tire system of tegistration might, perhaps, answer
in France, but in his (Captain Elliot's) opinion, it would
be impracticable in this country. Sailors would feasts
their homes and never return, and it would be impossible
to keep up the registers. He had never seen an instance
of a man continuing sulky or discontented, because he had
been impressed. Latterly service on board of men of war
was preferable to that on board of merchantmen. Toe
loss of men had been ascertained to be less, even
during the last war, on hoard of men of war than or,
board of met chantmen. The health and comfort of tat-
m-n was fierier provided for, the pay was better, and they
were [setter clothed ; so it was to he hoped that the diffi
culty of manning the navy would not he so great in future.
After a few words from Sir E. CODRINGTON, in ex-
planation,
. .

Colonel WILLIAMS stated a case which had come un-
der his notice. A foreigner had been pressed into the
King's service, and continued in it for sixteen years and
eleven months, when he was disaiarged. This man sub-
sequently wandered about the country for six years, in
absolute want, no pension having been granted to him ;
but happening to come before him (Colonel Williams) as
a magistrate, he ascertained his story, and immediately
wrote to the Acltniralty, and by return of post he got an
answer, ttating that the man should have a pension.—
(Hear.) Yet in this case there was a manifest injustice,
for the man was clearly entitled to his pension during the
six years.

Colonel TORRENS moved as an amendment, " That
it is the opinion of this House, that it is just and expe-
dient to regulate and mitigate the system of forcibly
impressing seamen into his Majesty's service, in every way
not inconsistent with the powers of the Crown in cases of
emergency. to man the royal navy•"
An Horr. MEMBER seconded the motion,

Mr. LABOUCHERE did not think that the power to
impress sh.,uld be resorted to but in extreme cases. But he
considered it inconvenient that abstract resolutions of this
kind should be brought forward. The abuse of the system
in former times was what was principally objected to ;
but he thought there was little danger of any such abuse
in future. He did not think it either safe or right to
deprive the King of the power of impressing under the
responsibility of his Ministers in cases of such emergency,
such as an unexpected war. He hoped that the House
would not abolish the system, but that they would watch
strictly over the uses made of the power. He concluded by
saying he would oppose the resolution in its present shape.
Mr. COBBETT said that this impressment ba,l cost the
country 70,000 0001. during one war. Toe impressing
of seamen on b and of American ships by 13, itisl3 otficeis
was the cause oft e Ames jean war, and the American war
co t this cwintr) 70.000.0001.

BUCKINGHA h'A intended to modify his reso,
hoion lit-fore he wa, aware that the Hon. arvi Gallant
Aletub,r for B iltoo 'men .ed to move his ',solution.

Grimier' TORRENS.,, upon this, agreed to withdraw
am,ndinent, which was acc,rdingly done.
Mr. BUCKINGHAM then nyweel a resolution—
" 'that it is the duty of this House to avAl i,self of the
present period of profound pe,ee,, to institute an inquiry'
whether some (walls may not he devisee] of manning his
Alai:"Y's ships in tutle .1 war, wi bout having rectum,
to toe prairtire of forcible impressment."
h.id not the smallest hesitation
thattat if it were possible for this country. as a
e, to et rid eneirely of the system of iin
presstnent, he should be as desirous as any one to get; rid
state, t
of it. But it appeared to him to be a necessary evil,
which it was not possible enter ly to avc,id. His Hon.
Friend near him had stilted eirciiiastinces, such as the
ruiraking out of a sudden war and the necessity of an
immediate armament, which would render a system of
voluntary entolment of semen entirely inouffieient for the
itianaiug of his !Majesty's ships ut war in time to prey, ni
the retire destruetom of our coma-rem!. Be:r.re we
e ould fit out any miu;idroii of defence, the sea wool,.
lie brvelA of Britian ureichantrrien. He would veottrre.
therefore, to say, that on the day ola which the
country d preyed the &merrier ok the prerogative
of impressment, the tatty4l, superiority of Qreat
Britain would or at ant earl. At the same time he wil-
lingly admitted, that evcry means oubht to be resorted to

clueing peace to render the service so aeeepiahle to mt.
firm-8, that it would he unnecessary in time of war to have
recourse to impressment, except in extreme cases. such as
those to which he had alluded. Every encouragement
()tight to he afforded—among others, perhaps, exemmi n
from duty after a certan period of service—to keep tl
commercial marine so disposed towards the ro, al irarins,
as to secure a constant arid ample supply to the later. it
was the duty of his Majesty's Government in tim- of peace
t adopt su,th measures as might render the necessity of
impressment in time of war as small as possible nor
could never agree to a proposal which went to deprive
the Crown of the prerogative of impressment altogett.er.
Such was the object of the original motion and speech of
the Hon. Member for Sheffield. That Ron. Meer.
her had been complimented on the moderation of his
speech. In tl.e justice of that compliment he could not
concur. When he heard an Hon. Member say that the
exercise of his Majesty's prerogative of impressment not
only would be resisted, but ought to he resisted, lie cen-
t iinly could not compliment that Hon. Member nn his Ince
&ration. The Hon. Member for Middlesex had said that
no time was improper for the introduction of such a sub.
jest. He (Lord Althorn) was not of that opinion; and thought
hat the present time was peculiarly unfit for its introduc-
tion. Of course nothing could be done on the subject in
he present session. Was it then expedient, at the end of
session, when they could not proceed to the adoption of
any practical measure, that that House should pass a
isolation, holding out to the great body of mariners
1):!'ooging to the country that the system of impressment
was to be done away with ? Wss it expedient to do this—at
least until the House was satisfied of that, of which he (Lott'
Althorn) was by no means satisfied—namely, that the step
one which could be taken with safety to the country?
As to the system of enrolment, and i.f gm the
enrolled men, that would be impressment to a certain
xtent. In his opinion, such a pi ,n would be found
impracticable. But even if it were practic ible, he doubted
whether it would put the sailors of this country in a better
condition on the subject than that in which they were at
present. On the contrary, he believed it would place
them in a much worse condition. No doubt there were
in my cases of impressment which were cages of extreme
hardship. But several of the cases which had been that
night quoted were cases of illegal impressment. If they
were to abolish any prerogative of the Crown because it
might be sometimes abused, no prerogative would be safe.
As the motion at present stood, it pledged the House to
into a Committee of Inquiry next session.
Now, let them consider what would be the effect of
their agreeing to such a proposition on every person en-
gaged in the commercial marine of the country. It was
not his intention, however, to meet this modified motion
aid, a direct negative, although he should certainly have
treated it in that manner as it originally stood. He felt
more than doubt, however, whether at any time an
ad. quate substitute could be found for the existing system.,
When the possibility of a sudden armament, and the
necessity in such a case of sending ships to foreign st ,tions
were considered, it seemed to hint to be utterly impossible
to think of entirely giving up the system. The lion.
Member for Oldham had said, that asserting the right of
impressment had cost this coun ry the expense of the last
American war. Now the assertion of the right of impressment
WAS not the sole cause of that war. But even it it hid, and
feeling it as he always should feel it to be a great calamity
to be at war with that State, it must be recollected, that if
the power of impressment occasioned that mischief. the
power of impressment also gave us that navel superiotity
which we had so gloriously asserted. He allowed that if
a system could he devised which would render the necessity
of impressment as small as possible, that system ought to
be adopted by his Majesty's Government. On the pres-nt
occasion, however, he should conclude with moving the
previous question.

Mr. CoBBETT said, as he could not give his sanction
to any expression that might seem to take away his Ma-
jesty's prerogative, it the Hon. Member tor Sheffield had
persevered in his original motion, he should have voted
tgainst it. For the modifi .d motion he shwa,' cl,ainly
vote. Although he thought that the Right Hon. the
First Lord of the Admiralty had dealt rather hardly with,
the Hon. Member for S wffiel,l, yet all the test of the
Right Hon B r.inet's speech had given him (Mr. Coh.
belt) great satisfaction.
A divi.ion flok Ware—
For the previous question 59
Against it
84
Majority —s
A loud cheer accompanied the antiouogewelit of tl e
numbers.