The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-04-15


1t cannot therefore be doubted, that the
acquisition of British seamen BY these i'm
pressments, whatever NAV be its advantage
is lost in the wrong done to Americans, ig-
norantly or wilfully mistaken for British sub
jects in the jealousy and i'll will excited "a
mong all maritime nations by an adherence
to such practice & in the particular pro-
vocation to measures of redress on the part OF
the United States, not less disagreeable to
them than embarrassing to Great-Britain, &
which may threaten the good understanding
which ought to be faithfully cultivated by
both. The copy OF bill brought into Con
gress under the influence of violations com-
mitted on our flag, gives force to this latter
consideration. Whether it will pass into a
law, and at the present session, is more than
| yet can be said. AS there is every reason
to believe that it has been proposed with re
luctance, it will probably not be pursued in
to effect, if any hope can be supported, of a
remedy by an amicable arrangement between
the two nations. But such is the feeling
through this country, produced By the reite-
rated and atrocious cases Of imprG easements
and other insults on our flag, that remedy
tone not to be disregarded. a copy of the
bill referred to, is herewith inclosed.
There is further consideration which
ought to have weight in this question. AL
though the British seamen employed in car
rying on American commerce, be i'll some
aspects lost to their own nation, yet such is
the intimate and extensive conneXion of
this commerce, direct and circuitous, with
the commerce, the manufactures, the reve-
nue. and the general resources of the Bri-
fish nation, that in other respects, its mari
ners on board American vessels may truly be
said to be rendering it the most valuable sei'-
vices It would hP extra va can 70, m al 70
it question, whether Or. Britain would not
suffer more by Withdrawing her seamen from
| the merchant vessels of the United States,
than her enemies would suffer from tile addi-
| ton of them TO the crews of her ships Of war
and Cruzers.
! Should any difficulty be started concern
! ing seamen, born within the British domini-
ons, and naturalized by the United States,
since the treaty of 1888, you may remove it
by observing, first, that very few if any such
naturalizations can take place, the law here,
requiring preparatory residence of FIVE
years, with notice ofthe intention 70 become
a citizen entered of record, two years before
the last necessary Formally, besides regu-
| lar proof of good moral character, conditi-
ons little likely to be complied with by ordi-
nary seafaring persons. Secondly, that dis
continuance of impressments or the high
seas will preclude an actual collision be-
| tween the interfering claims. Within the
jurisdiction of each nation, and in their res
! peCtive vessels on the high seas, each will
enforce the allegiance which it claims In o.
| Their situations, the individuals doubly claim
| ed will be within a tioninnepcndent OF
| both nations.
Cd. The British pretensions to domain over
| the narrow seas are SO obsolete, and so indie
feasible, that they never would have occur
ed as a probable objection in this case, if they
had not actually frustrated an arrangement
settled by Mr.. King with the British minis
try, on the subject of impressments from A
mercan vessels on the high seas. At the
moment when the articles were expected tc
| be signed, an exception of the marrow
seas" was urged and insisted on by lord St
Vincent, and being utterly inadmissible OF
our part, the negotiation was Abandoned
Mr.. King seems to be of opinion, however
| that with more time than was left him fol
the experiment, the objection might have
been overcome. This is not improbable. il
the objection was not merely an expedient
for evading a REIMBURSEMENT of a favorite
practice.
The objection in itself has certainly not
the slightest foundation. The time has beer
indeed, when England not only claimed but
exercised pretensIonS scarcely inferior to full
sovereignty over the seas surrounding the
British Isles, and even as far as Cape Fini-
stere to the south, and Vanstaten in Norway
to the north. 1t was time however, wher
reason had little share in determining the
law and the intercourse Of nations wher
power alone decided questions of right; anC
when the ignorance and want of concert a.
mong other maritime countries facilitated
such an usurpation. The progress of civil
cation and information has produced a change
in all those respects, and 10 principle in the
code of public law, is at present better esta.
blished, than the common freedom of Tho
seas, beyond a very limited distance from
the territories washed by them. This dis
lance is not indeed fixed with absolute. preci
sion. 1t is varied in small degree by writ
ten authorities and perhaps it may be rea
sonably varied, in some degree. by local pc
culiarities But the greatest distance which
would now be listened to any where, woulC
make smallproportion ofthe narrowest par
of the narrowest seas in question.
What are in fact the prcrogatives claim
ed and exercised By Great Britain over these
seas! If they were really part of her do
main, her authority would be the same there
as within her other domains. Foreign YES
sells would be subject to all the laws and re-
gulations framed for them, as much as if they
were within the harbors or rivers of the coun-
try. Nothing Of this sort is pretended No
thing of this sort would be tolerated. The
only instances in which these seas are dis
tinguished from other seas, or in which Great
Britain enjoys within them any distinction
Il