The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-05-05

fore-peak. With sword and pistols he inn
metiately laid siege tothe enclosure & sum-
mcned the men to Surrender. Corbett, who
had thecool intrepidity of Nelson. reasoned,
demonstrated and laid down the law with the
precision of Mansfield. "fknow who you
are. You are the lieutenant Of man of war,
Come with a press-gang to deprive me Of my
liberty. You have no right to impress me.
L have retreated from you as far as can
can go no farther l. and my companions are
determined to stand upon our defence. Stand
of. The sailors within and without en-
ployed their usual language to each other,
and a midshipman, in the confusion, fired
pistol into the fore-peak and broke an arm of
one of the four. Corbett, who stood at the
entrance, was engaged in a contest of mena-
ces and de6ances with the lientenant lie
repeated what he had before said, and mark
ing line with harhoon in the salt, with
which the ship was loaded, said, " You are
determined todeprive me of my liberty, and
am determined to defend it. You step
over Matifne, / shall consider it as proof
that you are determined to impress me, and
6y the eternal God Of Heaven, you are a
dead man." "Aye my lad" said the lieut..
have seen many brave fellow before
now" Taking his snuff box out of his peck
ct, and taking pinch of snuff, he very deli
berately stepped over the line and attempted
to seize Corbett. The latter, drawing back
his arm, and driving his harhoon with all
his force, cut off the carotid artery and jugu-
lar vein, and laid the lieutenant dead at his
feet. The ROSE sent a reinforcement to the
press gang-broke down the bulkhead, and
seized the four Irishmen, and brought them
to trial for piracy and murder. The court
consisted OF Governor Bernard, Governor
Wentworth, Chief Justice Hutchinson, Judge
IAChmutV CnmmofIore Hood Ill IL.
then commanded all the ships of war on the
station, now peer of the British empire,
and twelve or fifteen others, councillors of
massachusetts,, New-Hampshire, s. Rhode
| Island. After the trial, the President, Co
vernon Bernard, pronounced the judgment
OF the Court, that the action OF the prison
ers was justifabe homicide, and in this
opinion the whole court was Unanimous
Ihe sailor who was wounded in the arm,
brought an action against the midshipman
and commodore Hood himself interposed s,
made compensation to the sailor, to his salts
faction, after which the action was with
drawn. Such was the impressment of sea-
men, as it stood, by law, before our revoluti-
on-Ihe author ofmy text, then, carries his
courtly complaisance to the English govern
ment, farther than the governors Bernard
and Hutchinson, and even than lord Hood
earned 1t, when we were part of the Bril-
tish empire. He thinks, that, as every natl
on has right to the service of its subjects. j.,
time of war, the proclamation of the King of
u. Is. commanding his naval officers to prac-
tee such impressincnts on board, not only
the vessels OF his own subjects but of the u.
States, foreign nation, could not furnish the
slightest ground for an embargo! 1t is not
necessary for me to say, that any thing could
furnish sufficient ground for an embargo,
tor any hong time this. Ileave to the respon-
sibIilty OF our president, senators, and repre-
sentatives IN congress. Bat, say, with til Gun
| hdence, that it furnished sufficien, ground
tor declaration Of Tcar. Not the murder
OF FIERCE, nor all the murders, on board the
chesapeake, nor all the other injuries and
insults, we have received from foreign ma
lions. atrocious as they have been, can be
OF such dangerous, lasting and pernicious
consequence to this country,as this proclama-
ton, II we have servility enough to submit
to If.
What would the author of my texts have
advised? Would he counsel the President to
stIpulate, in a treaty with Great Britain,
that his navy officers should forever hereaf
ter nave right to visit American merchant
SHIPS, anti impress from them all English,
! Scotch and Irish seamen? Will he be so
good as TO explain the distinction between
ships! Are not merchant ships under the
jurisdiction and entitled to the protection of
! the laws OF their country upon the high seas,
as much as ships ofwar? Is not merchant
ship as much the territory of the United
States, as ship of war Would the au-
thor OF my text advise the President and
Congress to acquiesce, in silence, under this
Proclamation, and permit il to be executed
forever hereafter? Would not such tame
and silent acquiesCence, as eiiectually Weld
the point, and establish the practice, if moi
me Id7v, as an express stipulation in a So
Tenn treaty! If the United States had as
powerful navy as Great Britain, and Great
Britain as feeble force at sea, as ours, would
he advise the President, either to concede
the principle, by treaty, or acquiesce in it.
| IN silence /! Does the circumstance of great
poweror great weakness make any altera-
ton III the principle or the right? Should
the Captain or crew of an American mer-
chairman, resista British press. gang on the
high seas, and in defiance of their liberty
XII the commander, and all under him, and
then make their escape, and after returning
TO Salem, be prosecuted, would the writer
OF my text, as judge or a Juror, give his
Judgment for finding them guilty of murder
or piracy Although the emba, go was made
the watchword, in our late elections. the
votes, III our greatest nurseries of seamen.
Tor example, in Salem, in Marblehead. in
Barnstable, Sandwich, and other places on
Cane Cod ~,