Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1809-05-19

ages by the nation, has given thu British
| navy its superiority over the natives OF
other nations! g. Who shall dare 30 SCI,
bounds to The commerce and naval pc~er
| OF Great B,itain" is the Inagnihcen
language OF defiance IN farliamca,, and
| it vibra ss and echoes h'ossh every ne Art
in the nation. Every 3t,ish sailor j.
made to believe himself the inas,er and
commander of the world ifthe RICH, ol
impre srnent is conced-d By as, in thso
ry or practice, our seam-n's heats will
5ebrokcn, and every British seaman WI Il
say ~ every American seaman as The six
natl. rs of indians sad to the Sou hern
tribes. whom they had conquered, f" We
have put the pstticoats en- you" In such
case many would nave too much reason
to say, let US no longer rejoice for indie
pendence, or think of a navy or free com
merce, M longer ho2e for any rank in the
! world, but bow our necks again to the yoke
Of Grea: Britain.
If the spirit of a man should remain in
our sailors, they will sometimes resist.
Should British cutter demand TO search
American merchant ships, of five hundred
tens bur,hen. armed as they sometime
| are and have tight to be--1he comman-
der of the cutter calls for mus. er Of ,h=
men, in order TO impress such as he, in
his wisdom. shall Judge 10 be British sub
jects. Is it credible that the captain and
crew OF he merchantmen will submit 10
! such usage? No, he will sink the boa,
asd cutter 100, rather than be SO insulted
and every American must applaud him
| for his spirit.
| Is this right of impressment to be all on
one side, or is it to be reciprocal. British
modesty may say; oft is an exclusive
privilege, which we claim, assert and will
| maintain, because tits necessary to support
cur dominion of the seas, which is necessa.
| ry to preserve a balance of power in Eu-
| rope, against France, and to prevent the
| French Emperor from sending fifty thou
sand men TO conquer the United States OF
America" All this will not convince Il =
| merican seamen They will answer;
"We think balance ofpowcr on the ocean
| as necessary as on the continent of Europe.
We thank you for your civility in kindly
giving us hopes, that you will defend us from
the French army of fifty thousand men /;
bat we are very willing to take our defence
upon ourselves. If YOU have right to
impress seanen from our ships, we have
an equal right to impress from yours"
| Should one of cur gun boats meet Bri-
fish East lndiamaD, armed with SO guns
| i he gun boat demands search for Ame-
rican seamen; calls for the muster roll,
1 commands the men to pass in review be-
fore nim; would the East India captain
submit! No. Ne would sooner throw o.
| yer board the press gang, and run down the
gun boat. Such will be the perpetual al.
tercatioH between Britons and Americans,
| n Iay ~. 4.
eternal hatred between the two nations.
The kings proclamation will be found as
impolitic step as ever the court of St.
James has taken.
| 1t is said, in the context, ~The British
ships of war, agreeably to right, claim
| ed and exercised for ages, risft, claim.
ed and exercised during the whole of the
administrations of Washington and Adams,
| and of Jefferson, continue to take some OF
the British seamen, found on board our
merchant vessels, and with the m a small
number of ours, from the impossibility Of
always distinguishing Englishmen from
the citizens of the United Safes" We have
before seen what sort of right to impress
! men from their own ships has been claim.
ed, in what manner it has been exercised,
and in what light it has been considered
by the English nation. 1t amounts to a
right of getting their officers lawfully XII.
led. But surely, no right was ever before
claimed to impress seamen from foreign
ships. If such pretended right was ever
exercised, or, in other words, if such a
crime was ever committed, / presume i,
would be no better prsof of legal right,
than robbery, burglary, or murder, com.
mitted on shore, would prove that such ac-
tioDs are innocent and lawful. To argue
from single facts or few instances to a
general law, is a sophistry too common
with political writer's, and is sometimes
imputable to compilers of the laws of ma :
tions bat none OF them ever went to such
extravaganza as this. No claim or preten-
SION of any right TO search foreign vessels
for seamen, ever existed before our revo-
luton and no exercise Of such a right e.
yer prevailed since, except such as resem-
bic the exercise Of the a right Of commit
ting robbery, burglary and murder in some
OF our cities. No ages have passed since
our revolution. The right was never as
serted or claimed, till the late proclamati.
of the king appeared, and that proclama-
ton will make an epoch Of disgrace and
disaster to one nation or the other, perhaps
! to both.
From the peace Of 1888 to the commence.
ment of our government, under the presen,
national constitution, whenever any Amer
4 lean seamen tvere tuopreeaed thew