The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1812-10-09


| that it inficts; hy the ruin which it occasions TO
thousands OF families and by the deaths whish ii
produces IN the course Os every ycu. have before
| stated that the number o;mpresssd .ln,ereau
men is very great at least. has so been stated in
America, amounting to many thousand, constantly
in state of the most terrible bondage 10 them *;
rs some re daily dropping OFT. while others are inn
pressed, the extent to which the evil has been felt in
America must have been very great indeed, during
| SD long
Our corrupt news papers, with the Times at theiI
head, are endeayoring TO msreprescnt the natre Of
the complaint ut America, and thereby to provide
the ministers beforehand with justification for war
rather than afford her redress. Upon the part OF
the presidents manifesto above quoted, the Times
makes these observations
She frs. complains of our impressing British
scanen when found on board American vessels
but this is right Which now exercise under pc.
cular notifications and restrictions. We do no. at
tempt to search ships Ut ssar, however inferior
their force to onrs-and as to searching merchant
men, We do not DO this, vaguely indiscrimi-
| nately-hut upon positive and accurate i2fcrna-
ron. And practically, we apprshend, that the
criminal conceai'neat the part of america, is
much greater nuisance to ms, than n wanton search
on our part is to her. Let her. however, propose
such arrangements" on this heal rs are calcu'a
ted to effect the recovery of British Subjects a she
will find Great Britain far from ayerse to listen to
her."
This, sir, is tissue of fa,sehoos and msrepresen-
tations The president does not complain that inn
press British SeGnlen he complains, that under
pretence of taking British Seamea, take Ameri-
| can Sesmen. This is what he complains of, which
is precisely the contrary OF what is here stated As
to not taking men out of American ships of war,
government knows well, that America has ships
OF war worth speaking of, and that she has thous-
ands of merchant ships II is said here, we do not
search American merchantmen "vaguely and indis-
crininatey but upon Positive g accurate INFORM
alton. One would suppose it impossible for any
| man, capable of writing paragraph, to sit down
y and state perfect falsehood this. But here
| III have an instance of the length to which the
Of he Epulish in
any thing which they are called on to support. 1t is
fact and this writer knew it TO be fact, that any
| commander OF any ship in our navy, when he meets
i an American merchantmen at sea, does, or may, go
or send on board of her, and he does, may, take
out of her any persons who, his opinion, Brit
ish snbjects.-That this is fact deny
where then sthe positive Il accurate Information J"
Ii is also fact that the Americans have frequently
asserted, that officers have thus taken out OF their
| ships at sea many thousands of American citizens,
under the pretence OF their being British subjects
Ii rs also Fact which is proved by the books at
admiralty, that the American government, through
its consul in London, has obtained the release from
our fleet of great number of American citizens thus
Impressed, seized, and carried off upon the high
1t is also fact proved by the authority, that
many OF the Americans thus taken have lost their
limbsn the compulsory service of England, service
which they abhorred. 1t is fact that take upon
to vouch for that amongst the American citizens
thus captured and carried off, and forced into our
service OF late years. fzvo grand nebhezps of pc
neral Washington and that of the two was re-
leased from service by the lords of the admiralty
| IN consequence OF an application from the American
consul, while was in prison for writing about the
fogging the local militia in the town OF Ely, and
I bout the employment of German troops upon the
| occasion.
And yet sir in the face of all these facts has the
hired writer the audacity, the cool i'm pude to
ser that we never search American vessels for
nen, but upon 1ositive and fnforn,ation."
With this instance of alsehood wiltu shane less
falsehood, before them, would imagine, that the
public would after be in danger Of being decei
we'd by the same writer but alas Sir, the cunning
slave who sells his pen for this purpose knows WELL
that the public, at least, that that part of the pub
lie whom he wishes to deceive, will never, till it be
too late be able to detect him he knows that his
falsehood goes where the exposure seldom comes,
ami if it come all, he knows that its arrival will be
too late 10 prevent the effect, to produce which is his
| object.
| He next calls upon America to PROPOSE her ar
| rangen,ent, upon this subject; though in the very
manifesto, upon which he is commenting, the presi-
dent declares that offer had been made to CO.
vernment to enter into an arrangement, but that
the communication passed without effect" 1t is 60
ing very far on the part of America to offer enter
| into any arrangement, upon the subject; for why
should not she say, we certainly say" Take care
| OF your own seamen; keep them from us in anyway
that you please but you shall the seas. take
body out of our vessels" Nevertheless she has Of
fered TO enter into an arrangement" such" she says
Gas could not be rejected if the recovery of Brit
ish seamen was the sole object - am yet this writer
accuses her of the criminal conceal net of
II w
ment Tor the prevention of British seamen from tax
ing shelter in American ships and yet this writer
| accuses America OF desire to njure us by making
| her ships sylun for British deserters
Our government say, that it we do not exercise
our power of searcbiBg American Ships & taking ont
our own seamen sea-service will be runed by the
desertons to those American ships. For instance,
British ship OF war is lying ut Plymouth, there are
| 8 or American vessels in the same port--numbers
ut the seamen get board the American ships; they
get out to sea and if they cannot be seized there,
they 60 off safely to America any other part Of
the world, and are thus lost to navy. There is
no doubt, Sir, but this might become avery serious
vii, it not counteracted. But the Americans to
suffer- because for whatever reason) sailors de-
sert And, above all, real American citizens to
be exposed To impressment, to be be shot at,
| to be conveyed to the West East Indies, be
| madeto end their days under the discipline of an
English man OF war; real American citizens to
exposed to all this, because British seamen DESERT
| aud because that deserton Ga very serious crime)
may become extremely dangerous to us am sure
your royal highness is just to this question
u the affirmative.
The case must be new, because the relative situa
ton ut the two countries is novelty in the history
of nations; but, while have an undoubted right
to recover our seamen, if can DO il without
violating the rights of other nations, have no
right, in any case, seize American citizens Anne
RIGA says " do not want your soamen, would ra-
ther not have them. Keep them by what means
you please. Take them wherever you can find them
in my ships, bot before you do it, produce proof ef
their being yours, and that too, before competent
! ribRndf" Nothing can be fairer than this but
this necessarily sets aside all impressments sea
where there can be no proof given because there
can be no tribunal, umpire, to decide upon the
proof; and We contend that, without the power Of