Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-06-25

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her own subjects, even although they should
| be found or board Of Americas vessels. aud
| in the assertion Of that claim, many lrreeuia-
rites have without doubt becn committed by
| her officers, on account OF the similarity OF
| language, manners aud habits. American ci-
| tizcus have been frequently mistaken Tor brl-
| fish subjects; but do not know OF any IN
! stance in which a real American has been re-
| claimed, where sufficient testimony OF his be-
| ing an American has been adduced, Ia which
! his liberation has been refused. No person
| would, I presume, wish to involve this coun-
/ try in war, for the sake OF protecting de-
serters, either from British vessels or the Bgi-
I fish service, who may choose to shelter them
! selves on board of our ships, allured by the-
! prospects of gain. No, sir, we do not want
! their services. They are real injury to the
American seamen, both by taking their bread
! from them and exposing them to additional
| perils Of impresSmcnt on the high seas. But
! it is fact which can easily DC subStantlated,
| and will not be disputed by any one having
! competent knowledge OF the subject; that
thousands Of men of that description have
been and still are employed on board our ships,
! and have been by some means furnished with
| all the usual documents of American seamen.
! Could an efficient plan be devised TO prevent
men of this descri ption from assuming the
garb, personating the character and claiming
| the privileges of Americans, presume the
difficulties which occur in settling the question
about improvements, might be easily sur.
mounted. But so long as such a large num-
Der of foreign seamen are employed on board
our vessels, ana SO long as American protec-
tons for these foreigners can be obtained with
such facility, and are mere matters OF bargain
and sale, and English, Scotch and IRISH sail
ors are furnished with them, pretend not to
say by what means, Unfortunately with A.
merican citizens, it VIII be difficult 10 adjust
that subject by treaty, 1t will be impossible to
settle it by war. Only let us adopt a plan
whereby discrimination can be made, and
the controversy may be amicaby settled, Bat
/ to say that the flag OF every merchant ship
shall protect every foreigner who may choose
20 take refuge on board OF it, is the same as
10 say, that we Will have no Accommodations
! on the subject, because It's point which, It
/ is well known, never can be conceded. There
IS another description Of citizens about which
here may be1some difficulty, mean natural
lied foreigners These however are lew IN
number. it being rarely found that seamen
take the benefit cf our naturaliZatio laws
There are still some. II is believe truth,
that neither Great Britain nor any other Eu-
ropesn nation admits Of repatriation, and that
the United States both admit the repatriation
of riIp;r eoyn citizens, and on terlas suf4afAshtY
! EIDCT0E5 ma we cam
not expect, with any color OF reason, that our
naturalization laws will make any alteration i'll
the policy of foreigs nations. any more than
the European doctrine of perpetual allegiance
will influence us Both are municipal regu-
lations, which can be executed only in the re-
spectiye territories of the parties, and make
no part Of the law Of nations, which is sone
binding on the high seas. And every nation
claims right to the services of all its citizens
or subjects in time of war If the United
States protect these DatugaIized foreigners ia
all the rights and privileges Of American citi.
| zens, so long as they choose to continue among
US, 1t Is protection sufficiently ample, and as
much as they Can reasonably claim from the
| government. As long as thew continue in the
| quiet pursuits of civil life Oh shore, they are
| In no danger Of being remanded back into the
service of the country they have abandoned.
| But when they choose to abandon the land for
| the ocean, and place themselves In situation
in which it's entirely optional with them wbe-
| Their they return or not, or whether they con-
tinue or renounce their allegiance, to attempt
to afford protection to them in this situation,
at the risk of war, is to extend to them the
privileges Of citizenship much farther than
they have right either to expect or claim.
If our projections were thus limited to the
proper subjects, it would be easy to render
them efficient. This would narrow down the
difficulty in adjusting the affairs of impress
ments, and would greatly diminish the num-
bers of supposed impressed Americans which
are said to be contained in these floating bells,
as they have been called. They would be
found to be comparatively few, probably not