The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1813-04-09

subject OF iuhpressment VITA wui.;t tht y
have lust as much to do as with the regula
tion Of commerce, the declaration Of war
mr. any other power or duty exclusively
co,6ied by the constitution to the genera
government What lemeptable contrast
does this clubbing disposition, this hyt
n.rcr;t,c,i legislation, this dissection by
i,e- =, s,nhists of facts incidentally stated IN
sunnort OF general principies-what
cnn,,ase does such conduct exhibit 10 that OF
o,h.r r,,riotic states, who, when they saw
IN. standard of their own gov, ,ment un-
fnrled. did not lower it down t. count tn c
striues and stars. or to examine OF wh's
texture. of cloth 1t las made, but, mantuiiy
rallied round it. The enquiries OF the COM
mittee appointed by the MASSACHUSETTS,
f.-y,slat,iie on this subject appear to have
No., directed to the number OF impress
T,,-r,s,o ascertain which, they have cX-
,,,;Srd many merchants and others con-
crrred in the L. J. trade, trade in which
IL ;s known comparatively very few i'm
nressments have taken place as it 1t could
make any difference in principle, whether
one or an hundred had been impressed. -
We ask of the enemy 10 abandon mo piin-
c;,Ie mo, TO lessen the number of men they
ell, So far from deuving the number
thcy impress, their reply Is, that an adhe-
renee to the practice Is essential TO their
naval SUPREMACY THAT 1t is 4 maritime
right which cannotbe surrenderco Indeed,
we very well recoilect, 1t was said on tht
f,oor of CONGRESS, that Great Britain would
nail the eag TO the mast and go down with
!, b.f,re She would surrender practice
so important TO her imPortant, we pre-
sumo. in proportion to the humble: OF seamen
.he adds nv the barbarian violence to her
Navy. This subject, however, is. well
understood. The people know What Va e
are fighting for the liberty OF the citizen
The nrincinle is not affected by the number
ore,t AZ We believe it 10 be, nor can it be
Unsecured or hidden from sight by all the
rubbish that can be heaped on it. AS MIR,
Ba, ard said, aud as most !ederaliSts think
whatever they may say on that head.
I" there is cause enough Of quar- Mar. Ia
The following is an extract from an essay
IN a late London Morning Chronicle, on the
subject e the matters in dispute betweeu
this country and Britain from which il
annears. MIR. Pickering and the Massachu
,etts Legislature to the contrary notwith-
6 anding. that the release at American sea
men impressed on board the euemy's YES
.als e war was deemed an eIH of such
N, ,q,itude as TO induce the Admiral to dis
y. q,,d the law and resist the civil authority
o. his own government ct the cannon's
mouth.
(ExrRAcT FROM A BRITISH rRINT)
-" Indeed it appears by some tx
tracts in the Monthly Review of November
last, that an American agent at Jamaica
some years ago had by habeas corpus, AS
ce,tained the character and procured tho
DISCHARGE, of about so American seamen
when the Admiral on the station gave or
ders. that the 7vritS should no longer b.
attended to-"
Irappears from this incident too that i,
one of the British Islands only, and with
che limited proof within reach at that place
fifty pressed seamen we're discharged du
ring the short pe1iod of few weeks or
months that law was permitted to have the
asceHdancy. no.