Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-03-19
Mr.. rAGGART's ADDRESS
TO HIS CONSTITUENTS
on rHR sUB5EcT OF IKf61ssAA"a"
Continued.

No 5. contains list OF ~ cases. re'
ported by the United States agent al "a
maica concerning whom no otnes
mark is made, than that they claimed To
he citizen. Of the United States. nave
not examined in what list OF applications
either the s65 or the AZ are included;
Tbs next communication IN the oroe'
of time, on the subject ofimpressments'
is a report made to congress, March -
1908, in compliance with resolas'oh
of the senate of November 49, l'o''-
As this report was more than three
months in preparing, satisfactory int0r'
nation may be expected.
No. |, is entitled list OF impress
ments from American vessels into Inc
British service, between that date a'o
the last report made March D. iSoo'-
This contains list Of 697 names OF I'M
pressed seamen, Of whom information
had been received from documents
transmitted in the first instance TO the
department of state. 1t follows as q mat
ter of course, that they are included e.
Their in that which follows, or In some o.
thsr applications to the British govern
ment. OF these lsl claim to be Anne
ricans without producing any proof ~
arc acknowledged to be British suoJec's'
and q to be neutral aliens ; the remain, :.
ing SIS are said to have produced PROOF
that they were Americans, |. Q. such
proof as an American protection, mahas'
ed in the manner in which they arc usu-
allv conducted, is calculated to furnish.
In 2ls instances the impressmsnts IS
dated, and in no more than rs cases is
there any mention of the place. IL Is
not meant that these 697 lmPressments
all took place between the dates OF the
different reports for of the 2l5 which
are dated, 80 took place in 1905, num-
Der in 1903 and 1904, and two IN i79S.
The meaning is, that within these dates
information was communicated to tae
department of state.
Nos. 2 to Is inclusive, contain Sc
ries of quarterly returns ofapplicatlons,
with the result, the first number CON-
mencing April 10, 1906, and tho last
ending with September 80, 1907, ooth
inclusive. The total of these returns Is
1913. Separate abstracts are given OF the
result for each quarter. These have
condensed into one general abstract OF
the whole As there are no explicit re-
ferences to former application, can
not ascertain what proportion is original
and what continuation of former apph-
cations. Even the frequent recurrence
of the same name. furnishes but avery
equivocal kind of evidence, because dis
tinct individuals, not unfrequentiy, have
the same name. BY recurring to the
dates of these impressments however, so
lar as any date is assigned, many OF them
were sufficiently carly to have been con-
tanned in former list, and the obscrva-
tons already made on the report OF ia
mary 1905, are equally applicable to
this. With the exception of LAG cases,
no mention is made of the place OF I'M
prcssment, and of that number compa.
rativsly very few happened on the high
seas, or where they could claim the
protection of the American flag; and
for any thing that appears, they either
may or may hot be Americans. With
the greatest number one important evi
dence of citizenship seems to be wanting,
i e. notice Of the place to which they
belonged. In not more than $50 in.
stances is there any mention made of Ell
Their the state, city, or town in the Unit
cd States, of which they arc said or sup
posed to be inhabitants. And with the
exception of about all equal number the
impressment is without date. In l0e
instances, mention is made of the name
Of tue vessel, with desisignation of its
national character, Sc of these were A.
merican, and A British vessels. One
man was impressed from French and
another from Swedish ship. There is
one thing farther in this document which
l find myself unable to explain. In the
report of January 1905, we find applica-
tons for the release Of seamen number
ed from to 1888. This list begins
with No a7e9, leaving chasm Of 1860.
To fill this chasm | can find no more
than sos. The number of applications
contained in the report sfMarch s, 1906,
leaving deficit of ISL. If we add the
S6S reported to the department of state,
the 81 reported by the agent of Jamaica,
which on no principle of fair ckoning
ough, to be added, s47 will still be
wanting BY what form of process the
chasm between 1888 and 1899 can be
filed up with sos /; the only number
which can fairly be added, or even with
el3, the largest number which plausible
conjecture Can supply, l am incompe.
tent to explain. My first thought was
that there must have been some inter.
mediate communication to congress-