Delaware State journal, advertiser and star. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1832-1833, 1833-09-06
impress S MENT.

The Edinburgh Review, in liberal arti-
Gle on Mr.. Rushs recent work on England,
makes the subjoined forcible remarks on the ;
inieuity of the British practice of impressing
American seamen in time of war. 1t is now,
probably when the domestic politics OF our
no longer turn upon the controversies
arising out of that subject, that we can fully
estimate all its enormites though we can
scarcely, even now, realize the fact that there
should have been any diversity Of opinion "a
mong ourselves as to the black and intolera-
BILE character of the iniquity. Certainly, inl
the language of the Review-'It was grea-
ter outrage than one free nation ever assum-
ed the privilege Of inAictng on another-an
outrage which no nation, deserving the name
of nation, and sol,mnly bound to protect
meanest members, can be expected pa
tiently to endure" England admits, the dis
gorging of twentysix hundred native born
Americans, on two occasions, from the float
ing dungeons in which they had been forci-
bly, withheld from their country. If we add
to these, those who, in the long course OF
twenty years during which this system was
in full vigour, were slain in battle or died,
those who, dispersed over the ocean WHEREBY
er the British flag penetrated, were not ac-
counted for, we may fairly estimate the whole
amount at ten thousand. Ten thousand ma
tive Americans stolen from the protection of
their country, torn from their connections,
and forcibly subjected to life of slavery,
danger and suffering! This is an evil, that
should never be submitted to again-it is an
outrage so aggravated on the part OF the ma
ton which practises it-sc humiiating and
painful to the nation upon which it is inflct-
cd, that it should be henceforth regarded as
one Of those national wrongs to be risisted at
once by war. In this view of the subject,
we accord with suggestion made some time
since by the editor of the National Gazette,
that it does not comport with the dignity OF
this country, to send ministers to London for
the purpose of obtaining settlement of this
question by negotiation. Nay, we would go
further and say, that it is not a subject for ne
gociation, now or hereafter, at any time OF
place. The right of our citizens to the pro
lection of their flag and to the unintcrrurteS
pursuit of their lawful occupations, is one
which we ought never submit to have brough
into question in any shape. England has NJ
better right to seize our citizens on the o
cean, than she has on the land-and it is a
absurd to submit the one to negotiation as tn
other
"A ship at sen is part IF the soil of the coun
try to which it belongs. To this principl
a single exception has been admitted. Ih
exception is limited within the purposes t
which a ship from its movable characte
may be abused Beyond that, the ship of
nation is as inviolable as its soil. The rigl
of belligerent to enter neutral vessel, an
search for contraband of war, has no conneS
ion with the right to enter and search fc
men. The ordering up an American crew
on an American deck, by an English ieutel
ant, cannot be a peaceable operation; espec
ally where mistake is so easily made, an
where, when once made 1t is SO revolving
itself, and so fatal in its consequences
point of fact, it turns out that the number
British seamen whom we have thus regaine
fall far short oe the number oi American
whom we have wrongfully carried off. Or
newspapers would have gladly gone to W;
for Ambrister and Aibuthnot two BIRTHS
subjects, executed by General jackson. Y
they were but two men--wrong doors, at
clearly amenable to the law by which Tho
suffered. On the other hand, the two lis
made out in 1901 and 1879 of impress,
Americans, can be but small part of Il
American case against us. From that fla
ton of their case we may, however, for
some opinion on the extent to which freem
who would be scandal to their English a
cestors, unless liberty was as dear as lii
must have writhed under our practice of il
pressment. Prior to September, 1901, ele
en- hundred and thirty-two native Americ
sailors were set at liberty by the Engli
government, as having been wrongfully il
prisoned! On the war with America in 1S1
another division OF fourteen hundred a
twenty-five native Americans, every one
them having been so taken, were transferr
out of our men of war into our prisons! III
is proved from English documents. He
are nearly two thousand six hundred sufft
ers,-victims of a greater outrage than O
free nation ever assumed the privilege of
fiicting on another;--an outrage which
nation, deserving the name OF nation, a
solemnly bound to protect its meanest me
bers, can be expected patiently to endu
The temptation to all this wrong is too t
vial to be mentioned. 1t exists only dui
war. At that period the number of foreis
ers in the American navy is, we believe,
fnitely less than in our own, where Gas
then suspend the navigation acts) it
been calculated at third of the who
The crew of the Franklin, which brou
over Mr.. Rush, amounted to seven hund
men, The London prints would have it t
third of them were Englishmen. In Pr
OF fact, twenty-five only we're foreigners:
of the twenty-five, half belonged to OF
parts of Europe