The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-03-09
NAVAL IMpRESSMENT.

u,,s that there are not fewer than $1,000 bri-
.;.h sailors at this moment in American mcr
chant employ. It expresses the firm ana iah
o.nv;e,;ou, that during the first three mon'ns
80. war with Russia, or any otne' pv"o,
,vh.,ever. most of them viii have na'eranN.u
..ar.so,ves American citizens, in the sore
view Of saving themselves from the risk OF
beinp impressed ANY atteppt 10 sei.e an'
as Thorn y saws the Examiner, Will IN.
,,o,ve MS instantly at war with the ohi'eu
s,s,es We know that our authorizes are
.,;,. aware that it will not do to attempt
.nress;pg' any more-that it must be aoah-
doned but a false pride, and respect ior INC
ancient .prerogative of the Crown inuuoe.
them to wish that the question should oe pa,
aside quietly, and that nothing sno"ia oe 90.
~, !, And were there no United States
IN tho world this might do. But is IL possi-
H.. sur,,se that as soon as the news OF war
ha,,voon Russ;a and England arrives IN Ne"
York. an English sailor just stepping on
hoard liner, in which he has LOT seFeia,
wears been paid "a a-months wages oouha
for LIVERPOOL. will be fool enough to expose
b;mse,fto the slightest chance OF being selzeo
mo, his arrival there, robbed of more than
50 amonth at once, land possibly sent 10 iooA
after Russians in the North Paclfc-Wheh'
by simply stepping to an office ever OPEN ne
c,p proyide himself with certihcate OF
American citizenship, secure his wages anu
GOO his wife and children when he likes, or
marry the girl of his heart if he chooses Ii
we desire to prevent this most formldabiede-
sertion, we must lose no time-not week
in solemnly proclaiming the total abolition OF
impressment by short and easily inteliigl-
bile act or proclamation, which shall be forth
with posted up in great numbers IN every
mort of the United Kingdom and of all our
colonies; so that the English sailor all over
the world may at once know, that there is no
thing for him to lose by continuing an Eng
lishman, and nothing for him to gain by be-
coming an American. 1t is not sufficient TO
say that impressment is a dead letters OBJ
solete-we must convincethe sailor that 1t Is
SO; and no means of doing this will be effec-
tual but the simple one of conspicuously and
directly renouncing it utterly, and abolishing
it forever"
1t is no wonder that the English sailor is
somewhat suspicious. The Queen, as the
Examiner declares, claims indefeasible alle-
glance over all her subjects and over all
their children, whether born in her dominions
or not. The history of the circumstances
which led to the last American war with G.
Britain is well calculated to make not only
British but American sailors suspicious The
atrocities perpetrated by the press-g are
vet fresh in the minds of the mariners of all
nations Nor, unless the expedient recon-
mended by the Examiner be adopted, do
we believe that pressing" will be abandon
ed. The law of brute force will be the only
right recognized, and American citizens,
both native and adopted, will be seized upon
the slightest pretexts, and forced to serve on
hoard British men of-war. 1t is next to i'm
possible that general war in Europe should
not. sooner or LATER involve this country in
it. Is our government preparing for it :?
Are our representatives making ready to de-
fend the national honor and rights on the
high seas? Or, are their whole souls taken
up with miserable plots and intrigues for their
own political advancement!
~ We have received very spicy
epistle from i" A Yankee Girl" resenting an
alleged indignity to her race, feloniously
and with malice aforethought committed in
paragraph in the news columns of the
Dispatch, in which something was said of
"the ranting, tearing Amazons of the North"
The Yankee Girl does us great injustice
in supposing that we could design for mo-
ment to reflect on her sex generally in the
North. We respect moman every where,
and know that the Kellys, Folsom's, &c.
are no representatives of their sex in any
part of the world. Whilst, however, we de-
sire to extend all respect and courtesy to la
dies, and especially to lady correspondents,
we must be permitted to suggest that the
sentiments expressed in the conclusion of
her letter by a. Yankee Girl ought to lead
\ her to return at once to her loved Massachu-
sets, instead of wasting her precions time
and talents in disseminating knowledge
among us, ignorant heather, of the South.
With the views of slavery which she enter
tains, she ought not to waste her sweetness
in the desert air. of slave State She says
she has come from Massachusetts to Virginia,
with other co-laborers, "to sow broadcast
the seeds of those principles of religion,
liberty and law that have descended to us
from our Puritan fathers We are all much
obliged to the young lady, but the people of
Virginia don't think as much of :. Puritan
fathers" as they do in New England The
people here were SO lucky as to have fathers
of their own Cavaliers and Scotch Irish
men, whom they reverence, as they ought,
much more than other peoples fathers.
Nevertheless. we are very grateful to "A
Yankee Girl for coming so far to dissent
nate among us, miserable worms of the dust.
the principles of religion, liberty and law
Wretched barbarians that we are, we might
never have heard of those blessed words, but
for the pretty little missionary, from Massa-
chuseffs. However, this is not exactly the