The King of England has the power of issuing proclamation forbidding mariners to enter foreign service, when the state of the country requires it, and such proclamations have been frequently issued in times of war, and those who disobey are guilty of misdemeanor, and may, upon conviction, be fined and imprisoned. (1) We have a full right to take such of our subjects as are found by us during the lawful exercise of our right of search; but with Men of War the right of search has never been recognised, nor till the last war had it been proposed for discussion, except in two instances. (2) After our war with Holland in 1652, in which the Dutch were several times defeated and their commerce nearly ruined, England demanded, in 1653, that all vessels should submit to be visited if thereto required. This was peremptorily refused by Holland. Beaten as they were, the Dutch would not submit to this pretension. Shortly after, on the discussion regarding Convoy above alluded to, the States General expressly ordered that their officers of commissioned vessels should by no means permit that they be searched, nor deliver, nor suffer to be taken out of their ships, any people or property. I am not aware of any instance when this subject was agitated between this period, when the decisions were against the search of ships of war, and the time of our collision with America on this question.

The similarity of language and manner which made it difficult to detect our seamen among an American crew, led to many instances of hardship, in which Americans were seized as English and made to serve on board British vessels. We can imagine the feelings of the

(1) Opinion of Attorney General Macdonald, in 1788. See Chalmers' Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, &c. II. 254–257.

(2) See the article on the right of search in the Edinburgh Review for October, 1807.

Collision beBritain and tween great America on this subject.

Affair between

and the

Americans on this occasion by fancying what would be our own excitement, if a squadron of American ships of war were to cruise in the Channel, and, intercepting our outward and homeward bound vessels, to impress British subjects as American, and force them on board their ships of war. The grievance had for some time been complained of, and had attained a considerable height, when, early in 1806, a bill was brought before Congress declaring that our compelling American subjects to serve on board British ships of war was a violation of the treaty between the two nations, making such impressment piracy and felony, and encouraging resistance on the part of American seamen. While men's minds were in this inflamed state, an accident occurred which brought their agitation to the utmost pitch. While performing the duties of search and impressment off New York, a shot from the Leander frigate accidentally struck and killed John Pearce, an American seaman. The greatest ferment ensued on this unfortunate circumstance. The body of the seaman was paraded before an immense number of spectators. An indictment for wilful murder was found against the British captain, and a reward was offered for his apprehension by a proclamation from the President. Provisions which had been purchased for the crew of the Leander were seized and paraded through the streets of New York, and afterwards sold for the benefit of the poor.

Plenipotentiaries were sent from America to England, the "Leopard" to attempt to settle these disputes, and a treaty was "Chesapeake." signed, on the 31st December 1806; but before it had been ratified by the President, a fresh collision occurred between the two countries. In 1807, while a British squadron under Admiral Berkeley was stationed in the Chesapeake, an American frigate, the Chesapeake, was fitting out for the Mediterranean, and several of our seamen deserted our squadron, and went on board the

Chesapeake. These men had been publicly paraded through the streets of Norfolk, even in the sight of British officers, under the protection of an American recruiting party. Representations were made to the agents of the American government, but they were not attended with any effect.

The Leopard frigate was consequently ordered by our admiral to cruise off the cape, and meet the Chesapeake as soon as she had passed the limits. which respect for a neutral territory rendered an unlawful space for hostile engagement. Accordingly the captain of the Leopard sent a boat on board the Chesapeake to state that there were deserters on board, and that he was ordered to search for them. This being refused, he fired a few shots without injuring the American, and no attention being paid to these, he fired two broadsides, and the American struck. Five or six deserters were found on board, and these being taken, the Chesapeake was dismissed to her port with the loss of six killed and twenty-one wounded. As might have been expected, great ferment took place in America on this event. The President issued a proclamation, in which the aggression was violently denounced, and was said to be aggravated in character by the fact that the men were, after all, American citizens; and all armed British vessels were ordered forthwith to quit American harbours, and forbidden to re-enter them. In England great regret was expressed for this collision: the ministers declared their willingness to make reparation: Admiral Berkeley was recalled from the station: and in a proclamation issued for recalling British seamen from foreign service, a distinction was made between ships of war and those of commerce: with the latter force might be used to obtain deserters, but with the former a requisition was to be made for the delivery of deserters, and, on this being refused, information was to be forwarded to the British government, or to our ministers at neutral courts.

Subsequent

measures.

after the war.

Shortly after, Mr. Rose was despatched on a special mission to the United States; and, in the words of the King's speech in 1808, " for an unauthorised act of force committed against an American ship of war, his Majesty did not hesitate to offer immediate and spontaneous reparation." But other questions connected with navigation prevented the settlement of this dispute, which our readiness to make concession might have otherwise amicably compromised. The severities on neutral commerce consequent on the Berlin and Milan decrees, and on our own Orders in Council, were then pressing heavily on the Americans, and the government of the United States was desirous of obtaining an abatement of this grievance at the same time. On this subject our government refused to rescind its instructions; and, as we have seen in the chapter on Blockade, the differences between the governments issued in the non-intercourse act, and, subsequently, in open war. (1)

Negociations The treaty of Ghent, which restored peace, did not on this question include any settlement of this question. Negociations took place at a subsequent period, of which the American minister, Mr. Rush, has published some interesting particulars. Articles were proposed, not only on impressment, but upon blockade, contraband, trade with a belligerent's colonies, prize courts, and letters of marque; in fact on all the great questions of navigation; and the rights of neutrals were to have been settled by this treaty, of which, however, the negociations were broken off, nominally on technical grounds. It was agreed between the negociators that formal lists of American and British seamen should be made out, which lists should serve to determine the nationality of a seaman in any disputed

(1) For the fact of the above collision and disputes with the United States, see the Annual

Registers for 1806, 1807, and

1808.

case. By the 4th article, the British gave up the right of impressment on the seas, and it was desired, on our part, that all seamen who were to be considered American were to have been naturalized before the signature of the treaty; the American minister desired the limitation to be the ratification of the treaty; and on this trifling difference did the negociations terminate in 1818. Lord Castlereagh, who had managed the commencement of the negociations, had been at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle during their later progress, and it is just to the memory of that minister to record Mr. Rush's statement, that "he was not able to divest himself of the impression, that had Lord Castlereagh been in London there would not have been a failure." (1)

Should negociations ever be resumed on this subject, Considerations it is probable that a recognition will take place, that the on this subject. impressment of men, at any rate from ships of war, cannot be exercised. If such a right exists at all, it exists without regard to disparity of power to enforce it, and the smallest cruiser of the United States has a right to board our first-rates, and take away seamen supposed to be American. How we are likely to bear this, it is not necessary to state. The evil is twofold; first, in the exercise of the right of search as applied to ships of war at all; and next, as to the hardships arising from mistaking Americans for Englishmen, and the reverse, and thus obliging foreigners to serve and fight for a country to which they do not belong. An instance is given by Jefferson, in which two nephews of Washington were, by mistake, impressed by the English as they were returning from Europe, and placed 66 as common seamen under the ordinary discipline of ships of war." (2) I have no means

(1) Rush's Narrative of a Residence at the Court of London, p. 376.

(2) Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, IV. 190-195.