struggles in which England found herself engaged with France, her
maritime force was her chief dependence, and accordingly she increased
the number of her ships unprecedentedly; but it soon became difficult to
man all these vessels. The thriving commerce pursued by the United
States, as early as 1793, drew large numbers of English seamen into our
mercantile marine service, where they obtained better wages than on
board English vessels. By the fiction of her law, a man born an English
subject can never throw off this allegiance. Great Britain determined to
seize her seamen wherever found and force them, to serve her flag. In
consequence, her cruisers stopped every American vessel they met and
searched the crew in order to reclaim the English, Scotch or Irish on
board. Frequently it happened that persons born in America were taken as
British subjects; for, where the boarding officer was judge and jury of
a man's nationality, there was little chance of justice, especially if
the seaman was a promising one, or the officer's ship was short-handed.
In nine months, during parts of the years 1796 and 1797, the American
minister at the court of London had made application for the discharge
of two hundred and seventy-one native born Americans, proved to have
been thus impressed. These outrages against personal independence were
regarded among the great masses of Americans with the utmost
indignation. Such injuries exasperated every soul not made sordid by
selfish desire for gain. That an innocent man, peaceably pursuing an
honorable vocation, should be forcibly carried on board a British
man-of-war, and there be compelled to remain, shut out from all hope of
ever seeing his family, seemed, to the robust sense of justice in the
popular breast, little better than Algerian bondage. The rage of the
people was increased by tales of horror and aggression that occasionally
reached their ears from these prison ships. Stories were told of
impressed Americans escaping the ships, who, on being recaptured, were
whipped until they died. In one instance, a sailor, goaded to madness,