demanded would, of course, be all the greater the smaller the
number of foreigners it contained in its ranks. This is not only
generally admitted at the present day; it is also frequently
pointed out when it is asserted that the conditions now are less
favourable than they were owing to a recent influx of foreign
seamen. The fact, however, is that there were foreigners on board
British merchant ships, and, it would seem, in considerable numbers,
long before even the war of American Independence. By 13 George
II, c. 3, foreigners, not exceeding three-fourths of the crew,
were permitted in British vessels, 'and in two years to be
naturalised.' By 13 George II, c. 17, exemption from impressment
was granted to 'every person, being a foreigner, who shall serve in
any merchant ship, or other trading vessel or privateer belonging
to a subject of the Crown of Great Britain.' The Acts quoted
were passed about the time of the 'Jenkins' Ear War' and the
war of the Austrian Succession; but the fact that foreigners
were allowed to form the majority of a British vessel's crew is
worthy of notice. The effect and, probably, the object of this
legislation were not so much to permit foreign seamen to enter
our merchant service as to permit the number of those already
there to be increased. It was in 1759 that Lord, then Commander,
Duncan reported that the crew of the hired merchant ship _Royal_
_Exchange_ consisted 'to a large extent of boys and foreigners,
many of whom could not speak English.' In 1770 by 11 George III,
c. 3, merchant ships were allowed to have three-fourths of their
crews foreigners till the 1st February 1772. Acts permitting
the same proportion of foreign seamen and extending the time
were passed in 1776, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, and 1782. A similar
Act was passed in 1792. It was in contemplation to reduce the
foreign proportion, after the war, to one-fourth. In 1794 it