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VoL. II.)
ATHENS, GEORGIA: PRINTED BY ALEXANDER M-DONNELI, SATURDAY, JUNE 24, ISO 9.
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From the Bojlen Patriot .
THE
INADMISSIBLE PRINCIPLES
OF THE
KING of ENGLAND'S
PROCLAMATION
of Gil. 22, 1807- Corfidcred.
? I hey wttl be thought to have no
|f riends in America, who will care err
qugli for them to make ni"A rri :A
fend tbeie will b s *• ~
• -m prettied. If there
oe any natives or funs of na
pves of any of the Weft India Elands,
dP- F, *3jy part ci the Eaft Indies,
v/htre the king is laid to have thirty
ar.illions of fubjeds tiiefe mutt all be
imprtJTed, for conqueft confers inde
lible character of fubjeds, as well
ias birth. But if neither Englifh
■ Scotch, Irifh. welfh, Italian, German,
IDwtchmap, Spaniard, Portuguefe,
|Eatl or Weft ladla-man is found, the
I reverend Lieutenant will think if he is
■prudent enough not to fay, “ Jura
witt gatjili ,ute nihil non ano?at artnisf*
l 1” Our imps is io weakly manned, that
L\.e cannot light an enemy, we can
r
GEORGIA EXFRE S S.
MANY SHALL RUN T® AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL 811 INCREASED.
not even navigate her in fafety, in
bad weather ; prccula Jove, procul a
fulmine , I will take as many native
Americans as I pleafe. It will be
long before I can be called to account;
and at hft I can fay that I faved the
king’sftiip, & perhaps byataFrench
inan by the aid of this meritorious
impre ttmenf, and I am fare of friends
vvho will not only bring me cfF, but
obtain a promotion for me, even for
this patriotic action.” How many
American finips and cargoes will be
funk in the lea, or driven on fhore.
wrecked and left ; hew many maf
ters and remaining failors will be bu
sied in the ocean for want of the af
filrance of the men thus kidnaped
and ftolcßj mo human fore fight can
calculate. It is, however ealy to
predict,.that the number rauft be ve
ry great. ■ Thefe c&nJfiderauons, it
items, have no weight in theeftima
rion of the Britifh miniftry. Their
hearts are hot taught to feel anoth
er’s woe. But ail thefe things, the
captains and owners ,of American
merchant lhips mutt take into con
fideration, and make the fubje&s of
calculation before they can venture
to lea. In fhort there ftiouid be z
corporation eredled in every ttate for
the exprefs purpule of inlbring a
gaintt imprt ftment of feamcn. In
a courle of time and experience the
chances might be calculated, fo chat
the infurtrs and infured, might at &
great expence Be fecure. But the
poor failors can never be fafe.
The law mutt be fettled, or remain
unfeeded, If fuch impreflrnents are
determined to be legal, either by
treaty or by acquit feence in the
king’s proclamation, it wille ftabiifti
in the mieds of Britifh feamen a
pride of fuperiority and a fpiric of
domination, and in the minds of
American feamen a confcioufnefs of
inferiority and a fervile fpiritoffub
rniftion, that ages will not eradicate.
If the queftion, is allowed to remain
undetermined American feamen
will fight in deft nee of their liberty,
v .. never they fee the fma’lett prof
pect of efcaping, and fometimes
when there is none. They will kill
and be killed. Some will be pun
ched for their rtftftance on board
the Bricifh men of v/ar; and fome
may be carried to a JBritifh port and
there profecuted for piracy and
murder. This, however, will fel
dom ever be done; for I ftill be
lieve there is fenfe and juftice enough
in the Britifh nation and their juries
to acquit any feaman, American or
Bripki, v/ho ihould kUI a prt iT gang
in defence of his hberty ; but if he
ftiouid efcape and return to America,
and be here profecuted, I will not
believe there is a judge or juror on
tht continent, fo ignorant of the law',
fo dead to every lenfe of juftice, lo
abandoned te every feeling of hu
manity, as to find him guilty of any
crime, if it were proved that he had
killed a dozen preff-gangr, in de
fence of his freedom. We fhail
have a continual warfare, at fea, like
thai lately ac Canron. Our Secre
tary of State’s oftice will be filled
with representations Sc complaints;
our nat ion will be held in a con
ttant ttate of irritation and fermen
tri;ipn, ar:d cur government always
diftrefled, between their anxiety to
relieve their fellow citizens and
their inability to ferve them.
. A repubiicao, who afierts. the
duty of jealoufty, ought to fufpeft
that this proclamation was didated
by a fpirit as hoftile and malicious
as it was infidious, for the determi
ned purpofe of deprdiing the cha
racter of our feamen. Take from
the Tailor his pride and his courage,
and he becomes a poor animal in
deed. Broken-hearted, deje&ed,
deprciLd even below the ftandard
of other men of his own level in fo
ciety, a habit of fear will be eftab
lifhed in his mind. At the fight of
a Britifh man of v/ar a panic will
teizc him ; his fpirits will fink, and
if it be only z cutter or a lugger,
he will think of nothing but flight
r*r.d efcapc. What but the haugh*
ty Ipirjt of their feamen, which hat
been encouraged and fupported for
ages by the nation, has given the
Britifh navy its fuperiority over
the natives of other nations?-
c -Who fhail dare to fet bounds to
rhe commerce and naval power of
Great Britain ?** Is the magnifi
cent language of defiance in Pailia
menr, and ic vibrates and echoes
though every heart in the nation.—’
Every Britifli failor is made to be
lieve himfelf matter and command
er of the v/orld„ If the right of
impreflment is conceded by us, in
theory or pradice, our feamen’s
hearts will be broken, and every
Britifh feaman will fay to every A
rnerican feaman as the Six-nations
of Indians faid to the Southern
tribes, whom they had conquered.
ft We have put the petticoats on you;*
In iuch a cai’e many would have too
much reafon to fay, let us no long
er rtjoice for independence, or think
of a navy or free commerce, no
longer hope for any rank in the
world, but bow our necks again to
the yoke of Great Britain.
If the fpirit of a man ftiouid re
main in our failors, they will fome
times refill. Should a Britifli cut
ter demand to Jeairh American
merchant fiiips, of five hundred
tons burthen, armed as they fome
limes are and have a right to be-
The commander of the cutter calls
for a mutter of the m&n, iri order to
imprefs fuch as he, in his wifdom,
fhail judge to be Briiifti fubje&s.
Is ic credible tlb it the captain and
crew cf the merchantman will fub
mic to fuch ulage ? No, he v/ifi
fink the boat and cutter too, rather
than be fo infulttd, and every
merican muft applaud k;m for his
fpirit.
Is this right of imprefiment to be
all on one fide, v# is to be recipro
cal ? Britifh m.odcfty may lay; ct It
is an exclusive privilege, which we
claim, aftert and will maintain; be
caufe it is ntceffary to fuppoi t our
dominion of the feas, which is ne
cefiary to prefcrv a balance of
power, in Europe, againft France,
and to prevent the French Empe
ror from fending fifty-thoufaud men
to conquer the United Stares of
America*” All this will not con
vince American feamen. They,
wiil anfvycr ; “ We think a balance
of Jsl| the ocean as neoeftarv
a? on the continent of Europe.
thank you for your civility in j *
giving us hopes, that you wij£pr
fend us from the French arflVy c
fifty-thoufand men ; but we are verv
willing to rake our defence upon b
ourfelvcs. If you have wi to
imprefs feamen from our
have an equal right to
yours.”
Should one of our gun-boats
meet a Britifh Eaft-Indiaman, arnacd
with fifty guns. The gun-boat de
mands a lcarch for American lea
men ; calls for the mutter-roll, com
mands the men to pafs in review
before him ; would the Eaft-India
captain lubmit ? No. He would •
fooner throw over board the preff
gang, and run down the gun-boat.
Such will be the perpetual alterca
tion between Britons and Americans,
at fea, and lay an immovable foun
dation of eternal hatred between the
two nations. The king’s procla
mation will be found as impolitic a
ftep as ever the court of St. James*
has taken. tfl
It is faid, in the context, “ The
Britifli fliips-of war, agreeably to a
tight, claimed and exercifed for m
ages* tight, claimed and exer- A
ciled during the whole of the ad- J
mtniftrationb of Wafidiigron and *
Adams, and of Jefforfon, continue mo I
take fome of the Britifti feainepct
found on board our merchant vef-
Ids, and with them a fmall number,
of ours, from the impcfTibility of al
ways diftinguifliing Engliflimen
from the citizens of the U. States.”
W £ have before feen what fort of a
r : g!it to imprefs men from their own.
fliips has been claimed, in whac
manner it has been exercifed > and in
w hat light it has been confidered by*
the Englifh nation. It amounts to
a right of getting their c flicers law
fully killed. But furely, no right
vvas ever before claimed to imprefs
men from foreign fliips. If fuch a
pretended right was ever exercifed,
or, in other words, if luch a crime
was ev< r committed, 1 prefuAteic
would be no better proof of a legal
right, than a robbery, burglary or
murder, committed on ttiort would
prove that fuch aflions are innocent
and lawful. To argue from firgle
or a few inftancefe to a general
law, is a. faphiftry too common with
politkjul wikers, and is fometimes
to compilers of the laws
uf nations ; but none of them ever
went to fuch extravagance as this.—*
No tkiai or pieienfion of any right
to fearch foreign veffcls for feamen,
ever exifted before our revolution ;
and no exercifes of Inch a i ight ever
prevailed fince, except fuch as re
lembie the exercifc of the right of
conimiting robbery, burglary and
murder in fome of our cities. No
ages have patted fince our revolu
tion. The right was never uiTerted
or claimed till the late proclamation
of the king appeared, and that ptoc
lamation will make an epoch or dif
grace and ditafter to one nation or
tiie other, pct/iaps bnrh.
Fom the peace of 1783 to the
commencement cf our government,
under rhe pre&nt national conftiru
ricn, wherever any American fea -j
men vrtrr immediately demanded in *
(No.
