Monday, January 6, 1806.
Impressment of a Revolutionary Soldier’s Son.
The Speaker laid before the House a letter received by him from David Rumsey, representing that his son, though possessed of a protection, had been impressed by the British; and that, notwithstanding his most strenuous exertions, he is unable to obtain his release. The letter is couched in unlettered, but pathetic terms, and concludes in the following manner: “I lost an estate by lending money to carry on the Revolutionary war, and I suffered every thing but death by being a prisoner among them (the British) in Canada. I lay fifteen months in close confinement, when I bore the rank of full captain; and if this is all the liberty I have gained, to be bereaved of my children in that form, and they made slaves, I had rather be without it. I hope that Congress will take some speedy methods to relieve our poor distressed children from under their wretched hands, whose tenderest mercy is cruelty.”—Referred to the Secretary of State.
Impressed Seamen.
Mr. Crowninshield observed that, at the last session, there had been a return made to the House of the American Seamen impressed by British vessels, which had not been acted upon. Since that period these impressments had increased in a most astonishing degree. It was a fact that from 2,500 to 3,000 of our best seamen were detained by the British. We want the services of this useful class of men. That the attention of the House may be drawn to the subject, in order that proper measures may be taken by the Government, I have drawn up the following resolution:—
Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to lay before this House a return of the number of American seamen who have been impressed or detained by the ships of war, or privateers of Great Britain, whose names have been reported to the Department of State since the statement was made to the House at the last session of Congress, mentioning the names of the persons impressed, with the names of the ships and vessels by which they were impressed, and the time of the impressment, together with any facts and circumstances in relation to the same which may have been reported to him; stating, also, the whole number of American seamen impressed, from the commencement of the present war in Europe, and including, in a separate column, the number of passengers, if any, who may have been taken out of American vessels coming to the United States from Europe.
Mr. Elliot said that, in seconding the motion of the gentleman from Massachusetts, he felt it a duty to express a hope that the resolution would not only be adopted with perfect unanimity, but that we should no longer stop at the precise point of the adoption of a simple resolution, calling for information on this interesting subject. The information which was laid before the House at the last session, with that which has since been derived from the public papers, has produced a loud expression of public indignation, which it is our duty to echo with energy. To prefer every consequence to insult and habitual wrong, is a sentiment of the Executive, which has been admitted even by its opponents to be correct and honorable. Has the time arrived when it has become indispensably necessary to reduce this principle to practice? Do we suffer insult and habitual wrong? Our merchants call loudly for the redress of injuries. I hope we shall redress them. Let us extend to them the arm of national protection, but let us extend it also to another class of injured citizens; while we give it to the rich, let us not withhold it from the poor. The groans of our impressed fellow-citizens mingle with the murmurs of every gale from the ocean! The queen of that element ought no longer to be suffered to bespangle her diadem with the tears of American seamen, or to substitute her will and her interest for the laws of nature and of nations. It is to be hoped that, upon this subject, we shall take an attitude worthy of the nation—an attitude not to be abandoned but by obtaining complete justice.
The resolution was then agreed to unanimously.