[24] Theodore Roosevelt, who gave this matter very careful study, says that at least 20,000 American seamen were impressed. (Roosevelt, footnote to 42.)
"Hundreds of American citizens had been taken by force from under the American flag, some of whom were already lying beneath the waters off Cape Trafalgar." (Adams: U. S. iii, 202.)
See also Babcock: Rise of American Nationality, 76-77; and Jefferson to Crawford, Feb. 11, 1815, Works: Ford, XI, 451.
[25] See Channing: Jeff. System, 184-94. The principal works on the War of 1812 are, of course, by Henry Adams and by Alfred Mahan. But these are very extended. The excellent treatments of that period are the Jeffersonian System, by Edward Channing, and Rise of American Nationality, by Kendric Charles Babcock, and Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, by Samuel Eliot Morison. The latter work contains many valuable letters hitherto unpublished.
[26] But see Jefferson to Madison, Aug. 27, 1805, Works: Ford, x, 172-73; same to Monroe, May 4, 1806, ib. 262-63; same to same, Oct. 26, 1806, ib. 296-97; same to Lincoln, June 25, 1806, ib. 272; also see Adams: U.S. iii, 75. While these letters speak of a temporary alliance with Great Britain, Jefferson makes it clear that they are merely diplomatic maneuvers, and that, if an arrangement was made, a heavy price must be paid for America's coöperation.
Jefferson's letters, in general, display rancorous hostility to Great Britain. See, for example, Jefferson to Paine, Sept. 6, 1807, Works: Ford, x, 493; same to Leib, June 23, 1808, ib. xi, 34-35; same to Meigs, Sept. 18, 1813, ib. 334-35; same to Monroe, Jan. 1, 1815, ib. 443.
[27] Jefferson to Dearborn, July 16, 1810, ib. 144.
[28] Annals, 9th Cong. 1st Sess. 1259-62; also see "An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Certain Goods, Wares, and Merchandise," chap. 29, 1806, Laws of the United States, iv, 36-38.
[29] See vol. iii, 475-76, of this work.
[30] Jefferson's Proclamation, July 2, 1807, Works: Ford, x, 434-47; and Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Richardson, i, 421-24.