and her existence depends on this practice of impressment;
her naval power must be submitted to--give us, merchants, commerce,
and these Jack Tars will take care of themselves; for it is not worth
while to lose a profitable trade for the sake of a few ignorant
sailors, who never had any rights; and who have neither liberty,
property or homes, but what we merchants give to them."

The American Seamen on board the Crown Prince, were chiefly _men who
had been impressed into the British Navy previous to the war_; but
who, on hearing of the Declaration of War against Great Britain by the
people of the United States, gave themselves up as prisoners of war;
but instead of being directly exchanged, the English Government
thought it proper to send them on board these prison ships to be
retained there during the war; evidently to prevent them from entering
into our own navy. It should be remembered that they were all citizens
of the United States, sailing in merchant ships; and yet the
merchants, at least those of Boston, and the other New-England
sea-ports, have, very generally, mocked the complaints of impressed
seamen, and derided their representations, and have even denied the
story of their impressment. Even the Governor of Massachusetts
(Strong) has affected in his public speeches to the Legislature to
represent this crying outrage, as the mere groundless clamor of a
party opposed to his election? Whether groundless or not, I will
venture to assert, that the names of many of the leading federalists
in Massachusetts, and a few others will never be forgotten by the
inhabitants of the prison ships at Chatham, at Halifax, and in the
West Indies.

We are now at peace, and the tide of party has so far slackened, that
we can tell the truth without the suspicion of political, or party
designs. I shall relate only what I have collected from the men
themselves, who were never in the way of reading our newspapers, or of
hearing of the speeches of the _friends of the British in Congress_;
or in our State Legislatures. I think I ought, however, here to
premise, that my family were of that party in Massachusetts called
_Federal_, that is, we voted for Governor Strong, and federal Senators
and Representatives; our clergyman was also federal, and preached and
_prayed_ federally; and we read none but _federal_ newspapers, and
associated with none but _federalists_; of course we believed all that
Governor Strong said, and approved all that