speech of February 18th, 1813, in
Parliament, that "generally speaking, they were not a people we should
be proud to acknowledge as our relations." Decatur and Hull were engaged
in a social rather than in a political contest, and were aware that the
serious work on their hands had little to do with England's power, but
much to do with her manners. The mortification of England at the capture
of her frigates was the measure of her previous arrogance....

Every country must begin war by asserting that it will never give way;
and of all countries England, which had waged innumerable wars, knew
best when perseverance cost more than concession. Even at that early
moment Parliament was evidently perplexed, and would willingly have
yielded had it seen means of escape from its naval fetich, impressment.
Perhaps the perplexity was more evident in the Commons than in the
Lords; for Castlereagh, while defending his own course with elaborate
care, visibly stumbled over the right of impressment. Even while
claiming that its abandonment would have been "vitally dangerous if not
fatal" to England's security, he added that he "would be the last man in
the world to underrate the inconvenience which the Americans sustained
in consequence of our assertion of the right of search." The
embarrassment became still plainer when he narrowed the question to one
of statistics, and showed that the whole contest was waged over the
forcible retention of some eight hundred seamen among one hundred and
forty-five thousand employed in British service. Granting the number
were twice as great, he continued, "would the House believe that there
was any man so infatuated, or that the British empire was driven to such
straits that for such a paltry consideration as seventeen hundred
sailors, his Majesty's government would needlessly irritate the pride of
a neutral nation or violate that justice which was due to one country
from another?" If Liverpool's argument explained the causes of war,
Castlereagh's explained its inevitable result; for since the war must
cost England at least 10,000,000 pounds a year, could Parliament be so
infatuated as to pay 10,000 pounds a year for each American sailor
detained in service, when one-tenth of the amount, if employed in
raising the wages of the British sailor, would bring any required number
of seamen back to their ships? The whole British navy in 1812 cost
20,000,000 pounds; the pay-roll amounted to only 3,000,000 pound