press-gangs. Some even hid themselves in caves, and lonely places
inland, fearing to run the risk of seeking a berth in an outward-bound
merchantman, that might have carried them beyond sea. In the true
narrative of "John Nichol, Mariner," published in 1822 by Blackwood in
Edinburgh, and Cadell in London, and which everywhere bears the
spontaneous impress of truth, the old sailor, in the most artless,
touching, and almost uncomplaining manner, tells of his "skulking like
a thief" for whole years in the country round about Edin-burgh, to
avoid the press-gangs, prowling through the land like bandits and
Burkers. At this time (Bonaparte's wars), according to "Steel's List,"
there were forty-five regular press-gang stations in Great Britain.[5]

----

[FOOTNOTE-5] Besides this domestic kidnapping, British frigates, in
friendly or neutral harbours, in some instances pressed into their
service foreign sailors of all nations from the public wharves. In
certain cases, where Americans were concerned, when "_protections_"
were found upon their persons, these were destroyed; and to prevent the
American consul from claiming his sailor countrymen, the press-gang
generally went on shore the night previous to the sailing of the
frigate, so that the kidnapped seamen were far out to sea before they
could be missed by their friends. These things should be known; for in
case the English government again goes to war with its fleets, and
should again resort to indiscriminate impressment to man them, it is
well that both Englishmen and Americans, that all the world be prepared
to put down an iniquity outrageous and insulting to God and man.

----

In a later instance, a large body of British seamen solemnly assembled
upon the eve of an anticipated war, and together determined, that in
case of its breaking out, they would at once flee to America, to avoid
being pressed into the service of their country--a service which
degraded her own guardians at the gangway.

At another time, long previous to this, according to an English Navy
officer, Lieutenant Tomlinson, three thousand seamen, impelled by the
same motive, fled ashore in a panic from the colliers between Yarmouth
Roads and the Nore. Elsewhere, he says, in speaking of some of the men
on board the king's ships, that "they were most miserable objects."
This remark is perfectly corroborated by other testimony referring to
another period. In alluding to the lamented scarcity of good En