76 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



Allegiance carries with it reciprocal rights 

 and duties, and a man who has enjoyed his 

 country's protection has no right in time of 

 necessity to refuse his aid. Even in America 

 there were many who believed England 

 right in her contention, the only question 

 being how those rights should be enforced. 

 Certainly no self-respecting nation could 

 allow a foreign power to reclaim seamen 

 within her own territorial limits, nor did 

 England ask this; but, on the high seas, 

 where no country held jurisdiction, Eng- 

 land claimed the right to search for, and 

 impress, her seamen whenever she found 

 them. Her navy meant so much to her 

 and without seamen the navy was useless 

 that the right of impressment was deeply 

 ingrained in every English heart, and, like 

 the press gang in their native ports, seemed 

 an unpleasant but necessary evil. So long 

 as this claim was enforced against nations 

 whose own seamen in appearance and lan- 

 guage were easily distinguishable from the 

 English, there was not much chance for 



