POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 83 



would agree to relieve from impressment 

 all native-born English sailors who were 

 citizens of the United States, or serving on 

 her vessels at the time of the late peace. 

 Finally, he was to propose two alternative 

 suggestions to the British government: 

 either that they should respect the same 

 rule on an American vessel that they 

 claimed on a British vessel, that three 

 years' service naturalized a man, or that 

 any native-born Englishman who had lived 

 five years in the United States should be 

 free from impressment. These negotia- 

 tions came to nothing, and the British 

 continued to impress. 



The report of David Lenox, who acted 

 as agent for the United States, employed 

 under the "Act for the Protection and Re- 

 lief of American Seamen," states, that up to 

 Jan. 1, 1799, application had been made to 

 Lords of Admiralty for the release of 651 

 impressed American seamen. Of these 272 

 had been discharged, or ordered to be dis- 

 charged. One hundred and seventy were 



