84 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



detained, as not being able to prove their 

 citizenship, ninety-three had accepted a 

 bounty and entered the English service, 

 twenty-nine were detained as British sub- 

 jects, and the balance had died, escaped or 

 could not be found. Of the 170 detained 

 as unable to prove their citizenship, it was 

 allowed that most of them probably were 

 Americans ; but with the carelessness of the 

 sailor, they had neglected to carry protec- 

 tion papers, so that out of 651 cases only 

 29, or one half of one per cent, were found 

 to be English subjects. 



A letter from the Secretary of State, of 

 December, 1799, containing abstracts of all 

 the returns made to him by the collectors 

 of the different ports, states that many of 

 the cases of impressment reported at this 

 time were by French privateers. The fate 

 of the men thus taken was doubly hard. 

 They were forced to serve amid a crew 

 alien in race, speech and religion, and as 

 the ultimate fate of most of the French pri- 

 vateers was to be captured by the English, 



