1825.] 
means of bettering the condition of the 
individual. 
The seaman enters on board a mer- 
chantman voluntarily ; he signs a con- 
tract to perform stipulated duties for a 
specified remuneration, and subjects 
himself to certain penalties in case of 
non-performance ; he can discontinue 
his services when the contract is ended, 
or previously, if he choose to forfeit 
his wages ; he is, in a word, completely 
unfettered, and entirely master of his 
own movements. He is, moreover, 
well fed, and receives high wages—or, 
at least, wages equal to the value of 
his skill and industry; his engagements 
are rarely of long duration, and he is 
not subject to corporal punishment. 
Should he feel himself uncomfortably 
situated, or fancy that he can improve 
his condition, he is free to change, but 
he is not subject to be shifted from 
ship to ship, at the pleasure of the 
master or owner, except in a case of 
mutiny or extreme insubordination, 
when he may be sent on board a man- 
of-war,—which it is somuch the custom 
in England to consider as the proper 
receptacle for every thing that is infa- 
mous; and then there are wonder and 
clamour at the necessity of flogging, 
and the general severity of this dis- 
cipline. 
The .. merchant-seaman’s prospects 
are not visionary, or very remote: they 
are the probable result of a reasonable 
calculation, founded on the basis of his 
own industry and zeal, unmixed with 
the adventitious aid of birth and great 
connexions. The inclinations are un- 
confined, the energies unshackled, and 
the man is left at full liberty to reach 
the level of his own powers. It may 
eyen be said that merchant-seamen have 
more freedom of action than the indi- 
viduals of most other trades, for they 
can seek and find employment amongst 
the surrounding nations ; with all the 
tools they want, their knife and mar- 
line-spike, without running risk of vio- 
lating the laws of their country. In 
this service, therefore, if unmolested, a 
man’s chance of success in life is at 
least as fair as that of any other branch 
of industry ; and by throwing into the 
scale the extreme facility which, from 
the nature of his occupation, he enjoys 
of transporting himself to any part of 
the world where he may bring his la- 
bour to a better market, his advantages 
are still greater than those enjoyed by 
other classes of productive labourers ; 
but, above all, his mind is not soured or 
Monruty Mae, No. 417. 
On the Impressment of Seamen. 
393 
discontented by the consciousness of 
being a prisoner, if not in name, at 
least in reality, which is, unluckily, too 
much the case in His Majesty’s service. 
That this feeling is a strong, and pro- 
bably the most powerful cause of dis- 
like to that service, must come hoine to 
every mind, were it even unsupported 
by the constant complaints of the people 
themselves ; for there must be many 
who, perhaps, for years, have never 
wandered farther than the limits of 
their own domains, or never had a wish 
to exceed certain distances, who, if a 
law were suddenly passed restricting 
them to those boundaries, would be- 
come restless, unhappy, discontented, 
and ready to break out at the mere 
idea of circumscription. 
This must necessarily be so from the 
nature of the human mind, which is 
much too strongly inclined to freedom 
of action, to brook the least unneces- 
sary restraint, where the means of avoid- 
ing it are within its reach: and it can 
only be compensating advantages that 
will ever induce a man to relinquish 
this natural and inalienable right. That 
the British naval service does not hold 
forth such advantages, is a fact to be 
sincerely deplored, and an imperfection 
that it is hoped will in time be removed - 
“ A consummation devoutly to be wished.”’ 
It is, nevertheless, far from our inten- 
tion to set up the merchant-service as a 
sort of nonpareil; on the contrary, 
the seamen are frequently ill-treated 
and imposed upon; and the instances 
of their preferring a man of war, par- 
ticularly in foreign countries, are too 
numerous, and too well known by pro- 
fessional men, to be here mentioned. 
This, however, rather strengthens 
than weakens the argument: for, it is 
this very power of change that attaches 
them ; besides, in these instances, they 
are generally moved by resentment—by 
the fear of imprisonment for some real 
or alleged misconduct ; by the hope of 
getting their arrears of pay; and by that 
strong desire, inherent in our nature, 
of overcoming our antagonist, cost what 
it will. In the one service they may 
often be abominably used ; [it frequently 
happens that they are so; instances 
are not uncommon, of masters of mer- 
chantmen harassing their men, while 
in port, until they force them to 
commit some act of insubordination, 
which forfeits their wages, and then 
put them in prison, hiring men at a 
cheaper rate to load or unload the ship. 
3E This 
