THE ROARING FORTIES 117 



of his government. The most significant fea 

 ture of his plea was probably not his solemn 

 declaration that the United States would no 

 longer permit the impressment of seamen from 

 American vessels, but the attention that he 

 gave to the remarkable change of conditions 

 since the practice was last resorted to. He ad 

 verted to the extraordinary proportions at 

 tained by immigration from the British Isles, 

 much of it encouraged by the British Govern 

 ment, and he pointed out the disastrous conse 

 quences that would ensue if, in time of future 

 war, any attempt should be made to assert the 

 doctrine of indefeasible allegiance among these 

 swarming myriads and to force them into the 

 service of the government that had encouraged 

 them to leave its soil. 



Ashburton s answer was of the soft species 

 that turneth away wrath. He declined to enter 

 into argument and merely deprecated the dis 

 cussion of a topic that was so full of difficulty 

 in the abstract and so happily remote from any 

 practical importance. He freely admitted, how 

 ever, that a serious question &quot;has existed, from 

 practices formerly attending the mode of man 

 ning the Biitish navy in times of war.&quot; This 

 form of expression indicated a belief that im 

 pressment was a matter of the past. 



