Introductory 29 



matter at what cost to themselves, was repugnant to 

 every American idea. 



Such wide differences in the views of the two 

 nations produced endless difficulties. To escape the 

 press-gang, or for other reasons, many British sea 

 men took service under the American flag; and if 

 they were demanded back, it is not likely that they 

 or their American shipmates had much hesitation in 

 swearing either that they were not British at all, 

 or else that they had been naturalized as Americans. 

 Equally probable is it that the American blockade- 

 runners were guilty of a great deal of fraud and 

 more or less thinly veiled perjury. But the wrongs 

 done by the Americans were insignificant compared 

 with those they received. Any innocent merchant 

 vessel was liable to seizure at any moment; and 

 when overhauled by a British cruiser short of men 

 was sure to be stripped of most of her crew. The 

 British officers were themselves the judges as to 

 whether a seaman should be pronounced a native 

 of America or of Britain, and there was no appeal 

 from their judgment. If a captain lacked his full 

 complement there was little doubt as to the view 

 he would take of any man's nationality. The wrongs 

 inflicted on our seafaring countrymen by their im 

 pressment into foreign ships formed the main cause 

 of the war. 



There were still other grievances which are thus 

 presented by the British Admiral Cochrane. 3 "Our 



8 "Autobiography of a Seaman," by Thomas, tenth Earl of 

 Dundonald, Admiral of the Red, Rear- Admiral of the Fleet, 

 London, 1860, vol. I, p. 24. 



