3866. IMPRESSMENT, Embargo and.—
The stand which has been made on behalf
of our seamen enslaved and incarcerated in
foreign ships, and against the prostration of
our rights on the ocean under laws of nature
acknowledged by all civilized nations, was
an effort due to the protection of our commerce,
and to that portion of our fellow
citizens engaged in the pursuits of navigation.
The opposition of the same portion to the
vindication of their peculiar rights, has been
as wonderful as the loyalty of their agricultural
brethren in the assertion of them has
been disinterested and meritorious.—
R. to A. Massachusetts Citizens. Washington ed. viii, 160.
(1809)
