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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 241: BILL FOR THE IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

BILL FOR THE IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN.

On the 23rd of June, at a late hour of the night, the attorney-general moved for leave to bring in a bill for manning the navy, by resuming protections granted to certain descriptions of seamen, watermen, and their apprentices, and by taking away the right of habeas corpus from all persons of those classes impressed before the passing of this bill. The late hour at which this motion was made was purposely chosen, in order that the effect of the press-warrants might not be impeded by the disclosure which the newspapers would have made throughout the country, and in order that the fleet, on which the safety of the country depended, might be manned without impediment. The attorney-general admitted this, and the opposition could not deny the necessity of dispatch, or that there were no other means of manning the fleet; but they denounced the bill as a violation of sacred rights, and a treacherous irruption into the dwelling-houses of citizens. The bill, however—which was called the “Indemnity Bill,” from its retrospective operation—was read twice on the same night, and when the house met again it was passed and sent up to the lords, who agreed to it, after inserting a clause in favour of colliers: it immediately received the royal assent.

GEORGE III. 1779-1780