[W. H.
S.] _Ante_, Chapter 23, beginning to note [9].
27. The cruel practice of impressment for the royal navy is
authorized by a series of statutes extending from the reign of Philip
and Mary to that of George III. Seamen of the merchant navy, and,
with few exceptions, all seafaring men between the ages of eighteen
and thirty-five, are liable, under the provisions of these harsh
statutes, to be forcibly seized by the press-gang, and compelled to
serve on board a man-of-war. The acts legalizing impressment were
freely made use of during the Napoleonic wars, but since then have
been little acted on, and no Government at the present day could
venture to use them, though they have never been repealed. The fleet
sent against the Russians in 1855 was the first English fleet ever
manned without recourse to forcible impressment: see the article
'Impressment' by David Hannay, in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th
ed., 1910. The work by J. B. Hutchinson entitled _The Press-gang
Afloat and Ashore_ (London: Nash, 1913) gives copious details of the
infamous proceedings.
28. The Brahman chief of Jhansi was originally a governor under the
Peshwa.
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