IMPRESSMENT, the forcible taking away of seamen from their ordinary employment, and compelling them to serve, against their will, in his Majesty's ships.

1. Regulations as to Impressment.-This practice is not expressly sanctioned by any act of parliament; but it is so indirectly by the numerous statutes that have been passed, granting exemptions from it. According to Lord Mansfield, it is "a power founded upon immemorial usage," and is understood to make a part of the common law. All sea-faring men are liable to impressment, unless specially protected by custom or statute. Seamen executing particular services for government, not unfrequently get protections from the Admiralty, Navy Board, &c. Some are exempted by local custom and ferrymen are every where privileged from impressment. The statutory exemptions are

numerous.

1. Every ship in the coal trade has the following persons protected, viz. 2 able seamen (such as the master shall nominate) for every ship of 100 tons; and 1 for every 50 tons for every ship of 100 tons and upwards; and any officer who presumes to impress any of the above, shall forfeit, to the master or owner of such vessel, 101. for every man so impressed; and such officer shall be incapable of holding any place, office, or employment in any of his Majesty's ships of war. (6 & 7 Will. 3. c. 18. sect. 19.)*

2. No par sh apprentice shall be compelled or permitted to enter into his Majesty's sea service till he arrives at the age of 18 years.(2 & 3 Anne, c. 6. sect. 4.)

3. Persous voluntarily binding themselves apprentices to sea service, shall not be impressed for 3 years from the date of their indentures. But no persons above 18 years of age shall have any exemption or protection from his Majesty's service, if they have been at sea before they became apprentices.-(2 & 3 Anne, c. 6. sect. 15.; 4 Anne, c. 19. sect. 17.; and 13 Geo. 2. c. 17. sect. 2.)

of their apprenticeship, and till the age of 20 years; they continuing, for the time, in the business of fishing only.

3dly, One mariner, besides the niaster and apprentices, to every fishing vessel of 10 tous or upwards, employed on the sea coast, during his continuance in such service.

4thly, Any landsman above the age of 18, entering and employed on board such vessel, for 2 years from his first going to sea; and to the end of the voyage then engaged in, if he so long continue in such

service.

An affidavit sworn before a justice of the peace, containing the tonnage of such fishing vessel or boat, the port or place to which she belongs, the name and description of the master, the age of every apprentice, the term for which he is bound, and the date of his indenture, and the name, age, and description of every such mariner and lands man respectively, and the time of such landsman's first going to sea, is to be transmitted to the Admiralty; who, upon finding the facts correctly stated, grant a separate protection to every individual. In nent danger thereof," such protected persons may be impressed; but except upon such an emergency, any officer or officers impressing such protected person shall respectively forfeit 201 to the party impressed, if not an apprentice, or to his master if he be an apprentice.

4. Apprentices.-The act 4 Geo. 4. c 25. enacts some new regula-case, however, "of an actual invasion of these kingdoms, or immi tions with respect to the number of apprentices that ships must have on board according to their tonnage and grants protection to such apprentices till they have attained the age of 21 years.-(For the regulations of this act, see Apprentices.)

5. Persons employed in the Fisheries.-The act 50 Geo. 3. c. 108.-Sects. 2, 3, 4. grants the following exemptions from impressment, viz. :Ist, Masters of fishing vessels or boats, who, either themselves or their owners, have, or within 6 months before applying for a protection shall have had, I apprentice or more under 16 years of age, bound for 5 years, and employed in the business of fishing.

2dly, All such apprentices, not exceeding eight to every master or owner of any fishing vessel of 50 tons or upwards; not exceeding seven to every vessel or boat of 35 tons and under 50; not exceeding six to every vessel of 30 tons and under 35 tons; and not exceeding four to every vessel or boat under 30 tons burden, during the time

6. General Exemptions.- All persons 55 years of age and upwards, and under 18 years. Every person being a foreigner, who shall serve in any merchant ship, or other trading vessel, or privateer, belonging to a subject of the Crown of Great Britain; and all persons, of what age soever, who shall use the sea; shall be protected for 2 years, to be computed from the time of their first using it (13 Geo. 2. c. 17.) 7. Harpooners, line managers, or boat steerers, engaged in the southern whale fishery, are also protected.-(26 Geo. 3. c. 50.) 8. Mariners employed in the herring fishery are exempted while actually employed.-(48 Geo. 3. c. 110.)

2. Policy of Impressment.-This practice, so subversive of every principle of justice, is vindicated on the alleged ground of its being absolutely necessary to the manning of the fleet. But this position, notwithstanding the confidence with which it has been taken up, is not quite so tenable as has been supposed. The difficulties experienced in procuring sailors for the fleet at the breaking out of a war, are not natural but artificial, and might be got rid of by a very simple arrangement. During peace, not more than a fourth or a fifth part of the seamen are retained in his Majesty's service that are commonly required during war; and if peace continue for a few years, the total number of sailors in the king's and the merchant service is limited to that which is merely adequate to supply the reduced demand of the former, and the ordinary demand of the latter. When, therefore, war is declared, and 30,000 or 40,000 additional seamen are wanted for the fleet, they cannot be obtained, unless by withdrawing them from the merchant service, which has not more than its proper complement of hands. But to do this by offering the seamen higher wages would be next to impossible, and would, supposing it were practicable, impose such a sacrifice upon the public as could hardly be borne. And hence, it is said, the necessity of impressment, a practice which every one admits can be justified on no other ground than that of its being absolutely essential to the public safety.

It is plain, however, that a necessity of this sort may be easily obviated. All, in fact, that is necessary for this purpose, is merely to keep such a number of sailors in his Majesty's service during peace as may suffice, with the ordinary proportion of landsmen and boys, to man the fleet at the breaking out of a war. Were this done, there would not be the shadow of a pretence for resorting to impressment; and the practice, with the cruelty and injustice inseparable from it, might be entirely abolished.

But it is said that, though desirable in many respects, the expense of such a plan will always prevent it from being adopted. It admits, however, of demonstration, that instead of being dearer, this plan would be actually cheaper than that, which is now followed. Not more than 1,000,000l. or 1,200,000Z. a year would be required to be added to the navy estimates, and that would not be a real, but merely a nominal advance. The violence and injustice to which the practice of impressment exposes sailors, operates at all times to raise their wages, by creating a disinclination on the part of many young men to enter the sea service; and this disinclination is vastly increased during war, when wages usually rise to four or five times their previous amount, imposing a burden on the commerce of the country, exclusive of other equally mischievous consequences, many times greater than the tax that would be required to keep up the peace establishment of the navy to its proper level. It is really, therefore, a vulgar error to suppose that impressment has the recommendation of cheapness in its favour; and, though it had, no reasonable man would contend that it is the only, or even the principal, circumstance to be attended to. In point of fact, however, it is as costly as it is oppressive and unjust.- (The reader is referred, for a fuller discussion of this interesting question, to the note on Impressment in the 4th volume of the Wealth of Nations.)

INDEMNITY, is where one person secures another from responsibility against any particular event; thus, a policy of insurance is a contract of indemnity against any particular loss. Where one person also becomes bail for another, a bond of indemnity is frequently executed; and where a bond or bill of exchange has been lost or mislaid, the acceptor or obligee would not act prudently in paying it, without being secured by a bond of indemnity INDIAN RUBBER. See CAOUTCHOUC.

INDIGO (Fr. Indigo; Ger. Indigo; Sans. Nili; Arab. Neel; Malay, Taroom), the drug

* In order that these men shall be thus protected, it is necessary for the master to name them, before they are impressed: this is to be done by going before the mayor or other chief magistrate of the place, who is to give the master a certificate, in which is contained the names of the particular men whom he thus nominates; and this certificate will be their protection.

which yields the beautiful blue dye known by that name. It is obtained by the maceration in water of certain tropical plants; but the indigo of commerce is almost entirely obtained from leguminous plants of the genus Indigofera: that cultivated in India being the Indigofera tinctoria; and that in America the Indigofera anil. The Indian plant has pinnate leaves and a slender ligneous stem; and when successfully cultivated, rises to the height of 3, 5, and even 6 feet.

It appears pretty certain that the culture of the indigo plant, and the preparation of the drug, have been practised in India from a very remote epoch. It has been questioned, indeed, whether the indicum mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xxxv. c. 6.) was indigo, but, as it would seem, without any good reason. Pliny states that it was brought from India; that when diluted it produced an admirable mixture of blue and purple colours (in diluendo misturam purpuræ cæruleique mirabilem reddit); and he gives tests by which the genuine drug might be discriminated with sufficient precision. It is true that Pliny is egregiously mistaken as to the mode in which the drug was produced; but there are many examples in modern as well as ancient times, to prove that the possession of an article brought from a distance implies no accurate knowledge of its nature, or of the processes followed in its manufacture. Beckmann (Hist. of Inventions, vol. iv. art. Indigo) and Dr. Bancroft (Permanent Colours, vol. i. pp. 241-252.) have each investigated this subject with great learning and sagacity; and agree in the conclusion that the indicum of Pliny was real indigo, and not, as has been supposed, a drug prepared from the isatis or woad. At all events, there can be no question that indigo was imported into modern Europe, by way of Alexandria, previously to the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope. When first introduced, it was customary to mix a little of it with woad to heighten and improve the colour of the latter; but, by degrees, the quantity of indigo was increased; and woad was, at last, entirely superseded. It is worth while, however, to remark, that indigo did not make its way into general use without encountering much opposition. The growers of woad prevailed on several governments to prohibit the use of indigo! In Germany, an Imperial edict was published in 1654, prohibiting the use of indigo, or "devil's dye," and directing great care to be taken to prevent its clandestine importation, "because," says the edict," the trade in woad is lessened, dyed articles injured, and money carried out of the country!" The magistrates of Nuremburg went further, and compelled the dyers of that city to take an oath once a year not to use indigo; which practice was continued down to a late period. In 1598, upon an urgent representation of the states of Languedoc, at the solicitation of the woad growers, the use of indigo was prohibited in that province; and it was not till 1737, that the dyers of France were left at liberty to dye with such articles, and in such a way, as they pleased.-(Beckmann, vol. iv. p. 142.) Let not those who may happen to throw their eyes over this paragraph, smile at the ignorance of our ancestorsMutato nomine, de te fabula narratur. How much opposition is made at this moment to the importation of many important articles, for no better reasons than were alleged, in the sixteenth century, against the importation of indigo!

Indigo is at present produced in Bengal, and the other provinces subject to the presidency of that mame, from the 20th to the 30th degree of north latitude; in the province of Tinnevelly, under the Madras government; in Java; in Luconia, the principal of the Philippine Islands; and Guatemala, and the Caraccas, in Central America. Bengal is, however, the great mart for indigo; and the quantity produced in the other places is comparatively inconsiderable.

Raynal was of opinion that the culture of indigo had been introduced into America by the Spaniards; but this is undoubtedly an error. Several species of indigofera belong to the New World; and the Spaniards used it as a substitute for ink very soon after the conquest.-(Humboldt, Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, tom. iii. p. 54. 2d ed.)

For the first 20 years after the English became masters of Bengal, the culture and manufacture of indigo, now of such importance, was unknown as a branch of British industry; and the exports were but trifling. The European markets were, at this period, principally supplied from America. In 1783, however, the attention of the English began to be directed to this business; and though the processes pursued by them be nearly the same as those followed by the natives, their greater skill, intelligence, and capital, give them iminense advantages. In their hands, the growth and preparation of indigo has become the most important employment, at least in a commercial point of view, carried on in the country. The indigo made by the natives supplies the internal demand; so that all that is raised by Europeans is exported.

In the Delta of the Ganges, where the best and largest quantity of indigo is produced, the plant lasts only for a single season, being destroyed by the periodical inundation; but in the dry central and western provinces, one or two rattoon crops are obtained: and owing to this circumstance, the latter are enabled to furnish a large supply of seed to the former.

The fixed capital required in the manufacture of indigo consists of a few vats of common masonry for steeping the plant, and precipitating the colouring matter; a boiling and drying house; and a dwelling house for the planter. These, for a factory of 10 pair of vats, capable of producing, at an average, 12,500 lbs. of indigo, worth on the spot about 2,500l., will not cost above 1,5007. sterling. The buildings and machinery necessary to produce an equal value in sugar and rum, would probably cost about 4,000. This fact, therefore, without any reference to municipal regulations, affords a ready answer to the question which has been frequently put, why the British planters in India have never engaged in the manufacture of sugar.

During the 9 years which preceded the opening of the trade with India, in 1814, the annual average produce of indigo in Bengal, for exportation, was nearly 5,600,000 lbs. ; but the average produce of the 4 last years of this period scarcely equalled that of the preceding 5. But since the ports were opened, indigo produced for exportation has increased fully a third; the exports during the 16 years ending with 1829-30, being above 7,400,000 lbs. a year. The following brief statement shows the rate of this increase, taking the average produce of each 4 years :