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, 10. 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 parish 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. Persus 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.) 4. Apprentices.--The act 4 Geo. 4. c. 25. enacts some new regula. fons with respect to the number of apprentices that ships must have on beard 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. grants the following exemptions from impressment, viz. : 1st, 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, 1 apprentice or more under 16 years of age, bound for 5 year, 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 scuen to every vessel or boat of 35 tons and under 50; not exceeding sir to every vessel of 30 tons and under 35 tons; and not exceeding Jury to every vessel or boat under 30 tons burden, during the time of their apprenticeship, and till the age of 20 years; they continuing, for the time, in the business of fishing only. 3ly, One mariner, besides the master and apprentices, to every fishing vessel of 10 tons or upwards, employed on the sea coast, during his continuauce 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 infenture, and the name, age, and description of every such mariner and lands man respectively, and the time of such landsman's first going to sel, is to be transmitted to the Admiralty; who, upon finding the facts correctly stated, grant a separate protection to every individual. Ia case, however, "of an actual invasion of these kingdoms, or immi 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 im pressed, if not an apprentice, or to his master if he be an apprentice. Sects. 2, 3, 4. 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 Gen. 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 1,200,000l. 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 of 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 name, 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 2,5001., will not cost above 1,500. sterling. The buildings and machinery necessary to produce an equal value in sugar and rum, would probably cost about 4,0001. 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 : It deserves to be remarked, that since the opening of the trade, Indian capitalists have betaken themselves to the manufacture of indigo on the European method, and that at present about a fifth part of the whole annual produce is prepared by them. The culture of indigo is very precarious, not only in so far as respects the growth of the plant from year to year, but also as regards the quantity and quality of the drug which the same amount of plant will afford even in the same season. Thus, the produce of 1825-26 was 41,000 chests, while the produce of the following year was but 25,000 chests; the produce of 1827-28 was about 42,000 chests, and that of 1928-29 only 26,500 chests! The average of these years, that is, about 9,000,000 lbs., may be considered as the present annual produce of Bengal. The price of indigo in India increased, for a while, in a far greater ratio than the quantity. In 1813-14 the real value of that exported from Calcutta was 1,461,000l.; but in 1827-28, although the quantity had increased but 20 per cent., the value rose to 2,920,000, or was about doubled. There was no corresponding rise in the price in Europe, but, on the contrary, a decline; and the circumstance is to be accounted for by the restraints placed on the investment of capital in the production of colonial articles suited to the European market, the consequent difficulty of making remittances from India, and an unnatural flow of capital to the only great article of Indian produce and export that is supposed capable of bearing its application. But the effects of the profuse advances made by the Calcutta capitalists to those engaged in the indigo culture, coupled with the increasing imports from Madras, and the stationary demand for the drug in this country, have at length manifested themselves in the most distressing manner. Prices have been so much reduced that a ruinous reaction has taken place; most of the Calcutta merchants engaged in the trade having been obliged to stop payment, involving in their fall several opulent houses in this country. It remains to be seen whether this will occasion any diminution in the supplies of indigo, or whether the supply may not be maintained even at the reduced prices by increased economy. The subjoined Table shows that prices advanced considerably in 1833; but it is doubtful whether this advance will be sustained. The consumption of indigo has varied but little in this country during the last dozen years, having been, at an average of that period, about 2,300,000 lbs. a year. This stationary demand, notwithstanding the fall in the price of the drug and the increase of population, is principally to be ascribed to the decreasing use of blue cloth, in the dyeing of which it is principally made use of. Its consumption in France is about as great as in Britain. Besides the exports to Great Britain, France, and the United States, a good deal of Bengal indigo is exported to the ports on the Persian Gulf, whence it finds its way to southern Russia. It is singular that it is not used by the Chinese, with whom blue is a favourite colour. The indigo of Bengal is divided into two classes, called, in commercial language, Bengal and Oude; the first being the produce of the southern provinces of Bengal and Bahar, and the last that of the northern provinces. The first is, in point of quality, much superior to the other. This arose at one time, in a considerable degree, from the practice which prevailed in the northern provinces, of the European planter purchasing the wet fecula from the native manufacturer, and completing the processes of curing and drying the drug. This is at present in a great measure discontinued; and the Oude indigo has, in consequence, considerably improved in quality. Its inferiority is probably more the result of soil and climate, than of any difference in the skill with which the manufacture is Conducted. In 1827-28, and we are possessed of no later data, the export of indigo from the port of Madras amounted to 880,880 lbs. weight; having more than quadrupled in the course of the preceding 5 years. Besides the export from Madras, there is also a considerable one from the French settlement of Pondicherry; of which, however, we have no detailed statement. In 1827, the export of indigo from Manilla amounted to about 290,000 lbs. avoirdupois; but it is understood to have materially increased since. The export from Batavia, in 1829, amounted to 152,000 lbs. weight, and the production is rapidly increasing. According to the statement now given, the annual exports of Asiatic indigo are as follow:-Bengal, 9,000,000,000 lbs.; Madras, 900,000 lbs.; Manilla, 300,000 lbs.; Batavia, 150,000 lbs. Hence the annual average produce for foreign markets, making allowance for a trifling augmentation in the exports from Madras, Java, and the Philippines, is certainly not less than 10,500,000 lbs. According to M. Humboldt, the exportation of indigo from Guatemala, in 1825, amounted to 1,800,000 lbs. Indigo is also produced in some of the West India islands, but not in large quantities. Good indigo is known by its lightness or small specific gravity, indicating the absence of earthy impurities; by the mass not readily parting with its colouring matter when tested by drawing a streak with it over a white surface; but, above all, by the purity of the colour itself. The first quality, estimated by this last test, is called, in commercial language, fine blue; then follow ordinary blue, fine purple, purple and violet, ordinary purple and violet, dull blue, inferior purple and violet, strong copper, and ordinary copper. These distinctions refer to the Bengal indigo only, the Oude being distinguished only into fine and ordinary. The qualities of Madras and Manilla indigo are nearly the same, and equal to ordinary Bengal indigo. The indigo of Java is superior to these. We are indebted to Mr. Cook for the following Table, which gives a very comprehensive view of the state of the crops of indigo in Bengal, and the imports, consumption, and prices of Bengal indigo, since 1811-12: Fine Bengal. Ord. Bengal. Maunds. Chests. Chests. Chests. Chests. Years. per lb. d. S. 8 per lb. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Low Oude. Years. per ib. s. d. 1811-1812 70,000 19,500 1812 17,200 14,600 29,500 1812 0 to 10 64 0 to 5 3 3 0-3 6 1812-1813 78,000= 22,000 1813 14,300 19,300 24,500 1813 10 0-14 06 3-8 3 4 6-6 0 1813-1814 74,500 21,300 1814 24,200 23,800 24,900 1814 10 0-14 6 6 6-9 0 4 0-5 6 1814-1815 102,500 27,000 1815 28,900 23,400 30,400 1815 8 0 11 05 0-7 0 3 0-4 6 1815-1816 115,000 29,000 1816 15,500 20,200 25,700 1816 6 6-10 0 3 9-5 628-3 3 1816-1817 87,000 23,500 1817 13,500 15,700 23.500 1817 7 6-10 05 6-7 640-60 1817-1818 72.800 19,000 1818 16,600 16,100 21,000 1818 8 09 66 6 8 05 06 0 1818-1519 68,000 17,000 1819 11,500 15,800 19,700 1819 76-905 0-6 03 3 4 3 1519-1820 72,000 19,000 1820 16,500 21,600) 14,500 1820 70-9 05 6-6 6 3 3-4 = Years. from for India into Export Britain Great and 31st Dec. Home Britain. Con. Fine Bengal. Chests. Chests, Chests. Years. per lb. Ord. Bengal. Low Oude. per lb. s. d. 8. d. 0 4 0 to 5 9 3 4 9-6 0 6 3 6-4 61 6 5 0-6 3 Maunds. Chests. d. 3. 1820-1821 107,000 25,500 1821 13,000 17,300 9,800 1821 6 to 9 6 to 7 1821-1822 72,400 19,500 1822 13,500 15,100) 8.200, 1822 0-12 6 8 6-10 1822-1823 90,000=24,000 1823 21,700 16,800 13,100 1823 9 6-11 059-8 1823-1824 113,000 = 25,000 1824 16,300 17,200 12,200 1824 12 0-13 6 8 0 -10 1824-1825 79,000 22,000 1825 25,300 21,100 16,400 1825 13 0-15 0 8 6- 10 1825-1826 144,000 41,000 1826 27,800 21,900 22,300 1826 80-9 64 6 7 1826-1827 90,000 25,000 1827 19,000 18,500 22,800 1827 11 6-13 67 0 1827-1828 149,000 42,000 1828 35.820 27,500 31,100 1828 80- 10 0 5 3-7 3 2 0-2 9 1828-1829 98,000 26,500 1829 23,200 23,100 31,200 1829 76-8 639- 6 626-3 6 1829-1830 141,000 40,000 1830 32,120 25,700 37,600 1830 66-763 3-4 62 0-2 6 1830-1831 116,000 33,600 1831 23,330 24,980 35,970 1831 60-6630-4 3 2 0-2 6 1831-1832 122,000 35,000 1832 25,470 28,920 32,520 1832 56-6 3 3 3- 4 623-2 9 1832-1833 122,000 35,000 1833 25,000 23,000*35,000 1833 70- 795 0-603 0-4 0, 6 4 3-5 9) 0 2 3-3 9 9630-4 6 Of 7,299,605 lbs of indigo imported into Great Britain in 1831, 6,996,063 lbs. were from India, 149,349 lbs. from the British West Indies, 81,991 lbs. from Guatemala, 16,014 lbs. from Colombia, &c. Of the total quantity imported, 2,490,000 lbs. were retained from consumption. The imports of indigo, in 1832, were 6,353,065 lbs.; of which 2,395,653 lbs. were retained. Indigo of British possessions, not deemed their produce unless imported from thence.-(7 Geo. 4. c. 48.) For further information as to indigo, see Colebrooke's Husbandry of Bengal, p. 154.; Milburn's Orient. Com.; Bell's Review of Commerce of Bengal; Wilson's Review of do.; evidence of Gillian Maclaine, Esq., East India Committee, 1830-31, &c. [Indigo is imported into the United States chiefly from the British East Indies, Manilla and the Philippine islands, and the republic of Colombia.-Am. Ed.] INK (Du. Ink, Inkt; Fr. Encre; Ger. Dinte; It. Inchoistro; Lat. Atramentum; Rus. Tschernilo; Sp. Tinta; Sw. Blak.) "Every liquor or pigment used for writing or printing is distinguished by the name of ink. Common practice knows only black and red. Of black ink there are three principal kinds : 1. Indian ink; 2. Printer's ink; and 3. Writing ink. The Indian ink is used in China for writing with a brush, and for painting upon the soft flexible paper of Chinese manufacture. It is ascertained, as well from experiment as from information, that the cakes of this ink are made of lampblack and size, or animal glue, with the addition of perfumes or other substances not essential to its quality as an ink. The fine soot from the flame of a lamp or candle received by holding a plate over it, mixed with clean size from shreds of parchment or glove-leather not dyed, will make an ink equal to that imported. Good printer's ink is a black paint, smooth, and uniform in its composition, of a firm black colour, and possesses a singular aptitude to adhere to paper thoroughly impregnated with moisture. "Common ink for writing is made by adding an infusion or decoction of the nut-gall to sulphate of iron, dissolved in water. A very fine black precipitate is thrown down, the speedy subsidence of which is prevented by the addition of a proper quantity of gum Arabic. Lampblack is the common material to give the black colour, of which 2 ounces are sufficient for 16 ounces of the varnish. Vermilion is a good red. They are ground together on a stone with a muller, in the same manner as oil paints. Among the amusing experiments of the art of chemistry, the exhibition of sympathetic inks holds a distinguished place. With these the writing is invisible, until some reagent gives it opacity. These inks have been proposed as the instruments of secret correspondence. But they are of little use in this respect, because the properties change by a few days' remaining on the paper; most of them have more or less of a tinge when thoroughly dry; and none of them resist the test of heating the paper till it begins to be scorched.”—(Ure's Dictionary.) INKLE, a sort of broad linen tape, principally manufactured at Manchester and some other towns in Lancashire. INSOLVENCY AND BANKRUPTCY. Insolvency is a term in mercantile law, applied to designate the condition of all persons unable to pay their debts according to the ordinary usage of trade. A bankrupt is an insolvent; but persons may be in a state of insolvency without having committed any of the specific acts which render them liable to a commission of bankruptcy. We have, under the article BANKRUPTCY, explained the most important differences in the law as to insolvency and bankruptcy; and have also briefly stated in that article, and in the article CREDIT, some of the alterations which seem to be imperatively required to make these laws more in harmony, than they are at present, with the principles of justice, and more conducive to the interests of commerce and the public advantage. In the present article, therefore, we shall confine ourselves to a summary statement of the proceedings under the existing laws. Under the bankrupt laws, the creditors have a compulsory authority to sequestrate the entire possessions of their debtor; under the insolvent laws, the debtor himself may make a voluntary surrender of his property for the benefit of all his creditors. From this diversity in the initiative process results the greatest diversity in the ultimate operation of the bankrupt and insolvent acts. The proceedings under a commission of bankruptcy being insti* These numbers are partly from estimate; but they cannot be far wrong. |