Dec 16, 2009
In 1797, the British merchant ship Rights-of-Man, named after the famous reply of Thomas Paine to Edmund Burke’s criticism of the French Revolution, was close to home after a long voyage. As it neared England, the merchant vessel was stopped by a man-of-war, HMS Indomitable, and an officer from the warship went aboard the Rights-of-Man to impress sailors for military service. This practice was necessary at the time to provide men to work the large number of ships that Britain had at sea for protection against the French.
The captain of...
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