nd Cowes a general press took place the same night....
Upwards of 600 seamen were collected in consequence of the
promptitude of the measures adopted.' It was added that the
Government 'relied upon increasing our naval forces with 10,000
seamen, either volunteers or impressed men, in less than a
fortnight.' The figures show us how small a proportion of the
10,000 was even alleged to be made up of impressed men. A later
_Times_ report is that: 'The impress on Saturday, both above and
below the bridge, was the hottest that has been for some time.
The boats belonging to the ships at Deptford were particularly
active, and it is supposed they obtained upwards of 200 men.' _The_
_Times_ reports thus account for 1280 men over and above the
1340 stated to have been impressed at Plymouth and Portsmouth,
thus making a grand total of 2620. It will be proved by official
figures directly that the last number was an over-estimate.

Before going farther, attention may be called to one or two points
in connection with the above reports. The increase in the number
of seamen voted by Parliament in March was 7600. The reports of
the impressment operations only came down to May. It was not
till the 11th June that Parliament voted a further addition to the
navy of 32,000 seamen. Yet whilst the latter great increase was
being obtained--for obtained it was--the reporters are virtually
silent as to the action of the press-gang. We must ask ourselves,
if we could get 32,000 additional seamen with so little recourse
to impressment that the operations called for no special notice,
how was it that compulsion was necessary when only 7600 men were
wanted? The question is all the more pertinent when we recall
the state of affairs in the early part of 1803.

The navy had been greatly reduced in the year before, the men
voted having diminished from 100,000 to 56,000. What became of
the 44,000 men not required, of whom about 35,000 must have been
of the seaman class and have been discharged from the service?
There was a further reduction of 6000, to take effect in the
beginning of 1803. Sir Sydney Smith, at that time a Member of
Parliament, in the debate of the 2nd December 1802, 'expressed
considerable regret at the great reductions which were suddenly
made, both in the King's dockyards and in the navy in general.
A prodigious number of men,' he said, 'had been thus reduced
to the utmost poverty and distress.' He stated that he 'knew,
from his own