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ALL IMPRESSMENTS UNLAWFUL AND INADMISSABLE; AN IMPORTANT AND LUMINOUS COMMUNICATION ON THE SUBJECT OF THE IMPRESSMENT OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN SEAMEN AND OTHER PERSONS

Madison, James Folio. 9 1/4 in. by 6 in. Stringbound (single stitch) self-wraps, still largely unopened. quoting 9in 1806) then Secretary of State James Madison's letter to then U.S. foreign minister in London, this 12-page document discusses the illegal boarding of American and other allied oceangoing vessels and the forced impressment of both personnel and passengers, into the British armed forces. Paper good, only lightly toned. Edges a bit uneven with minor closed tears (see photo). ".On the 17th of January, 1806, the President of the United States communicated to Congress an extract from a dispatch of James Madison, Esq. our secretary of state, to James Monroe, Esq. our minister in London, which contains many facts highly important, and observations and arguments perfectly satisfactory and conclusive against 'impressments of seamen and passengers, whether Foreign or American, on board of our vessels.'." That quoted letter between James Madison and James Monroe, dated some two years previous (January 5th, 1804) to the above mentioned Presidential statement, stated: "We consider a neutral flag, on the high seas, as a safeguard to those sailing under it. Great Britain, on the contrary, asserts a right to search for, and seize her own subjects, and , under that cover, are often seized and taken off, citizens of The United States and citizens or subjects of other neutral countries, navigating the high seas, under the protection of the American flag." (Shoemaker and Shaw 10775). Nice copy. Not in Sabin. One copy of the Philadelphia edition (1806) in Worldcat (held by Library of Congress); none of this (Boston) edition in WorldCat. Since the French Revolution, conscription or the Draft has been how countries have found additional manpower for their armed forces in modern times. Prior to this Britain practiced a cruel but effective way of combating the manpower shortage in their navy: impressment.or 'press gang' as it was more commonly known, was recruitment by force. It was a practice that directly affected the U.S. and was even one of the causes of the War of 1812. The British navy consistently suffered manpower shortages due to the low pay and a lack of qualified seamen. During wartime the navy forced unwilling individuals into service. Residents of seaports lived in fear of the press gangs that patrolled waterfronts and raided taverns, pouncing on deserters and idle mariners. Prints from the time show armed gangs kidnapping men in their beds, or barging into weddings and hauling the groom out much to the distress of the bride. But generally "pressing" took place at sea where the armed gangs would board merchant ships. These ships were ransacked of their men and often left without sufficient hands to take them safely into port. Impressment was first made lawful during Elizabethan times, though it had been a common practice of drafting soldiers dating back to the 13th century. In 1563 Queen Elizabeth passed "an Act touching politick considerations for the maintenance of the Navy" which defined more clearly the liability of sailors who may be forced to serve as mariners. The legalization was taken further in 1597 when the Vagrancy Act was passed, which now allowed for men of disrepute to be impressed for service in the fleet. While essential for the strength of the British Navy, the brutal nature of impressment was deeply unpopular. Many viewed it as an inhumane and unconstitutional system. In the 18th century a raft of legislation was introduced aimed at moderating the practice. A 1740 act declared that all men under 18 and over 55 and foreigners who served on British ships were declared exempt from enforced service. In reality, however, these laws were ignored and impressment of foreigners was commonplace. In fact, only 40-years later the exemptions from impressment were withdrawn, so desperate was the British Navy for seamen. American merchant vessels were a common target. Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15,000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars with France. By 1812 the United States Government had had enough. On 18 June, the United States declared war on Great Britain, citing, in part, impressment. After the Napoleonic Wars impressment was ended in practice, though not officially abandoned as a policy. The last law was passed in 1835, in which the power to impress was reaffirmed. It limited the length of service of a pressed man to five years, and added the provision that a man couldn't be pressed twice. (HISTORY DETECTIVES).
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ON THE CATTLE RANGES OF THE OREGON COUNTRY

Octavo, 9.25 in. x 6.1 in., pp. ix, [5], 372. Brown cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Endpaper maps. Light age-toning to pages. James Orin Oliphant was born on March 23, 1894, in the Whitman County town of Elberton, Washington, not far from the Palouse River. In 1913 he graduated from the State Normal School in Cheney. Three years later he received his A.B. degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He returned to Cheney for two years to teach high school, then joined the Normal School faculty in 1921. From 1921 to 1924 he taught as a member of the Department of History and Social Science and served as executive secretary to President Noah Showalter. During these years he used several leaves of absence to continue his work in history under the direction of Edward Meaney at the University of Washington. In 1923- 1924 he was a Denny fellow and in 1924 he received his A.M. He then returned to teaching history and social science at Cheney Normal School. In 1929 he took a leave of absence and went east to Harvard University as an Austin Scholar and in 1930 received his Ph.D from Harvard. His dissertation was on The Range-Cattle Industry in the Oregon Country to 1890. Rather than returning to the Washington State Normal School at Cheney, Oliphant joined the faculty of Antioch College in Ohio as an associate professor of history. In 1933 he moved to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he progressed through the ranks of the professoriate and in 1964 retired as professor emeritus of history. From 1936 to 1944 and again from 1957 to 1962 he served as chairman of the department of history. From 1949 until 1954 he edited Bucknell University Studies. His professional memberships included the American Historical Association and the Agricultural History Society. Upon his retirement Oliphant and his wife May returned to the Pacific Northwest and lived in Salem, Oregon, until his death in 1979.
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MAP: “HISTORIC BEAUFORT, GEM OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA SEA ISLANDS”

Colorful, historic novelty map of Beaufort, South Carolina consisting of street names with drawings of all the buildings within each block, and all four sides bordered by famous plantation, historical homes, ports, forts, chapels, churches, etc., notices of British, French, Spanish and Scottish landings, town seals tokens, coat of arms, etc. Map no doubt includes the narrow coastal inlet off the Beaufort River where the events of February 24, 2019, which included the mysterious disappearance of Mallory Beach, then subsequent discovery of her body nearby, began to close the legal loop around Alex Murdaugh. Surveyed and delineated by Marie Fenner in 1969. Very frameable. "Beaufort, S. C. was called the most aristocratic town of its size in America - the "Newport of the South" -before the War between the States. A city of rich history, Southern hospitality and casual seaside charm, the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands" was discovered by the Spanish in 1514, claimed by the French in 1562, and chartered by the British in 1711. Beaufort enjoyed great prosperity in the eighteenth century as indigo and rice plantations thrived, and Sea Island Cotton became one of America's most profitable exports.As a result, Beaufortbecame one of the most elite towns on the eastern seaboard, rivaling those in the North. Historic antebellum mansions grace the downtown area, and giant shady live oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss provide an ethereal canopy to the city. Many of these mansions and historic siteshave been the sites for films, including 'The Prince of Tides', 'Forrest Gump','The Big Chill;, ;The Great Santini', and." others. (Rhett House Inn promotional site) "Beaufort was so named to honor Henry Somerset, Most Noble Duke of Beaufort Lord Proprietor of the Province of Carolina in America."
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MEMOIRS OF THE DIFFERENT REBELLIONS IN IRELAND, FROM THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH: WITH A PARTICULAR DETAIL OF THAT WHICH BROKE OUT THE XXIIID OF MAY, MDCCXCVIII; THE HISTORY OF THE CONSPIRACY WHICH PRECEDED IT; AND THE CHARACTERS OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN IT.; Compiled from Original Affidavits and Other Authentic Documents; and Illustrated with Maps and Plates “Compiled from Original Affidavits and Other Authentic Documents; and Illustrated with Maps and Plates “Compiled from Original Affidavits and Other Authentic Documents; and Illustrated with Maps and Plates

Quarto, 10.1 in. x 7.5 in., pp. x, [2], 1-636, 1-166 (appendix), [9] (index and errata). Illustrated with ten plates, nine of which fold-out. Rebound in dark three-quarter calf over marbled boards, with gilt title to green panel on spine. Five raised bands and gilt fleurons to spine. New endpapers. Unmarked interior. Tipped-in manuscript note listing "Pages on which my Grandfather (Robert Crawford) is mentioned. He was with Wellington in the Peninsular -- & was General of the Royal British Artillery before he died." Sir Richard Musgrave, 1st Baronet (c. 1757 - 7 April 1818) was an Irish writer and politician. He was born the eldest son of Christopher Musgrave of Tourin, Waterford, by Susannah, daughter of James Usher of Ballintaylor, near Dungarvan. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Lismore from 1778 to 1801. On 2 December 1782 he was rewarded with a baronetcy for his loyalism and Protestantism. Musgrave was high sheriff of County Waterford and was firm in enforcing the law; in September 1786 he personally flogged a Whiteboy after no one else could be found to do it In his works A Letter on the Present Situation of Public Affairs (1794 and 1795) and Considerations on the Present State of England and France (1796) he warned of impending rebellion in Ireland. After the defeat of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Musgrave sought to exonerate the government from the accusation that it had provoked the rebellion by arbitrary rule in his address "To the Magistrates, the Military, and the Yeomanry of Ireland" (1798), writing under the pseudonym 'Callimus'. In 1801 appeared his "Memoirs of the different Rebellions in Ireland from the Arrival of the English". In 1894 the Dictionary of National Biography claimed that it was "so steeped in anticatholic prejudice as to be almost worthless historically". The book provoked a response from the Catholic Bishop of Ferns, James Caulfield, to which Musgrave replied with Observations on the Reply (1802). According to J. J. Sack, the Memoirs of the different rebellions in Ireland was, along with Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, "the contemporary work which most defined the British Right". In this work, Musgrave criticised Burke's influence and called him a hypocrite who "always shewed a decided attachment to popery". He further accused him of trying to persuade the Rockingham Whigs to support Catholic emancipation, by which they "departed from those wise lessons which the history of and experiences of past ages uniformly afford, and adopted a visionary system of concession, which shook the pillars of the throne". In 1804 he published Strictures upon an "Historical Review of the State of Ireland", by Francis Plowden, Esq. The Dictionary of National Biography called Musgrave "a man of considerable talent, warped by blind prejudice and savage party spirit"
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BRITANNIA (VOL. III): OR, A CHOROGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOURISHING KINGDOMS OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND, AND THE ISLANDS ADJACENT; FROM THE EARLIEST ANTIQUITY. TRANSLATED FROM THE EDITION PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR IN MDCVII. ENLARGED BY THE LATEST DISCOVERIES, BY RICHARD GOUGH, F.A. & R. SS.ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, AND OTHER COPPER-PLATES. VOLUME THE THIRD. [VOLUME III ONLY]

Folio, 17 1/4 in. x 11 in. Volume III only (British Isles section): pp. [xi], 1-260, 257*-258*, 261-414. 414*-417*, 415-457, 460-484, 481*-488*, 485**-488**, 489-656, 661-665, 658-659, 668-672, 669-760, [54]. 49 plates, 17 maps, many in text illustrations. Three quarter black pebble leather over black cloth boards, moderately scuffed. Five raised bands, double ruled in gilt with decorative gilt tooling along bands. Gilt lettering "Camden's Britannia" and "Scotland and Ireland" to two panels. Leather starting to peel in two corners of one panel. Wear to top and bottom of spine. Rubbing to extremities. Recent reconstituting to corners. Army and Navy Club armorial bookplate to front paste down. Titlepage reattached, 2 closed tears to inner margin, one non-professionally repaired with tape, text unaffected. Club stamp to bottom of titlepage. Pages lightly tanned with occasional soiling and spotting, mostly in margins. **Please note that the present copy is only Volume III, that portion of Camden's masterpiece pertaining to England, Scotland, Ireland and Adjacent Islands. The historian, antiquarian, and topographer William Camden's (1551-1623) magisterial Britannia was a landmark work of British chorography. First published in Latin in 1586, Britannia provided the first topographical and historical survey of Great Britain and Ireland. Camden began the project in 1577 with the encouragement of the great geographer, Abraham Ortelius. Camden travelled throughout Britain and Ireland to conduct field research, drawing on a wide gamut of documentary and material sources. His innovation lay in his multidisciplinary approach--he incorporated written records, inscriptions, monuments, topography, archeological remains, mythology, numismatics, philology, and linguistics in an attempt to capture pre-Roman British history. Herendeen writes, "the Britannia had an enormous and lasting impact on multidisciplinary historical writing, and was also of the highest importance as a cultural icon affecting the national self-image" (ODNB). The 1789 Gough translation is one of the major editions of Camden's Britannia. It was an original translation of the 1607 Latin edition, the last edition enlarged by Camden himself.