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Urquhart, Thomas.
Letters on the Evils of Impressment, with the Outline of a Plan for Doing Them Away, on which Depend the wealth, Prosperity, and Consequence of Great Britain.
Publisher: Published for the Benefit of the Maritime Society by J Richardson, London;
Date of Publication: 1816
Stock Code: 6735
Second Edition. Octavo, pp.,100. Publishers original paper-covered boards with printed paper title label to spine. Edges uncut. Boards scuffed with wear to corners; spine cracked at upper joint with associated loss; label incomplete. Scattered light foxing; no annotation or inscriptions. A Good copy. Urquhart’s letter made a heartfelt appeal to the great and good of the day including the Prince Regent, Lord Viscount Melville and fellow philanthropist William Wilberforce, advocating a cessation in the practice of enforced enlistment into the Navy by press gangs. Instead he suggested the training of youngsters as an alternative method of recruitment and a preferable way to ensure and maintain the “decided superiority of our navy”. Following the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, no further impressments were made for the Navy. £350.00