“That it was impossible that we should acknowledge, in favor of any foreign power, _the claim to such jurisdiction on board our vessels_ found upon the main ocean _as this sort of impressment implied_,--a claim as plainly inadmissible in its principle, and derogatory from the unquestionable rights of our sovereignty, as it was vexatious in its practical consequences.”[49] In another joint letter, dated at London, November 11, 1806, the same plenipotentiaries say:-- “The right [of the crew to protection under the flag] was denied by the British commissioners, _who asserted that of their Government to seize its subjects on board neutral merchant vessels on the high seas_, and who also urged that the relinquishment of it at this time would go far to the overthrow of their naval power, on which the safety of the state essentially depended.”[50] Again, in letter dated at London, April 22, 1807, Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney say of the British commissioners:-- “They stated that the prejudice of the navy, and of the country generally, was so strong _in favor of their pretension_, that the ministry could not encounter it in a direct form, and that, in truth, the support of Parliament could not have been relied on in such a case.”[51] The British commissioners were two excellent persons,--Lord Holland and Lord Auckland; but, though friendly to the United States in their declarations, and Liberals in politics, they were powerless. At home the question continued to be discussed by able writers. Among those whose opinions were of the highest authority was the former President, John Adams, who, from his retirement at Quincy, sent forth a pamphlet, dated January 9, 1809, in which the British pretension was touched to the quick, and again was presented the precise objection now urged by Great Britain against the seizure of the two Rebels. Depicting the scene, when one of our ships is boarded by a British cruiser, he says:-- “The lieutenant is to be the judge, … the midshipman is to be clerk, and the boatswain sheriff or marshal.… It is impossible to figure to ourselves in imagination this solemn tribunal and venerable judge without smiling, till the humiliation of our country comes into our thoughts and interrupts the sense of ridicule by the tears of grief or vengeance.”[52] At last all redress through negotiation was found impossible; and this pretension, aggravated into multitudinous tyranny, was openly announced to be one of the principal reasons for the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812. In his message to Congress, dated June 1 of that year, Mr. Madison, who was now President, thus exposed its offensive character; and his words, directed against a persistent practice, are now echoed by Great Britain in the single instance which has accidentally occurred on our side.