Ordinary means were not sufficient to provide men, and resort was made to impressment, a mode of obtaining seamen which is of ancient practice. In 1378 a statute of 2 Richard II. speaks of it as being well known, and so it must have been, for the first commission for its use was issued 29 Edward III., 1355. In 1641, Parliament declared the practice illegal, either for the land or sea service; but this has always been ignored when the necessity for seamen arose. It has been regulated by Parliament even so lately as 1835, when, by the statute 5 and 6 William IV., compulsory service is restricted to five years. How should we feel if some day, in reading our morning paper, we should come across such a passage as the following:--"A very hot press took place in the river Thames, and at all the outports"?--Would you like to know what a "hot press" means?--then learn from the following excerpts from the _St. James's Chronicle_, May 4-6, 1790:-- "The report of the number pressed in the river on Tuesday night was delivered to the Lords of the Admiralty yesterday morning, which amounted to about 1500 taken in Wapping, and in Southwark, &c., more than 600; amounting in the whole to upwards of 2100 men, besides those at the different seaport towns, reports of which were not received." "Four tenders went down the river yesterday morning, crowded with impressed men, to be shipped on board a vessel of war lying in Long-reach, ready to receive them. The same tenders were expected up again with the return of the tide, upon the same errand." _Extract of a letter from Chatham, May 5._--"Yesterday morning, between six and seven o'clock, an express arrived from the Lords of the Admiralty to Commodore Pasley, at this port, containing impress warrants: accordingly, a great press commenced about twelve o'clock last night, both in this town, Rochester, &c. &c., and on the river Medway, when many persons were taken, four of whom were lodged in the guardhouse in the yard, and this morning sent on board the 'Scipio,' of 64 guns, lying as guardship at this port, and commanded by Commodore Pasley. A great press likewise commenced last night at Sheerness." "In consequence of the press warrants, stocks felt a most extraordinary depression yesterday; the Consols opened at 76, and fluctuated from that price to 75-1/4 until very nearly three o'clock." This then, was a "hot press"--but very little was ever said about it, except a passing notice. The impressed men themselves accepted their fate as inevitable, and, according to the testimony of an old seaman whom I once knew (himself a pressed man), he assured me that, after the first shock was over, they set to work with a will, and did their duty as well as the volunteers. There were supposed to be exceptions, such as apprentices, who were exempt, but I fear, when once in the hands of the pressgang, it was a very poor chance of any one's getting off.