Description:

War of 1812 1812 - 1815 ALS by John Pickering regarding War of 1812 impressment!

Two pages of cream paper inscribed in fluid script and signed "Jno. Pickering" at bottom verso. The letter, dated November 20, 1813 and written in Salem, MA, measures 8.25" x 9.875". In very fine condition. Some minor fold marks, 0.5" long tear along right edge at center, and some light smears. Pickering probably penned this letter in some haste as a few words and even full passages are crossed out.

In this letter, John Pickering urges an unnamed associate to provide favorable testimony in an upcoming libel suit brought against John Kneeland, a state representative from nearby Andover, MA. During the Republican Convention of March 1813, Kneeland, who was also serving as convention moderator, accused Pickering and other members of the Committee on Impressments of misrepresenting information to the people of the "Essex South District". Kneeland claimed that, contrary to committee findings, there were only 157 cases where Massachusetts citizens had been impressed into British naval service, and that there was motive behind this misrepresentation. As Pickering explains, "The essence of the libel is that we conducted the business unfairly, partially & with a design to impose upon the public ... "

Pickering defends himself by saying that he and other committee members conducted a careful and impartial investigation of wartime impressment in Massachusetts; the committee diligently interviewed witnesses and accurately recorded their statements. "The object therefore of this letter is to request you to go before some Magistrate & give your Deposition, without delay & forward it to me immediately", Pickering writes. "I wish you to testify as to the conduct of the Committee generally during the whole of their sittings and of my conduct particularly, so far as you can with a clear conscience." Pickering was a trained lawyer, and attempted to instruct/order his associate: "State among other facts, that we faithfully reported all the cases that came to our knowledge, & occupied ourselves with the utmost diligence during the Session in prosecuting the enquiry - perhaps you might also state that the Report itself is true, impartial &c."

Impressment, or the forced enlistment of sailors into naval service, was one of the causes of the War of 1812. The British Navy, desperate to fill its ranks of killed, maimed, or deserted sailors, regularly stopped vessels on the high seas and "shanghaied" passerby on mainland docks to fill their ranks. If the person in question could not present citizenship papers, they could legally be forced to join the British navy. The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair in 1807 caused considerable diplomatic tension between the United States and Great Britain and highlighted the issue of impressment. This incident, in which the British frigate HMS Leopard demanded to search the USS Chesapeake for three British deserters, resulted in conflict. The USS Chesapeake refused and the HMS Leopard opened fire, killing three sailors and injuring eighteen. In response, President Thomas Jefferson issued the Embargo Act, forbidding British ships in American waters. Jefferson later reflected that "The affair of the Chesapeake put war into my hand ... "

John Pickering (1777-1846) was the oldest son of Revolutionary War officer and former Secretary of State Colonel Timothy Pickering (1745-1829). John Pickering was a Harvard College graduate and extraordinary linguist fluent in or with knowledge of English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic. After serving as the secretary to the U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, Pickering returned to Massachusetts and opened a law office. He was elected to the General Court of Massachusetts where, as we know, he served as chairman of a committee that published a Report on the Subject of Impressed Seamen with the Evidence and Documents Accompanying It. In later life Pickering continued his studies in law and language.

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