Volume 17 Issue 10 October 1967

The Press Gang and the Law

Impressment for Naval Service of seamen in British ports dates back to the reign of Edward I; Christopher Lloyd describes the practice and how it ceased in the mid-nineteenth century.

Sir John Bowring: The Radical Governor

A gifted utilitarian, and sometime Member of Parliament, Douglas Hurd writes that John Bowring spent ten tumultuous years in China where he believed in supporting the cause of progress with British gunboats.

Prescott’s Visit to England, 1850

In the mid-nineteenth century, writes Roger Howell, the eminent historian of Spain, Mexico and Peru paid a most successful visit to the British Isles.

Charles II and the Treaty of Dover, 1670

The secret treaty of Dover, which concluded with the diplomatic aid of the King’s sister, Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, has been much denounced by Whig historians. A.A. Mitchell asks, what is the truth about the King’s intentions?

The Emperor Septimius Severus

Anthony Birley describes how Septimius grappled manfully with the problem of governing that great monster, the Roman Empire.