ANNOYANCE OF THE SPANISH OFFICIALS--SHORT CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE UNITED
STATES CONSUL--THE TELEGRAPH PUT IN OPERATION BY THE OFFICIALS BETWEEN
CADIZ AND MADRID--THE SUMTER IS ORDERED TO LEAVE IN TWENTY-FOUR
HOURS--DECLINES OBEDIENCE TO THE ORDER--PRISONERS LANDED, AND SHIP DOCKED
AFTER MUCH ADO--DESERTERS--SUMTER LEAVES CADIZ.
The Spanish officials began to annoy us even before we let go our
anchor--a health officer boarding us, and telling us that he should have
to quarantine us for three days, unless we could show him a clean bill of
health. We told him that our health was clean enough, but that we had no
bill to establish the fact, whereupon he went on shore to consult his
superiors. I sent by him, the following communication to the United States
Consul, whose name was Eggleston:--
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
CADIZ, January 4, 1862.
SIR:--I have the honor to inform you, that I have on board this ship
forty-three prisoners of war--late the crews of a ship, a bark, and a
schooner, property of citizens of the United States, burned by me on
the high seas. These men having elected to be discharged on _parole_,
I am ready to deliver them to you.
Mr. Eggleston, proving to be quite a diplomat, refused to give me my
official title, in replying to my note; and of course, I could have no
further communication with him. In the afternoon, the Health Officer again
came off to inform us that the important questions, of the cleanness of
our health, and the discharge of our prisoners, had been telegraphed to
Madrid, and that we might soon expect a reply from her Majesty, the
Queen.
The next morning I received, by the hands of the same officer, a
peremptory order, from the Military Governor, to proceed to sea, within
twenty-four hours! I sat down and wrote him the following reply:--
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
CADIZ, January 5, 1862.
SIR:--I have had the honor to receive through the health officer of
the port, an order purporting to come from the Government of Spain,
directing me to proceed to sea within twenty-four hours. I am greatly
surprised at this unfriendly order. Although my Government has not
yet been formally recognized by Spain, as a _de jure_ government, it
has been declared to be possessed of the rights of a belligerent, in
the war in which it is engaged, and it is the duty of Spain to extend
to my ship the same hospitality that she would extend to a ship of
war of the opposite belligerent. It can make no difference that one
of the belligerents is a _de jure_ nation, and the other a _de facto_
nation, since it is only war rights, or such as pertain to
belligerents, which we are discussing.
I am aware of the rule adopted by Spain, in common with the other
great powers, prohibiting belligerents from bringing their prizes
into her ports, but this rule I have not violated. I have entered the
harbor of Cadiz, with my single ship, and I demand only the
hospitality to which I am entitled by the laws of nations--the
Confederate States being one of the _de facto_ nations of the earth,
by Spain's own acknowledgment, as before stated.
I am sorry to be obliged to add, that my ship is in a crippled
condition. She is damaged in her hull, is leaking badly, is
unseaworthy, and will require to be docked and repaired before it
will be possible for her to proceed to sea. I am therefore
constrained, by the force of circumstances, most respectfully to
decline obedience to the order which I have received, until the
necessary repairs can be made.
Further:--I have on board forty-three prisoners, confined within a
small space greatly to their discomfort, and simple humanity would
seem to dictate, that I should be permitted to hand them over to the
care of their Consul on shore, without unnecessary delay.
Again, the telegraphic wires were put in operation, and my reply to the
Military Commandant went up to Madrid. In a few hours a reply came down,
giving me permission to land my prisoners, and to remain a sufficient time
to put the necessary repairs upon my ship. In the meantime the most
offensive espionage was exercised toward me. A guard-boat was anchored
near by, which overhauled all shore-boats which passed between the
_Sumter_ and the shore; and on the evening of my arrival, a Spanish
frigate came down from the dock-yard, and anchored near my ship. There are
no private docks in Cadiz, and I was obliged, therefore, to go into one of
the government docks for repairs. Charles Dickens has given us an amusing
account of an English Circumlocution Office, but English red tape dwindles
into insignificance by the side of Spanish red tape. Getting into the
hands of the Spanish officials was like getting into a Chancery suit. I
thought I should never get out. The Military Commandant referred me to the
Captain of the Port, and the Captain of the Port referred me back to the
Military Commandant; until finally they both together referred me to the
Admiral of the Dock-Yard; to whom I should have been referred at first. In
the meantime, engineers and sub-engineers, and other officials whose
titles it were tedious to enumerate, came on board, to measure the length
of the ship and the breadth of the ship, calculate her tonnage, inspect
her boilers, examine into the quantity of water she made during the
twenty-four hours, and to determine generally whether we were really in
the condition we had represented ourselves to be in, or whether we were
deceiving her Majesty and the Minister of the Universal Yankee Nation at
Madrid, for some sinister purpose.
The permission came for me, at length, to go into dock, and landing our
prisoners, we got up steam and proceeded to Carraca, where the docks lie,
distant some eight miles east of the city. The Navy Yard at Carraca is an
important building-yard; it lies at the head of the bay of Cadiz, and is
approached by a long, narrow, and somewhat tortuous channel, well buoyed.
The waters are deep and still, and the Yard is, in every other respect,
admirably situated. It reminded us much, in its general aspect and
surroundings, of the Norfolk Navy Yard, in Virginia. We were not long
delayed in entering the dock. A ship which had occupied the basin assigned
to us--there were several of them--was just being let out as we
approached, and in the course of an hour afterward, the _Sumter_ was high
and dry; so rapidly had the operation been performed. We examined her
bottom with much curiosity, after the thumping she had had on the bar at
Maranham, and were gratified to find that she had received no material
damage. A small portion of her copper had been rubbed off, and one of her
planks indented, rather than fractured. She was as sound and tight as a
bottle, in every part of her, except in her propeller sleeve. It was here
where the leak had been, as we had conjectured.
To the delight both of the Spanish officials, who were exceedingly anxious
to get rid of us, lest we should compromise them in some way with the
Great Republic, of whom they seemed to be exceedingly afraid, and
ourselves, we found that the needed repairs would be slight. The boilers
were a good deal out of condition, it is true, but as they were capable of
bearing a low pressure of steam, sufficient to take us to sea, the
officials would not listen to my proposals to repair them. I had one or
two interviews, whilst I lay here, with the Dock-Admiral, whom I found to
be a very different man from the Military Commandant. He was a polite and
refined gentleman, expressed much sympathy for our people, and regretted
that his orders were such that he could not make my repairs more thorough.
He expressed some surprise at the backdown of the Federal Government, in
the _Trent_ affair, the news of which had just arrived, and said that he
had fully reckoned upon our having Great Britain as an ally in the war.
"Great Britain seems, herself, to have been of this opinion," said he, "as
she has withdrawn all her ships of war from the Mediterranean station, for
service on the American coast, and sent ten thousand troops to Canada."
From the moment my ship entered within the precinct of the Spanish Navy
Yard, the very d----l seemed to have broken loose among my crew. With rare
exceptions, a common sailor has no sense of nationality. He commences his
sea-going career at so tender an age, is so constantly at sea, and sails
under so many different flags, that he becomes eminently a citizen of the
world. Although I had sailed out of a Southern port, I had not half a
dozen Southern-born men among the rank and file of my crew. They were
mostly foreigners--English and Irish preponderating. I had two or three
Yankees on board, who had pretended to be very good Southern men, but who,
having failed to reap the rich harvest of prize-money, which they had
proposed to themselves, were now about to develop their true characters.
Some of my boats' crews had visited the shore on duty, and whilst their
boats were lying at the pier waiting for the officers to transact their
business, the tempter had come along. Sundry Jack-Tars, emissaries of the
_diplomatic_ Mr. Eggleston, the Federal Consul, had rolled along down the
pier, hitching up their trousers, and replenishing their tobacco quids as
they came along. "Cadiz is a nice place," said they to my boats' crews,
"with plenty of grog, and lots of fun. We have gotten tired of our ships,
and are living at free quarters at the Consul's. Come with us, and let us
have a jolly good time together." And they did come, or rather go, for, on
one single night, nine of my rascals deserted. This was whilst we were
still in dock. Being let out of dock, we dropped down to the city, and
being afloat again, we were enabled to prevent a general stampede, by the
exercise of firmness and vigilance. I directed an officer to be sent in
each boat, whenever one should have occasion to communicate with the
shore, armed with a revolver, and with orders to shoot down any one who
should attempt to desert. Two or three other sailors slipped away,
notwithstanding these precautions, but there the matter ended. Hearing
that my deserters were harbored by the United States Consul, I addressed
the following letter on the subject to the Governor of the city:--
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
CADIZ, January 16, 1862.
SIR:--I have the honor to inform you, that whilst my ship was in dock
at Carraca, nine of my seamen deserted, and I am informed that they
are sheltered and protected by the United States Consul. I
respectfully request that you will cause these men to be delivered up
to me; and to disembarrass this demand of any difficulty that may
seem to attend it, permit me to make the following observations.
_1st._ In the first place, my Government has been acknowledged as a
_de facto_ government by Spain, and as such it is entitled to all the
rights of a belligerent, in its war with the Government of the United
States.
_2d._ All the rights and privileges, therefore, which would attach to
the flag of the United States, should one of the ships of that
country enter this harbor, equally attach to the flag of the
Confederate States, mere ceremonial excepted.
_3d._ It has been and is the uniform custom of all nations to arrest,
upon request, and to hand over to their proper officers, deserters
from ships of war, and this without stopping to inquire into the
nationality of the deserter.
_4th._ If this be the practice in peace, much more necessary does
such a practice become in war, since otherwise the operations of war
might be tolerated in a neutral territory, as will be seen from my
next position.
_5th._ Without a violation of neutrality, an enemy's consul in a
neutral territory cannot be permitted to entice away seamen, from a
ship of the opposite belligerent, or to shelter or protect the same:
for if he be permitted to do this, then his domicil becomes an
enemy's camp in a neutral territory.
_6th._ With reference to the question in hand, I respectfully submit
that the only facts, which your Excellency can take cognizance of,
are that these deserters entered the waters of Spain under my flag,
and that they formed a part of my crew. The inquiry cannot pass a
step beyond, and Spain cannot undertake to decide, as between the
United States Consul and myself, to which of us the deserters in
question more properly belong. In other words, she has no right to
look into any plea set up by a deserter, that he is a citizen of the
United States, and not of the Confederate States.
_7th._ I might, perhaps, admit, that if a Spanish subject, serving
under my flag, should escape to the shore, and should satisfy the
authorities that he was held by force, either without contract, or in
violation of contract, he might be set at liberty, but such is not
the present case. The nationality of the deserters not being Spanish,
Spain cannot, as I said before, inquire into it. To recapitulate: the
case which I present is simply this. Several of the crew serving on
board this ship, under voluntary contracts, have deserted, and taken
refuge in the Consulate of the United States. To deprive me of the
power, with the assistance of the police, to recapture them, would in
effect convert the Consulate into a camp, and enable the Consul to
exercise the rights of a belligerent in neutral territory. He might
cripple me as effectually by this indirect means, as if he were to
assault me by means of an armed expedition.
I took precisely what I expected by this remonstrance, that is to say,
nothing. I was fighting here, as I had been in so many other places,
against odds--the odds being the stationed agents, spies, and pimps of a
recognized government. Our Southern movement, in the eyes of Spain, was a
mere political revolution, and like all absolute governments, she had no
sympathy with revolutionists. It was on this principle that the Czar of
Russia had fraternized so warmly with the Federal President.
Another difficulty now awaited the _Sumter_. I had run the blockade of New
Orleans, as the reader has seen, with a very slim exchequer; that
exchequer was now exhausted, and we had no means with which to purchase
coal. I had telegraphed to Mr. Yancey, in London, immediately upon my
arrival, for funds, but none, as yet, had reached me, although I had been
here two weeks. In the meantime, the authorities, under the perpetual
goading of the United States Charge in Madrid, Mr. Perry, and of Mr.
Consul Eggleston, were becoming very restive, and were constantly sending
me invitations to go to sea. Before I had turned out on the morning of the
17th of January, an aide-de-camp of the Governor came on board, to bring
me a peremptory order from his chief, to depart _within six hours_. I went
on shore, for the first time, to have an official interview with the
blockhead. I found him, contrary to all Spanish rule, a large, thick-set,
bull-necked fellow, with whom, I saw at the first glance, it would be of
but little use to reason. I endeavored to make him understand the nature
of the case; how it was that a steamer could no more go to sea without
fuel, than a sailing-ship without a mast; but he was inexorable. He was,
in short, one of those dunder-headed military men, who never look, or care
to look, beyond the orders of their superiors. The most that he would
undertake to do, was to telegraph to Madrid my statement, that I was out
of fuel, but expected momentarily to be supplied with funds to purchase
it. He added, however, "but if no reply comes _within the six hours_, you
must go to sea." I had retained enough coal on board from my last cruise,
to run me around to Gibraltar--a run of a few hours only--and I now
resolved to have nothing more to do with Spain, or her surly officials.
I returned on board, without further delay, and gave orders to get up
steam, and make all the other necessary preparations for sea. As we were
weighing our anchor, an aide-de-camp of the Governor came off in great
haste to say, that his Excellency had heard from Madrid in reply to his
telegram, and that her Majesty had graciously given me permission to
remain another twenty-four hours; but that at the end of that time I must
depart without fail. The aide-de-camp added that his Excellency, seeing
that we were getting up steam, had sent him off to communicate the
intelligence to me verbally, in advance of the official communication of
it by letter, which he was preparing. I directed the aide to say to his
chief that he needn't bother himself with the preparation of any letter,
as I should not avail myself of her Majesty's gracious permission--she
having been a little too ungracious in meting out the hours to me. He
departed, and we got under way. As we passed abreast of the Government
House, a boat shoved off in a great hurry, and came pulling out to us,
with a man standing up in the bow, shaking a letter at us with great
vehemence. It was the letter the aide-de-camp had spoken of. We paid no
attention whatever to the signal, and the boat finding, after some
vigorous pulling, that she could not overtake us, turned back. In half an
hour afterward, we were outside the Cadiz bar, and had discharged the
pilot.
This was the second Spanish experiment we had made in the _Sumter_. I
never afterward troubled her Majesty, either in her home ports, or those
of any of her colonies. I had learned by experience that all the weak
powers were timid, and henceforth, I rarely entered any but an English or
a French port. We should have had, during all this controversy, a
Commissioner at the Court of Madrid, one having been dispatched thither at
the same time that Mr. Yancey was sent to London, and Mr. Mann to
Brussels, but if there was one there, I did not receive a line from him.
The Federal Charge seemed to have had it all his own way. There is no
proposition of international law clearer, than that a disabled belligerent
cruiser--and a steamer without coal is disabled--cannot be expelled from a
neutral port, and yet the _Sumter_ was, in fact, expelled from Cadiz. As
remarked some pages back, the Demos, and the Carpet-bagger will revenge us
in good time.
We did enjoy some good things in the harbor of Cadiz, however. One was a
superb dinner, given us at the principal hotel by an English admirer, and
another was the market. The latter is unexcelled in any part of the world.
Fine beef and mutton from Andalusia, fish from the sea, and fruits and
wines from all parts of Spain, were present in profusion. Although we were
in midwinter, there were a variety of vegetables, and luscious oranges and
bananas that had ripened in the open air--all produced by the agency of
that Mexican Gulf heating-apparatus, of which we spoke through the lips of
Professor Maury, a few pages back. Before leaving Cadiz I saw the first
annual report of the Federal Secretary of the Navy since the breaking out
of the war. Old gentleman Welles was eloquent, and denunciatory when he
came to speak of the _Sumter_. The vessel was a "pirate," and her
commander everything that was odious. The latter "was courageously
capturing unarmed merchant-ships, and cowardly fleeing from the Federal
steamers sent in pursuit of him." There were six of these ships in full
hue and cry after the little _Sumter_, any one of which could have hoisted
her in upon deck. At the same time that these denunciations were hurled
against the Captain of the _Sumter_, gallant naval officers, wearing Mr.
Welles' shoulder-straps, and commanding Mr. Welles' ships, were capturing
little coasting-schooners laden with firewood, plundering the houses and
hen-roosts of non-combatant citizens along the Southern coast, destroying
salt-works, and intercepting medicines going in to our hospitals. But I
must be charitable. Mr. Welles was but rehearsing the lesson which he had
learned from Mr. Seward. What could _he_ know about "pirates" and the laws
of nations, who had been one half of his life editing a small newspaper,
in a small town in Connecticut, and the other half "serving out" to Jack
his frocks and trousers, and weighing out to him his sugar and tea, as
Chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing? It was late in life before
the old gentleman, on the rising tide of the Demos, had been promoted, and
allowance must be made for the defects of his early training.