THE SUMTER IN TROUBLE--FINDS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO COAL, BY REASON OF A
COMBINATION AGAINST HER, HEADED BY THE FEDERAL CONSUL--APPLIES TO THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR COAL, BUT IS REFUSED--SENDS HER PAYMASTER AND
EX-CONSUL TUNSTALL TO CADIZ--THEY ARE ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED AT
TANGIER--CORRESPONDENCE ON THE SUBJECT--THE SUMTER LAID UP AND SOLD.
The _Sumter's_ boilers were very much out of condition when she arrived at
Gibraltar, and we had hoped, from the fact that Gibraltar was a
touching-point for several lines of steamers, that we should find here,
machine and boiler shops sufficiently extensive to enable us to have a new
set of boilers made. We were disappointed in this; and so were compelled
to patch up the old boilers as best we could, hoping that when our funds
should arrive, we might be enabled to coal, and run around to London or
Liverpool, where we would find all the facilities we could desire. My
funds arrived, as before stated, on the 3d of February, and I at once set
about supplying myself with coal. I sent my first lieutenant and paymaster
on shore, and afterward my engineer, to purchase it, authorizing them to
pay more than the market-price, if it should be necessary. The reader will
judge of my surprise when these officers returned, and informed me that
they found the market closed against them, and that it was impossible to
purchase a pound of coal in any direction!
It has been seen, in the course of these pages, how often I have had
occasion to complain of the conduct of the Federal Consuls, and one can
scarcely conceive the trouble and annoyance which these well-drilled
officials of Mr. Seward gave me. I could not, of course, have complained,
if their bearing toward me had been simply that of open enemies. This was
to be expected. But they descended to bribery, trickery, and fraud, and to
all the other arts of petty intrigue, so unworthy of an honorable enemy.
Our Southern people can scarcely conceive how little our non-commercial
Southern States were known, in the marts of traffic and trade of the
world. Beyond a few of our principal ports, whence our staple of cotton
was shipped to Europe, our nomenclature even was unknown to the mass of
mere traders. The Yankee Consul and the Yankee shipmaster were everywhere.
Yankee ships carried out cargoes of cotton, and Yankee ships brought back
the goods which were purchased with the proceeds. All the American trade
with Europe was Yankee trade--a ship here and there excepted. Commercial
men, everywhere, were thus more or less connected with the enemy; and
trade being the breath of their nostrils, it is not wonderful that I found
them inimical to me. With rare exceptions, they had no trade to lose with
the South, and much to lose with the North; and this was the string played
upon by the Federal Consuls. If a neutral merchant showed any inclination
to supply the _Sumter_ with anything she needed, a runner was forthwith
sent round to him by the Federal Consul, to threaten him with the loss of
his American--_i. e._ Yankee--trade, unless he desisted.
Such was the game now being played in Gibraltar, to prevent the _Sumter_
from coaling. The same Federal Consul, who, as the reader has seen a few
pages back, stated in an official letter to the Spanish Admiral, that the
_Neapolitan_ had been captured within the marine league of the
Spanish-African coast, whilst the captain of the same ship had sworn
positively that she was distant from it, nine miles, was now bribing and
threatening the coal-dealers of Gibraltar, to prevent them from supplying
me with coal. Whilst I was pondering my dilemma, I was agreeably
surprised, one morning, to receive a visit from an English shipmaster,
whose ship had just arrived with some coal on board. He was willing, he
said, to supply me, naming his price, which I at once agreed to give him.
I congratulated myself that I had at last found an independent Englishman,
who had no fear of the loss of Yankee trade, and expressed as much to
him. "If there is anything," said he, "of which I am proud, it is just
_that thing_, that I am an independent man." It was arranged that I should
get up steam, and go alongside of him the next day. In the meantime,
however, "a change came o'er the spirit" of the Englishman's dream. He
visited the shore. What took place there, we do not know; but the next
morning, whilst I was weighing my anchor to go alongside of him, according
to agreement, a boat came from the ship of my "independent" friend to say,
that I could not have the coal, unless I would pay him double the price
agreed upon! He, too, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. The steam
was blown off, and the anchor not weighed.
Finding that I could do nothing with the merchants, I had recourse to the
Government. There was some coal in the Dock-Yard, and I addressed the
following note to my friend, Captain Warden, to see if he would not supply
me:--
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
February 10, 1862.
SIR:--I have the honor to inform you, that I have made every effort
to procure a supply of coal, without success. The British and other
merchants of Gibraltar, instigated I learn by the United States
Consul, have entered into the unneutral combination of declining to
supply the _Sumter_ with coal on any terms. Under these circumstances
I trust the Government of her Majesty will find no difficulty in
supplying me. By the recent letter of Earl Russell--31st of January,
1862--it is not inconsistent with neutrality, for a belligerent to
supply himself with coal in a British port. In other words, this
article has been pronounced, like provisions, innoxious; and this
being the case, it can make no difference whether it be supplied by
the Government or an individual (the Government being reimbursed the
expense), and this even though the market were open to me. Much more
then may the Government supply me with an innocent article, the
market not being open to me. Suppose I had come into port destitute
of provisions, and the same illegal combination had shut me out from
the market, would the British Government permit my crew to starve? Or
suppose I had been a sailing-ship, and had come in dismasted from the
effects of a recent gale, and the dock-yard of her Majesty was the
only place where I could be refitted, would you deny me a mast? The
laws of nations are positive on this last point, and it would be your
duty to allow me to refit in the public dock. And if you would not,
under the circumstances stated, deny me a mast, on what principle
will you deny me coal--the latter being as necessary to a steamer as
a mast to a sailing-ship, and both being alike innoxious?
The true criterion is, not whether the Government or an individual
may supply the article, but whether the article itself be noxious or
innoxious. The Government may not supply me with powder--why? Not
because I may have recourse to the market, but because the article
itself is interdicted. A case in point occurred when I was in Cadiz
recently. My ship was admitted into a Government dock, and there
repaired. The reasons were, first, the repairs, themselves, were such
as were authorized by the laws of nations; and secondly, there were
no private docks in Cadiz. So here, the article is innocent, and
there is none in the market--or rather none accessible to me, which
is the same thing. Why, then, may not the Government supply me? In
conclusion, I respectfully request that you will supply me with 150
tons of coal, for which I will pay the cash; or, if you prefer it, I
will deposit the money with an agent, who can have no difficulty, I
suppose, in purchasing the same quantity of the material from some of
the coal-hulks, and returning it to her Majesty's dock-yard.
This application was telegraphed to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in
London, and after the lapse of a week--for it took the "law-officers of
the Crown" a week, it seems, to decide the question--was denied. On the
same day on which I wrote the above letter, I performed the very pleasant
duty of paying to the Spanish Consul at Gibraltar, on account of the
authorities at Cadiz, the amount of the bill which the dock-yard officers
at Caracca had rendered me, for docking my ship. The dock-yard Admiral had
behaved very handsomely about it. I was entirely destitute of funds. He
docked my ship, with a knowledge of this fact, and was kind enough to say
that I might pay at my convenience. I take pleasure in recording this
conduct on the part of a Spanish gentleman, who held a high position in
the Spanish Navy, as a set-off to the coarse and unfriendly conduct of the
Military Governor of Cadiz, of whom I have before spoken.
Failing with the British Government, as I had done with the merchants of
Gibraltar, to obtain a supply of coal, I next dispatched my paymaster for
Cadiz, with instructions to purchase in that port, and ship the article
around to me. A Mr. Tunstall, who had been the United States Consul at
Cadiz, before the war, was then in Gibraltar, and at his request, I sent
him along with the paymaster. They embarked on board a small French
steamer plying between some of the Mediterranean ports, and Cadiz.
Tangier, a small Moorish town on the opposite side of the Strait of
Gibraltar, lies in the route, and the steamer stopped there for a few
hours to land and receive passengers, and to put off, and take on freight.
Messrs. Myers and Tunstall, during this delay, went up into the town, to
take a walk, and as they were returning, were set upon by a guard of
Moorish soldiers, and made prisoners! Upon demanding an explanation, they
were informed that they had been arrested upon a requisition of the United
States Consul, resident in that town.
By special treaties between the Christian powers, and the Moorish and
other non-Christian powers on the borders of the Mediterranean, it is
provided that the consuls of the different Christian powers shall have
jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over their respective citizens. It
was under such a treaty between the United States and Morocco, that the
United States Consul had demanded the arrest of Messrs. Myers and
Tunstall, as citizens of the United States, alleging that they had
committed high crimes against the said States, on the high seas! The
ignorant Moorish officials knew nothing, and cared nothing, about the laws
of nations; nor did they puzzle their small brains with what was going on,
on the American continent. All they knew was, that one "Christian dog,"
had demanded other "Christian dogs," as his prisoners, and troops were
sent to the Consul, to enable him to make the arrest as a matter of
course.
The Consul, hoping to recommend himself to the mad populace of the United
States, who were just then denouncing the _Sumter_ as a "pirate," and
howling for the blood of all embarked on board of her,--with as little
brains as their Moorish allies,--acted like the brute he was, took the
prisoners to his consular residence, ironed them heavily, and kept them in
close confinement! He guarded them as he would the apple of his eye, for
had he not a prize which might make him Consul for life at Tangier? Alas
for human hopes! I have since learned that he was kicked out of his place,
to make room for another _Sans Culotte_, even more hungry, and more "truly
loil" than himself.
Intelligence of the rich prizes which he had made, having been conveyed by
the Consul, to the commanding United States naval officer, in the Bay of
Algeziras, which bay had by this time become a regular naval station of
the enemy, that officer, instead of releasing the prisoners at once, as he
should have done, on every principle of honor, if not out of regard for
the laws of nations, which he was bound to respect and obey, sent the
sailing bark _Ino_, one of his armed vessels, to Tangier, which received
the prisoners on board, and brought them over to Algeziras--the doughty
Consul accompanying them.
There was great rejoicing on board the Yankee ships of war, in that
Spanish port, when the Consul and his prisoners arrived. They had
blockaded the _Sumter_ in the Mississippi, they had blockaded her in
Martinique, they had chased her hither and thither; Wilkes, Porter, and
Palmer, had all been in pursuit of her, but they had all been baffled. At
last, the little Tangier Consul appears upon the scene, and waylaying, not
the _Sumter_, but her paymaster, unarmed, and unsuspicious of Yankee
fraud, and Yankee trickery, captures him in the streets of a Moorish town,
and hurries him over to Algeziras, ironed like a felon, and delivers him
to Captain Craven, of the United States Navy, who receives the prisoner,
irons and all, and applauds the act!
In a day or two, after the Consul's trophies had been duly exhibited in
the Bay of Algeziras; after the rejoicings were over, and lengthy
despatches had been written, announcing the capture to the Washington
Government, the _Ino_ sets sail for Cadiz, and there transfers her
prisoners to a merchant-ship, called the _Harvest Home_, bound for the
goodly port of Boston.
The prisoners were gentlemen,--one of them had been an officer of the
Federal Navy, and the other a Consul,--but this did not deter the master
of the Yankee merchant-ship from practising upon them the cruelty and
malignity of a cowardly nature. His first act was to shave the heads of
his prisoners, and his second, to put them in close confinement, still
ironed, though there was no possibility of their escape. The captain of
the _Ino_, or of the _Harvest Home_, I am not sure which,--they may settle
it between them,--robbed my paymaster of his watch, so as not to be
behindhand with their countrymen on the land, who were just then beginning
to practise the art of watch and spoon stealing, in which, under the lead
of illustrious chiefs, they soon afterward became adepts. I blush, as an
American, to be called upon to record such transactions. It were well for
the American name, if they could be buried a thousand fathoms deep, and
along with them the perpetrators.
At first, a rumor only of the capture and imprisonment of my paymaster,
and his companion, reached me. It appeared so extraordinary, that I could
not credit it. And even if it were true, I took it for granted, that the
silly act of the Federal Consul would be set aside by the commander of the
Federal naval forces, in the Mediterranean. The rumor soon ripened,
however, into a fact, and the illusion which I had labored under as to the
course of the Federal naval officer, was almost as speedily dispelled. I
had judged him by the old standard, the standard which had prevailed when
I myself knew something of the _personnel_ of the United States Navy. But
old things had passed away, and new things had come to take their places.
A violent, revolutionary faction had possessed itself of the once honored
Government of the United States, and, as is the case in all revolutions,
coarse and vulgar men had risen to the surface, thrusting the more gentle
classes into the background. The Army and the Navy were soon brought under
the influence of these coarser and ruder men, and the necessary
consequence ensued--the Army and the Navy themselves became coarser and
ruder. Some few fine natures resisted the unholy influences, but the mass
of them went, as masses will always go, with the current.
As soon as the misfortunes of my agents were known to me, I resorted to
all the means within my reach, to endeavor to effect their release, but in
vain, as they were carried to Boston, and there imprisoned. I first
addressed a note to General Codrington, the Governor of Gibraltar,
requesting him to intercede with her Britannic Majesty's Charge, at the
Court of Morocco, for their release. This latter gentleman, whose name was
Hay, resided at Tangier, where the Court of Morocco then was, and was said
to have great influence with it; indeed, to be all-powerful. I then wrote
to the Morocco Government direct, and also to Mr. Hay. I give so much of
this correspondence below as is necessary to inform the reader of the
facts and circumstances of the case, and of the conduct of the several
functionaries to whom I addressed myself.
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
BAY OF GIBRALTAR, February 22, 1862.
SIR:--I have the honor to ask the good offices of his Excellency, the
Governor of Gibraltar [this letter was addressed to the Colonial
Secretary, who conducted all the Governor's official correspondence],
in a matter purely my own. On Wednesday last, I dispatched from this
port, in a French passenger-steamer for Cadiz, on business connected
with this ship, my paymaster, Mr. Henry Myers, and Mr. T. T.
Tunstall, a citizen of the Confederate States, and ex-United States
Consul at Cadiz. The steamer having stopped on her way, at Tangier,
and these gentlemen having gone on shore for a walk during her
temporary delay there, they were seized by the authorities, at the
instigation of the United States Consul, and imprisoned.
A note from Paymaster Myers informs me that they are both heavily
ironed, and otherwise treated in a barbarous manner. * * * An
occurrence of this kind could not have happened, of course, in a
civilized community. The political ignorance of the Moorish
Government has been shamefully practised upon by the unscrupulous
Consul. I understand that the British Government has a diplomatic
agent resident at Tangier, and a word from that gentleman would, no
doubt, set the matter right, and insure the release of the
unfortunate prisoners. And it is to interest this gentleman in this
humane task, that I address myself to his Excellency. May I not ask
the favor of his Excellency, under the peculiar circumstances of the
case, to address Mr. Hay a note on the subject, explaining to him the
facts, and asking his interposition? If any official scruples present
themselves, the thing might be done in his character of a private
gentleman. The Moorish Government could not hesitate a moment, if it
understood correctly the facts, and principles of the case; to wit:
that the principal powers of Europe have recognized the Confederate
States, as belligerents, in their war against the United States, and
consequently that the act of making war against these States, by the
citizens of the Confederate States, is not an offence, political, or
otherwise, of which a neutral can take cognizance, &c.
Governor Codrington did kindly and humanely interest himself, and write to
Mr. Hay, but his letter produced no effect. In reply to my own note to Mr.
Hay, that gentleman wrote me as follows:--
"You must be aware, that her Majesty's Government have decided on
observing a strict neutrality, in the present conflict between the
Northern and Southern States; it is therefore incumbent on her
Majesty's officers, to avoid anything like undue interference in any
questions affecting the interests of either party, which do not
concern the British Government; and though I do not refuse to accede
to your request, to deliver the letter to the Moorish authorities, I
think it my duty to signify, distinctly, to the latter, my intention
to abstain from expressing an opinion regarding the course to be
pursued by Morocco, on the subject of your letter."
In reply to this letter of Mr. Hay, I addressed him the following:--
CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER SUMTER,
GIBRALTAR, February 25, 1862.
SIR:--I have had the honor to receive your letter of yesterday's
date, in reply to mine of the 23d inst., informing me that "You [I]
must be aware that her Britannic Majesty's Government have decided on
observing a strict neutrality, in the present conflict between the
Northern and Southern States; it is therefore incumbent on her
Majesty's officers to avoid anything like undue interference in any
questions affecting the interests of either party, which do not
concern the British Government; and though I do not refuse to accede
to your request, to deliver the letter to the Moorish authorities, I
think it my duty to signify distinctly to the latter my intention to
refrain from expressing an opinion regarding the course to be pursued
by Morocco on the subject-matter of your letter."
Whilst I thank you for the courtesy of delivering my letter, as
requested, I must be permitted to express to you my disappointment at
the course which you have prescribed to yourself, of refraining from
expressing any opinion to the Moorish Government, of the legality or
illegality of its act, lest you should be charged with undue
interference.
I had supposed that the "_Trent_ affair," of so recent occurrence,
had settled, not only the right, but the duty of the civilized
nations of the earth to "interfere," in a friendly manner, to prevent
wars between nations. It cannot have escaped your observation, that
the course pursued by Europe in that affair, is precisely analogous
to that which I have requested of you. In that affair a quarrel arose
between the United States, one of the belligerents in the existing
war, and Great Britain, a neutral in that war; and instead of
"refraining" from offering advice, all Europe made haste to volunteer
it to both parties. The United States were told by France, by Russia,
by Spain, and other Powers, that their act was illegal, and that they
could, without a sacrifice of honor, grant the reparation demanded by
Great Britain. Neither the nation giving the advice nor the nation
advised, supposed for a moment that there was a breach of neutrality
in this proceeding; on the contrary, it was the general verdict of
mankind, that the course pursued was not only legal, but eminently
humane and proper, as tending to allay excitement, and prevent the
effusion of blood.
If you will run a parallel between the _Trent_ case, and the case in
hand, you will find it difficult, I think, to sustain the reason you
have assigned for your forbearance. In that case, the quarrel was
between a neutral, and a belligerent, as in this case. In that case,
citizens of a belligerent State were unlawfully arrested on the high
seas, in a neutral ship, by the opposite belligerent, and imprisoned.
In this case, citizens of a belligerent State have been unlawfully
arrested by a neutral, in neutral territory, and imprisoned. Does the
fact that the offence was committed in the former case, by a
belligerent against a neutral, and in the latter case, by a neutral
against a belligerent, make any difference in the application of the
principle we are discussing? And if so, in what does the difference
consist? If A strikes B, is it lawful to interfere to preserve the
peace, and if B strikes A, is it unlawful to interfere for the same
purpose? Can the circumstance, that the prisoners seized by the one
belligerent, in the _Trent_ affair, were citizens of the other
belligerent, alter the application of the principle? The difference,
if any, is in favor of the present case, for whilst the belligerent
in the former case was compelled to release its enemies, whom, under
proper conditions it would have had the right to capture, in the
latter case I requested you to advise a neutral to release prisoners,
who were not the enemies of the neutral, and whom the neutral could
have no right to capture under any circumstances whatever.
Upon further inquiry, I learn that my first impression, that the two
gentlemen in question had been arrested under some claim of
extradition, was not exactly correct. It seems that they were
arrested by Moorish soldiery, upon the requisition of the United
States Consul, who claimed to exercise jurisdiction over them, _as
citizens of the United States_, under a provision of a treaty common
between what are called the non-civilized and the civilized nations.
This state of facts does not alter, in any degree, the reasoning
applicable to the case. If Morocco adopts the _status_ given to the
Confederate States by Europe, she must remain neutral between the two
belligerents, not undertaking to judge of the nationality of the
citizens of either of them, or to decide any other question growing
out of the war, which does not concern her own interests. She has no
right, therefore, to adjudge a citizen of the Confederate States, to
be a citizen of the United States; and not having this right,
herself, she cannot convey it by treaty to the United States, to be
exercised by their Consul in Tangier.
I trust that you will not understand, that I have written in a tone
of remonstrance, or complaint. I have no ground on which to _demand_
anything of you. The friendly offices of nations, like those of
individuals, must be spontaneous; and if in the present instance, you
have not deemed yourself at liberty to offer a word of friendly
advice, to a Barbarian Government which has evidently erred through
ignorance of its rights and duties, in favor of unfortunate citizens
of a Government, in amity with your own, and whose people are
connected with your people by so many ties of consanguinity and
interest, I have no word of remonstrance to offer. You are the best
judge of your own actions.
I never received any reply to this letter from Mr. Hay. The fact that the
prisoners were permitted to be delivered up to the enemy, as before
stated, is conclusive that he was as good as his word, and "signified
distinctly" to the Moorish Government, that he should refrain from giving
it any advice on the subject--which, of course, under the circumstances,
was tantamount to advising it to do what it did. If he had contented
himself with handing in my protest to the Moorish authorities, without any
remark whatever, his conduct would not have been so objectionable, but
when he made it a point to inform them, as he took pains to tell me he
would, that he had no advice to offer them, this was saying to them in
effect, "I have no objection to offer to your course;" for it must be
borne in mind, that Mr. Hay was a great favorite with the Government to
which he was accredited, and was in the constant habit of giving it advice
on every and all occasions. The consuls of the different powers resident
in Tangier behaved no better than Mr. Hay. A serious commotion among the
Christian residents took place, upon the arrest and imprisonment of
Messrs. Myers and Tunstall, which would probably have resulted in their
release by the Government, but for the interference of these consuls,
headed by Mr. Hay. They advised their respective countrymen to disperse,
and "refraining distinctly," each and all of them, from giving a word of
advice to the perplexed authorities, though implored by the Moors
themselves to do so, the latter construed the whole course of Hay and the
consuls to mean, that they must comply with the Federal Consul's demand,
and hand over the prisoners to him.
The news of this arrest and imprisonment created great excitement in most
of the Christian capitals, particularly in London. A formal call was made
in the British Parliament, upon the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
for an official statement of the facts; but it being rumored and believed,
soon afterward, in London, that the prisoners had been released, no steps
were taken by the British Government, if any were contemplated, until it
was too late. Mr. Mason, our Commissioner in London, interested himself at
once in the matter, but was deceived like the rest, by the rumor. The
following extract from a letter written by me to him on the 19th of March
will show how the British Government had been bamboozled by some one,
although there was a continuous line of telegraph between London and
Gibraltar:--
"I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 8th inst.
informing me that, as late as the 7th of March, the English
Government was under the impression that Paymaster Myers and Mr.
Tunstall, had been released from imprisonment; and requesting me to
telegraph you, if the contrary should be the fact. This lack of
information on the part of the Under Secretary of State is somewhat
remarkable, as no rumor has prevailed here, at any time, that these
gentlemen had been liberated. On the contrary, the sloop-of-war
_Ino_, of the enemy, came into this Bay--Spanish side--on the 28th of
February, with the prisoners on board, and sailed with them the next
day. On the 6th of March, the _Ino_ transferred the prisoners to the
enemy's merchant-ship, _Harvest Home_, off Cadiz, which sailed
immediately for Boston. You will perceive, from the narration of
these facts, that it was unnecessary to telegraph to you, as the
prisoners, though they had not been released, had been placed beyond
the reach of the British Government through its Charge at
Tangier--even if you could have induced that Government to interfere,
which I very much doubt.
"You have, of course, been informed through the press, that the
Moorish Government was anxious to liberate the prisoners, but that it
was bullied into acquiescence, by the truculent Federal Consul, who
was backed by a force of forty armed men, landed from the _Ino_, and
who threatened to haul down his flag, and quit the country, if his
demand was not complied with. A word of advice given, unofficially
even, by Mr. Hay, or some one of the consuls present, would have been
an act of kindness to the ignorant Moors, in keeping them out of a
scrape, as well as to ourselves. As the case now stands, we shall be
obliged, as soon as we shall have gotten rid of this Yankee war, to
settle accounts with his Majesty of Morocco."
One more letter, and the reader will have full information of this Tangier
difficulty. Myers and Tunstall had embarked, as has been stated, under the
French flag, and I wrote to Mr. Slidell in Paris, requesting him to call
the attention of the French Government to this fact. Having received from
him in reply a note informing me that he had done so, I wrote him again as
follows:--
"I have had the honor to receive your note of the 8th of March,
informing me that you had referred the subject of the capture of
Messrs. Myers and Tunstall to Mons. Thouvenal, the French Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, but that the impression prevailed in
Paris that those gentlemen had been liberated. With regard to the
latter fact, you will, of course, have been undeceived before this.
The prisoners will probably be in Fort Warren, before this reaches
you. The French Consul-General at Tangier must have kept his
Government badly informed on the subject, since the latter supposed,
as late as the 8th inst., that the prisoners had been liberated.
"I trust that you will be able to make something out of the case. It
is one in which all the Christian powers are interested. If this
precedent is to stand, a French or an English subject may be seized,
to-morrow, upon the simple requisition of a consul, and handed over
to his enemy. And then, as I stated to you, in my first letter, is
not the honor of the French flag involved? It is admitted that, as
between civilized states, this question of the flag would not arise,
the parties having disembarked. But a different set of rules has been
applied to the dealings of the Christian powers, with the
non-Christian, as is shown by this very arrest, under a claim of
jurisdiction by a consul. A Frenchman in Morocco is, by treaty, under
the protection of the French Consular flag. If he commits an offence,
he is tried and punished by his Consul, regardless of the fact that
he is literally within the jurisdiction of Morocco. And these
concessions have been demanded by the Christian nations, for the
security of their subjects.
"A French citizen, on board a French merchant-ship, lying in the
waters of Morocco, would be subject to the same rule. Should, now, a
French traveller, landing in Morocco, _in itinere_, only, from a
French ship, be subject to a different rule? and if so, on what
principle? And if a Frenchman would be protected under these
circumstances--protected because of the flag which has brought him
hither, and not because he is a Frenchman, simply, why may not
Messrs. Myers and Tunstall claim French protection? Though they were
on the soil of Morocco, when arrested, they were there, _in itinere_,
under the French flag, which not only exterritorialized the ship,
over which it floated, but every one who belonged to the ship,
whether on ship-board or on shore, for the time being.
"But what appears to me most extraordinary in this case, is the
apathy, or rather the fear of their own governments, which was
manifested by the representatives of the Christian powers, on the
occasion of the arrest. A friend of mine, the Captain of an English
steam-frigate, on this station, visited Tangier, with his ship, a day
or two only after the occurrence, and he informs me that the Moorish
authorities were sorely perplexed, during the pendency of the affair,
and that they implored the counsel and assistance of the
representatives of the Christian powers, to enable them to solve the
difficulty, but that not one word of advice was tendered." * * *
I was sorry to lose my very efficient paymaster, but there was no remedy.
He was incarcerated for a while, after his arrival in Boston, but was
treated as a prisoner of war, and was finally released on parole. The
Secretary of the Federal Navy directed his stolen watch to be returned to
him which is worthy of record, as being something exceptional, but I have
never learned whether any punishment was inflicted upon the party
committing the theft. Probably not, as by this time, entire Federal armies
had become demoralized and taken to plundering.
The _Sumter_ was now blockaded by three ships of the enemy, and it being
impossible for me to coal, I resolved to lay her up, and proceed to
London, and consult with my Government as to my future course. I might
possibly have had coal shipped to me from London, or some other English
port, but this would have involved expense and delay, and it was
exceedingly doubtful besides, whether I could elude the vigilance of so
many blockading ships, in a slow ship, with crippled boilers. In her best
days, the _Sumter_ had been a very inefficient ship, being always
anchored, as it were, in the deep sea, by her propeller, whenever she was
out of coal. A fast ship, propelled entirely by sail-power, would have
been better.
When I look back now, I am astonished to find what a struggle it cost me
to get my own consent to lay up this old ship. As inexplicable as the
feeling is, I had really become attached to her, and felt as if I would be
parting forever with a valued friend. She had run me safely through two
vigilant blockades, had weathered many storms, and rolled me to sleep in
many calms. Her cabin was my bed-room and my study, both in one, her
quarter-deck was my promenade, and her masts, spars, and sails, my
playthings. I had handled her in all kinds of weather, watching her every
motion in difficult situations, as a man watches the yielding and cracking
ice over which he is making a perilous passage. She had fine qualities as
a sea-boat, being as buoyant, active, and dry as a duck, in the heaviest
gales, and these are the qualities which a seaman most admires.
And then, there are other chords of feeling touched in the sailor's heart,
at the end of a cruise, besides the parting with his ship. The commander
of a ship is more or less in the position of a father of a family. He
necessarily forms an attachment for those who have served under him, and
especially for such as have developed honorable qualities, and high
abilities, and I had a number on board the _Sumter_ who had developed
both. I only regretted that they had not a wider field for the exercise
of their abilities. I had officers serving with me, as lieutenants, who
were equal to any naval command, whatever. But, unfortunately for them,
our poor, hard-pressed Confederate States had no navy worth speaking of;
and owing to the timidity, caution, and fear of neutrals, found it
impossible to improvise one. And then, when men have been drenched, and
wind-beaten in the same storm, have stood on the deck of the same frail
little ship, with only a plank between them and eternity, and watched her
battling with the elements, which threaten every moment to overwhelm her,
there is a feeling of brotherhood that springs up between them, that it is
difficult for a landsman to conceive.
There was another, and if possible, stronger chord which bound us
together. In the olden time, when the Christian warrior went forth to
battle with the Saracen, for the cross, each knight was the sworn brother
of the other. They not only slept in the same tents, endured the same
hardships, and encountered the same risks, but their faith bound them
together with hooks of steel. Without irreverence be it spoken, we of the
Southern States had, too, our faith. The Saracen had invaded our beloved
land, and was laying it waste with fire and sword. We were battling for
our honor, our homes, and our property; in short, for everything that was
dear to the human heart. Yea, we were battling for our blood and our race,
for it had been developed, even at this early stage of the war, that it
was the design of the Northern hordes that were swarming down upon us, not
only to liberate the slave, but to enable him to put his foot upon the
neck of his late master, and thus bastardize, if possible, his posterity.
The blood of the white man in our veins could not but curdle at the
contemplation of an atrocity which nothing but the brain of a demon could
have engendered.
Besides my officers, I had many worthy men among my crew, who had stood by
me in every emergency, and who looked forward with sorrowful countenances,
to the approaching separation. The reader has been introduced to my
Malayan steward, John, on several occasions. John's black, lustrous eyes
filled with ill-concealed tears, more than once, during the last days of
the _Sumter_, as he smoothed the pillow of my cot with a hand as tender
as that of a woman, or handed me the choicest dishes at meals.
I had governed my crew with a rigid hand, never overlooking an offence,
but I had, at the same time, always been mindful of justice, and I was
gratified to find, both on the part of officers and men, an apparent
forgetfulness of the little jars and discords which always grow out of the
effort to enforce discipline, it matters not how suavely and justly the
effort may be made.
Being more or less cut off from communication with the Navy Department, I
deemed it but respectful and proper to consult with our Commissioner in
London, Mr. Mason, and to obtain his consent before finally laying up the
_Sumter_. Mr. Mason agreed with me entirely in my views, and telegraphed
me to this effect on the 7th of April. The next few days were busy days on
board the _Sumter_. Upon the capture of Paymaster Myers, I had appointed
Lieutenant J. M. Stribling Acting Paymaster, and I now set this officer at
work, closing the accounts of the ship and paying off the officers and
men. The officers were formally detached from the command, as fast as paid
off, and they embarked for London, on their way to another ship, or to the
Confederate States, as circumstances might determine; and the men, with
snug little sums in their pockets, were landed, and as is usually the case
with sailors, soon dispersed to the four quarters of the globe; each
carrying with him the material for yarn-spinning for the balance of his
life.
By the 11th of April we had completed all our preparations for turning
over the ship to the midshipman who was to have charge of her, and in two
or three days afterward, accompanied by Mr. Kell, my first lieutenant, and
several other of my officers, I embarked on board the mail-steamer for
Southampton. The following is an extract from the last letter that was
written to the Secretary of the Navy from on board the _Sumter_:--
"I now have the honor to report to you, that I have discharged and
paid off, in full, all the crew, numbering fifty, with the exception
of the ten men detailed to remain by the ship, as servants, and to
form a boat's crew for the officer left in charge. I have placed
Midshipman R. F. Armstrong, assisted by Acting Master's Mate I. T.
Hester, in charge of the ship, with provisions and funds for ten or
twelve months, and I have directed all the other officers to return
to the Confederate States, and report themselves to the Department. I
will myself proceed to London, and after conferring with Mr. Mason,
make the best of my way home. I trust the Department will see, in
what I have done, an anxious desire to advance the best interests of
our country, and that it will justify the responsibility, which, in
the best exercise of my judgment, I felt it my duty to assume, in the
difficult circumstances by which I was surrounded and embarrassed.
Enclosed is a copy of my order to Midshipman Armstrong, and a list of
the officers and men left on board the ship."
A brief summary of the services of the _Sumter_, and of what became of
her, may not be uninteresting to the reader, who has followed her thus
far, in her wanderings. She cruised six months, leaving out the time
during which she was blockaded in Gibraltar. She captured seventeen ships,
as follows: the _Golden Rocket_, _Cuba_, _Machias_, _Ben. Dunning_,
_Albert Adams_, _Naiad_, _Louisa Kilham_, _West Wind_, _Abby Bradford_,
_Joseph Maxwell_, _Joseph Parke_, _D. Trowbridge_, _Montmorency_,
_Arcade_, _Vigilant_, _Eben Dodge_, _Neapolitan_, and _Investigator_. It
is impossible to estimate the damage done to the enemy's commerce. The
property actually destroyed formed a very small proportion of it. The fact
alone of the _Sumter_ being upon the seas, during these six months, gave
such an alarm to neutral and belligerent shippers, that the enemy's
carrying-trade began to be paralyzed, and already his ships were being
laid up, or sold under neutral flags--some of these sales being _bona
fide_, and others fraudulent. In addition to this, the enemy kept five or
six of his best ships of war constantly in pursuit of her, which
necessarily weakened his blockade, for which, at this time, he was much
pressed for ships. The expense to my Government of running the ship was
next to nothing, being only $28,000, or about the price of one of the
least valuable of her prizes. The _Sumter_ was sold in the course of a
month or two after being laid up, and being put under the English flag as
a merchant-ship, made one voyage to the coast of the Confederate States,
as a blockade-runner, entering the port of Charleston. Her new owner
changed her name to that of _Gibraltar_. She was lost afterward in the
North Sea, and her bones lie interred not far from those of the
_Alabama_.