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Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 36: (search)
ting society, which by no means confined itself to mere commerce, as its name would seem to imply, but undertook to regulate the affairs of the Yankee nation, generally, and its members had consequently become orators. The words privateer, pirate, robbery, and plunder, and other blood-and-thunder expressions, ran through their resolutions in beautiful profusion. These resolutions were sent to Mr. Seward, and that renowned statesman sat down, forthwith, and wrote a volume of despatches to Mr. Adams, in London, about the naughty things that the British Pirate was doing in American waters. The Alabama, said he, was burning everything, right and left, even British property; would the Lion stand it? Another set of resolutions was sent to Mr. Welles, the Fede ral Secretary of the Navy, and that old gentleman put all the telegraph wires in motion, leading to the different sea-port towns; and the wires put in motion a number of gunboats which were to hurry off to the banks of Newfoundl
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 40: (search)
in fact, brought in pretty substantial credentials, that I was a ship of war —130 of the officers and men of one of the enemy's sunken ships. Great Britain had had the good sense not to listen to the frantic appeals, either of Mr. Seward or Minister Adams, both of whom claimed, as the reader has seen, that it was her duty to stultify herself, and ignore the commission of my ship. Nor did Commodore Dunlap say anything to me of my destruction of British property, or of the three ships of war, whing, and be off. He was landed, bag and baggage, in half an hour, and in due time, as the reader has already seen, he married a negro wife, went over to England with her, swindled her out of all her property, and turned Yankee, going over to Minister Adams, and becoming one of his right-hand men, when there was any hard swearing wanted in the British courts against the Confederates. This little matter disposed of, we turned our attention to the crew. They had had a run on shore, and Kell wa
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 42: (search)
g to the Montevideans and Buenos Ayreans— many of them in the best of Spanish, and all explaining the great moral ideas, on which the Southern people were being robbed of their property, and having their throats cut. We gleaned one gratifying piece of intelligence, however, from these papers. The Pirate Florida had put to sea from Mobile, to assist the British Pirate, in plundering, and burning the innocent merchant-ships of the United States, pursuing their peaceful commerce, as Mr. Charles Francis Adams, so often, and so naively expressed it to Earl Russell. Whilst the Parks was still burning, an English bark passed through the toll-gate, the captain of which was prevailed upon, to take the master of the burning ship, his wife, and two nephews, to London. We were glad, on the poor lady's account, that she was so soon relieved from the discomforts of a small and crowded ship. The next traveller that came along was the Bethiah Thayer, of Rockland, Maine, last from the Chincha I
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 43: (search)
champagne in his hand, seemed to be most shocked. My faithful steward felt the honors and dignity of my station much more than I did myself, and it was amusing to see the smile of derision and contempt, with which he wheeled round, and replaced the uncorked bottle in the champagne basket. The next day, accompanied by my paymaster—by the way, I have forgotten to mention that I had appointed Dr. Galt, my esteemed surgeon, paymaster, at the time I made a present of my former paymaster to Mr. Adams, as related; and that I had promoted Dr. Llewellyn to be surgeon—I made a visit to the Governor at his palace. He had kindly sent horses for us to the beach, and we had a pleasant ride of about a mile, before we reached his headquarters. It was about eleven A. M., when we alighted, and were escorted by an aide-de-camp to his presence. The Governor was a thin, spare man, rather under the medium height, and of sprightly manners and conversation. His complexion, like that of most Brazili
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 45: (search)
uling after her late cruise, both in her machinery, and hull, and rigging. Among other things, it was quite necessary that she should be re-caulked, inside and out, and re-painted. There were working-parties organized, therefore, as well as hunting and fishing-parties. We soon found, too, that we had the duties of hospitality to attend to. The fame of the British Pirate had preceded her. Every ship which had touched at the Cape, had had more or less to say of the Alabama. Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams, Lord Russell and the London Times had made her famous, and the people manifested great curiosity to see her. We were, in a measure, too, among our own kinsmen. The Cape of Good Hope, as all the world knows, had been a Dutch colony, and was now inhabited by a mixed population of Dutch and English. The African had met the usual fate of the savage, when he comes in contact with civilized man. He had been thrust aside, and was only to be seen as a straggler and stranger in his native land.
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 52: (search)
of the Alabama as of the Tuscaloosa. Indeed, you had a better reason for inquiring into the antecedents of the former, than of the latter; it having been alleged that the former escaped from England in violation of your Foreign Enlistment Act. Mr. Adams, the United States Minister at London, did, in fact, set up this pretension, and demand that the Alabama should be seized in the first British port into which she should enter; but Earl Russell, in pointed contradiction of his recent conduct inse of the war, she fell, along with other Confederate property, into the hands of the Federals. Besides embalming the beautiful name Tuscaloosa in history, this prize-ship settled the law point I had been so long contesting with Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams, to wit: that one nation cannot inquire into the antecedents of the ships of war of another nation; and consequently that when the Alabama escaped from British waters and was commissioned, neither the United States nor Great Britain could objec
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 53: (search)
Deerhound, there is no doubt that a great many more would have perished. Captain Winslow has stated, in his despatch to his Government, that he desired to board the Alabama. He preserved a most respectful distance from her, even after he saw that she was crippled. He had greatly the speed of me, and could have laid me alongside, at any moment, but, so far from doing so, he was shy of me even after the engagement had ended. In a letter to the Secretary of the Federal Navy, published by Mr. Adams, in London, a few days after the engagement, he says:—I have the honor to report that, toward the close of the action between the Alabama and this vessel, all available sail was made on the former, for the purpose of regaining Cherbourg. When the object was apparent, the Kearsarge was steered across the bow of the Alabama, for a raking fire, but before reaching this point, the Alabama struck. Uncertain whether Captain Semmes was not making some ruse, the Kearsarge was stopped. This is p
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 54: (search)
ates, during the war. This gentleman, in one of his despatches to Mr. Adams, prompting him as to what he should say to the English Governmentliancy. Mr. Seward was in a furor of excitement; and as for poor Mr. Adams, he lost his head entirely. He even conceived the brilliant ideader the consideration of the authorities here. Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams were both eminently civilians. The heads of both of them were mud, the moment they stepped from the Forum to the Campus Martius. Mr. Adams was now busy preparing another humiliation for the great Americanatesman. Some men learn wisdom by experience, and others do not. Mr. Adams seems to have been of the latter class. He had made a great manSecondly,—[his lordship had been considering another point, which Mr. Adams had introduced into his despatch, not material to the present quergot to send them back. There was some excuse for Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams making the blunder they did, of supposing that the rescued office
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 55: (search)
spatch, and Mr. Lancaster's letter to the daily news Lord Russell's reply to Mr. Adams on the subject of his complaint against Mr. Lancaster presentation of a sworngton, and the too eager Secretary of State embodied them in his despatches. Mr. Adams and Mr. Seward have, both, since ascertained that they were imposed upon, andf Mr. Seward's characteristic despatches on this subject. It is addressed to Mr. Adams:— I nave the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 21f a gentleman, to Mr. Seward'scharges against both Mr. Lancaster and myself. Mr. Adams having complained to Lord Russell, of the conduct of Mr. Lancaster, the lattepared for the Daily News. In a day or two afterward, Lord Russell replied to Mr. Adams as follows:— Foreign office, July 26, 1864. Sir:—With reference t been made prisoners, and paroled by Captain Winslow, with the approbation of Mr. Adams, under the mistaken idea, as Mr. Seward afterward insisted, that they were pr<
Elias Nason, The Life and Times of Charles Sumner: His Boyhood, Education and Public Career., Chapter 7: (search)
esidential chair. Henry Wilson and Charles Allen, delegates from this State, denounced the action of the body; and returning home held with their associates, in the city of Worcester, on the 28th of June, a grand mass-meeting, over which Charles Francis Adams presided. Able speeches were made, calling for a union of men of all parties to resist the aggression of the slaveholding power. Mr. Sumner here came forward, and, in a speech of signal force and earnestness, announced in these words his separation from the Whig party: They [referring to Mr. Giddings and Mr. Adams, who had just spoken] have been Whigs; and I, too, have been a Whig, though not an ultra Whig. I was so because I thought this party represented the moral sentiments of the country,--that it was the party of humanity. It has ceased to sustain this character. It does not represent the moral sentiments of the country. It is not the party of humanity. A party which renounces its sentiments must itself expect
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