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mid-day—an English merchant brig paying us the compliment of a salute.
I dispatched a lieutenant to call on the
Governor.
The orders of neutrality of the
English government had already been received, and his
Excellency informed me that, in accordance therewith, he would extend to me the same hospitality that he would show, in similar circumstances, to the enemy; which was nothing more, of course, than I had a right to expect.
The
Paymaster was dispatched to the shore, to see about getting a supply of coal, and send off some fresh provisions and fruit for the crew; and such of the officers as desired went on liberty.
The first thing to be thought of was the discharge of our prisoners, for, with the exception of the
Captain, whom I had permitted to land in
Puerto Cabello, with his wife, I had the crew of the
Joseph Maxwell, prize-ship, still on board.
I had given these men, eight in number, to understand that they were hostages, and that their discharge, their close confinement, or their execution, as the case might be, depended upon the action of their own Government, in the case of the
Savannah prisoners.
The reader will probably recollect the case to which I allude.
President Lincoln, of the
Federal States, in issuing his proclamation of the 15th of April, 1861, calling out 75,000 troops to revenge the disaster of
Fort Sumter, inserted the following paragraph:—
‘And I hereby proclaim, and declare, that, if any person, under the pretended authority of said States, or under any other pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons, or cargo on board of her, such persons will be held amenable to the laws of the United States, for the prevention, and punishment of piracy.’
On the 6th of May following, the Congress of the Confederate States, passed the following act, in reply, as it were, to this manifesto of
Mr. Lincoln:—
Whereas, The earnest efforts made by this Government, to establish friendly relations between the Government of the United States, and the Confederate States, and to settle all questions of disagreement between the two Governments, upon principles of right, equity, justice, and good faith, have proved unavailing, by reason of the refusal of the Government of the United States to hold any intercourse
