A Disappointed man.
Capt. Preble, of the U. S. ship
St. Louls, having permitted the Confederate steamer
Florida to slip out of his fingers, indites an explanatory epistle to the U. S. Navy Department.
They were anchored together, the
St. Louis and the
Florida, in a neutral port, and he was watching the
Florida with extreme vigilance.
His "men were wild," he says, to have a fight with her, so very "wild," that he felt compelled to withdraw the shot from the guns, lest they should incontinently pitch into her and violate the neutrality of the port.
This was a very discreet proceeding on the part of the rational and law — abiding commander, the advantages of which are evident in keeping his country out of a bad scrape and himself out of a worse one.
We don't know whether
Moffitt has sufficiently recovered his health to resume command of the
Florida, and perhaps
Capt. Preble did not know.
Whoever commands her, we respect the sound sense of
Capt. Preble in venerating the rights of a central port.
The
United States has shown through the whole war such rigid regard to the rights of centrals, that it is pleasing to record another instance of their illustrious adhesion to international law. Virtue is its own reward, and it is gratifying to feel assured that
Capt. Preble by the same act saved the honor of his country and his own bones.
Perhaps he dimly remembered the fate of the
Hatteras.
When that same ship, the
St. Louis, was commanded by a hot headed South Carolinian, one
Ingraham, of Kosta fame, he defied the strong naval force of
Austria, and came near involving his country in a formidable war. But he was troubled with a "wildness," foreign to the character of calm and discreet commanders like
Preble, and so instead of taking balls out of guns, he put them in. He came out of the affair, it is true, with flying colors, and so might Proble, with the risk, however, of the colors flying the wrong way. Yet such is the irrational admiration of mankind for heroic deeds, that the name of
Ingraham will probably be associated with the
St. Louis long after that of
Preble is forgotten.
The fact that the
Florida had steam, and the
St. Louis only sails, is mentioned by
Preble as a sufficient reason for his inability to make an effectual pursuit.
Probably the wind was ahead also; or it may have been as calm as
Capt. Preble's own mind, which no "wild" elements are ever permitted to disturb.
The U. S. Navy Department must be very unreasonable indeed if it expects a seaman to sall without wind or steam.
If they are satisfied, we are.
