From our latest Northern files we make up some additional news.
The particulars of the capture of the Florida — the Yankee statements of the affair.
The Yankee papers contain the full particulars of the capture of the
Florida in
Bahia.
It appears that some Yankee merchants in the town, desiring the gunboat
Wachusett to sink the little
Florida, carried
Lieutenant Morris a challenge to fight the
Wachusett.
He declined, and then the
Yankees actually waited on him to urge a fight, but without success.
The account says:
‘
Captain Morris, however, stated that if he happened to fall in with the
Wachusett during a cruise, he should willingly engage in a contest with her; but that, on no account, would he consent to leave a safe harbor for the express purpose of having an engagement.
’
All efforts on the part of outside parties to bring on a naval battle in open water between the two vessels proving unavailing,
Captain Collins promptly took into consideration the other means which suggested themselves for ridding the seas of the most dangerous enemy of our commerce.
In the evening of the same day above mentioned, Thursday, October 6th, he called a council of his officers to debate the subject.
An important element in the consideration was the fact that the convenient harbor of
Bahia has three openings into the
Atlantic, by any one of which the
Florida could make her escape, whenever the darkness of the night favored her purpose, without the possibility of one Union vessel preventing it. It is stated that the council of officers were also possessed of information that the
Florida had repeatedly seized and burned American ships within three miles of the coast of
Brazil, in defiance of every law of neutrality, without the slightest objection of any sort being made by the
Brazilian authorities.
Taking into consideration all the facts in the case, the council advised, with but one dissenting vote among all the officers of the
Wachusett, that the scheme proposed of seizing the rebel cruiser at her anchorage should be carried out.
Captain Collins immediately gave the orders for accomplishing the design agreed upon, saying that with the very deepest regret he felt that the conduct of the
Brazilian Government in permitting piracies within the shadow of its shores had made the step an imperatively necessary one.
It may be remarked here that it was found, after the seizure of the
Florida, that arrangements had been made for her escape from the harbor on the very next night for a new career of depredation upon our shipping.
The preparations for the encounter were made with great celerity and complete secrecy, and at about three o'clock in the morning of Friday, October 7, the cables were slipped, and the
Wachusett bore down upon the rebel vessel under full head of steam.
So little expectation was there of such a proceeding that one-half the officers and crew of the
Florida, seventy in number, and including
Captain Morris, were carousing on shore, and the remainder, having just returned from a similar absence, were in no condition to repel an assault.
The
Florida's officer of the deck supposed the collision, which he saw to be imminent, to be merely accidental, and cried out: "You will run into us if you don't look out. " The design of
Captain Collins was simply to strike the
Florida amidships with full steam on, crushing her side and send her at once to the bottom, beyond the possibility of causing further trouble to any one.
The
Wachusett, however, did not strike her adversary fairly, but hit her in the stern, carrying away the mizzen mast and main yard.
The
Florida was not seriously injured by the collision, but the broken spar fell across the awning over her hatchway in such a manner as to prevent her crew from getting on deck from below.
The recoil which followed the shock carried the
Wachusett back several yards.
In the confusion which ensued, several pistol shots were fired from both vessels, chiefly at random and entirely without effect.
Two of the guns of the
Wachusett were also discharged, by accident according to one report, and as another version has it, by order of one of the
Union lieutenants.
The shots did not strike the
Florida.
Captain Collins, of the
Wachusett, immediately thundered out a demand to the rebel craft, "Surrender, or I will blow you out of the water!" The lieutenant in charge of the
Florida may be excused for considerable amazement, but had still presence of mind to reply, "Under the circumstances, I surrender." Without the delay of an instant, dozens of gallant tars boarded the prize, and made fast a hawser, connecting her with their own vessel, and the
Wachusett turned her course seaward, moving at the top of her speed, and towing the
Florida in her wake.
The fleet of Brazilian vessels, which entirely surrounded the little space of water on which the brief battle had been fought, was so situated that the two American steamers were obliged to pass under the stern of one of the largest in order to penetrate their line.
The
Wachusett was challenged, but did not deign a word of reply, and the
Florida, when hailed and commanded to halt a moment after, replied that a pause was impossible, as she was towed by the vessel in front.
The
Brazilians soon guessed the state of affairs, and in another moment or two the heavy guns of the fort, under the very muzzles of which the capture had been made, opened fire on the
Wachusett as she disappeared in the morning darkness.
Three shots were fired after her, all passing harmlessly far above her pennant and striking the water.
To the reader it seems that all this must have taken a considerable time, but the testimony of a careful officer on the
Wachusett, corroborated by the surgeon of the
Florida, assures us that from the time the
Wachusett first slipped her cable and steamed upon the rebel cruiser to the moment when the echoes of the last gun from the
Brazilian fortress had died away, was only twenty minutes by the watch.
Certainly no page of history can show a more daring achievement, or one executed with more brilliant rapidity or more complete success.
The Brazilian naval commander in Bahia harbor acted with all the promptness which could have been expected, and in a few moments the dawn of day disclosed two vessels of the
Brazilian fleet doing their utmost to pursue and overhaul the
Wachusett and her prize.
They were a heavy sloop-of-war and a small armed steamer — neither of them any match, in point of speed, for the handiwork of
New England mechanics, and soon gave up the chase as the
Union and rebel steamers disappeared below the horizon.
Captain Collins soon ordered the ships to heave to, and examined his prize.
He found that neither vessel was materially damaged by the collision, and that there had been no injury to life or limb from the confused firing which followed it.--Twelve officers and fifty-eight men of the
Florida's crew were captured, and all her stores, papers, records, &c., were found undisturbed in the cabin.
The two vessels soon steamed for
St. Thomas, arriving here on the 29th ultimo, and finding the
Kearsarge already in port.
It was intended to keep the matter at
Bahia a secret at
St. Thomas, but it was accidentally revealed by a seaman of the
Wachusett to one of the crew of the
Kearsarge, and some hints of it got wind in the town, causing great excitement there.
The
Florida remained outside the bay, while the
Wachusett entered to obtain coal.
Acting Assistant Paymaster W. W. Williams, of the
Wachusett;
Surgeon Charlton, of the
Florida; and sixteen of the crew of the privateer, were transferred to the
Kearsarge, which sailed October 31, and arrived here at midnight on Monday, as previously reported.
Paymaster Williams, being charged with dispatches for the
Government, left by the earliest train yesterday morning for
Washington.
The
Wachusett and
Florida were to sail from
St. Thomas on the 2d instant for New York, where they may now be daily expected.
The crew of the
Florida is composed of Englishmen, Irishmen, Germans, &c., and contains no citizens of the rebel States.
Among her officers, however, there are several Southerners.
Surgeon Charlton, who is now on board the
Kearsarge, is a native of
Georgia.
He was before the war an officer in the United States Navy, and was stationed for several years in
Chelsea.
He has many acquaintances in
Boston.
He was here on the day of
President Lincoln's first election, and left shortly after to tender his services to the Southern Confederacy.
He is a gentleman in appearance and manner, and not reluctant to speak of the circumstances of his capture and the condition of our national affairs.
He wears the full uniform of the rebel naval service, of plain grey cloth, with the rank indicated by shoulder-straps, as in the
Union costume.
Surgeon Charlton expresses full confidence that his captivity will last for only a very limited period, believing that the whole affair will terminate as did the seizure of
Mason and
Slidell three years ago. If the demands which he thinks will be made by the
Brazilian Government are disregarded by our authorities, he looks for an endorsement of the claims by the Governments of
Great Britain,
France and
Spain in such a manner as to compel compliance.
The rebel officers profess a complete indifference as to the result of yesterday's elections.
They say that the
North entirely mistakes the universal sentiment of the
South, which they affirm will never consent, on any terms, to a restoration of the
Union.
They declare an unshaken confidence in the ultimate triumph of their cause, placing their reliance on the intrinsic advantages of their position in a military point of view, moving constantly on interior lines.
They argue that volunteering is entirely at an end in the
North, and that the conscription cannot be enforced here while the rebel army is kept up to a fighting standard by steady recruiting, and has a reserve always on hand of three hundred thousand negroes capable of efficient military service.
Surgeon Charlton estimates that the
Florida has steamed over forty thousand miles since she left
Brest, not having spent ten days in port in nine months.--During her career she has captured about forty American vessels.
Speech from Lincoln — the election news in Washington.
The Abolition clubs of
Washington went to Lincoln's White House on Thursday evening, and, after firing off a cannon, proceeded to hurrah, etc., until the Gorilla came out and made the following speech:
‘
It has long been a grave question whether any government not too strong for the liberties of the people can be strong enough to maintain its own existence in great emergencies.
On this point the present rebellion brought our Republic to a severe test, and a Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain.
If the loyal people, united, were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among themselves?
But the election was a necessity.
We cannot have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case.--What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases.
Human nature will not change.
In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good.
Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.
[Cheers.]
’
But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good too. It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. [Renewed cheers.] Until now it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility.
It shows also how sound and how strong we still are. It shows that, even among the candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the
Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people's votes.
[Applause.] It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began.
Gold is good in its place; but living, brave and patriotic men are better than gold.
[Cheers and other demonstrations of applause.] But the rebellion continues; and now, that the election is over, may not all, having a common interest, re-unite in a common effort to save the common country.
[Cheers.] For my own part, I have striven, and shall strive, to avoid placing any obstacles in the way. [Cheers.] So long as I have been here; I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom.
While I am duly sensible to the high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed my country to a right conclusion, as I think, for their good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed by the result.
[Cheers.] May I ask those who have not differed with me to join with me in this same spirit toward those who have?
And now let me close by asking three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen and their gallant and skillful commanders.
The three cheers were given, accompanied by music and the sound of cannon.
The crowd in part proceeded to the residence of
Secretary Seward, who, in the course of his remarks, said he came on the stage of action some years after the Revolutionary war, and used to hear his parents talk about the vast number of tories who were opposed to the war; and what surprised him was, that after twenty-five or thirty years there was not a tory found in the
United States.
He could not exactly understand where they had gone to. [Laughter.] During the war of 1812 the Federalists used to carry the intervening elections just as the Democrats carried the election in New York in 1862, but when the war came to a close, and ended in victory, we had the era of good feeling, and from that time till now we cannot find an old Federalist.
His judgment was, when we all came together, and when the stars and stripes again wave over
Richmond, in two or three years you will have to look mighty sharp to find a secessionist or a rebel sympathizer.
[Laughter and applause.]
The chase of the Tallahassee.
A dispatch from
Fortress Monroe, dated November 9th, says the gunboat
Sassacus, which has been in search of the rebel privateer
Tallahassee since the 14th instant, arrived in
Hampton Roads on Wednesday, and reported that she fell in with a suspicious steamer on the 5th, which was believed to be the
Tallahassee.
Chase was immediately given, and kept up until darkness set in and put the suspicious steamer out of sight.
On the following morning (Sunday) she was again discovered about twelve miles ahead, and the chase was renewed and continued through the day. At one time the vessels were but five miles apart, when the stranger lightened ship and kept steadily on her course until darkness again set in and rendered the pursuit useless.
When lost sight of, she was inside the lines of our blockade fleet off
Wilmington, North Carolina, and it is thought she did not escape.
The plot to release the Johnson's Island prisoners — what was to be done with Chicago.
The Chicago
Tribune gives what it insists is a full and correct account of the plot, so recently frustrated, which had for its object the release of the
Johnson's island prisoners and the "capture" of the city of
Chicago.
It says:
‘
A force of about four hundred men — K. G. C.'s, bush whackers and guerrillas — were to be assembled at
Chicago, and with them an attack was to be made on
Camp Douglas on Monday evening for the purpose of liberating the rebels confined there.
Walsh, with one hundred and fifty men, was to assault the east side of the camp, and another man, whose name we may not now furnish, with two hundred, was to take the west side, the operation to be superintended by
Marmaduke, who was to have the remaining fifty men as a reserve corps, ready to act where wanted.
The programme was to break down the fence and stampede the twelve hundred prisoners, who were all ready for the work, having been informed of it in some way best known to themselves.
The prisoners were to be armed as rapidly as possible, the garrison overpowered, their arms and artillery secured, and the garrison made prisoners.
This, it was believed, could easily be done if the attack was made as concerted; and, indeed, there is little room to hope that it would have been otherwise than successful had it not been nipped in the bud by a premature exposure of the whole scheme.
With
Marmaduke at their head, the rebels were to march into the city and take possession of the court-house and square as the base of offensive operations.
They were then to take possession of the polls, voting in each precinct, and preventing the deposition in the ballot-box of any other than the
McClellan ticket.
This being accomplished, and a majority in the
State thus secured, they were to proceed at once to the work of destruction.
All the banks were to be robbed, the stores gutted, and then fire set to the principal buildings; for the purpose of controlling this latter phase of the business, the water-plugs had all been marked and a force detailed to set the water running, so as to empty the mains and exhaust the water supply.
The telegraph wires were to be out on the first onset, and then fire set to the railroad depots, the elevator, the shipping, &c. The persons of the leading Union men in the city were to be seized, and they, with the plunder, marched off southward.
’
It was believed that, with this force of nearly thirteen thousand men, the city could be so quickly overwhelmed as that effective opposition would be impossible, and that they could then, under their leader,
Marmaduke, march in any direction with perfect impunity.
The scheme was well concocted.
It lacked only one essential — a successful issue.
Thank
Providence that it was denied them.
They had assembled here, as per programme; and had the arrests been delayed a single day, it would have been too late — the oft-repeated threat would have been executed, and rivers of blood would have run in the streets of
Chicago.
No one can doubt that, had they once commenced active operations, they would have been joined by a sufficiently large number of
Chicago disloyalists to have made a clean sweep of the city and reduced it to a heap of ashes.
Walsh is completely unmanned — broken down by his sudden arrest, the complete exposure of the treasonable conspiracy into which he has been led, made the dupe of persons more designing than himself, who have manufactured out of him a genuine cat's-paw.
He evidently feels that his only chance of safety is to make a clean breast of the whole matter and expose the villains who have over-persuaded him into this net. He now sees the deep guilt of the whole transaction and the depth of the gulf on whose brink he has been lying.
Marmaduke has made a partial confession, or rather a series of admissions, which, as far as they go, fully substantiate
Mr. Walsh's statements and leave no doubt that the conspiracy was fully as diabolical in its character as is represented above.
He has made these statements to a man who formerly served under him, and whom he still supposes to be in the rebel interest.
More of the Plan for Releasing the Johnson's Island prisoners.
Last week the
Mayor of
Chicago received information that a plot had been concocted by refugees in
Canada to sink the revenue cutter
Michigan, lying at
Sandusky, and release the prisoners from
Johnson's island.
The following particulars are given of the scheme in a Chicago paper:
‘
James Bates, a Southern refugee, purchased of the firm
A. M. Smith & Co., of
Toronto, the propeller
Georgian, representing that she was to be employed in the
Saginaw lumber trade.
It is proper to state that
Smith &Co.
are gentlemen of high standing as business men, friendly towards us, and were entirely ignorant of the use to which she was to be put. The Georgian was delivered to
Bates at
Port Colborne on the 1st instant, and the purchase money, $16,000 in
Canada funds, paid.
Mayor Fargo was informed that her engineer told
Bates that the wheel was out of order, and it would be necessary either to go to
Toronto or this port for repairs.
It was not stated that she did come here; but an inspection of the books at the collector's office showed that she reported here on the 3d, without cargo, and cleared the same day for
Port Colborne.
It was also ascertained that the wheel was repaired by
F. N. Jones.
’
A dispatch from this city to a hotel-keeper at
Colborne, dated the 2d, and signed by-Bates, requesting that if there were any passengers at his house for the propeller
Georgian to have them wait, was handed to the
Mayor by the operator who sent it.
Bates said that he proposed to strengthen the bows of the propeller so that she could be used as a ram against the
Michigan; declared that he had a sufficient force of men for his purpose, and also intimated that he was supplied with arms and ammunition.
He had in his possession a very large and accurate map of the harbor of
Sandusky, on which was marked the location of the
Michigan and the batteries.
He was particularly anxious to ascertain whether he would be compelled to open the hatches of his vessel in passing through the
Welland canal if a demand was made upon him to do so.
Mayor Fargo at once telegraphed the startling information he had received to
Captain Carter, of the
Michigan, and to the lake ports as far west as
Detroit.--He also consulted with a number of our dock merchants.
Captain Dobbins telegraphed to his agent at
Port Colborne, asking whether the
Georgian was there; and if not, at what time she left, and for what place; but he did not give an intimation as to the object of the telegram.
The reply was, that the
Georgian left for Sarria at 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, after taking on board thirty cords of wood.
The agent also added, "there was nothing particularly suspicious about her;" but that the
Pacific was to leave the next morning, and would inquire about her as she passed up. This proves conclusively that doubts as to her mission were entertained by citizens of
Port Colborne.
Any attempt to ship at any one port a sufficient number of men and the munitions necessary for the accomplishment of the piratical raid would undoubtedly have attracted the attention of the
Canadian authorities and resulted in the seizure of the boat.
It is probable, therefore, that
Bates stopped at out-of-the-way places on his way up and picked up his fellow-cut-throats in small squads, after which she took on wood enough to last for quite a cruise.
John Allen,
Captain Dobbins and others sent out a tug on Saturday night to patrol the bay and give warning by rocket signals of the approach of any suspicious craft.
Proper precautions will be continued.
