The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-05 00:00:00

A correspondent in a contemporary says—Arriving in
Brest the day before yesterday by way of Quimper and
Chateaulin, the first thing I heard on getting on board the
steamer which navigates the picturesque little river
Elorn from the latter place to Brest was the arrival of
the Confederate States' cruiser Florida, and on crossing
the glorious Rade de Brest for the mouth of the harbour
I had no difficulty in making out this now celebrated
vessel as she lay at anchor among some of the giants
of the French navy—a long, low, black, rakish-looking
craft, not over-smart in appearance, yet useful every inch
of her—a pigmy among these monsters, and yet a formidable
pigmy, even to the unpractised eye, the Palmetto flag flying
proudly from her mizen. We happened to have a French
Vice-Admiral, a Russian Vice-Admiral, and a senator of
the Empire on board, and you may imagine there was an
infinity of gossip, but no reliable nformation.
When we landed at the Cale in the harbour, the crowd

which usually assembles to welcome or pester new corners
was full of "La Floride":ankher doings. " Elle a," cried
an enthusiastic commissionnaire to me, " elle a, Monsieur,
je vous assure sur ma parole d'honneur, pour deux millions
de livres sterling a bord, tout en or, je vous assure." " Eh !
mon Dieu ; c'est beaucoup I" cried a smart little mousse
from the Turenne. I could not help agreeing with the
mousse that the sum named was certainly a great deal.
That evening (aided by my fellow-traveller, Mr. Henry
Tupper, Vice-Consul of France in Guernsey and one of the
jurats of that island), I found some of the officers of the
Florida at the Hotel de Nantes (Rue d'Aiguillon). Lieu-
tenant Lingard Hoole (a young man who apparently did
not number more than three-and-twenty years) received us
courteously, and gave us his card to assure us admission on
board. He stated, however, that his superior officer, Capt.
Maffitt, was generally to be found on board his vessel, and
would be glad to see us. The frankness, courtesy, and
total absence of boasting manifested by this young officer,
impressed us most favourably.
All next day it blew a gale of wind in the Rade, and we
could not find a boat to venture out. To-day, however, the
wind was most propitious, and early morning found us
alongside the Florida. We sent our cards to Capt. Maffitt,
and were immediately admitted on board, the captain him-
self coming to the top of the companion to receive us.
Directly Captain Maffitt understood we were British sub-
jects he invited us below to his little cabin, and when I told
him that there were many people in England who regarded
his career with great interest he entered very freely into a
recital of his adventures.
I will here subjoin a copy of some notes which Captain
Maffitt subsequently handed to me relative to the career of
the Florida, promising, at the same time, a continuation,
which has not yet arrived. They are as follows :--
"The Confederate States' steamer Florida, Commander
J. N. Maffitt—This steamer was built in Liverpool and sent
to Nassau in April, 1862 ; was put in the Admiralty Court ;
cleared on the 6th of August, when her present commander
took charge with some 18 men, went to sea, mat her tender,
and received guns, &c. On the 16th of August the yellow
fever appeared on board, and Captain Maffitt had to perform
surgeon's duty, until necessity forced the vessel into Car-
duces. There she lost nearly all her crew, her paymaster,
and third engineer. She ran the blockade off Havannah in
and out, and on the 4th of September appeared off Mobile.
The entire blockading fleet put after her. Captain Maffitt
was brought up from a bed of sickness (yellow fever) to take
her in. For two hours and forty-eight minutes she was
under a close fire. All the crew were sent below, and the
officers only remained on deck, for she had but 11 men on
duty, and her guns were not furnished with raromers,
quoins, beds, or rights ; in fact, she was almost helpless.
Three heavy shots struck her hull. One shell struck her
amidships and passed through, killing one man and wound-
ing seven. Her standing rigging was shot away, and some
1,500 shrapnel shot struek her hull and reasta."
So far the notes which Captain Maffitt has as yet found
time to send me. Of the captain himself I may say that he
is a slight, middle-sized, well-knit man, of about 42 ; a
merry-looking man, with a ready, determined air, lull of
life and business; apparently the sort of man who is
equally ready for a fight or a jollification, and whose prefer-
ence for the latter would by no means interfere with hi,
creditable conduct of the former. his plainly furnished
little state-room looked as business-like as a merchant's
office. The round table in the centre was strewn with books
and innumerable manuscripts, and on the shelves were for-
midable looking rows of account books, charts, &c. I may
observe of the cabin, as of every part of the Florida. that
none of it appears to have been built for ornament—all for
use. "You see," said the captain, pointing to the heaps of
papers, letters on files, account books, &c., which literally
littered the table, " you see I've no sinecure of it. Since
my paymaster died, I've had to be my own paymaster.
There's a young WAD, named Davie (710 reletion t) our Pm-

would not have disgraced a professional artist.
The only broadside which the Florida has fired in anger
was against the Ericsson, an armed merchantman, which
she encountered 40 miles from New York. The Ericsson,
a very large vessel, did not reply, but made the best of her
way off, and succeeding in escaping. When they ventured
within 40 miles of New York they did not know that the
arrival of the Taconay (one of the "outfits") had put the
New Yorkers on their guard, and they soon found that
there were about 70 armed vessels out searching for them,
and so were glad to retreat. " We never seek a fight," said
Captain Maffitt, "and we don't avoid one. You see we've
only two vessels againat 1,500, so we should stand a poor
chance. Our object is merely to destroy their commerce, se
as to bring about a peace. We've taken altogether 72
prizes,and estimate the value at about 15,000,000 dols. The
Jacob Bell alone was worth 2,100,000 dols." The captain
exhibited a book, in which all the prizes were regularly en •
tered and all particulars relating thereto. He explained
that their mode of procedure was to burn and destroy the
property of the Northern States wherever they found it. I
asked if they took gold and precious articles, and the reply
was, "Pretty quick, when we get them." The papers of
the burnt prizes are all kept and a valuation is made before
the destruction of the vessels, in the expectation that when
peace is restored the Confederate Government will make an
appropriation of money equivalent to the claims of the cap-
tors. In consequence of this arrangement there is very little
actual treasure on board the Florida, and the officers and
crew are working mainly on the faith of the future inde-
pendence and solvency of the Confederacy. "Anyway,"
said Captain Moffitt, "we have cost the Government very
little, for we've lived on the enemy. Oh, yes, we've served
them out beautifully." In reply to some questions as to
the method of capture, the captain said, "We only
make war with the United States Government, and we re-
spect little property. We treat prisoners of war with the
greatest respect. Most of those whom we have captured
have spoken well of us. To be sure we have met with some
ungrateful rascals; but you meet with those all the world
over. The last prize we took was the Anglo-Saxon, which
we took in the English Charnel the other day, in mid-
channel. about 60 miles from Cork. She had coal on board,
and we burnt her. The pilot was a saucy fellow, and
maintained that he was on his piloting ground. He in-
sisted on being landed in an English port. but we could not
do that. I brought him and 24 men here (to Brest), and
sent them b the English Gown'. If the pilot has any just
claim upon us it will be settled by the Confederate Govern-
ment. That's not my business. My business is to take care
of the ship."
When the Florida came into Brest she had been at sea for
eight months without spending more than four entire days
in port. Before entering the port of Brest she had net been
more than 24 hours in any one port, although she had visited
Nassau, Bermuda, Pernambuco, and Sierra (Brazil). "Yes,
indeed, Sir I" said the captain, " two hundred and forty-
five days upon solid junk, without repairs or provision.'
During all this time they have only lost 15 men, including
those who were killed and wounded at Mobile, the pay-
master (who died of consumption), and one officer (who was
accidentally drowned). They have come into Brest to re-
pair the engines, which are somewhat out of order, the
shaft being quite out of line. The Emperor has given
orders that the Florida is to be admitted into the port for
all necessary repairs, and is to be supplied with everything
she may require except munitions of war.
In the course of conversation Captain Maffitt gave me an
account of what he called " the outfits " of the Florida.
These have been three in number. The Clarence was cap-
tured off Pernambuco on the sth of May, and Lieut. Reed
was put on board with 20 men and one gun. Those were
afterwards changed to the Taconay, a better vessel, which
was captured shortly after, and (to borrow Capt.Maffitt's ex-
pression) "she captured right and left." Finally, she took
the revenue cutter off Portland Harbour. The other " fit
out" was the Lapwing, on board of which Lieut. Avrett
was put to cruise on the Equator. He made several cap-
tures, and has now returned to his ship.
Capt. Moffitt showed us over his ship, which was in pretty
good order considering the eight months' almost uninter-
rupted cruise, and he presented us both witha photographic
picture of her, which was taken at Bermuda. The Florida
mounts only eight guns—six 48-pounders of the Blakeley
pattern, made at Low Moor, and stern bow chasers.
On taking our leave I asked Capt. Maffitt whether ho
expected to be intercepted on leaving Brest, pointing at the
same time to the Goulet, the nerrow passage which affords
the only ingress and egress to and from the Rade. " Well,"
replied he, " I expect there will be seven or eight of them
out there before long, but I'm not afraid. I've run eight
blockades already, and it'll go hard but I'll run the ninth."

THE MOSAIC MINISTRY,
AS DESCRIBED BY A CONSERVATIVE IN THE "NEW
REVIEW" FOR SEPTEMBER.

From one end of the world to the other he is interfering
lest the world should forget him ; and,
and intermed d ling,
even since we wrote the first few pages of this article, he
has given a fresh proof of incapacity and nepotism in the
recall of Si: James Hudson from Turin to make way for a
privileged Elliot 1 The next thing that we shall hear of will
be the recall of Lord Napier from St. Petersburg to make
way for a companion Phipps!

AB Castor and Pollux divided the year,
And held one another in passing eclipse,
An Elliot ascends if a Phipps disappear—
If Elliot is waning we look far a Phipps•
And so, persevering in sunshine or storm,
Without interregnum or Tory eclipse,
We steer in the name and the cause of reform
By the twin constellation of Elliot and Phipps
At the Home Office we have seen a minister alike igno
rant of what to do and what to leave undone; insulting
and offending, on the most frivolous pretext, the wealthy
and powerful corporation of the City of London; setting
himself perversely against the general feeling of the public
on the question of our criminal population; and com-
mitting the Royal prerogative to the most questionable re-
laxation of justice. At the Exchequer we see Mr. Glad-
stone still playing with the public purse as if it were a toy ;
trying financial experiments either contemptible for frivo-
lity or odious for harshness ; and deferring to still another
day the redemption of his ancient pledges. In Ireland, we
find Lord Carlisle's popularity on the wane. People are
tired of him. Something more is expected of a Viceroy
than a daily attendance at bazaars, cricket matches, flower
shows, and such like. Thus, in addition to those general
causes which favour the progress of Conservatism, we have
special reasons also for distrusting a Whig Administration.
Nothing practical, on the other hand, was eves urged
against the Conservatives, even by their enemies—except,
of course, by regular Democrats and Dissenters—but the
one possibility that their foreign policy might be retro-
gressive. Waiving the question of how much there may
be to choose between a setrogressionist and a Russell, we
only care to point out that little can be got out of this cry
more favourable to one party than another. The Conser-
vatives could not well adopt any reactionary foreign policy
—not so much because public opinion would not let them,
as because there are few, if any despotic Governments left
upon the Continent. Austria is constitutional; Russia is, at
all even ts, becomio g Liberal ; Italy is parliamentary ; France
is the most despotic of all. Yet a close alliance with Franca
has never been supposed to savour of a reactionary spirit.
The Pope is the only ruler left, sympathy with whom
would be so interpreted. And really the temporary power
of the Papacy, besides being a French " idea," is a some-
what slender foundation for so heavy a superstructure to be
reared upon.

CITY EXTENSION OF THE NORTH LONDON RAIL.
WA.Y.—Meesra. Waring and Co. have taken the contract
for the construction of this branch railway from Kings•
land to Liverpool-street, City, for the sum of £215,000.—
City Fres,:,