The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-03 00:00:00

2HE PIUVA2BE.R SUMLE.R.

The following letter gives an authentic account
of the whole affair of the escape of the Sumter
privateer from the vigilance of the United States'
steamer Iroquois, as reported by last mail :
" St. Pierre, Martinique, Dec. 2, 1861.
" . . . . After all, the Sumter has escaped. Under
the protection of the faction that espoused her cause, aided
and abetted by the local Government, she has managed to
slip off in clever enough style. On Saturday, the 23d
ultimo, at a few minutes before eight p.m., a very cloudy
and dark evening, cutting away the moorings and
leaving her anchor behind, she quitted her berth at
the Mouillago de la Galore, and at full speed
steamed off in a southerly direction close in shore till
she attained the point beyond the roadstead, where she
made a pause. The Sumter's taking thus to flight at a mo-
ment the least expected, and at the very nick of time when
her adversary happened to be too far out at sea to perceive
her movements, excited the most indescribable indignation
and vexation among the population. As a witness myself
to the decampment, I really could not remain a stranger to
the commotion that ran through the crowd of people on
shore, extending from La Galere to Place Bertin, all shout-
ing as if to give the alarm, unwilling to entertain the very
idea of the privateer escaping, anxious, if it were possible,to
arrest her course. A man of the Iroquois, stationed on board
one of the American merchant vessels in the port to keep
an eye on the manoeuvres of the Sumter, and, in case of
her starting, to throw out a rocket in the direction she
might take, for the information of the Iroquois, had no
sooner given the signal agreed upon, than the Sumter,
awake to the hint, made a stop so as to allow time for her
pursuer to pass on in the direction which had been thus
indicated ; and when the latter was fairly at her speed in
that direction, the wily privateer turned to the northward,
coming back almost to the same place (that is to say,
between the two French steamers l'Acheron and St.
Pierre, placed at the buoy with the design, no doubt,
of deceiving the Iroquois), and continued her route south-
ward along all the sinuosities of the coast, masking her-
self under the land. '1 he Sumter emitted little or no smoke,
and had all her lights extinguished, although it is forbidden
by our harbour regulations for any vessel, especially a steamer,
to quit or traverse the port after sunset without displaying
two lights at her yardarms, and thus she very nearly ran
down the French schooner lsabella,which was then sailingin.
The Iroquois, by way of acknowledging the rock et signal,
had hoisted a light to her masthead ; so that while the
deep obscurity of the night prevented her from discerninc,
the privateer, the latter was enabled to mark the course she
took and dog all her movements. After having run to the
southward for a whole hour, the Iroquois had to reverse
her course at full speeed, and guided by another rocket
sent up from the shore to put out to sea ; but, unfortunately,
the privateer had already gained a considerable distance,
and was quite secure under concealment of the land.
The Iroquois went at the rate of 17 miles an hour, while
the Sumter's speed did not exceed 14; so we see it was not
by speed-that the former was outdone, but by trickery.

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