The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-11-26
Rifbnlunl Dispattb.
TUESDAY MORNING.

gate, while proceeding 10 Holland on n mission
fcom the Congress. The cases are not paral
lei. Laarens was captured in an American
ship, the chip itsef being therefore an enc
mv's ship, and persons board of it standing
in exactly the same relation to the Govern
ment of the captors, that they would have
stood bad they been taken on land in an enc
my's country Nobody denies that Wilke,
would have been UNSUITABLE in taking Messrs
Mason and Sldel. had he found them O,
hoard Confederate vessel II il said thu
the dispatches, papers, and drafts of our Com
missioners We're pat in the British mail bal
before the capture, and have thus gone sal,
10 Europe. Mr.. Laureus was less fortunate
He had prepared his papers with lead in sucl
manner that he thought thew would sink
when thrown into the sea tnfortunatel,
they hoaied, and were picked mp by the Bri,
,eit. The discovery, through them, of a goo,
understanding between Holland and the Coz
oDies, led 10 short war between Grea
britain and the former power, the only Incl
dents of any account in which were the oh
stinate. but indecirive sea-fght Off the Doxgen
Bank. between Admiral Hyde Parker auc
the Dntch fleet and the capture and plundel
of the Dutch Island Of 81. Eusiatia, by IL,
British West India feet under Admiral Roo
nev, and land force under Gen. Vaughan
This latter enterprise had IL most importap,
hearing upon the Issue of the war in Amer
lea, aud is one OF mauy proofs afforded h!
history, that the greatest events are Ire
QaeEtly dependent upon causes the mos
trivial Rodney was a great gambler an,
had retired 10 France 10 avoid his creditors
previously TO the breaking out of the W I
betw eel THAI country and Great Britain, in l. =
il WAS said that one oi The French Miuistr,
offered him employment IN tie navy, but tina
LIE rejected the oiler with Indignation, anu
that thereupon the Minister III question oifeIeo
him the means OF returning home. lie ac
eepted them and, on his arrival in England
applied tor employment. The command Of :;
feet going out 10 the West Indies was give
10 him, and he was instructed 10 throw sup
plies into Gibraltar at that time beseiged b,
the Spaniards, on his way to his destination
On the way 10 Gibraltar, he fell in with r
Spanish fleet of eleven sail of the line. com.
manded by Admiral Don Juan de Langura
and after running fight, which lasted tel
hours, succeeded in capturing five or six ol
thenn-one of theme having blown up durin2
the seton, with the loss Of every sou! on
board. Captain afterwards Admiral Mae.
bride, The grandfather. by the mothers side
Of Edgar A. Poe, commanded a seventy II, r
(tho Bienfaisan'l in this s.ciion. and a curious
incident is recorded in connexion will,
his name \ Spanish ship Of eighty guns
struck 10 him after severe battle and he was
about to send prize crew on board. when
the Spanish Captain informed him that hall
his crew We're dying Of malignant smallpox
Macbride was in a dilemma, but was relieved
by the Spaniard, who told him that if l..
would trust 10 his honor, ne would take The
prize into Gibraltar and deliver il to the
proper authorities. He took him nj his word
ami the Spanard was true 10 tue very letter
THIS was genuine ehiv;,lry, worthy OF CASTLE
in her best days, aud Tho feeling whicl
prompted il reminds ia Of the Cid or ot
Bayard, rather than OF modern commanders
1t was scarcely less credtable to Macbridt
than to the Spanish Captain. So apt are gene
rOus natures to understand each other. with
ont explanation, by "A sort Of freemasonry
which more vulgar spirits cannot comprr
bend.
We had nearly forgotten our narrative
Rodney, after relieving Gibraltar, went to
the West Indies, where in company with Gen
: Vaughan, he captured and piilagei ST Hustata
The weal'h on this island puts one in mind o
the enchanted castles aud grottos filed witt
bags of gold, Of which the Arabian Nights "
are SO full. Rodney had an ample opportunity
TO recruit his broken fortunes, and he awaited
himself of it 10 tie uftermost. He filed al
enormous merchant fleet with the piunder
valued at 5000, 600 sterling,) and sent more
than half his squadron TO convoy it. l.
was nevertheless nearly all recaptured by
the French, ard the absence of co large
a portion of his feet rendered it necessary
for him to abandon the West India water
TO the French Admiral Count de Grasse
Tha, officer, without being followed wa.
enabled 10 carry his feet into the Chesapeake
and render the capture of CORVALLIS aud TIL
independence Of the Colonies certainty. Had
not Rodney been without 50 large portion o
his fleet, he would either not have permtte,
him 10 go, or he would have followed hin
and, uniting with Graves, in all probability have
defeated him in our waters CORVALLIS would
have escaped, and the independence of Amer
lea would have been postponed f,r MANY
years. so ST. Eustatla saved the American
cause. and there would have been no plnndeI
of ST. Eustatia if there had not been war viii
ho nufeh opf fhePa Ill h.,ya hanp NOV u
with the Dutch if Mr.. Laurens had succeeded
in sinking his dispatches.
Mr. Laurens WAS sent 10 the Tower ana con
fined, at FIRST, with great rigor. After while
however, his health having given way nndei
the confinement, he was allowed to take the
air, at certain stated hours, in the court ysrC
of his prison. Ga one occasion, having me
and conversed with Lord George Gordon, who
was under trial for the riots he had gotten up il
London on tue Catholic question, be WAS in
stantly remanded to his dangeoa, and during
the remainder of his captivity rigidly confined
lie WAS exchanged, we believe, for Cornwall
lie. 1t was remarkable coincidence thai
CORVALLIS held at the time the Office Of keep
er Of the Tower of London, and was thus ex
changed for man " no was his own captive
CHIMBonAzo HosrITAL-We learn that a,
the station on Chimborazo Heights there are
about fifteen hundred sick
We were Informed, on a visit to the place
on Sunday, that on all that day, from ten
o'clock, there had not been II single stick OF
wood To WARM the sick and shivering inmates
eanday last was one of the bleakest DAYS o,
abe whole season. II was further stated thai
they have but two meals q dav. TINT there !,