Arkansas true Democrat., 1862-03-06
From the London Times, Jan IT. Letter from Captain Semmes, of the Sumter.
Io Me Editor 0f He Times

SlR-Permit me, through the medium of your columns to say a word to the civilized world, in defense of my ship, against the scurrlilous ana cowardly attack made upon her by Mr. dioeoh Welles, who IS just now the secretary or the navy of the northern fragment ot what was TOT merly known as the United States ot America. That gentleman for by courtesy must caii him such, from the high official position when he occupies,) used the following ge III hls recent annual report to the President ana Coh gress of what remains of the old ContederacF:
 1t was natural that apprehension should pre- vail in regard to armed cruisers commlssohea expressly by the rebel leaders to depredate upon our commerce. This robbery of merchants and others engaged in peaceful and lawful pursuits by piratical cruisers, IS notnconslstent with the general conduct of those who have violated law and moral obligations to gratify inordinate am bition. Our extended commerce presented m dncements for piratical warfare, yet but few oi our misguided countrymen have prosttuted themselves to the purpose of plunder, though thereto invited, and those few have been in con- stant flight to escape the averaging power of our vigilant naval forces.
 "Such of these cruisers as eluded the block ade and capture, were soon wrecked, beached, or sunk, with the exception ot one, the steamer Sumter, which by some fatahty was permitted to pass the Brooklyn, then bloekading one of the passes of the Mississippi, and after brief and feeble chase by the latter was allowed to proceed on her piratical voyage, An investiga- ton of this whole occurrence was ordered by the department. Soon the Niagara and the Powhatan, from the Gulf Squadron, followed in vigorous pursuit, the latter, though long in commission, and with defective boilers and ma chinery, under her energetic commander, track ing the pratical craft as far as Marenham.
 "The Keystone State, Richmond. lroquois and San Jacinto, were also in search of her at different points and periods. Although plra- tical rover, without license from any recognized or acknowledged government, and avowedly'en- gagged in robbery and plunder of our citizens, regret to say this vessel has been received and her wants supplied, against the remonstranee of our consuls, by public authprities in may for eign ports where her character was well known"
 The closing paragraph of the above elegant extract from an American state paper, seems to show that, although 1t was penned ostensibly against myself, it was in fact levelled; at those European powers which had acknowledged the Confederate States to be lawful belligerents in the war which had been forced upon them On no other supposition could 1t charge me with robbery on the high seas, and with being a "piratical rover.n A pirate is hostis hamani
 
 with by any and all the nations of the earth; but the fact is these officers of the defunct fede ral Union are so blinded by their venom against the South that they have no longer the power to distinguish between them.
 Mr. Welles, also, in imitation of the dirty and mendacious press of the Yankee States, calls me privateer. He knows better than this. He knows that a privateer Is vessel that bears letter of marque, and that l am cruising m der no such letter. He knows that have been regularly commissioned as ship of war of the Confederate States. If he and his deluded as sociates insist upon calling the citizens of the Confederate States rebels, under the idea that those States still form part of the old Yankee concern, then he might characterize me as a re- bel man of war. But if l am this, so were all the ships of the American colonies commission ed by the Virginian, George Washington.
 Mir. Weles tells the President and Congress that, by :! some fatality" ran the blockade of New Orleans and that he has ordered the whole affair to be investigated. With the blind rage of badied madman (quem Deus ruH perdere, etc., he will, no doubt, endeayor to crush the harmless and inofensive commander of the Brooklyn, who, poor man, no doubt did his best. He says, also, that he has had six of his largest and fastest steamers in pursuit of me, and that the commander of one of them was so energetic as to perform the wonderful feat of tracking me as far as Maranham, in Brazil.
 This, 1 suppose, is one of those daring acts the officer being in command of a heavy frigate which called forth the panegyric of the Yan- kee navy, which we find in subquent part of Mir Welless report, for after praising his clerks. this officer goes on to remark " To the patriotic officers of the navy, and the brave men who, in various scenes of naval action, had served under them, the department and the government justly owe an acknowledgment even more earnest aud emphatic than that which they owe to his clerks"
 Oh! for James to portray these "scenes of naval action," confined to predatory warfare on the Potomac river, directed chiefly against women and children; to the capture of sand bag battery at Hatteras; to the mastery move- ment of the great Dupont, the "greatest naval com nander of the age,' in Yankee hvperbole. who not only knows how to use gun. powder, but, with Yankee thrift, to turn an honest penny by selling it to the government and to the pursuit of the piratical Sumter, away ever so far, even to the shore of Brazil, by the gallant Porter. who probably for this feat-so little material has Mir. Welles for heroes-will be made "hap officer"
 l feel honored to have been pursued by six frigates, and If one of them caught Messrs. Ma son and Slidell instead of catching me, why that is John Bulls affair, and not mine But l am fleeing from these ships, says Mr. Welles. Soft, Mr. Welles. He would have me. I sup,. pose, fall into the Yankee trap he has set for me- and rush to the encounter of his six frig- ates, the least of which is twice the size of my weight of metal He dares not send ship of equal force to meet me, and if he did dare so, being safely ensconced himself in his arm chair, l venture to say that the officer would not dare to find me. But have to inform Mr. Welles that by some fatality 1 have run another blockade.
 l have recently steamed out of the port of St. Pierre, in the Island of Martinique, in the face of one of the fastest and finest of his Yankee ships, the lroquois, and which is more than twice my force. Poor Capt. Palmerl 1 fear that be, too, will be immolated on the altar of the q Univer- sal Yankee Nation," because he did not catch the Sumter, though from all we can learn he had fits on the occasion. This honorable cap. tain IS indeed fit representative of the honor of Yankeedom, for he violated the sovereignty of France and his own solemn pledge at the same time, given to the commanding French naval officer present, by causing blue lights, Drought all the way, no doubt, from New Lon don, Connecticut,) to be burned on board lankee schooner in the harbor to signal to him my departure. But l only allude to this CD pas sant, as France Is abundantly able to take care of her own honor
 If the universal Yankee nation
 Can whip all creation"
 When Mir. Welles learns, too, that on my way hlther burnt three more Yankee ships and thar afoAo H.. L-z