Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-07-08
Correspondence of the N Y. Times.
PAaIs, Tuegdsy, Jupe 2s, 80


PARIS, Tuesday, June %, 1864.
This time we have hit OF exciting war
news to send you from this side of the wa
ter. The sinking of the Alabama by the
ReaTsarge, of the port OF Cherbourg, occu-
pies, for the moment, the thoughts ana the
| conversation OF everybody, for it is rare
| that SO many circumstances combine to
give interest TO any one event. The joy
of our loyal people here is, as might be ex-
pected, something beyond description; /
need hardly tell you that for the Secession.
lists and their European sympalhisers, the
blow was terrible, and provoked louder
and more prolonged swearing probably
than any event of this eventful war |
shall attempt TO give you all the most i'm
portaut details relating to this exciting
drama.
Iu one of the many conversations the
American Minister has been obliged TO hold
with the French Government on the sub
ject of the asylum which is furnished TO
the rebels in the French naval ports, Mr..
Dayton, am told, said to the Foreign Min
lister that all that was wanting to complete
the hospitality of France towards the reb-
els was to give refuge to the Alabama;
that then they would have given aid and
protection to the whole Confederate navy,
huu uo W SagAbB IH1h ILLS ACo-
sell, knowing how its mates had been re-
ceived in France, would no doubt soon
enter French port to demand the hospi
tality which had been accorded to others.
To this the Foreign Minister is said to
have replied with great energy that it
would not be permitted, that he would not
allow the Alabama to come in, and that
their ports should not be made place OF
common resort for these vessels.
This was three months ago. AT that time,
although watching with interest the course
of the Alabama, we did not anticipate SO
early visit from her. Only fortnight
ago Mr.. Forbes, of New York, arrived from
Shanghai and grati6ed US all by assuring
US that we would never see the ALABAMA
again in European waters, for that she was
badly used up by her long aud active ser
vice, and from this fact and the fact that
the maritime interdictions against her in
the East had been made very severe, she
would probably be sold there. We were
therefore not little astouished to find that
the Alabama was in the port OF Cherbourgr
and that she had made the run from the
East in the remarkably short time, for
vessel in her condition, of a hundred days
So impossible did it seem, that when she
entered the port OF CherbOurg last Friday
week, both the American Vice-Consul at
that place and the Maritime Prefect tele-
graphed to Paris that it was the Florida.
Immediately the American Minister at
Paris telegraphed to Capt. Winslow, OF the
HsaTsdgs, then lying in one OF the ports OF
Holland, and to the old sailing frigate 81.
Louis, supposed TO be at Cadiz, to repair
Immediately to Cherbourg to catch the pi-
rate it possible. The RsdrSGgs arrived at
once, but the So. Louis had not yet had
he Of ha Euh
The American Minister alsU protested at
once to the French Government against the
admission of the Alabama, and reminded
the Foreign Secretary of his promise in
regard to this vessel. The American Min
lister could with more justice protest ener-
getically in view of the fact that the Ala
bama did not come into French port un-
der stress OF weather; she seemed to have
struck straight line from the Cape to Cher
bonrg; she did not turn either to the right
or TO the left; she did not attempt to go in
to either the ports of England, or Of Hol-
land, or of Belgium, or Spain, or Portugal,
as she might have done with the same ia
cility. Mr.. Dayton therefore made most
apt and most fOrcible point 10 declaring to
the Foreign Minister that, by his induI-
geuce, the rebels 0ere using French ports e1-
detEy as If thsy trere their opn, that they paid
and that such had been the hospitality
shown them in France that they were fast
learning to make it their only rendezvous
The results of this protest was that
Semmes, after the thing had goue through
the .'circuulocution office" received a no.
tice from the Maritime Prefect to leave as
soon as he had proVisioued and coaled,
and not to wait for repairs, as be had
expected TO do. As soon as this order
was sent 70 Semmes, Mr.. Dayton sent his
son, Mr.. Wm. Dayton, Jr., with instruc-
tions to make preparations for fight, for
that Semmes had been ordered out and
would be obliged to go.
Capt. Semmes, finding that be had no
alternative, determined to put the best face
on the matter, aud to make as much cap
itaI for himself as possible. He therefore
wrote a letter to the Maritime Prefect, re-
uuesting him to inform Capt. Wiuslow
that be considered the latter's conduct in
pretending TO lie off aud blockade him in a
neutral port as an insutC and that he
intended TO come out and drive him of
Winslow replied, "Let him come and try
it." Both parties made their preparations
accordingly. Semmes, whose business II
was to run and not to fight, was so bad
gered and worried by the taunts OF our
side, by the pats on the back of his friends
and sympathizers, and by the restrictions
oftbe French authorities, that a less brave
man than he would have been driven by
desperation to fight; and Capt. Winslow,
who properly estimated all these circum-
stances, felt perfectly sure that Semmes
was going to fight. Semmes left all bis
yaluables in the hands of the Brazilian
consular agent on shore, aud after inviting
his friends to come out and see the ngEt,
went to sea.
You will see so many accounts of the
fight that need not dwell at length on
that part of the affair. Mr.. Wm. Dayton,
| Jr., and Antoine, the we'll known Messen-
ger of the American Legation, however,
| saw the fight. They were on board the
KearsaKe before Hud after the action, and
their account differs from most of those
published, and very much from the one
| sided accounts of the H0HitetIr and the