Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-07-11
The Rescne Of seInmes.

Captain Semmes having hauled down
his flag and asked his conqueror to rescue
him and his drowning crew, was in law
and honor a prisoner of war. Neither he
nor one ofhis men could have been saved
except by the Kearsarge; for the Deer
hound acted, and could only act in the
case by the consent and the request, ex-
| pressed or implied, of Commodore Wins
low The English Yacht was there mere
ly the agent of the American man-of-War.
This agency was voluntary. The Deer
hound was not compelled to pick up the
men of the Alabama. But her captain
must have understood perfectly that if he
did so he did it for the Kearsarge. He must
have known that if the American had sup
posed he was intending to aid in the es-
cape ofhis prisoners his vessel would have
] been sunk in an instant. ..
Semmes and his men when floating in
the water we're our prisoners as truly as
though they had stood on the deck of the
Kearsarge. If their rescue had been eff
fected, under the circumstances, by an
English man-of-war, nobody can doubt
that they would have been surrendered by
the government into our hands. The cap
tain Of private yacht can certainly have
no higher rights ON the seas than the COM
nander of a national vessel We trust
that before this our minister, Mr.. Adams
has made formal demand upon the Brit
ish government for the surrender of these
men, and that the demand will be prompt
ly acceded to. If this claim is not allowed,
and if Semmes in consequence is soon
afoat on a new Alabama" we trust that
Mr. Adams will demand his passports,
without even waiting for instructions from
home; and that within a week from that
time the Kearsarge will be on her way to
the So. j.thern Ocean to sweep British com
merce from those seas. Indiamen and
Australian treasure-ships offer a tempting
prize. Besides injuring the enemy, we can
derive substantial benefits from our cap
lures. Weneed not burn the vessels which
we take. We have ports to which we can
send our prizes. Moreover the Tycoon of
Japan and the Emperor of China have not
closed ther poets to our prizes. Russia has
ports conveniently near. She has always
been our friend, and has little cause to love
England. We imagine that just in the
present juncture her ports would not be
closed against US.
We hnre- T>~@aaaded on the suppOsitiOn
which wedO not think probable, thar 6reat
Britain viii allow Semmes-brought as
he has been upon her shores-either to de-
part in or to join new Alabama. The
present ministry has, since it became aware
of the magnitude of the question, acted fair
ly and honorably, as in the case of the
rams. But a change of ministry is threat
ened, and with it may come a change of
policy. At all events Semmens nenaces
Us from English ground He can carry
out his threat only by the conniyance of
the British Government. In case this is
given it is well for US to decide in advance.
upon our conrse, and we trust it will be
what we have suggested.
As for Semmes himself, if he had the
faintest sense of honor he would surrender
himself at the earliest moment to the cap
tor, to whose generosity alone he owes it
that he IS not at this momeut under the
water and until he can do this he should
consider himself a prisoner on parole. This,
of course he will not do Ifhis own acts
and declarations were wanting his antece-
dents would be sufficient to show it. He
was officer in the service or the United
States. He had taken over and over again
the military oath, the most sacred obligation
known among men-so sacred that when
the fathers wished for a word to designate
the obligation that bound the Christian to
his Lord, they borrowed the term sGcra-
nsent,th5 which denoted this military oath,
and called the supreme rites of the Church
by the name Of "sacraments." Semmes,
having violated the oath, cannot be ex-
pected to acknowledge any other obligation
human or divine.-Nel0 York Post.