Nebraska advertiser., 1869-07-15
The Alabama Case-semmeS,
It witness.

counsel by words without knowledge
about the Alabama Claims, it seems
the occasion to remember just what
was the Alabama outrage. The world
has lately been enriched by the publi-
cation of a volume of eight hundred
crown cOtavOpages, Untitled memoirs
Service" 'AhOat,n and purporting
the veraciOus history of the Rebel
privateers. That bold sailor Semmes,
has beaten his sword into a stylus,
and after inditing Herewith an I'M
fatteriDg alluslOn TO ''the book
makers those cOrmOrants ever on
"the lookout for a speculation, y him
self becomes a cOrmOrant with the
largest order of NAV. Some raDaci-
Gus BritOn having pirated his tale,
and not only shOrn him of his glOries
but offered him no per centage, his
spirit is in arms. He cOnfesses that
he cannot expect to be read Fat the
court of the Demos" meaning the
North, and he ~confesses that there is
no money to buy this record of gener-
GUS valOr at the South. Yet he vat
itinates the eager public with the
confidence of the publishers of yellow
covered novels. And really, except
that it is bigger, we see no reason why
the SeTUSce Of SeH1n1es should not be
equally popular with the Memoirs of
Claud Daval, or The Adventures of
Jack Shepherd, or The Pirates own
Book, or The life and Death of Re-
nOWned Criminals 1t certainly tells
as garTulOus a story of meanneSs,
cOwardice, deception, gread, coarse
ness, braggadOciO, blasphemy, cum
ming, contempt of law, as that which
cOmmends either of those classics to-
its peculiar circle of admirers. To be
just, however, Duval, Shepherd, and
Company occasionally, at least, struck
one of their size, while the Red Row
er of the cOnfedeFacy waged gallant
war against the weak, the unOffending
and the defenseless. "When,u he
observs, "When all the higher and
and hOlier passions Of the human
heart are aroused in a struggle-when
the barbarian is at your door with
the torch Of the ~incendiary in one
hand and the upllfUed sword of the
diabOlical revenge in the other, why
then, we should suppose, would men
of his mettle be needed at that door to
repel that barbarian. But he infers
that that is the moment for the haugh-.
ty SOuthron to be burning whalers in
the safe shadow Ofthe Azores, or drink
ing champagne in the hOspitable
harbOrs of Her Majesty the Queen.
On the election of President Loncoln,
Capt. Semmes-hOlding the cOmmiss-
ION of the United States, educated at
the expense of the United States,
receiving the pay of the United States
resolves to secede from the Govern
ment of ''the hated Puritan" but he
equally resolves to stay and take the
money for staying, till "the generous
caYalier'-in this case Mr.. Secretary
MallOry-Offers him a better thing.
Therefore months after his resolve, To
quote once more, he is still at his post
at the Light House Board, preform-
ing his routine duties, but listening
with an aching ear and a beating
heart for the first sounds of the dis
ruptiOn which is at hand, Not till
the 4th of February, 1861, do the
sounds of the disruption, mingle with
the sound of appointment in the
Confederate Navy, reach his aching
ear. Fairly in June, commanding the
armed pirate Sumter, this jolly tar
runs the blockade at New Orleans,
slips across the ocean to Cape Antonio,
and-with occasional visits to English
ports, where he seems always to have
been heartily welcome, to Frehch pOr&
where he was unmOlested, and to
Spanish ports, where he was civily
but distinctly informed that his room
was better than his company-he
employs the next six months in
Selling, rifling, burning, or cOnfisca-
ting Northern trading vessels.
Steaming over to Cadiz for new prey,
he encounters more Spanish baseness,
the military commandment at first
declining to admit the Sumter to port
Gibraltar, however, atOnes for the1in-
fanny of CadiZ. The brows of the
cOnquerOr are bound with victorious
wreaths, land his unbruised arms
would doubtless have been hung up
for monuments, had they not still
been needed forhis honorable warfare.
The army and navy of Great BritaimI
were with us almOsttO q man, ObSerV-
es the historian. The n r~estfictiOn
to this charming English hospitality
was contained in the order that
qthe SumteTishaH not make Gibralter
a station frBm Whichlto sallylOut from
the StrRitfOr purposes of war. Yet
the Sumter wash such desperate ease
that these British physicians were in
vain. For outside the marine league
rode three Northern dFI1ed steamers
at anchor, and rather than see his
ship in action Semmes would have
her wither in despair. So he leaves
her high and dry at Gibraltar, and
betakes himself to London to delight
asympathizing capital with the tidings
that the Sumter, in her six months
cruise, had captured seventeen ships,
and done in~calculable harm to North
ern trade. II
In July, the Alabama, built on the
Mersey, was ready for sea, and Capt.
Semmes, with this record behind him
known to the Government, known
to the Customs authOrities-was ap-
pointed to command her. On June
%, Mr.. Adams had declared her to be
a Confederate cruiser, and applied to
the Government to detain her in &C
cordance with the Neutrality prOcla-
nation. Lord Russell had promised
to hold her under surveillance, but
failed to do so, On July 9Th our Con-
sui at Liverpool offered still stronger
evidence against her. The authorities
refused to SEIZE On July q, the
Consul presented new facts. The
authorities refused to seize. On July
% and Is they were warned that the
Alabama was manned and ready for
sea, and stiIl they refused to seize.
On the 9th of July she sailed on pre-
tense Of 8 trial trip with clearance or
register, went to Moelfre Bay, in
Wales, remained there t~hirty-six
hours, shipped fifty men, and then
made the harbor for Terceira, in the
Azores where she was Joined by her
store ship, a British merchantmen,