New-York tribune., 1869-06-23

THE ALABAMA C1SE-SEMHEO, OIIAEoo'
While n multitude of men darkcn counsel by
words without knowledge about the Alabama
Claims, it seems the occasion to remember
lust was was the Alabama outrage The
world has lately been enriched by the publ
cation of a volume of eight hundred crown
octave pages, entitled memoirs Of Service
" Anoat," and purporting to be the yeracious his
tory of the Rebel privatoers. That bold sailor
Semmes. has beaten lie sword into stylus, and
after inditing herewith an unilattering allusion
to " the book k-makers-thosc'corm ever on
"the lookout for n speculation" himself be-
comes n cormorant with the largest order OF
nav. Some rapacous Briton having plrated
his tale, and not only shorn him OF his glories
but offered him no per centagc, his splut is IN
arms. He coufesscs that he cannot expect 10
be read at the court of the Demos meaning
the North. and he confesscs that there is no
money TO buy this record of generous valor at
! the South Yet he vaticinates an eager public
with the confidence OF the publishers OF yellow
covered novels. And really except that II is
bigger we see no reason why the Serrice Of
Semmts should not be equally popular with
The Memoirs Of Cidud DHraL. or The Ad-
reptures Of Jack Shepherd, or The Pi-
rates Opn Book, or The Life and Death
of Reno,rned Criminals. 1t certainly tells rs
garrulous a story of meanness, cowardice, de-
ception, greed, coarseness braggadOcio bias
phemy, cunning, contempt of law. as that
which commends either of those classics to its
peculiar circle of admirers. To be just, how
ever, Duyal, Shepherd, and Company OCCASION
ally, ut least, struck one of their size, while
the Red Rover of the Confederacy waged gall
a. a.. n. l,,,,.
and the defenseless. "When," no observes,
"when all the higher and holicr passions of the
"human heart are aroused in a strugglc-&hen
{" the barbarian is at your door with the torch
"of the inccndiary in one hand and the up
Gifted sword of diabocal revenge in the
"othern-why then, we should suppose, would
men of his mettle he needed at that door to
repel that barbarian. But he infers that that
is the moment for the naughty Southron to
be burning whalcrs in the safe shadow OF the
Azores, or drinking champagne in the hos
pitable harbOrs of Her Majesty the Queen.
On the election Of President Lincoln,
Capt Semmes-holding n commission of the
United States, educated at the expense Of the
United States, receiving the pay of the United
Statcs-resolyes to secede from the Govern
ment of "the hated Puritan" but he equally
resolves to stay and take the money for stay
ing. till "the generous cavaier"-in this case
Mr.. Secretary Mallory - offers him a better
thing Therefore, months after his resolve, %
quote once more, he is still Mt his post at THE
"Light- House Board, performing his routine
duties, but listening with an aching ear and
beating heart for the first sounds of the dis
ruption which is at hand" Not till the 14th
Of February, 1861, do the sounds of the dis
ruption, mingled with the sound Of an appoint
ment in the Confederate Navy, reach his
aching ear Early in June. commanding the
armed pirate Sumter, this jolly tar runs the
blockade at Ncw-Orlcans, slips across the
ocean to Cape Antonio, and-with occasional
visits to English ports, where he seems always
to have been heartily welcome, TO French ports
where he was unmOested, and to Spanish
ports, where he was civilly but very distinctly
informed that his room was better than his
company-he employs the next six months in
seizing, rifing, burning, or confscatiug North
ern trading vessels. Stean.ing over to Cadiz
for new prey, he encounters more Spanish
baseness, the military cOmmandant at first de-
clining to admit the Sumter to port. Gibraltar,
however, atones for the infamy of Cadiz. The
brOws of the cOnquerOr are bound with vic
torious wreaths and his unbruised arms would
doubtless have been hung up for monu-
ments had they not still been needed
for his honorable warfare. "The army and
"navy of Great Britain were with us almost
d" to man." observes the historian. The one
restriction to this charming English hospitality
was contained in the order that the Sumter
shall not make Gibraltar a station from
(which to sally out from the Strait for pur-
"poses of war" Yet the Sumter was ia such