The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-05


Admiralty nor any one else could have made
any use Of Such ship had gone off reconnoi-
tring; such another had rejoined-heet was in
latitude SO and so. This went on till the
Thursday morning. l had Just come up to
town by train as usual, and was walking to
nv Office, when the newsboys began to cry,
"New edition-enemys feet in sight" You
may imagine the scene in Londonl Business
still went on at the banks, for bills matured
although the independence of the country was
being fought out under our own eyes, SO to
say; and the spectators were active enough.
But even with the people who we're making
and losing their fortunes, the interest in the
fleet overcame everything else; men who went
to pay in or draw out their money stopped
TO show the last bulletin to the cashier. As
for the street, you could hardly get
along for the crowd stopping TO buy
and read the papers; while at every house
or Office the members sat restlessly in
the common room, as if to keep together for
company, sending out soms one of their
number every few minutes to get the latest
edition. At least this is what happened at
our office; but to sit still was as impossible as
to do anything, and most of us went out and
wandered about among the crowd, under a
sort of feeling that the news was got quicker
at in this way. Bad as were the times COM
ing, think the sickening suspense of that
day, and the shock which followed we're almost
the worst that we underwent. It was about
10 o'clock that the first telegram came; an
hour later the wire announced that the
admiral had signalled to form
line of battle, and shortly afterwards
that the order was given to bear down on
the enemy and engage. At twelve came the
announcement, ''Fleet opened fire about three
miles to leeward of us"-that is, the ship with
the cable So far all had been expectancy,
then came the first token of calamity
can iron-clad has been blown up"-''the
enemy's torpedoes are doing great damage
''the flagship is laid aboard the eenemy"-"the
flagship appears to be sinking Vice.
Admiral has signalled"-th the cable be-
came silent, and as you know, we heard no
more till two days afterwards. The solitary
iron-clad which escaped the disaster steamed
into Portsmouth.
Then the whole story came outflow our
Sailors gallant as ever, had tried to close with
the enemy; how the latter evaded the conflict
at close quarters, and, sheering off, left be-
hind them the fatal engines which sent our
ships, one after the other, to the bottom; how
all this happened almost in few minutes.
The Government, it appears, had received
warnings of this invention; but to the nation
this stunning blow was utterly unexpected.
Tired though was, could not sleep, so 1
went down to the river and had swim; and
on returning found the household was assem-
bled for early breakfast. A sorrowful house.
hold it was, although the burden press
one. My father, doubling whether his
firm could last through the day; my
mother, her distress about my brother, now
with his regiment on the coast, already ex-
ceeding that which she felt for the public
misfortune, had come down, although hardly
fit to leave her room. My sister Clara was
worst of all, for she could not but try to dis
guise her special interest in the fleet; and
though we had all guessed that her heart was
given to the young lieutenant in the flagship
the first to go down-a love unclaimed
could not be told, nor could we express the
sympathy we felt for the poor girl. That
breakfast, the last meal we ever had together,
was soon ended, and my father and I went up
to town by an early train, and got there just
as the fatal announcement of the loss of the
feet was telegraphed from Portsmouth.
The panic and excitement of that day
how the funds went down to 35 the run upon
the bank and its stoppage; the fall of half the
houses in the city; how the Government
issued notification suspending specie pay
ment and the rendering of bills-this last
Co. among the number, which stopped pay
ment as soon as my father got to the Office;
the call to arms and the unanimous response
of the country-all this Is history which
need not repeat. You wish to hear about my
own share in the business of the time. Our
brigadier belonged to line regiment
in Ireland, and did not join till the
very morning the order came. Mean
while, during the preliminary fortnight, the
militia colonel commanded. But though we
volunteers were busy with our drill and pre-
parations, those of us who, like myself,
belonged to Government offices, had
more than enough Office work to do, as you
may suppose. The volunteer clerks were
allowed to leave the Office at clock, but the
rest were kept hard at the desk far into the
night. Orders to the lord lieutensnts, to the
magistrates, notifications, all the arrange
ments for cleaning out the warehouses; for
hospitals-these and a hundred other things
had to be managed in our Office, and there
was as much hustle indoors as out Fortu.
nate We were to be so buSy-the people to be
pitied were those who had nothing to do.
And on Sunday (that was the 18th of August
work went on as usual. We had an early
parade and drill, and went up to town by the
o'clock train in my uniform, taking my rifle with
me in case of accidents, and luckily too, as il
turned out, a macintosh overeoat. When
l got to Waterloo there were all sorts OF
rHmors afloat. A fleet had been seen off the
Downs, and some of the despatch boats which
were lowering about the coasts brought news
that there was large fiotilla off Harwich, buI
nothing could be seen from the shore, as the
weather was hazy. The enemys light ships
had taken and sunk all the fishing boats they
could catch, to prevent the news of thsil
whereabouts reaching US, but few escaped
during the night, and reported that the In
constant frigate, coming home from North
EFn 6Oa Of hot hac
taken place, had sailed right into the enemyi
| fleet and haan canturad. In town tha tronn