ment, and yet the question was pressed seriously upon the British Government; and the head of Mr. Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Federal Navy, was, for a long time, addled on the subject. I question, indeed, whether the head of the old gentleman has recovered from the shock it received, to this day. He afterward had me arrested, as the reader will see in due time, and conveyed to Washington a prisoner, and did all in his power to have me tried by a military commission, in time of peace, because I did not insist upon Mr. Lancaster's delivering me up to Captain Winslow! Will any one believe that this is the same Mr. Welles who approved of Captain Stellwagen's running off with the Mercedita, after he had been paroled?

But here is another little incident in point, which, perhaps, Mr. Welles had forgotten when he ordered my arrest. It arose out of Buchanan's gallant fight with the enemy's fleet in Hampton Roads, before alluded to in these pages. I will let the Admiral relate it, in his own words. He is writing to Mr. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, and after having described the ramming and sinking of the Cumberland, proceeds:

'Having sunk the Cumberland, I turned our attention to the Congress. We were some time in getting our proper position, in consequence of the shoalness of the water, and the great difficulty of manoeuvring the ship, when in or near the mud. To succeed in my object, I was obliged to run the ship a short distance above the batteries on James River, in order to wind her. During all this time her keel was in the mud; of course she moved but slowly. Thus we were subjected twice to the heavy guns of all the batteries, in passing up and down the river, but it could not be avoided. We silenced several of the batteries, and did much injury on the shore. A large transport steamer, alongside of the wharf, was blown up, one schooner sunk, and another captured and sent to Norfolk. The loss of life on shore we have no means of ascertaining. While the Virginia was thus engaged in getting her position for attacking the Congress, the prisoners state it was believed on board that ship, we had hauled off; the men left their guns, and gave three cheers. They were sadly undeceived, for, a few minutes after, we opened upon her again, she having run on shore, in shoal water. The carnage, havoc, and dismay, caused by our fire, compelled them to haul down their colors, and hoist a white flag at their gaff, and half-mast another at the main. The crew instantly took to their boats and landed. Our fire immediately

ceased, and a signal was made for the Beaufort to come within hail. I then ordered Lieutenant-Commanding Parker to take possession of the Congress, secure the officers as prisoners, allow the men to land, and burn the ship. He ran alongside, received her flag and surrender from Commander William Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast, with the side-arms of these officers. They delivered themselves as prisoners of war, on board the Beaufort, and afterward were permitted, at their own request, to return to the Congress, to assist in removing the wounded to the Beaufort. They never returned, and I submit to the decision of the Department, whether they are not our prisoners?"

Aye, these paroled gentlemen escaped, and Mr. Welles forgot to send them back. There was some excuse for Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams making the blunder they did, of supposing that the rescued officers and men of the Alabama were prisoners to the Kearsarge, but there was none whatever for Mr. Welles. He was the head of the enemy's Navy Department, and it was his business to know better; and if he did not know better, himself, he should have called to his assistance some of the clever naval men around him. Nay, if he had taken down from its shelf almost any naval history in the library of his department, he could have set himself right in half an hour. James' "English Naval History" is full of precedents, where ships which have struck their flags, have afterward escaped -the enemy failing to take possession of them—and no question has been raised as to the propriety of their conduct. So many contingencies occur in naval battles, that it has become a sort of common law of the sea, that a ship is never a prize, or the persons on board of her prisoners, until she has actually been taken possession of by the enemy. A few of these cases will doubtless interest the reader, especially as they have an interest of their own, independently of their application.

THE REVOLUTIONNAIRE AND THE AUDACIOUS.

Lord Hood fought his famous action with the French fleet in 1794. In that action, the French ship Revolutionnaire struck her colors to the English ship Audacious, but the latter failing to take possession of her, she escaped. The following is the historian's relation of the facts:

"The Audacious, having placed herself on the Revolutionnaire's lee quarter, poured in a heavy fire, and, until recalled by signal, the Russell, who was at some distance to leeward, also fired on her. The Audacious and Revolutionnaire now became so closely engaged, and the latter so disabled in her masts and rigging, that it was with difficulty the former could prevent her huge opponent from falling on board of her. Toward ten P. M., the Revolutionnaire, having, besides the loss of her mizzen-mast, had her fore and main yards, and main-topsail yard shot away, dropped across the hawse of the Audacious; but the latter quickly extricating herself, and the French ship, with her fore-topsail full, but owing to the sheets being shot away, still flying, directed her course to leeward. The men forward, in the Audacious, declared that the Revolutionnaire struck her colors, just as she got clear of them, and the ship's company cheered in consequence. The people of the Russell declared, also, that the Revolutionnaire, as she passed under their stern, had no colors hoisted. That the latter was a beaten ship, may be inferred from her having returned but three shots to the last broadside of the Audacious; moreover, her loss in killed and wounded, if the French accounts are to be believed, amounted to nearly 400 men. Still the Revolutionnaire became no prize to the British; owing partly to the disabled state of the Audacious, but chiefly because the Thunderer, on approaching the latter, and being hailed to take possession of the French ship, made sail after her own fleet." 1 James, 132, 133.

It is observable in the above extract, that the historian does not complain that the French ship escaped; does not deny her right to do so, but remarks, as a matter of course, that she did not become a prize, because she was not taken possession of.

THE ACHILLE AND THE BRUNSWICK.

In the same action, the French ship Achille, struck to the British ship Brunswick, and not being taken possession of, endeavored to escape. The relation of this engagement is as follows:

"At eleven A. M., a ship was discovered through the smoke, bearing down on the Brunswick's larboard quarter, having her gangways and rigging crowded with men, as if with the intention of releasing the Vengeur, [a prize made by the Brunswick,] by boarding the Brunswick. Instantly the men stationed at the five aftermost lower-deck guns, on the starboard side, were turned over on the larboard side; and to each of the latter guns, already loaded with a single 32-pounder, was added a double-headed shot. Presently, the Achille, for that was the ship, advanced to within musket-shot; when five or six rounds from the Brunswick's after-guns, on each

deck, brought down by the board the former's only remaining mast, the foremast. The wreck of this mast, falling where the wreck of the main and mizzen-masts already lay, on the starboard side, prevented the Achille from making the slightest resistance; and, after a few unreturned broadsides from the Brunswick, the French ship struck her colors. It was, however, wholly out of the Brunswick's power to take possession, and the Achille very soon rehoisted her colors, and setting her sprit-sail endeavored to escape."

The escape, however, was prevented by the appearance of a new ship upon the scene, the Ramilles. This ship, after dispatching an antagonist with which she had been engaged, perceiving the attempt of the Achille, made sail in pursuit, and coming up with her, took possession of her, and thus, for the first time, made her a prize. 1 James, 162-4.

THE BELLONA AND THE MILLBROOK.

In the year 1800, the French ship Bellona struck to the British ship Millbrook, and afterward escaped. The following is the account of the engagement. The battle having continued some little time, the historian proceeds:

"The carronades of the Millbrook were seemingly fired with as much precision, as quickness; for the Bellona, from broadsides, fell to single guns, and showed by her sails and rigging, how much she had been cut up by the schooner's shot. At about ten A. M., the ship's colors came down, and Lieutenant Smith used immediate endeavors to take possession of her. Not having a rope wherewith to hoist out a boat, he launched one over the gunwale, but having been pierced with shot in various directions, the boat soon filled with water. About this time, the Millbrook, having had two of her guns disabled, her masts, yards, sails, and rigging shot through, and all her sweeps shot to pieces, lay quite unmanageable, with her broadside to the Bellona's stern. In a little while, a light breeze sprung up, and the Bellona hoisted all the canvas she could, and sought safety in flight." 3 James, 57.

THE SAN JOSÉ AND THE GRASSHOPPER.

In 1807, off the coast of Spain, the Spanish brig San José struck to the British brig Grasshopper — having first run on shore-when the greater part of her crew escaped before she could be taken possession of. The affair is thus related :

"At about half an hour after noon, having got within range, the Grasshopper opened a heavy fire of round and grape upon the brig.

A running fight was maintained about fifteen minutes of its closeuntil two P. M., when the latter, which was the Spanish brig-of-war San José, of ten 24-pounder carronades, and two long sixes, commanded by Lieutenant Don Antonio de Torres, ran on shore under Cape Negrete, and struck her colors. The greater part of her crew, which, upon leaving Carthagena, on the preceding evening, numbered 99 men, then swam on shore, and effected their escape." 4 James, 374.

THE VAR AND THE BELLE POULE.

In 1809, in the Gulf of Velona, the French ship-of-war Var, struck to the British frigate Belle Poule, but before she could be taken possession of, the officers, and a greater part of the crew escaped. The action is described as follows:

"On the 15th, at daybreak, the Var was discovered moored with cables to the fortress of Velona, mounting fourteen long 18 and 24pounders, and upon an eminence above the ship, and apparently commanding the whole anchorage, was another strong fort. A breeze at length favoring, the Belle Poule, at one P. M., anchored in a position to take, or destroy the Var, and, at the same time, to keep in check the formidable force, prepared, apparently, to defend the French ship. The Belle Poule immediately opened upon the latter an animated and well-directed fire, and, as the forts made no efforts to protect her, the Var discharged a few random shots, that hurt no one, and then hauled down her colors. Before she could be taken possession of, her officers, and a greater part of her crew escaped to the shore." 5 James, 154.

THE VIRGINIA AND THE CONGRESS.

In the year 1862, one Gideon Welles being Secretary of the Federal Navy, Admiral Buchanan, of the Confederate States Navy, in the engagement in Hampton Roads, already referred to, for another purpose, sunk the frigate Congress, and, before she could be taken possession of, the crew took to their boats and escaped. Buchanan did not claim that the crew of the Congress, that had thus escaped, were his prisoners; he only claimed that Commander Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast were his prisoners, he having taken possession of them, and they having escaped, in violation of the special parole, under which he had permitted them to return to their ship.

It thus appears, that, so far from its being the exception, it is the rule, in naval combats, for both ship and officers, and crew, to escape, after surrender, if possible. The enemy may prevent