C.S. Steamer Sumter,
Bay of Gibraltar, Feb. 10, 1862.
SIR,—I have the honour to inform you that I have this day caused to be paid to the Spanish Consul at this port the amount of the bill contracted by this ship under my command while in the dock at Caracca.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) R. SEMMES.
To the Captain of the Port, Cadiz.
Tuesday, February 11th.—* * * * Five men in confinement! The d——seems to have got into my crew. I shall have to tighten the reins a little.
Wednesday, February 12th.—* * * * Called on the Governor to have a talk with him on the subject of my deserters. He took the ground that in the absence of treaty stipulations he could not deliver a fugitive unwilling to be returned. Whilst I was with him the Tuscarora was announced by the telegraph. This ship came in and anchored near us about 12 noon, disguised with her mainyards down, so as to resemble a merchant steamer. I saw Captain Warden on shore also. He informed me that the question of my being coaled by the dockyards had been referred by telegraph to London.
Thursday, February 13th.—Blowing a levanter. In the morning a barque dragged foul of the Tuscarora, and carried away her (the barque's) foreyards. Later in the day the Tuscarora shifted her berth over to the Spanish shore, near San Roque. Several vessels took shelter in the harbour from the gale. Among them a French line-of-battle ship, and a Spanish side-wheel man-of-war. Shut up in my little cabin by the wet weather, I have time to brood gloomily over home and the war, and the prospects of our dear South.
Friday, February 14th. * * *—At noon the Tuscarora got under way, and stood over to Algeciras.
Saturday, February 15th.—Anniversary of the day of my resignation from the navy of the United States; and what an eventful year it has been! The Northern States have been making a frantic and barbarous war upon thirteen states and nine millions of people; in face, too, of Madison's words: "If there be a principle that ought not to be questioned in the United States, it is that every nation has the right to abolish an old Government and establish a new one. This principle is not only recorded in every public archive, written in every American heart, and sealed with the blood of a host of American martyrs, but it is the only lawful tenure by which the United States hold their existence as a nation." And then what flood-gates of private misery have been raised by this war—overwhelming families without number in utter ruin and desolation.