the 11th of March the Cape was sighted,
off which they were knocked about until the 20th instant; lying in the
track of vessels bounding before the gale at the rate of ten or twelve
knots an hour, and only able to see them when within a mile of the ship.

Arrived in Table Bay, Captain Semmes received intelligence of the
seizure of the Tuscaloosa, upon which he at once wrote a despatch to
Admiral Walker.[15]

[Footnote 15: For papers relating to the seizure of this vessel, see
Appendix.] The Cape was left on the 25th of March, the vessel's head
being laid towards Europe, and on the 29th the following entry is found
in the journal:--

"I have at length had a little leisure to read the late papers received
at the Cape. The Yankee Government and people, and with them a great
portion of the English press and people, seem to have jumped suddenly to
the conclusion that we are beaten, and that the war must soon end by our
submission! Mr. Lincoln has even gone so far as to prescribe the terms
on which our States may re-enter the rotten "concern"--to wit, by a
reorganization of the States government by one-tenth of the people.
Verily, the delusion of these men in the matter of this war is
unaccountable. No power on earth can subjugate the Southern States,
although some of them have been guilty of the pusillanimity of making
war with the Yankees against their sisters. History will brand them as
traitors and cowards. As for the tone of the English press, I am not
surprised at it. England is too rich to be generous. Our war for her is
a sort of prize-fight, and she is looking on in about the same spirit
with which her people lately viewed the prize fight between King and
Heenan. Hurrah one; well done the other."

* * * * *

From March 29th to April 22d there were no events calling for special
attention, save that on the sixteenth the intelligence was learned from
the master of a French ship that there were no American vessels at the
Chincha Islands, though in July, 1863, there were between seventy and
eighty American sail there. This speaks volumes of the terror the
Alabama had excited.

The night of the 22d of April was employed in giving chase to a strange
sail, which was overhauled at daybreak on the following morning; and the
United States flag having been responded to by a display of the same
colours, the Alabama boarded and took possession of the guano-laden
ship, Rockingham, which was em