t liberty to decline it. God defend the right, and have
mercy upon the souls of those who fall, as many of us must!"

* * * * *

It has been denied that the captain of the Kearsarge sent a challenge to
the Alabama. Captain Semmes, indeed, says nothing of it himself. What
the Kearsarge did--and with a particular object, there cannot be a
doubt--was, as recorded, to enter the breakwater at the east end, and
"at about 11 A.M., on Tuesday, she _passed through the west end without
anchoring_." These are the words of a French naval captain, who speaks
of what he saw. Few will deny that among brave men this would be
considered something equivalent to a challenge. It was more than a
challenge--it was a defiance. The officer we have quoted adds, that
"anyone could then see her outside protection." It is easy to see
everything after the event. The Kearsarge looked bulky in her middle
section to an inspecting eye; but she was very low in the water, and
that she was _armed_ to resist shot and shell it was impossible to
discern. It is distinctly averred by the officers of the Alabama that
from their vessel the armour of the Kearsarge could not be
distinguished. There were many reports abroad that she was protected on
her sides in some peculiar way; but all were various and indistinct, and
to a practical judgment untrustworthy. Moreover, a year previous to this
meeting, the Kearsarge had lain at anchor close under the critical eye
of Captain Semmes. He had on that occasion seen that his enemy was not
artificially defended. He believes now that the reports of her plating
and armour were so much harbour-gossip, of which during his cruises he
had experienced enough.

Now the Kearsarge was an old enemy, constantly in pursuit, and her
appearance produced, as Captain Semmes has written, great excitement on
board the Alabama. And let us here call attention to what the officers
and men of the illustrious Confederate ship had been enduring for the
space of two years. During all this time they had been homeless, and
without a prospect of reaching home. They had been constantly crowded
with prisoners, who devoured their provender--of which they never had
any but a precarious supply. Their stay in any neutral harbour was
necessarily short as the perching of a hawk on a bough. Like the hawk's
in upper air, the Alabama's safety as well as her business was on the
high seas. Miserably fed, hunted, eluding, preying, d