Reference has been previously made to the zealous conduct of
the consular officials of the North.
It has been shown that at Maranham, Cayenne, Paramaribo, Cadiz, and
Gibraltar, the respective Yankee Consuls acted upon the broad principle
that every Confederate was the natural enemy of the United States, and a
rebel to boot. Not content with simply holding this opinion, the task
these gentlemen set themselves was, to indoctrinate the Governments of
the several countries in which they were located with the same views of
the case. In some cases they succeeded so far as to cause considerable
vexation to Captain Semmes; and if they failed to convince the
authorities, that the Sumter was a piratical craft, they at least
succeeded in occasionally entailing needless delays in obtaining those
necessary supplies, which as an officer in the service of a country
recognised as a belligerent, the commander of the Sumter had a right to
demand.
The Tangier Consul, however, went far beyond his brethren, for he not
only demanded, but succeeded in effecting the arrest and imprisonment of
an officer and a citizen of the Confederate States. These gentlemen, Mr.
Myers, the Paymaster of the Sumter, and Mr. Tunstall, a private Southern
gentleman, had been despatched by Captain Semmes from Gibraltar to
Cadiz, in search of coal. The vessel in which they embarked touched at
Tangier, and the two Americans landed for the purpose of inspecting the
curious old Moorish city.
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