CHAP. XIII.

CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

1541 the right to do precisely what Captain Wilkes has done. If Great Britain shall now protest against the act, and demand their release, we must give them up, apologize for the act as a violation of our doctrine, and thus forever bind her to keep the peace in relation to neutrals, and so acknowledge she has been wrong for at least sixty years." Under the instructions of the President, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) acted in accordance with these utterances. The prisoners were released, and the British people blushed for shame because of the impotent bluster of their government, when the fact was promulgated by the American minister, Mr. Adams.

Then the London Times, which had called most vehemently for war on "the insolent Republic," in speaking of the demand of the British government for the release of the embassadors, superciliously declared that they were "worthless booty;" and added, "England would have done as much for two negroes." The embassadors were treated, in England, with a coolness that amounted to contempt, and they soon passed into obscurity.

The British government acted not only unwisely but dishonorably in the matter. Lord John Russell, the Foreign Secretary, wrote to Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, to demand from our Government the liberation of the captives and "a suitable apology for the aggressions which

had been committed;" and if the demand should not be speedily complied with, to leave Washington, with all the members of the legation. On the day of the date of Earl Russell's despatch, Mr. Seward wrote a confidential note to Mr. Adams, calling attention to the fact that Captain Wilkes did not act under orders from his Government, and expressed a hope that the British government would consider the subject in a friendly manner. He gave Mr. Adams permission to read his note to Lord Russell and the Prime Minister. Mr. Adams did so; and yet the British government, with this voluntary assurance that a satisfactory arrangement of the difficulties might be made, continued its preparations for war with vigor, to the alarm and distress of the people. The fact that such assurance had reached the government was not only suppressed, but, when rumors of it were whispered, it was semi-officially denied. And when the fact could no longer be concealed, it was, by the same authority, affirmed, without a shadow of justice, that Mr. Adams had suppressed it, at the same time suggesting, as a reason, that the American minister might profit by the purchase of American stocks at panic prices!

When the excitement, in our country, caused by the "Trent affair," was subsiding, early in 1862, public attention was attracted by the fitting out of a third naval armament at Hampton Roads. It was composed of over one hundred war-vessels and transports commanded by Commodore L. M. Goldsborough, and bearing sixteen thousand land troops under General Ambrose E. Burnside, of Rhode Island. The armament left the Roads on the 11th of January (1862), with its destination unknown except to proper officers. That destination was Roanoke Island and Pamlico Sound, on the coast of North Carolina. Off Cape Hatteras the fleet encountered a heavy gale, and it was several days before the whole armament had entered the Inlet.

The Confederates had strongly fortified Roanoke Island with batteries that commanded the Sounds on each side of it. There was also a fortified camp that extended across a narrow part of the island. These fortifications were garrisoned by North Carolina troops then under the command of Colonel H. M. Shaw, and mounted about forty guns. They had also placed obstructions in the channel leading to the island; and above them, in Croatan Sound, was a flotilla of small gun-boats-a sort of "musquito fleet" like Tatnall's in Port Royal Sound-commanded by Lieutenant W. F. Lynch, late of the National navý. Preparations were made for an attack by land and sea, the first week in February. Goldsborough drew up his fleet of seventy vessels in Croatan Sound, and opened a bombardment upon the batteries. It was kept up all the afternoon, the flotilla and the batteries

CHAP. XIII.

CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

1543

responding to Goldsborough's guns. At midnight, while a cold storm of wind and rain was sweeping over the land and water, about eleven thousand troops were landed on the island, many of them wading ashore. These were New England, New York, and New Jersey troops. They were without shelter, and were drenched. At dawn, led by General J. G. Foster (Burnside's lieutenant), they moved forward to attack the line of intrenchments that crossed the island. The Confederates, far inferior in number, made a gallant defence, going from redoubt to redoubt as one after another fell into the hands of the Nationals. They

made a vigorous stand in a wellsituated redoubt that was approached by a causeway. There was to be the last struggle in defence of the line. At the head of a part of Hawkins's Zouaves, Major Kimball (a veteran of the war with Mexico) undertook to take it by storm. Colonel Hawkins was then leading a flank movement with a part of his command. Seeing Major Kimball pushing forward, the Colonel joined him, when the whole battalion shouted, "Zou! Zou! Zou!" and pressed to the redoubt. The affrighted Confederates fled and were pursued by Foster five or six miles, when they surrendered, and Roanoke Island passed into the possession of the National forces, with three thousand prisoners and fortytwo cannon. The Confederate flotilla went up Albemarle Sound, followed by National gun-boats under Commodore Rowan.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Near Elizabeth, not far from the Dismal Swamp, Rowan attacked the flotilla and some land batteries, driving the Confederates from both, when Lynch and his followers retired into the interior. Then the United States flag was placed upon a shore battery, and this was the first portion of the main of North Carolina that was "repossessed" by the Government. Other portions of the coast of that State were speedily recovered; and on the 18th of February, 1862, Burnside and Goldsborough issued a proclamation jointly to the inhabitants of eastern North Carolina, assuring them