The application for coal at a neutral port was in itself a renunciation of any further hospitality from the harbour, as Captain Semmes was aware.  The Port-admiral contented himself with pointing it out to him.  A duel is not an unpopular thing in France.  The prospective combat of two apparently equally-matched ships of war would have been sufficient to have melted any scruples entertained by Frenchmen in authority; they were only too happy to assist towards an engagement between Federals and Confederates, the latter being as popular in France as in England, to say nothing for the sympathy excited for the Alabama.  French officers agreed with Captain Semmes in thinking that there was marked offence and defiance in the manoeuvres of the Kearsarge, and that he could hardly do less than go out and meet her.  We have done our best to show that the Captain, whether in his heart he felt the mere chances to be equal or not, was anxious to persuade himself that they were so.  He knew his opponent to be the heavier in ship, battery, and crew, but “I did not know that she was also iron-clad,” he says.  Personally he desired the battle; the instigations of an enthusiastic crew, unanimous for action, as also of friendly foreign officers, are to be taken into account.  Those who venture, now that we are enabled to measure by results, to cast blame upon him, should first, in justice, throw themselves into his position.  President Davis may deplore the loss of a vessel that did a mighty service, but we doubt not that he will endorse the honourable words of Mr. Mason in his justification of Captain Semmes, and rejoice that the man who was the ship, is saved for further service to the Confederacy.

On Sunday, in the morning, being the 19th June, the Alabama steamed out of Cherbourg harbour by the opening to the west, and steered straight to meet the Kearsarge, accompanied by the French iron-clad La Couronne.  The late foul weather had given way to a gentle breeze, and the subsiding swell of the Atlantic wave under a clear sky made the day eminently favourable for the work in hand.  All Cherbourg was on the heights above the town and along the bastions and the mole.  Never did knightly tournament boast a more eager multitude of spectators.  It chanced fortunately that an English steam-yacht, the Deerhound, with its owner, Mr. John Lancaster, and his family, on board, was in harbour at the time.  The Deerhound followed the Alabama at a respectful distance, and was the closest witness of the fight.  Some French pilot-boats hung as near as they considered prudent.  At the limit of neutral waters the Alabama parted company with her, escort, and the Couronne returned to within a league of the shore.

Left to herself at last, the Alabama made her final preparations for the coming struggle.  Mustering all his ship’s company upon the deck, Captain Semmes addressed them as follows;—­

“OFFICERS AND SEAMEN OF THE ALABAMA:”