The Cruise of the Alabama

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1886. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE CRUISE OF THE ALABAMA. I Have never liked Liverpool. Its greasy, grimy, pea-soupy atmosphere, its dirt, and its varied, all-pervading smells, none of which are perfumes, are alike odious to me; but as a seaman I can give better reasons for the faith that is in me than these. The greater part of the floating coffins that leave port manned, insured, and cargoed, to go down in mid-ocean, are owned here, and Liverpool ship-owners have a deserved reputation for sheer greed and grasping avarice. They were the first to introduce the present system of under-paying, under-feeding, and over-working the men who sail their ships; nor do I see that they condone their offenses against right and humanity by their liberality in building sailor chapels and filling the forecastles of outward-bound ships with tracts and religious books. These may improve Jack's spiritual condition, but do not make his poor grub more palatable or nourishing. In short, we have all heard of the philanthropist who stole the goose and gave the giblets to the poor. When I landed here in July, 1862, from a China voyage, I found the city in a fever of excitement and speculation. Cotton was rising a penny a pound daily, and everybody was making haste to get rich. Men in gray suits and broad-brimmed hats were much feted and hand-shaken; these were Confederates, and they generally acted like quiet, proper gentlemen, while their British admirers made asses of themselves. Northerners met very scant civility, and indeed no one seemed to doubt that the great republic of the West was hopelessly gone under in wreck and ruin. Under the coming order of things Liverpool was to be the entrepot of Southern commerce; cotton ruled the world, and we would rule cotton; and indeed I thought this way myself. But I could ...