CHAPTER X.
_The Tangier difficulty--Loyalty of United States Consuls--A daring act--Imprisonment of the two Confederates--Captain Semmes' appeal--No results--An armed force from the Ino--Threatened rescue--Neutrality again--Foreign Office intelligence--The Harvest Home--Garnered._ The imprisonment of the two gentlemen alluded to at the conclusion of the last chapter, is an episode in the history of the Sumter which demands something more than mere passing notice.

When the news of the occurrence reached England it excited a considerable amount of attention, as not only did the case exhibit some curious phases of the working of the law of "strict neutrality," but it also afforded a very excellent idea of the marvellous loyalty of one of the United States Consuls.

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.