AN IMPRACTICABLE SCHEME Before the War of the Rebellion the commerce of the United States exceeded that of any other nation on the globe.

The Confederate steamers, the Sumter, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and other cruisers, swept our ships from the ocean, and the country has never regained its commercial prestige.

Christy Passford listened with intense interest to the conversation between his uncle and the commander of the Dornoch, and he came to the conclusion that the latter was a naval officer of no ordinary ability.

He evidently believed that the six-gun steamer in his charge was a command not worthy of his talent.
The Sumter, and some other vessels fitted out as privateers or war vessels, had already done a great deal of mischief to the shipping of the Northern States, and the young man fully realized the meaning of his uncle's intentions.

Colonel Passford had been supplied with money by his government, with what he had raised himself, to purchase larger and more powerful steamers than had yet been obtained, and Captain Rombold appeared to be his confidant, with whom he must have been in communication for a considerable length of time.
Colonel Passford was going to England and Scotland to purchase the steamers mentioned and recommended as the kind required by his present companion.