CHAPTER IV. Was Secession Treason? 46 CHAPTER V. Another Brief Historical Retrospect 52 CHAPTER VI. The Question of Slavery as it affected Secession 62 CHAPTER VII. The Formation of the Confederate Government, and the Resignation of Officers of the Federal Army and Navy 71 CHAPTER VIII. Author proceeds to Montgomery, and reports to the New Government, and is dispatched northward on a Special Mission 81 CHAPTER IX. The Commissioning of the Sumter, the First Confederate States Ship of War 93 CHAPTER X. The Preparation of the Sumter for Sea--She drops down between the Forts Jackson and St. Philip--Receives her Sailing Orders-- List of her Officers 97 CHAPTER XI. After long Waiting and Watching, the Sumter runs the Blockade of the Mississippi, in open Daylight, pursued by the Brooklyn 108 CHAPTER XII. Brief Sketch of the Officers of the Sumter--Her First Prize, with other Prizes in Quick Succession 120 CHAPTER XIII. Rapid Work--Seven Prizes in Two Days--The Sumter makes her First Port, and what occurred there 132 CHAPTER XIV. The Sumter on the Wing again--She is put wholly under Sail for the first time--Reaches the Island of Curaçoa, and is only able to enter after a Diplomatic Fight 144 CHAPTER XV. The Sumter at Curaçoa--Her Surroundings--Preparations for Sea-- Her Captain solicited to become a Warwick--Her Departure--The Capture of other Prizes--Puerto Cabello, and what occurred there 155 CHAPTER XVI. Steaming along the Coast of Venezuela--The Coral Insect, and the Wonders of the Deep--The Andes and the Rainy Season--The Sumter enters the Port of Spain in the British Island of Trinidad 170 CHAPTER XVII. On the Way to Maranham--The Weather and the Winds--The Sumter runs short of Coal, and is obliged to "bear up"--Cayenne and Paramaribo, in French and Dutch Guiana--Sails again, and arrives at Maranham, in Brazil 188 CHAPTER XVIII. The Sumter at Maranham--More Diplomacy necessary--The Hotel Porto and its Proprietor--A week on Shore--Ship coals and sails again 210 CHAPTER XIX. The Sumter at Martinique--Proceeds from Fort de France to St. Pierre--Is an Object of much Curiosity with the Islanders--News of the Arrest of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on board the British Mail Steamer, The Trent--Mr. Seward's extraordinary Course on the Occasion 232