Thursday, February 13th.—­Blowing a levanter.  In the morning a barque dragged foul of the Tuscarora, and carried away her (the barque’s) foreyards.  Later in the day the Tuscarora shifted her berth over to the Spanish shore, near San Roque.  Several vessels took shelter in the harbour from the gale.  Among them a French line-of-battle ship, and a Spanish side-wheel man-of-war.  Shut up in my little cabin by the wet weather, I have time to brood gloomily over home and the war, and the prospects of our dear South.

Friday, February 14th. * * *—­At noon the Tuscarora got under way, and stood over to Algeciras.

Saturday, February 15th.—­Anniversary of the day of my resignation from the navy of the United States; and what an eventful year it has been!  The Northern States have been making a frantic and barbarous war upon thirteen states and nine millions of people; in face, too, of Madison’s words:  “If there be a principle that ought not to be questioned in the United States, it is that every nation has the right to abolish an old Government and establish a new one.  This principle is not only recorded in every public archive, written in every American heart, and sealed with the blood of a host of American martyrs, but it is the only lawful tenure by which the United States hold their existence as a nation.”  And then what flood-gates of private misery have been raised by this war—­overwhelming families without number in utter ruin and desolation.

Reduced my worthless sergeant to the ranks, and promoted a corporal in his stead.  The British Parliament met on the 6th, and we have in the papers to-day the address to the Queen, and the speeches of the Earl of Derby and Lord Palmerston.  From the general tone of all these papers we shall not be acknowledged at present.  They say the quarrel is no business of theirs, and we must fight it out.  Astute Great Britain! she sees that we are able to fight it out, and thus her darling object will be accomplished without the expenditure of blood or money.

Sunday, February 16th.—­* * * * Visited by the Captain of the Scylla frigate.

Monday, February 17th.—­* * * * Visited the Warrior.  The Governor and suite and a number of naval and other officers, civilians, and ladies visited her by appointment at the same time.  The Warrior is a marvel of modern naval architecture, and for a first experiment may be pronounced a success.  She is a monstrous, impregnable floating fortress, and will work a revolution in shipbuilding.  Wooden ships, as battle-ships, must go out of use.  With this single ship I could destroy the entire Yankee fleet blockading our coast, and this is the best illustration I can give for the necessity of this revolution in shipbuilding.  The British Government has declined to supply me with coal from the dockyard, and I must make arrangements to get it from Cadiz.  The London, ship-of-the-line steamer, arrived.