JANUARY 11TH, 1864:
Flag Officer Samuel Barron, senior Confederate naval officer in France reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory about the state of Confederate cruisers in that country.
He had placed Lt. Charles M. Morris in command of the CSS Florida, relieving Commander Joseph N. Barney because of ill health. The Florida had completed her repairs and had made 13 knots under steam in a trial run. The CSS Rappahannock was "repairing slowly but surely;" and was to be armed by the battery of the CSS Georgia which was no longer fit for duty as a cruiser.
He concluded by praising France as opposed to England: "You are doubtless, sir, aware that three Confederate 'men of war' are now enjoying the hospitality and natural courtesies of this Empire--a strange contrast with the determined hostility, I may almost say, of Earl Russell....Louis Napoleon is not Lord John Russell."
And, You'd Think England Would Be Friendlier to the Confederacy. --Old B-Runner
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