sufficient naval force there for the purpose of carrying out that Proclamation. "All vessels passing the Capes of Virginia, coming from a distance, and ignorant of the Proclamation, will be warned off, and those passing Fortress Monroe will be required to anchor under the guns of the fort, and subject themselves to an examination. "United States' Flag-ship' Cumberland,' off "Fortress Monroe, Virginia, April 30, 1861. (Signed) "G. J. PENDergrast, "Commanding Home Squadron." This notification was irregular and invalid, and no neutral vessel entering any of the ports of Virginia and North Carolina, and knowing of the blockade by the notification alone, could have been legally condemned.1 The ports of North Carolina were not blockaded, as we 1 A notification that a blockade is about to be instituted, or even that a fleet has sailed for the purpose of instituting a blockade, is not equivalent to a notification of an actual blockade. Further, a notification of blockade must not be more extensive than the blockade itself. A belligerent cannot be allowed to proclaim that he has instituted a blockade of all the ports of the enemy within certain specified limits, when in truth he has only blockaded some of them. Such a course would introduce all the evils of what is termed a "paper blockade," and would be attended with the grossest injustice to the commerce of of neutrals. Accordingly, a neutral is at liberty to disregard such a notice, and is not liable to the penalties attending a breach of blockade for afterwards attempting to enter one of the ports which really are blockaded. A striking illustration of these propositions is afforded by the Judgment pronounced by the Privy Council in the case of Northcote v. Douglas (The Franciska), Moore's Privy Council Cases, x, 37, from which they are in substance taken. On the 11th April, 1854, Admiral Sir C. Napier, commanding the British fleet in the Baltic, had given notice that "Her Britannic Majesty's fleet will sail this day for the Gulf of Finland, to place in a state of blockade the whole of the Russian ports of the Baltic and in the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia ;" and the British Vice-Consul at Memel had on the 17th published a notice that the Admiral "had placed the whole of the Russian ports in the East Sea in a state of blockade." In fact, however, the blockade of the coast of Courland commenced on the 17th April; that of Helsingfors and some other ports on the 26th April; that of Revel and other ports on the 20th May; and that of Cronstadt and others in the Gulf of Finland on the 26th June. A Danish vessel left Elsinore on the 14th May, intending to make for Riga (the actual blockade of which commenced on or Chap. X. Chap. X. shall see, till long afterwards. Of the Virginian sea-coast, however, the greater part is inclosed within Chesapeake Bay, the mouth of which is narrow and guarded by the "Capes of Virginia," as they are called-Capes Charles and Henry. Fortress Monroe faces this outlet; and immediately south of the fortress the James and Elizabeth Rivers, which drain the southern portions of the State, discharge themselves into the Bay through a passage called Hampton Roads, the narrowest part of the channel not exceeding a mile and a quarter in width. Several ships of war were generally assembled here, and the blockade of Chesapeake Bay and the James appears to have been tolerably effective from the first. To The sudden enforcement of this blockade within three days after the date of the Proclamation pressed with some severity on Northern merchants, as well as on residents within the blockaded territory. the requests of some British merchants residing at New York and Baltimore, that they might be permitted to send ships for the removal of staves and planking purchased, paid for, and ready for delivery at Norfolk and on the James River, Mr. Seward returned a civil refusal. Established rules, he said, would not allow such a concession; and it had already been refused to American merchants who had cotton at Norfolk, which they wished to bring away in American bottoms. A about the 17th April). It was held that she must be released, on the ground that, though Riga was blockaded, and though the master had notice of a blockade, the notice which he had was not in accordance with the facts. It was a notice of a general blockade which did not exist" a notice which, if he had received it from a British officer, he could not, on the principles already stated, be punished for disregarding." I need hardly add that the invalidity of the notification did not invalidate the blockade itself, where it existed de facto: thus it could not have been pleaded on behalf of any vessel leaving a port actually blockaded, with knowledge of the blockade, gathered from the notorious presence of the blockading ships or otherwise. different application forwarded a few days later, in Chap. X. reference to a British ship, the Hiawatha, led to a short correspondence, to which some importance was given by the subsequent capture and condemnation of the ship: Sir, Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward. "Washington, May 8, 1861. "The inclosed extracts from letters which I received yesterday from Her Majesty's Consul in Virginia will make you acquainted with a case of some hardship concerning a British vessel, the Hiawatha. This vessel, having come to City Point with a nominal freight in order to take on board a remunerative cargo for the voyage back, may be compelled to return home in ballast in consequence of the blockade, of which, of course, her owners could have had no knowledge when they sent her out. "Being assured of the readiness with which the United States' Government is inclined to receive representations in favour of foreign commercial interests, I venture to submit this case for consideration, and to request an early answer respecting it. "I have but two British vessels left within my Consular district, one of 445 tons and one of 63 tons, and if I could be permitted to clear them for England with cargoes partially owned on British account and indirectly wholly connected with British trade, it would remove possible complications and be but a small infraction, if any, of "There are parties here about to load the British ship Hiawatha at City Point for Liverpool, under the impression that she will be allowed free egress by the blockading squadron. I have told persons who are here, representing the owners of the ship, that I see no difficulty to the ship leaving in ballast, but to this they will not consent, as the ship came here expressly from Liverpool at a nominal freight to load a remunerative cargo back." "My Lord, Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons. "Department of State, Washington, May 9, 1861. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of yesterday, relative to the exemption of the British vessel Chap. X. Hiawatha, now in Virginia waters, from the operation of the existing blockade of the ports of the State. 66 Having submitted the matter to the Secretary of the Navy, I now have the honour to inclose to you a copy of that officer's reply, from which it will be seen that there are yet remaining five or six days for neutrals to leave. "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday, inclosing a note of Lord Lyons, relative to British vessels in Virginia waters, which it is desired to exempt from the operation of the blockade, and inquiring when the blockade of the ports of Virginia may be considered to have commenced; also 'whether the exemption asked for by Lord Lyons may with propriety be granted.' "In answer to the inquiry, I beg leave to refer you to a copy, herewith inclosed, of the notice issued by Flag Officer Pendergrast on the 30th of April, warning all persons that he had a sufficient force to carry into effect the blockade. This notice was sent to the Baltimore and Norfolk papers, and by one or more of them published. "Fifteen days have been specified as a limit for neutrals to leave the ports, after actual blockade has commenced, with or without cargo, and there are yet remaining five or six days for neutrals to leave. With proper diligence on the part of persons interested, I see no reason for exemption to any. "I am, &c. (Signed) "GIDEON WELLES." "Sir, Washington, May 9, 1861. "I beg to thank you for your note of this day's date relative to the case of the Hiawatha, a British ship now at City Point, in Virginia. "You have done me the honour to send to me therewith a copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, in which it is stated that 'fifteen days have been specified as a limit for neutrals to leave the ports after actual blockade has commenced, with or without cargo.' "In order to avoid all possible mistake with regard to the Hiawatha, as well as to future cases of the same kind, I venture to request you to inform me whether I am right in concluding, from the statement just quoted, that the date of the shipment of the cargo is immaterial, and that vessels leaving the ports before the expiration of cargoes, whether the fifteen days will be allowed to proceed with their "My Lord, 66 Washington, May 11, 1861. "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 9th instant, in which application is made for certain information regarding the blockade, and to transmit to you herewith the copy of a letter of this date from the Secretary of the Navy, to whom the matter was referred, in answer to your inquiry. "In answer to Lord Lyons's letter of the 9th instant, I have the honour to inform you that neutral vessels will be allowed fifteen days to leave port after the actual establishment of the blockade, whether such vessels are with or without cargoes. The rules of blockade, as commonly enforced, permit a neutral vessel which is in the port at the time when the blockade is instituted to sail in ballast or with cargo, provided the cargo has been bond fide purchased and shipped before that time, but not otherwise. Lord Lyons had certainly some reason, from Mr. Welles's ambiguous letter of the 9th (his own questions having been put with the utmost clearness), to assume that in the case of the Hiawatha leave would be given to load at any time within the fifteen days. The Hiawatha took in cargo accordingly, and by the 16th was ready for sea; she was detained for want of a steam-tug till the 18th, when she sailed, was captured on the 20th, and ultimately was condemned as prize of war. The Judge of the Admiralty Court before which she came for adjudication Chap. X. |