The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-17 00:00:00

that cavalry can gain a naval victory, even by sr .r-
-prise, and gunboats are not more than once to be
captured by .email steamers protected by cot' ton
b-i les. The Confederates, however, have laboe red
with great ingenuity and obstinacy to create Et fleet
capable if not of disputing with the enemy it
supremacy at sea,
~set of doing good service to the. 1r
country, and iullictsng serious though only par'
eiel damage on the enemy. The Alabama and
the Florida have done enormous harm to the
North. Rumours are ri.re of preparations for a
naval contest on the Mississippi. Reports hone
reached us from time to 1 \ime of the presence of
formidable floating batterres in the James River.
And at Charleston the ire' irovised squadron, con-
cerning whob,
e existence the friends of the North
have professed themselves s ceptical, has tendered
essential service, and achiev ed a brilliant, if not a
decisive success. It is true that, in their over-
weening confidence,
:he Yankees dreamed of main-
taining the blockade wt.`h ships t hat could not fight,
except against defenceless' merchantmen—ships of
which it is said that the tZiajarity could not fire
their own broadsides Nithout sinking. But never-
theless the achievement of the Sc .utheruers is one
which would have added tO the fan le of a Napier or.
-
a Cochrane ; and if it produces no great practical re
sults, it will not, on that accouot fak l to be remem-
bered as among the most honour,able of the many
daring exploits which have cast a leetre on the arms
of the nascent nation. A question eo' mart:irne law,
which may amuse the curious, hereup,en arisee. An
interruption of a blockade requires a
resumption
and formal notification to foreign powe,"s in order
to its legal re-establishment—some say , a notifica-
tion of sixty days. Now, what will be the legal
rights of a vessel bound for Charleston bet,'lre such
notification is received from the Federal Clovern"
ment ? Would her capture be illegal ? In other
words, was there such an interruption of the telock-
ade as to justify the application of the rule requir-
ing formal notice of its re .establishment ? The que,s'
tion has not much practical importance for Englieh•-
men, inasmuch as it is the invariable practice of
Lord Russell to consult in such cases, not the
law of nations, but the wishes of Mr. Seward ;
and if the blockade of Charleston had been sus
pended for a week he would not recognise the fact
unless it were first officially admitted at Washing•
ton. But in the present instance we are bound to
say that—so far as we can judge from the statement
of facts at present in our hands—right and common
sense are in favour of the view which our Foreign
Secretary is certain to te.ke. Cessante rations
cessat et ipsa lex. The purpose of the rule re-
quiring notification of the re-establishment of an
interrupted blockade is the protection of neutral
ships which may have sailed for the blockaded port
during the interruption with the bona fide belief
that it was still open. Now, in the pies( nt in-
stance no ships can have sailed for Charleston, be-
cause the news of the resumption of the blockade
must have arrived even at the neaPest neutral ports
simultaneously with or immediately after the news
of its interruption. If, indeed, during the afternoon
of the 31st January, a British vessel have left or
entered the port she cannot legitimately' be cap-
tured, for she has broken no blockade. BO unless
some such unlikely case should arise we can hardly
think that it would be desirable to asser.t too
stringently what may possibly be the letter of the
law against what, so far as our present knowledge
goes, appears to be the fair and equitable vtew---
that the blockade of Charleston still subsists, and
that the temporary success of the Confederates MO
not invalidated it.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

t..-
COLCHESTER-FEB. 14.

A liberal supply of grain, but trade dull, and prices ra-
ther cheaper.
Wheat, white.
red 42s 48s middle & small.3ss 42s
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