The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-14 00:00:00

rather than a practical view of the gilesticut ig6
sees it ag A lawyer, and not as a statesman. Th„6
Government of a great and powerful country Nviu
always be ready to make allowance forcircum-
_

stances stated and proved which rendered it impos-
sible to adopt a course of procedure prescribed for
observance in ordinary cases: Mr. Benjamin 091
&S his instruction td take out and destroY _
contraband of *0 front a ildittal +etigeli bt refer-
ring td the notification issued by neutral Power
declaring that their subjects will not be proteeted
in a contraband trade, and by pointing eat that the'.
owner of any vessel haviiig dtch goads tie tined for:,
the eiieniY's OdiiiitrY forfeits the neutral character;
so that the entire ship and cargo might be dealt.
with as belonging to the enemy. He yields this
right, however, of dealing with the entire ship and
cargo ; and out of consideration for the neutral, MO
because, perhaps, Of the difficulty of adopting the,
Usual course of procedure for adjudication, he only
takes out the goods. We confess we think neutral
Powers have no legitimate ground of complaint
against this instruction, unless the officers in carrY
ing them out should use harshness or unnecessary
violence or strain 'them, in their application, to
cases of ' doubtful breach of neutrality. With re'
spect to the third point—the case of a vessel osten-
sibly neutral, but really hostile, and carrying frau-
dulent papers—Mr. Benjamin Erects the attention
of commanders of cruisers to cases only of attempts
to screen vessels from capture by fraudulent or pre.
tended sale toA. neutral. In these cases if the fraud
should be clearly established as a mere device to
evade capture, the captain of the cruiser is to deal with
thr vessel as an enemy, leaving the Government to
explain the Matter to the neutral Power whose flag.
*as so tised in fraud: " Historiciis" states that fratido
of this dedriptiOn hod produced some of the niOgt
perplexing cases thathave been decided in Admiralty
Courts, and that the captains of cruisers are no tit
judges of such. cases, and therefore that a seitnro'
of this description will not be tolerated by all
neutral rower: It is very trite that captains
Cruisers ate *it Admiralty judges, and therefee
riot competent to decide difficult cases. But AO
are told in the instructions not to meddle with such
cases, and only to treat as enemies' ships found in
circumstances of glaring flagrancy, in -which no dif6'
culty is expected in the ability of the Confederate
Government to satisfy and convince the neutral
Power that it is not either in justice or in honour
required to insist upon its extreme rights. Here
also everything will depend upon the spirit in which
the instructions are carried out. The Confederate
Government rely upon the discretion and sound
judgment of the commanders they employ ; and, 33
these are few, and act under a strong sense of the
responsibility attaching to every capture or seizure
they make, we do not see any probability of serious
differences or difficulties resulting from these by
structions. The great superiority of the Federals
at sea has compelled the Confederates to resort to:
courses not usual in national wars. Amongst these
has been the necessity of procuring war-vessels t°
be built and equipped at a distance from their owl'
ports. No one will pretend that this was not within
the limits of legitimate belligerent action ag_alost
their enemy. There has been tall talk at New York
of dealing with vessels so brought into the field
against them aspirates. But when once the vessels
have been fairly obtained, and placed under the coot'
mand Of commissioned officers by the Confederate
Government, there can be no question afterwards °t
their right to act as Vessels'. of war, making captures,
and doing all tbat may be in their power to mitt°,
and destroy the .enemy.. The Federal Government
might undoubtedly say, we will put a stop to this
by dealing with every vessel of the kind we can find
and capture as a pirate. That Government wow')
assuredly have done so but for the conviction that,
for every commissioned officer or sailor hanged as
pirate, one or more of equal rank who might be is
the hands of the enemy as a prisoner would be e%e-
cuted in retaliation. But this is a matter that lies
exclusively and entirely between the belligerents ;
and neutral Powers and the world at large see 011
the commission and the uniform, and are bound t°
concede to the vessels of one belligerent the saw'
courtesies, as well as the same rights, that they eol;ci
cede to the other, even though one of the two shoal
have its vessels counted by units, while the other ha',,
them counted by hundreds.