Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1861-06-20

.-.--.nAY nohuuG. ~JUSs -
II 0lookaAe.
s>oenf ruober Of the Losdol
m,,ee duslA 4 considerable length o.
.hs blockade Of the ports ofths sscsdss
state, By the order Of the Federal Gov
eminent. From he general dfift Of ~
argument " are led 70 understand thai
there i greet apprehension in Legislative
circles that IN ultimate Interference With
the blockade, should the var BE- eztsndsd
through several ysafs, will b almost inev.
table. It hint very deftly q the insult
cheney ofthe blockadiug fosos, asd VEN
tures sort Of half prediction that mer-
chant vessels may yet run great risks fol
the sake ofgstting into and ont Of block
AIDED port, lured on by prospective emol-
ument in the way q excessively high
freights, and thinks that = time wears on
such instances will become more and
more numerous; asserting openly that
"it will be found extremely difficult to
keep sealed what oil the world bas % in
terest in breaking; and cannot hope that
the watchers will always MAINTAIN On I'M
failing good humor 10 dealing with the
hosts of evaders." That 10 very proba-
bic. An attempt to evade the blockade
would probably bring about the precise
state Of affairs which the English people
profess to be DESTROYS Of evading.
The Times passes on TO show that the
entire policy Of the British Government,
with reference to the laws Of blockading,
is wrong--in fact declares that what the
real law Of blockade is, 10 unknown to any
nation--i yet unwritten, and that all the
text books written upon the. subject''have
not the authority to DO derived from con-
sistency," and have never been obeyedin
practice. On this head we make the
following extract
All the authorities of this country are
in favor ofthe most generous interpreta-
ton of the rights Of belligerent powers,
for We have always been belligerent it
has always been our interest to give bel
ligerent power the strongest possible
rights over neutral ships and our Prize
Courts have always been laying down
doctrines which the rest OF the world
repudiated a. illegal and untenable.
The consequence is that We shall now
find ourselves in false position in all
these questions. We shall be bound by
our own decisions, which will tell against
our own interests as neutrsls, and we
shall have to submit to rules Of maritime
public law, which very much increase
the evils We must necessarily endure
from the blockade, however insufficient,
OF the coast which is to us SO important
both for exports and imports.
We should have no right to complain
Of this II there were really any code OF
maratin-e law. But there is no such
thing. Ii We we're at war Tomorrow
We should have no chance Of enforcing
against the neutral nations the rules TO
which We ourselves are about to submit
Pedants NAV look for tho law nf notions
in the iOliOs OF text writer's, but practical
men will seek for it in the facts of his
tory. When We, as bclligerents, have
sought to enforce our right to take an
enemy's goods out of friendly vessels,
we have always been met by great
league Of all the maratlmc nations, and
have been obliged to abate our pretcn-
sions. We have never found it to much
purpose to quote the most revered au-
thoritcs in our favor. Denmark, and
Russia, and France, and Spain have
always been ready to make code for
the occasion, and that code we have
been compelled to accept. We have
kept it up as an old principle, just as
We kept up our claims to be Sovereigns
OF France but it has never done us any
practical good, and it is now likely to
lead us into considerable practical diff
Guilty. There can be no dispute among
those who have looked into the subject,
that We have never read the maratime
law of nations as the French have read
il, and that at no period has the practice
OF Europe been uniform even upon the
most important principles which guide
us in our dealin u with other nations
when at war.
All this tends to future difficulties.
1t Is at this moment the anxi, US desire
OF every political party in this country
to avoid being in any way implicated
IN what is now gong on beyond the
Atlantic. Never did any people look on
with camer or more judicial mind upon
any event passing outside their own land
than do the British people on this Amer
lean quarrel. The prevailing feeling is
one Of simple regret. We sympathize
with the exaggerated resentment of
neither party. But we have hitherto felt
no Immediate effects operating upon
ourselves. We cannot answer that our
thoughts would be as calm, or our iudg-
ment IS impartial, if all Lancashire
we're blockade by the fleet which block
AIDES the Southern ports, and If the ships
which keep those ports closed we're at
the same time keeping closed the work
shops of Manchester and Sheffield. The
law of blockade might then come to be
discussed in . very different spirit.
Now. while II Il vat tim0 II = xro %k;nk