The National tribune., 1884-12-25
SAVING THE NATION.
The Blockade Standardization is
King!
To he Po,n and Girls of The United States:
BY CARLETON"
'coryEIGHTED.-ALL RIGHTS REsERvEDl

y >
named was All Important feature.
DECLARATION OF BLOCKADE.
A blockade is the closing of seaports TO COM
merce Before The war began the seceSsiOnists
had a great q eai TO say about the power of King
Cotton" The world must have cotton. Eng
land could not set along without it. Hundreds
of vessels departed from Charleston, savannah,
Mobile and New Orleans for Liverpool loaded
with cotton. The levee at New Orleans was
pilcd with cotton: the river q forest OF masts.
In ENGLAND there were hundreds of thousands
of people who earned their daily bread in the
cotton manufactures. Millions OF dollars were
invested III mill and machinery. If the sup
ply Of cotton were TO give cut the engines
would cease 10 turn the millions Of spindies,
the capital would be idle, the operatives earn
ing no money. 1t was very certain, the seces-
sionists Thought, that Great Britain would not
permit the ports of the Southern States to be
closed 10 commerce. Cotton is king! cotton
is kng!" they shouted, losing sight of great
many other things, which, as the war went on,
they learned bysad experience.
Six DAYS after the surrender OF Fort Sumter,
on the day that the Massachusetts troops were
fighting their way through Baltimore PreSl-
dent Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring
the seaports of the Southern States blockaded.
Any vessel attempting TO enter Southern port
after being warned was liable 10 capture
II had been agreed by the nations of Europe
that blockade to be binding upon nations, must
be maintained by force sufficient to prevent
vessels from entering the ports. The United
States had not Joined in any such agreement,
but President Lincoln accepted it,
THE DIFFICULTIES.
It IS 1000 miles from Chesapeake Bay around
the coast to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and
all the harbars hays and inlets must be guarded
to make the blockade effective. Let US see
where the vessels Of the navy were on that 18TH
of April: The Niagara was returning from
fs,sNA AgrN Ia. init n
hican. Mystic and Sumter were on the coast
of Africa the Richmond SuSquehauna and
Iroquois were in the Mediterranean; the Ian
caster Wyoming, Saranac and Narraganset were
in the Pacific Ocean; the Dakotah and Saginaw
were in the East Indies, and the Pulaski was
OF Brazil.
The Brooklyn, Powhatan, Pocahontas, Wy
andotte Crusader and Montauk were the only
six steam naval vessels on the Atlantic coast.
Z. The Secretary of the Navy Mr.. Toucey) under
y President Buchanan had played into the hands
3 of the seccssionists by sending the war ships
all over the globe.
To establish the blockade sea-going steam
ships were purchased, cannon mounted on the
decks, and sent out TO cruise of the southern
coast. The demand for steam vessels was so
great that even ferry-boats Of Boston and New
York were purchased and brought into effect
i've service. One of the most valuable prizes
of the war the Circassan, was captured by
one of these lerry-beats. In all the ship-yards
there was suddenly heard the clatter OF axes,
hewing tim6ers. masts and spars. Furnaces
and forgcs famed. Carpenters and machinlstS
worked night and day building new vessels.
Before September, 1861 every Southern port
was blcckaded so effectively that vessels could
not 90 IN or out except at night and by stealth.
THE MISTAKE OF THE SOUTH.
The Southern people We're so confident that
cotton was king. that they did not see till the
blockade was established how dependent they
were upon the outside world. There were only
three rolling-mills in the Southern States
one at Atlanta and two i'll Tennessee, and only
one great iron establshment-the Tredegar
Works at Richmond.
The Confederate Government had Il Secre-
tary Of Navy. but there were no ship-yards or
docks except at Norfolk aud Pensacola, which
very soon fell into the hands of the Union
navy. All that the Southern Navy Depart
ment cOuld do was to mount cannon the
small tug-bOats and vessels in their harborS
and build up from other vessels three or four
rams plating them with railroad iron. lt had
no vessels foG breaking the blockade. Gen.
Beauregara soon after the breaking out of the
war, urged Jcier.oa Davis TO purchase feet
Of 10 new steamships in England. They We're
ready for sea. and could have quickly been
afoat; but the advice was not needed, aud the
South missed great opportunity for obtaining
g feet which might have done much injury to
the blockadiug feet.
Abraham Lincoln understood what the effect
OF the blockade would be upon the South-that
it would be like closing all the windows and
doors of a room, stopping all the cracks, so
that no fresh air could enter. and that the re-
suit would be sutIocatiOn. By establishing an
effective blockade the South would not be able
TO obtains arms, ammunition, and the supplies
necessary for carrying On the war; that after
q while, for the want OF skilled labor. there
would be no locomotives, steam engines, or
machinery OF any kind; that the rails upon
the railroads would give cut, the locomotives
cease TO work; that 1T would be difficult to
transport troops from one section 20 another !;
that boots, shoes. clothing, Shoyels, axes, ham
mers-al implements of industry would be
wanting. lie knew that the Southern States
relied upon cotton alone TO pay for the supplies
from the outside world; that by preventing its
shipment, the time would come when the Con-
1edeTates Wouid have no money, no means Of
purchasing anything, and when every article
would command a high price Maintaining a
strict blockade would he like cementipg a
house AGAINST rats-it would bring starvation
From that l95h day of April tremendous ex-
ertions were made TO close all the Southern
ports to foreign ships. The foreign ships fre-
Quenting the ports Of the South were mostly
from England.
POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Why was it that Lord John Russell, Prime
Minister Of England, at the outset urged Queen
Victoria 10 issue 4 proclamation recognizing
rival of Mr. Charles Francis Adams from the
United States, who was Oh his way as Minister
TO Great Britain? Probably we never shall
know; bat the people Of the North regarded it
an unlriendly act, while the Southern pc0-
pie recognized it rs an Indication that Great
Britain was their friend, and that in time she
ygould recognize them as a Nation and brea K
the blockade. 1t was the eager haste of Great
Britain which angered the people OF the North.
The Queen directed her subjects to take no
part in the struggle. but from the outset there
were those who determined 10 aid the South.
The blockade cut off trade with the Southern
States. 1t WAS a very large trade. amounting to
nearly four million bales of cotton per annum
sent 10 England and no end of other goods
sent In return every year to the Southern
States.
The proclamation touched the pocket Of
every merchant, all the manufacturers and the
capitalists who owned the mills aud machinery
all the ship-Owners, masters and sailors. 4
very 1ar-Ieaching paper ii was, felt not only in
every home in Great Britain. but in Egypt,
India, China, South AmcIica-n every climate
where cotton could be grown.
"Nhat shall we do for cotton? where shall
we obtain it? how get along without it were
the questions asked 10y the merchants, manu-
faCturcis and operatives.
There are 10 people who have greater love
for money than the people Of England, or who
will work harder 10 obtain it. Though Queen
Victoria had directed them to remain neutral