Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-03

revenue arising from customs uuties,
but by causing a cessation or great re-
duction of the export of the great
| products of the country upon the move
| ment and sale of which so much of the
! prosperity and livelihood of the citi-
Zeus depend. 1t may also cut off the
| imported part of the supply of the ma
! terials requisite for the effective con-
| duct of the war.
| U. S. Urged Abolition.
Efforts have been made to do away
| with commercial blockades by neutral
| nations. The United States at one time
advocated such abolition. but after
! ward, during the civil war, established
| the largest commercial blockade ever
| known. This blockade extended from
the Potomac to the Rio Grande, both
! on the Atlantic coast and on the Gulf
| of Mexico, ever "A stretch of 5000 miles.
| Except at Charleston. :. c., the block
aiding force made no attempt to reduce
the cities blockaded. Charleston was
/ an example of i sea investment and a
commercial blockade combined
This vast blockade for four years
was. with this exception. purely COM
| mercial The great aid it contributed
| toward the diminution of the resources
! of the enemy their exhaustion and
| final surrender, and the now generally
recognized necessity for it, have
doubtless been instructive to America
! and the rest of the world.
THE extreme difficulty of blockading
certain ports during the civil war may
be appreciated when it is stated that
the blockade of the port of Whining
ton in 1854 required a force of fifty
vessels. all of speed, and some OF them
the fastest in the navy.
Can Exercise Rights.
4 blockade" declares DIR. Snow. in
that portion of his lectures dealing
with the general aspects of this phase
of hostile operations. being an act of
war. any government. independent or
de facto, whose rights as a >belliger-
ent are recognized. can institute such
an exercise of those rights.
among the first of the attendant
rules is the one that the blockade must
be properly instituted and sufhcientiy
made known to all likely to be affected
essary that the neutral should have
had due notice of the blockade in or
der to affect him with penal conse-
quences in violation of it. There is.
however a difference in the usage OF
nations as to the amount OF notification
necessary. Under ordinary clrcum-
stances. being bound to q blockaded
port is considered evidence of an in
tention to violate the blockade.
Entitled to Warning.
Vessels at sea when the notification
is promulgated. or vessels which Tor
any sufficient reason are ignorant of
the blockade of any port, are, however.
entitled to a special warning or noti-
fication on reaching the actual line of
blockade itself. This warning is ac-
companied, if possible. by signed entry
of the fact of the warning upon the
ships certificate of registry, to which
is usually added the name of the warn
ing vessel the date and the latitude
and longitude. If not able to board. a
verbal warning is sufficient. After this
warning the neutral is bound to show
by his acts his intention to OBEY at
once the warning received If, after
a short delay, there is reason to sup
pose that he is not pursuing a course to
take him away from the vicinity of the
port, capture may reasonably follow.
"Blockades. as rule, are designed
to prevent both ingresS and egress,
and it is a settled usage that a vessel
in blockaded port is presumed to
have notice of a blockade as soon as it
is commenced. The vessel is allowed to
come out, however, with the cargo
which was on board when the blockade
was begun, and a period of fifteen days
is generally allowed after the com
mencement of the blockade before the
breach of blockade.
fOTCG uuSC De present.
TT is well settled principle of in
teTnational law that a lawful mari
time blockade of a. port requires the
actual presence of the blockading force.
A mere proclamation of notification is
not sufficient to constitute legal
blockade. The force must be actually
present at the entrance of the port, or
sufficiently near to prevent communi-
cation. Nor Is the mere presence of the
hostile force sufficient of itself to
make the blockade ieaal. il must hot
only be present, but it must be large
enough to prevent communication, or
at least to render it dangerous to at
tempt to enter the port.
The permissible exception to the
general rule which requires the pres
ence of adequate force is the tenn
porary absence of the blockading YES
| sells through stress of weather. But
| even this must not be prolonged unreal
| Sonably, and if the ships are unable
to resume their stations on account of
same as if the blockaders had been
driven off by superior force.
Raising of Blockade.
"a blockade is always raised, of
| course, when an enemy's force sue
ceeds in driving off the vessels en-
g-ged in the blockade or when they
| are withdrawn by the government in
stitut ng the blockade.
"a blockade is not confined to a sea-
port, but may have effect on a road
stead, or portion of coast, or the
| mouth of river But if the river is
a pathway to interior neutral terri
tories the passage on the stream of
vessels destined for neutral soil can
not be impeded. For this reason the
Rio Grande could not be blockaded
| during the civil war
| A breach of blockade, according to
| Dr. Snow, is not an offense against the
laws of the country of the neutral own
er or master. The only penalty for en-
| saging in such trade is the liability te
capture and condemnation.
! Feature Of Spanish War.
The blockade of the Island of Cuba
was, of course, a feature of the wal
with Spain in 1882. In this case
however, the blockade was not one of q
piece of contiguous territory. but of 9
detached island of comparatively small
size, with but very few ports. The
blockade established April 81, 1898, by
Admiral Sampson with the north At
lantic squadron of twenty-eight yes.
sells included the main port. Havana
| and the north coast for eighty miles