He knew now that he had at
last built up a firm and powerful support. With this assured,
his policy, both domestic and foreign--the key to which was still
the blockade--might be considered victorious at all points.
There remains to be noticed, however, one event of the year 1864
which was of vital importance in maintaining the blockade.
It is a principle of international law that a belligerent must
itself attend to the great task of suppressing contraband trade
with its enemy. Lincoln was careful to observe this principle.
Though British merchants were frankly speculating in contraband
trade, he made no demand upon the British Government to relieve
him of the difficulty of stopping it. England also took the
legitimate position under international law and warned her
merchants that, while it was none of the Government's business to
prevent such trade, they practised it at their own risk, subject
to well-understood penalties agreed upon among nations. The
merchants nevertheless continued to take the risk, while both
they and the authorities of the Confederacy thought they saw a
way of minimizing the danger. Instead of shipping supplies
direct to the Confederate ports they shipped them to Matamoros,
in Mexico, or to the West Indies.
Pages:
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246