When
such arrests began, the owners clamored to the British
Government, and both dealers in contraband and professional
blockade-runners worked themselves into a fury because American
cruisers watched British ports and searched British ships on the
high seas. With regard to this matter, the British Government
and the Government at Washington had their last important
correspondence during the war. The United States stood firm for
the idea that when goods were ultimately intended for the
Confederacy, no matter how roundabout the journey, they could be
considered as making a single continuous voyage and were liable
to capture from the day they left Liverpool. Early in 1865, the
Supreme Court of the United States fully developed the principle
of continuous voyage in four celebrated cases that are now among
the landmarks of international law.*
* The Great war has once again led to controversy over this
subject, so vital to neutral states.
This was the last step in making the blockade effective.
Thereafter, it slowly strangled the South. The Federal armies
enormously overmatched the Southern, and from November, 1864,
their continuance in the field was made sure. Grim work still
lay before Lincoln, but the day of anxiety was past.
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