Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/745

 BLOCKADE BLODGET 725 evading it. The third circumstance essential is that a neutral against whom it is sought to be enforced should have been notified of it.' The notice may be by formal notification of the executive published to the world, or actual no- tice at the time trade with the port is at- tempted ; but notice may be presumed in any case where the blockade has become matter of public and general notoriety. The privilege of the blockading force is to seize and send in for condemnation any vessel with its cargo en- deavoring to trade with the port ; and if the vessel succeeds in violating it, she may be fol- lowed and seized on the high seas, and does not purge herself of the offence until she has returned to the port from which she originally set out. In cases of neutral vessels in port when the blockade is declared, the notoriety of the act is sufficient notice ; they are at lib- erty to leave with such cargo as they may then have on hoard, but must not take on more. A neutral vessel incurs no liability in trading at a port not blockaded in goods des- tined to the blockaded port by land carriage. Some notable attempts have been made to en- force mere paper blockades. The Berlin de- cree of Nov. 21, 1806, of the emperor Napo- leon, declared all the British islands in a state of blockade, and threatened capture and con- demnation to vessels trading with them. The English government retaliated, and between the Berlin and Milan decrees on the one hand and the orders in council on the other, though no actual blockade was established, all neu- tral trade with Great Britain and France and their respective colonies and dependencies was threatened with destruction. The United States was the principal sufferer from these measures, and justly considered herself enti- tled to redress. The breaking out of the civil war in the United States in 1861 presented some embarrassing questions as to the proper course to take in regard to the southern ports. Two courses were open to the government : to declare the ports closed as ports of entry, or to establish a blockade. As the ports belonged to the country, and it was the right of the government to declare what should and what should not be ports of entry, it was argued by some that the simplest course to take was to exercise the undoubted right to close them, and thereby render all trade with them unlaw- ful. Such a course, however, it must be evi- dent, would be taken not in the interests of commerce and not for any motive operating in time of peace, and therefore, whatever name might be given it, would be really a belligerent act resorted to in order to inflict injury upon a public enemy; and it was highly probable that neutral nations would insist that, though called a mere municipal regulation, it was in its nature an attempt at blockade, and to be respected must appear to be made by the proper force. The government took the other course, and in April, 1861, the president is- sued proclamations declaring the southern ports blockaded. The blockade at first was not so complete as afterward, and some vigor- ous remonstrances were made against it in England as being in law wholly ineffectual ; but the British government, after careful in- vestigation, did not venture to pronounce it insufficient, and correctly laid down the rule of law as follows : " Her majesty's government are of opinion that, assuming the blockade is duly notified, and also that a number of ships is stationed and remains at the entrance of a port sufficient really to prevent access to it, or to create an evident danger in entering or leaving it, and that these ships do not volun- tarily permit ingress or egress, the fact that various ships may have successfully escaped through it will not of itself prevent the block- ade from being an effective one by international law." Notwithstanding a considerable trade was carried on through the blockaded ports by means of swift vessels constructed for the pur- pose, this conclusion of the British government was adhered to ; the prize courts declared the same doctrine, and Secretary Welles in his annual report for the second year of the war was able to boast of the blockade as " the greatest of all naval triumphs." But some oi the ports it was found impossible wholly to close, and in a few instances, notably in the case of Charleston, an attempt was made to preclude passage through some of the channels by sinking therein old vessels, stones, and other obstructions. This, being taken as an attempt to destroy the ports, was remonstrated against by the British minister, as not sanctioned by the laws of war ; but it was replied by Mr. Seward that the obstructions were only tem- porary, and in fact they proved of little im- portance. A blockade terminated is said to be raised, and this may be done by public proclamation or by withdrawing the block- ading force. BLOCK ISLAND, an island in the Atlantic ocean, midway between Montauk Point, at the E. extremity of Long Island, and Point Judith, Rhode Island, 8 m. long and from 2 to 5 m. wide. It belongs to the state of Rhode Island, and constitutes the town of New Shoreham, Newport county ; pop. in 1871, 1,113. On the N. W. side is a lighthouse with two fixed lights, 58 ft above the level of the sea; lat. 41 13' N., Ion. 71 35' W. Itl.OIM.IT. Luriii. an American physicist, born at Jamestown, N. Y., May 25, 1823. He began early to make observations in physical science, and in 1851 became assistant at the Smithso- nian institution, Washington, having in charge the researches in climatological and atmospheric physics. In 1852-'3 he directed the organiza- tion of the Pacific railroad surveys in the mat- ter of the determination of altitudes and gra- dients by means of the barometer. In 1854 he prepared a quarto volume of the statistics of scientific observation at the United States mili- tary posts. In 1857 he published a valuable work on "The Climatology of the United