hall not be binding except
between those Powers which have acceded or shall accede to it."
It was accepted by all the European and South American Powers.
The United States, Mexico, and the Oriental Powers did not join in
the general acceptance.

The English and French consuls in Charleston, having received these
instructions, sought and found an intermediary whose position and
diplomatic experience would satisfy the requirements. This agent
accepted the trust on two conditions,--one, that he should be
furnished with the instructions as proof to the Confederate Government
of the genuineness of the negotiation, the other, that the answer
of the Confederate Government should be received in whatever shape
that government should think proper to frame it. The negotiations
in Richmond which had by this time become the seat of the Insurgent
Government were speedily concluded, and on the 13th of August,
1861, the Confederate Government passed the following resolution:--

"WHEREAS the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France,
Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, in a conference held at
Paris on the 16th of April, 1856, made certain declarations concerning
Maritime Law, to serve as uniform rules for their guidance in all
cases arising out of the principles thus proclaimed;

"AND WHEREAS it being desirable not only to attain certainty and
uniformity as far as may be practicable in maritime law, but also
to maintain whatever is just and proper in the established usages
of nations, the Confederate States of America deem it important to
declare the principles by which they will be governed in their
intercourse with the rest of mankind: Now therefore be it

"_Resolved_, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,

"1st, That we maintain the right of privateering as it has been
long established by the practice and recognized by the law of
nations.

"2d, That the neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception
of contraband of war.

"3d, That neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war,
are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag.

"4th, Blockades in order to be binding must be effective; that is
to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access
to the coast of the enemy."

ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE CONFEDERACY.

"These resolutions," says Mr. Bunch to Lord Lyons on Aug. 16, 1861,
"were passed on the 13th inst., approved on the