fxxrv.] 70 MR. SUMNER ON THE ANTRICAN WAR, 871

“dpril2,1863. ( ,, )—There are certain things which _ 1883.
can be done and others which cannot be done by our Govern- Zr. 59.
ment, We are bound to do our best to prevent any ship-of-War
 being built for the Confederate Government, for a shipof-war
 can only be used or owned legitimately by a government.
 But with munitions of war the case is different. They
are bought and sold by private merchants for the whole
world, and it is not in the power of governments to prevent
it. Besides, your own Government have laid down repeatedly
the doctrine that it is no part of the duty of governments to
interfere with such transactions, for which they are not in
any way responsible, I was therefore very sorry that Mr.
Adams had persisted in raising an objection to these
transactions, in which, by the way, the North has been quite
a8 much involved as the South. If you have read the debate
in the House on the occasion when Mr. Forster brought on
the subject last week, you will see how Sir Roundell
Palmer, the Solicitor-General, and Mr. Laird the shipbuilder,
 availed themselves of this opening to divert attention
 from the real question at issue—the building of warships
 to the question of selling munitions of war, in which
latter practice it was shown that you in the North were the
great participators.”
“ May 2,1863. ( ,, )—I am in no fear whatever of any
rupture between the two countries arising out of the
blockade, or the incendiary language of the politicians or
the Press on both sides of the Atlantic, though these may
help to precipitate matters on another issue. But the
fitting out of privateers to prey on your commerce, and to
render valueless your mercantile tonnage, is another and more
serious matter. Great material interests are at stake, and
unless this evil can be put down the most serious results
may follow. Now I have reason to know that our Government
 fully appreciates the gravity of this matter. Lord