No. 157.
No. 130.]
American Legation, Berlin, September 1, 1870. (Received September
20.)
P. S.—September 5, 1870.—I learn that the
United States ship Juniata, Commander Luce, has arrived off
Helgoland. It is reported by telegraph that “an American corvette of
twelve guns started, on the 2d, from Helgoland, with a pilot for the
Elbe, but was turned back by the French fleet.” Whether this has
actually happened will be known from the report of the commander of
the corvette.
Extract of a letter from J. H. Brockmann,
United States consular agent at Königsberg, to
George Bancroft.
Königsberg,
August 31, 1870.
Sir: * * * * * * * * All North German
harbors of the Baltic are declared blockaded, although no effective
blockade has till now been executed by the French fleet. The
newspapers, indeed, brought some time ago the intelligence that the
whole German Baltic has been blockaded since the 18th instant, but
neither our authorities here nor those of Pillau have published a
legal notification of the blockade, and they could not do so because
they themselves have not received such from the French vice-admiral.
That a mere notification of the blockade at Swinemünde resp. Lübeck
for the whole Baltic cannot be considered effective, when no ship is
stationed in the neighborhood of the different other harbors, is an
unquestionable matter. But it may be, upon the whole, doubted
whether a blockade notification at only one port is legally
sufficient to put a stop to all other ports.
All consuls of this place are of opinion that, under said
circumstances, the Baltic is not yet blockaded; but, nevertheless,
they cannot advise captains to leave the harbor from fear their
ships may be captured on the open sea.