" Phocion" has written some clever letters to the Times
to prove that we cannot retain our impartiality if we object to furnishing the Confederates with their special want, —ships of war,—while we furnish the Federals with their special want —Armstrong guns and ammunition. The answer, of course, is, that we have been perfectly impartial in supplying both Confederates and Federals with guns and ammunition, as the Nassau correspondence only too clearly witnesses, but that our Foreign Enlistment Act—in a helpless and obscure way—does endeavour, for municipal reasons, to prevent the arming of ships of war for foreign powers and does not restrict the like manufacture of guns. " HistOricus " maintained yesterday with some force, that the clearest guilt lies on the belli- gerent Power who endeavours to induce our subjects to evade the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act, and that the proper method of procedure is to remonstrate strongly with Mr. Jefferson Davis, since his " intent " to break the restrictions imposed by our Municipal Act in the case of the Alabama and Florida is undeniable. It is certainly an unfriendly step, and a fit subject for diplomatic protest, when any foreign belligerent knowingly tempts a British sub- ject to break, whether consciously or unconsciously, the English law.
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