It is certainly by no means strict or vigorous along the immense extent of coast to which it is supposed to apply.

I suppose the ships which run it successfully both in and out are more numerous than those which are intercepted.

On the other hand it is very far from being a mere Paper Blockade.

A great many vessels are captured; it is a most serious interruption to Trade; and if it were as ineffective as Mr.Jefferson Davis says in his Message, he would not be so very anxious to get rid of it[534]." This was a very fair description of the blockade situation.

Lyons, unaffected by irritations resulting from the _Trent_, showed the frame of mind of a "determined neutral," as he was fond of describing himself.
His answer was the first given to Russell indicating a possibility that the blockade might, after all, become strictly effective and thus exceedingly harmful to British trade.