Mr. Cobden occupied himself especially to obtain important reforms in International Law on the ocean. This was part of his scheme for disarmament; and here Mr. Sumner was a fellow-laborer. He was anxious that the attention suddenly directed to Maritime Rights should redound to the good of the Human Family. His programme was given in a letter dated December 5, and read by Mr. Sumner to President Lincoln and his Cabinet, while considering the British demand, on the forenoon of Christmas day. Mr. Cobden begins by quoting from the public letter of General Scott, then at Paris. “I am sure that the President and people of the United States would be but too happy to let these men go free, unnatural and unpardonable as their offences have been, if by it they could emancipate the commerce of the world. Greatly as it would be to our disadvantage, at this present crisis, to surrender any of these maritime privileges of belligerents which are sanctioned by the Laws of Nations, I feel that I take no responsibility in saying that the United States will be faithful to their traditional policy upon this subject, and to the spirit of their political institutions.” He then proceeds:-- “If I were in the position of your Government, I would act upon it, and thus, by a great strategic movement, turn the flank of the European powers, _especially of the governing classes of England_. I would propose to let Mason and Slidell go, and stipulate, at the same time, for a complete abandonment of the old code of Maritime Law as upheld by England and the European powers. I would propose that private property at sea should be exempt from capture by armed Government ships. On this condition I would give in my adhesion to the abolition of privateering. I would propose that neutral merchant vessels, in time of war, as in time of peace, should be exempt from search, visitation, or detention, by armed Government vessels, when on the ocean or high seas,--I mean when beyond that distance from the shore which removes them from the jurisdiction of any maritime state. I would propose to abolish blockades of purely commercial ports, excepting for articles contraband of war.”