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The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.

The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of  of Atlantic and Gulf coastline, including 12 major ports, notably New Orleans and Mobile. Those blockade runners fast enough to evade the Union Navy could carry only a small fraction of the supplies needed. They were operated largely by British citizens, making use of neutral ports such as Havana, Nassau and Bermuda. The Union commissioned around 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war.

Proclamation of blockade
On April 19, 1861, President Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Blockade Against Southern Ports: Whereas an insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed therein comformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States:

And whereas a combination of persons engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States: And whereas an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session, to deliberate and determine thereon:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and of the law of Nations, in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the Commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize, as may be deemed advisable.

And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the pretended authority of the said States, or under any other pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

Operations

Scope
A joint Union military-navy commission, known as the Blockade Strategy Board, was formed to make plans for seizing major Southern ports to utilize as Union bases of operations to expand the blockade. It first met in June 1861 in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of Captain Samuel F. Du Pont.

In the initial phase of the blockade, Union forces concentrated on the Atlantic Coast. The November 1861 capture of Port Royal in South Carolina provided the Federals with an open ocean port and repair and maintenance facilities in good operating condition. It became an early base of operations for further expansion of the blockade along the Atlantic coastline, including the Stone Fleet of old ships deliberately sunk to block approaches to Charleston, South Carolina. Apalachicola, Florida, received Confederate goods traveling down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia, and was an early target of Union blockade efforts on Florida's Gulf Coast. Another early prize was Ship Island, which gave the Navy a base from which to patrol the entrances to both the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The Navy gradually extended its reach throughout the Gulf of Mexico to the Texas coastline, including Galveston and Sabine Pass.

With 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of Confederate coastline and 180 possible ports of entry to patrol, the blockade would be the largest such effort ever attempted. The United States Navy had 42 ships in active service, and another 48 laid up and listed as available as soon as crews could be assembled and trained. Half were sailing ships, some were technologically outdated, most were at the time patrolling distant oceans, one served on Lake Erie and could not be moved into the ocean, and another had gone missing off Hawaii. At the time of the declaration of the blockade, the Union only had three ships suitable for blockade duty. The Navy Department, under the leadership of Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, quickly moved to expand the fleet. U.S. warships patrolling abroad were recalled, a massive shipbuilding program was launched, civilian merchant and passenger ships were purchased for naval service, and captured blockade runners were commissioned into the navy. In 1861, nearly 80 steamers and 60 sailing ships were added to the fleet, and the number of blockading vessels rose to 160. Some 52 more warships were under construction by the end of the year. By November 1862, there were 282 steamers and 102 sailing ships. By the end of the war, the Union Navy had grown to a size of 671 ships, making it the largest navy in the world.

By the end of 1861, the Navy had grown to 24,000 officers and enlisted men, over 15,000 more than in antebellum service. Four squadrons of ships were deployed, two in the Atlantic and two in the Gulf of Mexico.

Blockade service
Blockade service was attractive to Federal seamen and landsmen alike. Blockade station service was considered the most boring job in the war but also the most attractive in terms of potential financial gain. The task was for the fleet to sail back and forth to intercept any blockade runners. More than 50,000 men volunteered for the boring duty, because food and living conditions on ship were much better than the infantry offered, the work was safer, and especially because of the real (albeit small) chance for big money. Captured ships and their cargoes were sold at auction and the proceeds split among the sailors. When Eolus seized the hapless blockade runner Hope off Wilmington, North Carolina, in late 1864, the captain won $13,000 ($ today), the chief engineer $6,700, the seamen more than $1,000 each, and the cabin boy $533, compared to infantry pay of $13 ($ today) per month. The amount garnered for a prize of war widely varied. While the little Alligator sold for only $50, bagging the Memphis brought in $510,000 ($ today) (about what 40 civilian workers could earn in a lifetime of work). In four years, $25 million in prize money ($ today) was awarded.

Blockade runners

While a large proportion of blockade runners did manage to evade the Union ships, as the blockade matured, the type of ship most likely to find success in evading the naval cordon was a small, light ship with a short draft—qualities that facilitated blockade running but were poorly suited to carrying large amounts of heavy weaponry, metals, and other supplies badly needed by the South.  They were also useless for exporting the large quantities of cotton that the South needed to sustain its economy. To be successful in helping the Confederacy, a blockade runner had to make many trips; eventually, most were captured or sunk. Nonetheless, five out of six attempts to evade the Union blockade were successful. During the war, some 1,500 blockade runners were captured or destroyed.

Ordinary freighters were too slow and visible to escape the Navy. The blockade runners therefore relied mainly on new steamships built in Britain with low profiles, shallow draft, and high speed. Their paddle-wheels, driven by steam engines that burned smokeless anthracite coal, could make . Because the South lacked sufficient sailors, skippers and shipbuilding capability, the runners were mostly built, commanded and manned of officers and sailors of the British Merchant Marine. The profits from blockade running were high as a typical blockade runner could make a profit equal to about $1 million U.S. dollars in 1981 values from a single voyage. Private British investors spent perhaps £50 million on the runners ($250 million in U.S. dollars, equivalent to about $2.5 billion in 2006 dollars). The pay was high: a Royal Navy officer on leave might earn several thousand dollars (in gold) in salary and bonus per round trip, with ordinary seamen earning several hundred dollars.

The blockade runners were based in the British islands of Bermuda and the Bahamas, or Havana, in Spanish Cuba. The goods they carried were brought to these places by ordinary cargo ships, and loaded onto the runners. The runners then ran the gauntlet between their bases and Confederate ports, some  apart. On each trip, a runner carried several hundred tons of compact, high-value cargo such as cotton, turpentine or tobacco outbound, and rifles, medicine, brandy, lingerie and coffee inbound. Often they also carried mail. They charged from $300 to $1,000 per ton of cargo brought in; two round trips a month would generate perhaps $250,000 in revenue (and $80,000 in wages and expenses).

Blockade runners preferred to run past the Union Navy at night, either on moonless nights, before the moon rose, or after it set. As they approached the coastline, the ships showed no lights, and sailors were prohibited from smoking. Likewise, Union warships covered all their lights, except perhaps a faint light on the commander's ship. If a Union warship discovered a blockade runner, it fired signal rockets in the direction of its course to alert other ships. The runners adapted to such tactics by firing their own rockets in different directions to confuse Union warships.

In November 1864, a wholesaler in Wilmington asked his agent in the Bahamas to stop sending so much chloroform and instead send "essence of cognac" because that perfume would sell "quite high". Confederate supporters held rich blockade runners in contempt for profiteering on luxuries while the soldiers were in rags. On the other hand, their bravery and initiative were necessary for the rebellion's survival, and many women in the back country flaunted imported $10 gewgaws and $50 hats to demonstrate the Union had failed to isolate them from the outer world. The government in Richmond, Virginia, eventually regulated the traffic, requiring half the imports to be munitions; it even purchased and operated some runners on its own account and made sure they loaded vital war goods. By 1864, Lee's soldiers were eating imported meat. Not wanting to draw Britain into a possible war with the Union, the Union Navy decided to apply the principles of international law in the conflict; captured British sailors were released, while Confederates went to prison camps. The ships were unarmed (the weight of the cannon would slow them down), so they posed no danger to the Navy warships. Therefore, blockade running was reasonably safe for both sides.

One example of the lucrative (and short-lived) nature of the blockade running trade was the ship Banshee, which operated out of Nassau and Bermuda. She was captured on her seventh run into Wilmington, North Carolina, and confiscated by the U.S. Navy for use as a blockading ship. However, at the time of her capture, she had turned a 700% profit for her English owners, who quickly commissioned and built Banshee No. 2, which soon joined the firm's fleet of blockade runners.

In May 1865, CSS Lark became the last Confederate ship to slip out of a Southern port and successfully evade the Union blockade when she left Galveston, Texas, for Havana.

Impact on the Confederacy

The Union blockade was a powerful weapon that eventually ruined the Southern economy, at the cost of very few lives. The measure of the blockade's success was not the few ships that slipped through, but the thousands that never tried it. Ordinary freighters had no reasonable hope of evading the blockade and stopped calling at Southern ports. The interdiction of coastal traffic meant that long-distance travel now depended on the rickety railroad system, which never overcame the devastating impact of the blockade. Throughout the war, the South produced enough food for civilians and soldiers, but it had growing difficulty in moving surpluses to areas of scarcity and famine. Lee's army, at the end of the supply line, nearly always was short of supplies as the war progressed into its final two years.

When the blockade began in 1861, it was only partially effective. It has been estimated that only one in ten ships trying to evade the blockade were intercepted. However, the Union Navy gradually increased in size throughout the war, and was able to drastically reduce shipments into Confederate ports. By 1864, one in every three ships attempting to run the blockade were being intercepted. In the final two years of the war, the only ships with a reasonable chance of evading the blockade were blockade runners specifically designed for speed.  Overall, the Union Navy wrecked or captured an estimated 1500 ships that attempted to run the blockade.  During the four years of the blockade, Southern ports saw approximately 8000 trips.  By contrast, over 20,000 took place during the four years preceding the war.

The blockade almost totally choked off Southern cotton exports, which the Confederacy depended on for hard currency. Cotton exports fell 95%, from 10 million bales in the three years prior to the war to just 500,000 bales during the blockade period. The blockade also largely reduced imports of food, medicine, war materials, manufactured goods, and luxury items, resulting in severe shortages and inflation. Shortages of bread led to occasional bread riots in Richmond and other cities, showing that patriotism was not sufficient to satisfy the daily demands of the people. Land routes remained open for cattle drovers, but after the Union seized control of the Mississippi River in summer 1863, it became impossible to ship horses, cattle and swine from Texas and Arkansas to the eastern Confederacy. The blockade was a triumph of the Union Navy and a major factor in winning the war.

A significant secondary impact of the naval blockade was a resulting scarcity of salt throughout the South. In Antebellum times, returning cotton-shipping ships were often ballasted with salt, which was bountifully produced at a prehistoric dry lake near Syracuse, New York, but which had never been produced in significant quantity in the Southern States. Salt was necessary for curing meat; its lack led to significant hardship in keeping the Confederate forces fed as well as severely impacting the populace. In addition to blocking salt from being imported into the Confederacy, Union forces actively destroyed attempts to build salt-producing facilities at Avery Island, Louisiana (destroyed in 1863 by Union forces under General Nathaniel P. Banks), outside the bay at Port St. Joe, Florida (destroyed in 1862 by the Union ship Kingfisher), at Darien, Georgia, at Saltville, Virginia (captured by Union forces in December 1864), and various sites hidden in marshes and bayous.

Impact on International Trade
The southern cotton industry began to heavily influence the British economy.  Cotton was a highly profitable cash crop, known in the 19th century as "white gold". On the eve of the war, 1,390,938,752 pounds weight of cotton were imported into Great Britain in 1860.  Of this, the United States supplied 1,115,890,608 pounds, or about five-sixths of the whole. Not only was Great Britain aware of the impact of Southern cotton, but so was the South.  They were confident that their industry held large power, so much, that they referred to their industry as "King Cotton."  This slogan was used to declare its supremacy in America. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Senator James Henry Hammond declaimed (March 4, 1858): "You dare not make war upon cotton! No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is king." The South proclaimed that many domestic and even some international markets depended so heavily on their cotton, that no one would dare spark tensions with the South.  They also viewed this slogan as their reasoning behind why they should achieve their efforts in seceding from the Union.  The Southern Cotton industry was so confident in the power of cotton diplomacy, that without warning, they refused to export cotton for one day.

Imagining an overwhelming response of pleas for their cotton, the Southern cotton industry experienced quite the opposite. With the decisions of Lincoln and the lack of intervention on Great Britain's part, the South was officially blockaded.  Following the U.S. announcement of its intention to establish an official blockade of Confederate ports, foreign governments began to recognize the Confederacy as a belligerent in the Civil War. Great Britain declared belligerent status on May 13, 1861, followed by Spain on June 17 and Brazil on August 1. This was the first glimpse of failure for the Confederate South.

The decision to blockade Southern port cities took a large toll on the British economy but they weighed their consequences. Great Britain had a good amount of cotton stored up in warehouses in several locations that would provide for their textile needs for some time. But eventually Great Britain began to see the effects of the blockade, "the blockade had a negative impact on the economies of other countries. Textile manufacturing areas in Britain and France that depended on Southern cotton entered periods of high unemployment..." in the so-called Lancashire Cotton Famine. Nearly 80% of the cotton used in the British textile mills came from the South, and the scarcity of cotton caused by the blockade caused the price of cotton to rapidly rise by 150% by the summer of 1861.  The article written in the New York Times further proves that Great Britain was aware of the influence of cotton in their empire, "Nearly one million of operatives are employed in the manufacture of cotton in Great Britain, upon whom, at least five or six millions more depend for their daily subsistence. It is no exaggeration to say, that one-quarter of the inhabitants of England are directly dependent upon the supply of cotton for their living."  Despite these consequences, Great Britain concluded that their decision was crucial in terms of reaching abolition of slavery in the United States.

The blockade led to Egypt replacing the South as Britain's principle source of cotton. Likewise, Egyptian cotton replaced American cotton as the principle source of cotton for the textile mills of France and the Austrian empire not only for the civil war, but for the rest of the 19th century. In 1861, only 600,000 cantars (one cantar being the equivalent of 100 pounds) of cotton were exported from Egypt; by 1863 Egypt had exported 1.3 million cantars of cotton.  Nearly 93% of the tax revenue collected by the Egyptian state came from taxing cotton while every landowner in the Nile river valley had started to grow cotton. The vast majority of the land in the Nile river valley were owned by a clique of wealthy families of Turkish, Albanian and Circassian origin, known in Egypt as the Turco-Circassian elite and to foreigners as the pasha class as most of the landowners usually had the Ottoman title of pasha (the equivalent of a title of nobility). The  fellaheen (peasantry) became the subject of a ruthless system of exploitation as the landowners pressed the fellaheen to grow cotton instead of food, settling a bout of inflation caused by the shortage of food as more and more land was devoted to growing cotton. The wealth created by the cotton boom caused by the Union blockade led to the redevelopment of much of Cairo and Alexandria as much of the medieval cores of both cities were razed to make way for modern buildings. The cotton boom attracted a significant number of foreign businessmen to Egypt, of which the largest number were Greeks. The wealth created by the cotton boom in Egypt was ended by the end of the blockade in 1865, which allowed the cotton from the South to ultimately reenter the world market, helping to lead to Egypt's bankruptcy in 1876.

Confederate response

The Confederacy constructed torpedo boats, tending to be small, fast steam launches equipped with spar torpedoes, to attack the blockading fleet. Some torpedo boats were refitted steam launches; others, such as the CSS David class, were purpose-built. The torpedo boats tried to attack under cover of night by ramming the spar torpedo into the hull of the blockading ship, then backing off and detonating the explosive. The torpedo boats were not very effective and were easily countered by simple measures such as hanging chains over the sides of ships to foul the screws of the torpedo boats, or encircling the ships with wooden booms to trap the torpedoes at a distance.

One historically notable naval action was the attack of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, a hand-powered submarine launched from Charleston, South Carolina, against Union blockade ships. On the night of 17 February 1864, Hunley attacked . Housatonic sank with the loss of five crew; Hunley also sank, taking her crew of eight to the bottom.

Major engagements
The first victory for the U.S. Navy during the early phases of the blockade occurred on 24 April 1861, when the sloop Cumberland and a small flotilla of support ships began seizing Confederate ships and privateers in the vicinity of Fort Monroe off the Virginia coastline. Within the next two weeks, Flag Officer Garrett J. Pendergrast had captured 16 enemy vessels, serving early notice to the Confederate War Department that the blockade would be effective if extended.

Early battles in support of the blockade included the Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay, from May to June 1861, and the Blockade of the Carolina Coast, August–December 1861. Both enabled the Union Navy to gradually extend its blockade southward along the Atlantic seaboard.

In early March 1862, the blockade of the James River in Virginia was gravely threatened by the first ironclad, CSS Virginia in the dramatic Battle of Hampton Roads. Only the timely entry of the new Union ironclad  forestalled the threat. Two months later, Virginia and other ships of the James River Squadron were scuttled in response to the Union Army and Navy advances.

The port of Savannah, Georgia, was effectively sealed by the reduction and surrender of Fort Pulaski on 11 April.

The largest Confederate port, New Orleans, Louisiana, was ill-suited to blockade running since the channels could be sealed by the U.S. Navy. From 16 to 22 April, the major forts below the city, Forts Jackson and St. Philip were bombarded by David Dixon Porter's mortar schooners. On 22 April, Flag Officer David Farragut's fleet cleared a passage through the obstructions. The fleet successfully ran past the forts on the morning of 24 April. This forced the surrender of the forts and New Orleans.

The Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864 closed the last major Confederate port in the Gulf of Mexico.

In December 1864, Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles sent a force against Fort Fisher, which protected the Confederacy's access to the Atlantic from Wilmington, North Carolina, the last open Confederate port on the Atlantic Coast. The first attack failed, but with a change in tactics (and Union generals), the fort fell in January 1865, closing the last major Confederate port.

As the Union fleet grew in size, speed and sophistication, more ports came under Federal control. After 1862, only three ports east of the Mississippi—Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Mobile, Alabama—remained open for the 75–100 blockade runners in business. Charleston was shut down by Admiral John A. Dahlgren's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in 1863. Mobile Bay was captured in August 1864 by Admiral David Farragut. Blockade runners faced an increasing risk of capture—in 1861 and 1862, one sortie in 9 ended in capture; in 1863 and 1864, one in three. By war's end, imports had been choked to a trickle as the number of captures came to 50% of the sorties. Some 1,100 blockade runners were captured (and another 300 destroyed). British investors frequently made the mistake of reinvesting their profits in the trade; when the war ended they were stuck with useless ships and rapidly depreciating cotton. In the final accounting, perhaps half the investors took a profit, and half a loss.

The Union victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863 opened up the Mississippi River and effectively cut off the western Confederacy as a source of troops and supplies. The fall of Fort Fisher and the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, early in 1865 closed the last major port for blockade runners, and in quick succession Richmond was evacuated, the Army of Northern Virginia disintegrated, and General Lee surrendered. Thus, most economists give the Union blockade a prominent role in the outcome of the war. (Elekund, 2004)

Squadrons
The Union naval ships enforcing the blockade were divided into squadrons based on their area of operation.

Atlantic Blockading Squadron
The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to enforce a blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. It was originally formed in 1861 as the Coast Blockading Squadron before being renamed May 17, 1861.  It was split the same year for the creation of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron
The North Atlantic Blockading Squadron was based at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and was tasked with coverage of Virginia and North Carolina. Its official range of operation was from the Potomac River to Cape Fear in North Carolina. It was tasked primarily with preventing Confederate ships from supplying troops and with supporting Union troops. It was created when the Atlantic Blockading Squadron was split between the North and South Atlantic Blockading Squadrons on 29 October 1861. After the end of the war, the squadron was merged into the Atlantic Squadron on 25 July 1865.

Commanders

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron
The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron was tasked primarily with preventing Confederate ships from supplying troops and with supporting Union troops operating between Cape Henry in Virginia down to Key West in Florida. It was created when the Atlantic Blockading Squadron was split between the North and South Atlantic Blockading Squadrons on 29 October 1861. After the end of the war, the squadron was merged into the Atlantic Squadron on 25 July 1865.

Commanders

Gulf Blockading Squadron
The Gulf Blockading Squadron was a squadron of the United States Navy in the early part of the War, patrolling from Key West to the Mexican border. The squadron was the largest in operation. It was split into the East and West Gulf Blockading Squadrons in early 1862 for more efficiency.

Commanders

East Gulf Blockading Squadron
The East Gulf Blockading Squadron, assigned the Florida coast from east of Pensacola to Cape Canaveral, was a minor command.  The squadron was headquartered in Key West and was supported by a U.S. Navy coal depot and storehouse built during 1856–61.

Commanders

West Gulf Blockading Squadron
The West Gulf Blockading Squadron was tasked primarily with preventing Confederate ships from supplying troops and with supporting Union troops along the western half of the Gulf Coast, from the mouth of the Mississippi to the Rio Grande and south, beyond the border with Mexico. It was created early in 1862 when the Gulf Blockading Squadron was split between the East and West. This unit was the main military force deployed by the Union in the capture and brief occupation of Galveston, Texas in 1862.

Commanders

Retrospective consideration
After the war, former Confederate Navy officer and Lost Cause proponent Raphael Semmes contended that the announcement of a blockade had carried de facto recognition of the Confederate States of America as an independent national entity since countries do not blockade their own ports but rather close them (See Boston Port Act). Under international law and maritime law, however, nations had the right to stop and search neutral ships in international waters if they were suspected of violating a blockade, something port closures would not allow. In an effort to avoid conflict between the United States and Britain over the searching of British merchant vessels thought to be trading with the Confederacy, the Union needed the privileges of international law that came with the declaration of a blockade.

However Semmes contends that by effectively declaring the Confederate States of America to be belligerents—rather than insurrectionists, who under international law were not eligible for recognition by foreign powers—Lincoln opened the way for Britain and France to potentially recognize the Confederacy. Britain's proclamation of neutrality was consistent with the Lincoln Administration's position—that under international law the Confederates were belligerents—and helped legitimize the Confederate States of America's national right to obtain loans and buy arms from neutral nations. The British proclamation also formally gave Britain the diplomatic right to discuss openly which side, if any, to support.

See also

 Bibliography of American Civil War naval history
 Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States § Blockade mail

References

Bibliography

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 Greene, Jack (1998). Ironclads at War; Combined Publishing
 McPherson, James M., War on the Waters: The Union & Confederate Navies, 1861-1865  University of North Carolina Press, 2012,

 Surdam, David G. (2001). Northern Naval Superiority and the Economics of the American Civil War; University of South Carolina Press
 Time-Life Books (1983) The Blockade: Runners and Raiders. The Civil War series; Time-Life Books, .
 Vandiver, Frank Everson (1947). Confederate Blockade Running Through Bermuda, 1861–1865: Letters And Cargo Manifests, primary documents
 Wagner, Margaret E., Gallagher, Gary W. and Finkelman, Paul ed., (2002) The Library of Congress Civil War Desk ReferenceSimon & Schuster, New York.
  Url
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 Wynne, Nick & Cranshaw, Joe (2011). Florida Civil War BlockadesHistory Press, Charleston, SC, .

Further reading
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External links
 National Park Service listing of campaigns
 Book review: Lifeline of the Confederacy
 Unintended Consequences of Confederate Trade Legislation
 The Hapless Anaconda: Union Blockade 1861–1865
 Sabine Pass and Galveston Were Successful Blockade-Running Ports By W. T. Block
 Civil War Blockade Organization
 David G. Surdam, Northern Naval Superiority and the Economics of the American Civil War
 "The Egotistigraphy", by John Sanford Barnes. An autobiography, including his Civil War Union Navy service on a ship participating in the blockade, USS Wabash, privately printed 1910. Internet edition edited by Susan Bainbridge Hay 2012

Military operations of the American Civil War
Blockades involving the United States
Maritime history of the United States
1861 in the American Civil War
1862 in the American Civil War
1863 in the American Civil War
1864 in the American Civil War
1865 in the American Civil War
Campaigns of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
Campaigns of the Lower Seaboard Theater and Gulf Approach of the American Civil War
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
La División de Honor Juvenil es la máxima categoría del sistema de ligas juveniles de España. Organizada por la Real Federación Española de Fútbol, cede el honor de proclamar al mejor equipo juvenil del país a la Copa de Campeones, a la que acceden los campeones y el mejor subcampeón de la División de Honor.

Nacida en 1990-91 como segunda categoría juvenil, no fue hasta la temporada 1995-96 cuando se convirtió en la primera categoría del fútbol juvenil en España, condición que mantiene desde entonces. Desde la temporada 2006-07 está formada por siete grupos territoriales conformados proximidad o facilidad de desplazamientos para evitar elevados costes en edad de formación.

Sistema de competición
Toman parte en el campeonato 114 equipos repartidos, por criterios de proximidad geográfica, en seis grupos de 16 equipos cada uno y un grupo de 18 equipos. En la actualidad el reparto de grupos se realiza del siguiente modo

La competición se disputa anualmente, empezando a principios de septiembre y terminando en el mes de abril del siguiente año. Siguiendo un sistema de liga, los equipos de cada grupo se enfrentan todos contra todos en dos ocasiones, en campo propio y contrario. El ganador de un partido obtiene tres puntos mientras que el perdedor no suma ninguno, y en caso de un empate entre dos equipos en un mismo partido, hay un punto para ambos.

Al término de la temporada, el equipo que más puntos suma en cada grupo se proclama campeón de liga territorial, y se clasifica para disputar, junto con el subcampeón con más puntos de todos los grupos, una fase final denominada Copa de Campeones de División de Honor Juvenil, jugada bajo el sistema de eliminación directa.

Así mismo, los siete campeones y subcampeones de todos los grupos, junto con los dos terceros clasificados con más puntos de todos los grupos disputan, al finalizar la temporada, la Copa del Rey.

Por su parte, los cuatro últimos clasificados de cada grupo son descendidos a la Liga Nacional Juvenil y reemplazados por los ganadores de la promoción de ascenso de esta categoría.

La categoría juvenil
El reglamento de la Real Federación Española de Fútbol establece que la licencia de futbolista juvenil corresponde a los que cumplan diecisiete años a partir del 1º de enero de la temporada de que se trate, hasta la finalización de la temporada en que cumplan los diecinueve.

Historia
Para un completo resumen histórico de las categorías juveniles véase Sistema de ligas juveniles de España.

En la temporada 1990-91 la máxima categoría juvenil conocida como Liga de Honor Sub-19 o Superliga, pasó a sufrir una reestructuración en la que se añadió como segunda categoría la División de Honor. Esta se unió a las ya existentes de Liga de Honor —ya citada— y a la Liga Nacional, pasando a estar constituida por seis grupos territoriales.

Las exigencias económicas que suponía la disputa de la Liga de Honor sub-19 provocó, a mediados de los años 1990, a la retirada de varios de los principales clubes, como el Real Madrid C. F. o el R. C. D. Español. Ante esta situación, la temporada 1995-96 la Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) llevó a cabo una importante reestructuración: se eliminó la Liga sub-19, de modo que la División de Honor, que hasta entonces era la segunda división, se convirtió en la máxima categoría. Al estar la División de Honor dividida en seis grupos, se estableció que los campeones de cada liga disputasen una fase final en terreno neutral, bautizada como Copa de Campeones, para determinar al campeón nacional.

La temporada 2006-07 se amplió de seis a siete grupos, creando un grupo propio para los clubes de la Comunidad Valenciana, ampliándose también la Copa de Campeones a siete participantes, antes de que en 2011 se reestructurase para albergar a un octavo participante, el subcampeón de la División de Honor con más puntos. Desde entonces se juega a sistema de eliminatorias directas, reemplazando las liguillas disputadas anteriormente.

Sistema de ligas juveniles

Historial

Como segunda categoría
La División de Honor fue inicialmente, y hasta la temporada 1994-95, la segunda categoría de la liga española de fútbol juvenil, por debajo de la Liga de Honor Sub-19 o Superliga Juvenil.

Como primera categoría
Desde la temporada 1995-96, con la supresión de la División de Honor Sub-19, la División de Honor es la máxima categoría de la liga española de fútbol juvenil, teniendo a su campeón absoluto en la Copa de Campeones, resaltados en color los clubes vencedores y subcampeones de la misma.

Palmarés

Véase también
 Liga Nacional Juvenil de España
 Liga de Honor sub-19 de España
 Copa de Campeones de División de Honor Juvenil
 Copa del Rey juvenil

Referencias

Notas

División de Honor Juvenil
Ligas de fútbol de España


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Cymraeg Cymraeg
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HomeCouncilThe Vale of Glamorgan CouncilMinutes, Agendas and ReportsHousing Compliance Policies ReferenceThe Youth Justice PlanDecision Tracking
Home > Council > The Vale of Glamorgan Council > Minutes, Agendas and Reports > Decision Tracking
Agenda Item No. 6
Homes and Safe Communities Scrutiny Committee: 9th November, 2016
Report of the Managing Director
2nd Quarter Scrutiny Decision Tracking of Recommendations and Updated Work Programme Schedule 2016/17
To advise Members of progress in relation to the Scrutiny Committee recommendations and to confirm the work programme schedule for the Scrutiny Committee for 2016/17:
2nd Quarter July - September 2016 (Appendix A)
Updated Work Programme Schedule for 2016/17 (Appendix B).
That the views of the Committee on the status of the actions listed in Appendix A to the report be sought.
That the updated Work Programme Schedule attached at Appendix B be approved and uploaded to the Council's website.
To maintain effective tracking of the Committee's recommendations.
For information.
An integral part of effective scrutiny is a mechanism for Scrutiny Committees to monitor their recommendations to ensure that desired actions are carried out and where necessary progress is reported back.
The work programme schedule provides a breakdown of reports anticipated to be considered by the Scrutiny Committee over the forthcoming months.
Appendix A attached to this report set out the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee and Members are requested to review progress against each recommendation, to assess whether further action may be required, ensure the required action is undertaken and to confirm which recommendations are to be agreed as completed.
Where appropriate, progress on actions relating to a service area covered by a previous Scrutiny Committee are now included in the Appendices for the appropriate Committee's consideration.
It is important that decisions of Scrutiny Committees are tracked and monitored as failure to do so could result in a risk that recommended courses of action will not be followed and consequently lost. This would undermine the credibility of the scrutiny process.
Members are also requested to confirm approval of the Scrutiny Committee Work Programme Schedule attached at Appendix B, it being noted that the schedule is a proposed list of items for consideration and may be subject to change depending on prevailing circumstances.
The work programme has been aligned to the Cabinet Forward Work Programme. The Scrutiny and Cabinet Roles and Responsibilities Protocol Point 7.6 states it is essential that the Cabinet Work Programme is taken into account when Scrutiny Committees are drawing up their own Work Programmes and also details reports that have been requested by the Scrutiny Committee together with items that require regular monitoring and scrutiny. Other reports will be added to the schedule as and when necessity arises. The schedule will also detail Requests for Consideration that have been received and the consideration given by officers of the likely date they can be reported to the relevant Committee. With regard to Call-in Requests that are made following decisions of Cabinet, as these are required to be dealt with within 20 working days of a Cabinet decision (as per the Council's Constitution) , they will be included within the programme as and when received.
With regard to Task and Finish work, the Council is in the process of agreeing a suite of measures to monitor progress against the new Corporate Plan wellbeing Outcomes which will be considered by Cabinet shortly. This work is being informed by the Member Working Group and Task and Finish discussions will commence thereafter.
The work programme can also be found on the Council's website at the following link: http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/en/our_council/council/scrutiny/scrutiny_committees.aspx.
None as a direct result of this report.
Scrutiny contributes to all Corporate and Service Objectives contained in the Corporate Plan and there is also an important role for Scrutiny to play in monitoring the progress for delivering these objectives. There is also an integrated planning action contained in the Corporate Plan for 2016 "Review the current arrangements to support effective scrutiny and facilitate more robust challenge and improved accountability" of which this Work Programme forms a part.
This report is in accordance with the recommendations of the WAO Democratic Renewal report and acknowledges the recommendations of the review of the Council's scrutiny function.
Not applicable given the issue is an internal matter.
Relevant Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet minutes.
Louise Mills, Assistant Democratic Services Officer, Tel: (01446 709144)
Jeff Rees, Principal Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer
Jeff Wyatt, Operational Manager (Democratic Services)
Rob Thomas, Managing Director
Stonewall Diversity Champion Disability Employer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Hitchly converts links into phone numbers that can be added to for-sale signs and other marketing materials.
Consumers who call Hitchly numbers receive texts with links to Web pages, such as listing pages.
Service may be better way to tie online marketing to offline marketing than using QR codes.
Homebuyers who stumble upon for-sale signs on properties that strike their fancy often have two ways to learn more about the home: They can tap around on a smart phone to pull up the right listing page or they can call a number on the sign to chat with a stranger. Hitchly provides agents with the option to offer a more seamless way for homebuyers to pull up listing information when they catch sight of an enticing for-sale sign.


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Q: what is the difference between cur.execute and con.execute? In python manual :https://docs.python.org/3.3/library/sqlite3.html.
In some code is :cur.execute(sqlite command),in some code is : con.execute(sqlite command),
what is the difference between them?

A: From the docs for connection (see here):

execute(sql[, parameters]) This is a nonstandard shortcut that creates
  an intermediate cursor object by calling the cursor method, then calls
  the cursor's execute method with the parameters given.

So to answer your question: It just creates a new cursor and executes your statement with this new cursor.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


STRATEC Biomedical AG, Birkenfeld, Germany (Frankfurt: SBS; Prime Standard, TecDAX), today signed an agreement with Sony DADC Austria AG ("Sony DADC"), based in Anif/Salzburg, Austria, to acquire all of the shares of its BioSciences business, Sony DADC BioSciences GmbH ("Sony DADC BioSciences"), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony DADC. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter 2016.
Building on Sony DADC's experience in high-precision optical disc manufacturing, Sony DADC induced 6 years ago the formation of its BioSciences business. Sony DADC BioSciences is a leading global OEM supplier of smart consumables for diagnostics, life sciences and medical technology applications. The company has a unique combination of skills and technologies including nano- and microstructuring, coating technologies, polymer sciences, and automated assembly. Sony DADC BioSciences has a certified production facility and a global logistics network and covers the entire value chain, from development and design via production and quality assurance through to logistics. The company meets all regulatory requirements in the relevant target markets. Its customers include global players in highly regulated markets as well as innovative start-ups. Furthermore, the company has numerous partnerships with universities and research institutes. Alongside its headquarters in Anif near Salzburg in Austria, the company has sales offices in both Asia and America.
In the current financial year, ending on March 31, 2017, the company is expected to generate sales of around EUR 17 million with slightly positive earnings contributing to STRATECs EBIT. Based on current planning, the management teams expect a continuously growing EBIT margin to reach the current group's EBIT margin by 2020. Consolidation within the STRATEC group is expected after closing. The company currently has approximately 120 employees. The company valuation set in the sale and purchase agreement amounts over EUR 30 million.
Comments Marcus Wolfinger, CEO of STRATEC: "With the acquisition of Sony DADC BioSciences, we are expanding the STRATEC Group to include an innovation leader in a very attractive growth market. This combination of an experienced, highly qualified team with innovative products and established customer relationships is an ideal addition to STRATEC's product portfolio. After closing this acquisition we will be able to offer solutions to our customers from a significantly broader technology spectrum, one that encompasses entirely new solutions in the field of smart consumables. We have been co-operating with the team in Anif in several major development projects for several years now and are impressed by their professionalism and innovative power. We believe that pooling our strengths this way will help us to access new growth opportunities for the STRATEC Group while also diversifying cluster risks."
Dr. Chris Mauracher, Managing Director of Sony DADC BioSciences added: "The two business models are very similar in terms of their partnership-driven approach, transferring development activities into continuous cash flow generating production. Given our different positions within the same value chain, we thus complement each other ideally. This combination now enables us to offer complete solutions comprising instrumentation, consumables and smart consumables from one single source. From a customer perspective, that reduces the number of contact partners and thus the complexity and process risk. We are optimistic that this will soon also be reflected in an even better offer to order ratio with our partners."
Building on Sony DADC's experience in high-precision optical disc manufacturing, Sony DADC BioSciences partners with Life Sciences and Diagnostics companies enabling the industrial manufacturing of smart polymer parts.
Sony DADC is a leading disc and digital solution provider for the entertainment, education and information industries, offering world-class optical media replication services, digital and physical supply chain solutions and software services. The company's network consists of service offices, optical media production, distribution and digital facilities worldwide.
2016-06-08 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.


If you want your business to be competent in the industry, you will have to make sure that you are considering the marketing services. Thus, you have to involve professionals that are well versed with marketing services such as web development and design as they will do a good job. The marketing agencies that are in the industry are so many and it is you to get to know the best marketing company that you can hire as it is not simple. Here are top factors that you should consider using when you are hiring the best company for marketing services in your business.
One of the guidelines is the skills. As you consider choosing the best marketing company for your business it is important that you get to consider looking the number of years that it has been offering the services. The marketing company with many years will have a skillful team that will get to make sure that you are getting the best marketing services.
Also, you need to consider the charges. This is paramount and you need to consider looking for the marketing company that will promise to offer your business marketing services within your budget. Therefore, you need to have a budget so that you use it to search costs estimates from several marketing companies and make the comparison to determine the one that ranges within your budget.
It is important that you get to hire the most reputable marketing agency. The marketing agencies that are reputable are so many and that makes it difficult to determine the one that you can get to incorporate. Here you are supposed to consider using some methods that you will incorporate to get to know the most reputable marketing agency by looking at the reviews and testimonials. So that you get to have an assurance that you will be provided the best marketing services more so your business web design you will have to make sure that you are reading the reviews online as they will lead you in determining the company that you can select.
The other significant guideline for you to consider looking at is the license. It is imperative that you get to be aware the marketing company you consider choosing is permitted to operate in your state and is recognized by law. No marketing agencies can be issued a license if it has not attained the requirements hence it is important that you get to find out if the agency you are selecting is licensed or not.


The RCP has produced guidance for physicians on the supporting information required for appraisal and revalidation. The guidance offers practical examples of the types of supporting information that physicians might present at their annual appraisal and include in their revalidation portfolio. It has been collaboratively developed with all physician specialties and is applicable across the many areas of physician practice.
The GMC recommends that doctors in specialist practice should consult the supporting information guidance provided by their college or faculty. This guidance expands on the GMC's revalidation framework, detailing what each college or faculty expects in relation to supporting information for appraisal and revalidation. These expectations are laid out under 'Requirements'. See also 'Physician specialty resources'.
The RCP has developed tools and templates to enable doctors to record and reflect on their supporting information for appraisal and revalidation. Doctors should consult their appraiser before using the RCP templates to ensure that they meet local clinical governance requirements and are satisfactory to the appraiser. If forms are already available to doctors through their organisation, they will be expected to use these.
The RCP also provides a professional concerns summary template to support discussion at appraisal (available below).
The RCP has a dedicated helpdesk for enquires and provides specialty advice in relation to supporting information, appraisal and revalidation. All enquiries should be forwarded to: revalidation@rcplondon.ac.uk.
Doctors should consult their appraiser before using the RCP templates to ensure that they meet local clinical governance requirements and are satisfactory to the appraiser.


Our website address is: http://www.islandnewsandadvertiser.co.uk.
We use a contact form for communication with visitors on this website. You are required to submit your name and email address so that we can follow up on any inquiries.


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Luboš Němec (* 9. března 1951) je bývalý český politik, v 90. letech 20. století poslanec České národní rady a Poslanecké sněmovny za ODS.

Biografie
Ve volbách v roce 1992 byl zvolen do České národní rady za ODS (volební obvod Jihomoravský kraj). Zasedal v zemědělském výboru a byl jeho místopředsedou.

Od vzniku samostatné České republiky v lednu 1993 byla ČNR transformována na Poslaneckou sněmovnu Parlamentu České republiky. Zde setrval do konce funkčního období parlamentu, tedy do sněmovních voleb v roce 1996. V stranických primárkách na jihu Moravy byl před volbami v roce 1996 zařazen za nevolitelné 28. místo. Ve volbách nakonec nekandidoval. Z kandidátní listiny odstoupil již v únoru 1996. Deklaroval, že zvažuje kandidaturu do senátu na podzim 1996, ale nakonec ani tam nekandidoval.

Odkazy

Reference

Externí odkazy
  Luboš Němec v parlamentu

Poslanci České národní rady
Poslanci Parlamentu České republiky (1992–1996)
Členové ODS
Narození v roce 1951
Muži


A cadre of acclaimed chefs make for one stunning setting.
APRIL 4-7, 2013: The Thursday-to-Sunday soiree spreads out, generously, over the first weekend in April. The biggest events of the food spectacular, which marks year six? They're plentiful. Highlights include the Founders' Dinner, the Celebrity Chef & Winemakers Golf Tournament, a seminar on rieslings from around the globe, a Belgium beer lunch, a mushrooms & pinot noir talk, and cooking demonstrations with greats like Carla Hall and Anne Burrell. Food & Wine magazine is the presenter, so count on a whole mess of luminaries on both sides of the stove (cooks and eaters) being in the house. Oh, and that house? Well, there's more than one venue, but everything is clustered in the Pebble Beach area.


Skin Cancer Forum - Are you prone to skin fungal infections?
I am not one of those who think non-melanoma skin cancers are a fungus, but I do think there could be merit to the idea that fungal infections of the skin can make people more likely to develop skin cancer. I have had multiple diagnosed BCC's so far and I am only 32. The only reason that this is odd is because nobody else in my immediate family out to my grandparents have ever had a BCC and many of their collective sun exposure is worse than mine.
I have had issues with various skin fungal infections for my entire life. As a kid, it was primarily chronic athletes foot. By my early 20's, athletes foot's brothers and sisters started showing up at the party in the form of ring worm, a big toe nail fungus infection and other fungal varieties all over my torso (most notably during the hot/humid summer months). Topical treatments don't seem to do much other than limit the spread and take money out of my wallet. I watch my diet, supplement with probiotics daily, and all the other things one can do and I still have problems. I have accepted the idea that I may have to take occasional courses of systemic anti-fungals to keep it in check. The only time in my life that I had complete relief was in the 6 months following a 90 day course of lamisil tablets that knocked out my nail infection. It was wonderful to sleep through the night without waking to scratch my sides!
Do or did you struggle with recurring fungal infections?
I would like to answer YES to this poll, but can't find out how to register my answer here. Add me to the YES column.
Hi -- I am new to this forum and was drawn to this web site because I like to look for natural ways to deal with health issues (I had a melanoma in situ removed from my arm 2 1/2 yrs ago and recently underwent Mohs surgery for a BCC on my cheek). I have been doing a LOT of reading and am VERY appreciative of Dan's and others' efforts to put this web site together and share experiences, etc.
Not sure that this is the best place to post for the first time, but I was drawn to the possibility of fungus being a cause or contributor of cancer -- or maybe it just shows up frequently as well, since the immune system seems to be under par for most/all of us.
I have dealt with athlete's feet for years now. I have had problems in private areas as well (beyond fungus and the gyne telling me it couldn't be cured -- but I am an avid user of coconut oil -- best stuff in the world -- and that area is pretty much normal now). And just this summer I finally went to the doc for ringworm on the top of my left foot. I had tried many topical lotions, and natual remedies without success, but he convinced me to really give lamisil a try for several weeks. It worked. I have also had various toenails "go fungal" on me. He told me I'd need to go on anti-fungal pills (maybe lamisil) to knock out the toe nail fungus. I didn't want to at first because I thought it might do more harm than good -- don't like drugs... but, now I am convinced that I should go back to him and ask him for a prescription. Especially now that I just finished a course of antibiotics for the Mohs surgery. At least that is my planned start (among many other things I have been reading about here) to try and prevent any more skin issues in the future.
I voted "I am prone to them but I figured out how to prevent recurrence"
Solution for me is regular use of 35% food grade hydrogen in RO water - also strengthen immune system - good diet no sugar. Last time I had a nail fungus which did not go away I finally got rid of it with topical and homeopathic solution Zetaclear - worked great.


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For many are called, but few chosen..
taken from www.saintsquotes.net
Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them: Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.
— Luke 13:23-24
For many are called, but few chosen.
— Mark 20:16
Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.
— St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church
The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!
— St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Doctor of the Church
The more the wicked abound, so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire.
— Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor and Father of the Church
If you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few. Do not follow the majority of mankind, but follow those who renounce the world and never relax their efforts day or night so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.
— St. Anselm, Doctor of the Church
A multitude of souls fall into the depths of Hell, and it is of the faith that all who die in mortal sin are condemned for ever and ever. According to statistics, approximately 80,000 persons die every day. How many of these will die in mortal sin, and how many will be condemned! For, as their lives have been, so also will be their end.
— St. Anthony Mary Claret
For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as though a few olives that remain should be shaken out of the olive tree, or grapes when the vintage is ended.
— Isaias 24:13
Not all, nor even a majority, are saved. . . They are indeed many, if regarded by themselves, but they are few in comparison with the far larger number of those who shall be punished with the devil.
— St. Augustine, Doctor and Father of the Church
All would wish to be saved and to enjoy the glory of paradise; but to gain heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss. This road is the observance of the divine commandments. Hence, in his preaching, the Baptist exclaimed: Make straight the way of the Lord.
The number of the elect is so small - so small - that were we to know how small it is, we should faint away with grief. The number of the elect is so small that were God to assemble them together, He would cry to them, as He did of old, by the mouth of His prophet, "Gather yourselves together, one by one" - one from this province, one from that kingdom.
— St. Louis Marie de Montfort
Our chronicles relate an even more dreadful happening. One of our brothers, well-known for his doctrine and holiness, was preaching in Germany. He represented the ugliness of the sin of impurity so forceful that a woman fell dead of sorrow in front of everyone. Then, coming back to life, she said, "When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, sixty thousand people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned.
— St. Leonard of Port Maurice
That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls, and continues thus to hurl them into Hell every day, casting so many nations from abyss to abyss of darkness and errors, such as are contained in the heresies and false sects of the infidels.
— Ven. Mary of Agreda
We owe God a deep regret of gratitude for the purely gratuitous gift of the true faith with which he has favored us. How many are the infidels, heretics and schismatic who do not enjoy comparable happiness? The earth is full of them and they are all lost!
I exhort you, therefore, not to faint in your afflictions, but to be revived by Gods love, and to add daily to your zeal, knowing that in you ought to be preserved that remnant of true religion which the Lord will find when He comes on the earth. Even if bishops are driven from their Churches, be not dismayed. If traitors have arisen from among the very clergy themselves, let not this undermine your confidence in God. We are saved not by names, but by mind and purpose, and genuine love toward our Creator. Bethink you how in the attack against our Lord, high priests and scribes and elders devised the plot, and how few of the people were found really receiving the word. Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved, but the elect of God. Be not then affrighted at the great multitude of the people who are carried hither and thither by winds like the waters of the sea. If but one be saved, like Lot at Sodom, he ought to abide in right judgment, keeping his hope in Christ unshaken, for the Lord will not forsake His holy ones. Salute all the brethren in Christ from me. Pray earnestly for my miserable soul.
— St. Basil the Great, Doctor and Father of the Church
Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others, uninstructed.
— St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor and Father of the Church
As a man lives, so shall he die.
Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved.
— St. Benedict Joseph Labre
A great number of Christians are lost.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, impurity, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, acts of selfishness, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
— Galatians 5:19-21
The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God.
I was watching souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist.
The Lord called the world a "field" and all the faithful who draw near to him "wheat." All through the field, and around the threshing-floor, there is both wheat and chaff. But the greater part is chaff; the lesser part is wheat, for which is prepared a barn not a fire. . . The good also are many, but in comparison with the wicked the good are few. Many are the grains of wheat, but compared with the chaff, the grains are few.
What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!
— St. John Chrysostom, Doctor and Father of the Church
All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost. . . In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect.
Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter.
— St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars, Patron Saint of Parish Priests
And it shall be as when a man gathers in the harvest which remains. . . And the fruit thereof that shall be left shall be as a single cluster of grapes; and as the shaking of the olive tree: two or three berries on the top of the bough, of four or five on the top of the tree, says the Lord, the God of Israel.
— Isaias 17:5-6
O Jesus! . . . Remember the sadness that Thou didst experience when, contemplating in the light of Thy divinity the predestination of those who would be saved by the merits of Thy sacred passion, thou didst see at the same time the great multitude of reprobates who would be damned for their sins, and Thou didst complain bitterly of those hopeless, lost, and unfortunate sinners.
— St. Bridget of Sweden
Nothing afflicts the heart of Jesus so much as to see all His sufferings of no avail to so many.
With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned.
— St. Regimius of Rheims
God, observes a certain author, wishes to be served by his priests with the fervor with which the seraphim serve him in heaven; otherwise he will withdraw his graces and permit them to sleep in tepidity, and thence to fall, first into the precipice of sin and afterwards into hell.
Christs flock is called "little" (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates.
The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.
— Ecclesiastes 1:15
Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!
— St. Francis Xavier
To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of hell, as of sin, which alone can send us thither. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved.
How many among these uncivilized peoples do not yet know God, and are sunk in the darkest idolatry, superstition and ignorance! . . . Poor souls! These are they in whom Christ saw, in all the horror of His imminent Passion, the uselessness of His agony for so many souls!
— St. Francesca Saverio Cabrini
The Ark, which in the midst of the Flood was a symbol of the Church, was wide below and narrow above; and, at the summit, measured only a single cubit. . . It was wide where the animals were, narrow where men lived: for the Holy Church is indeed wide in the number of those who are carnal minded, narrow in the number of those who are spiritual.
It is impossible to be saved if we turn away from thee, O Mary.
Alas, my friend. We cannot be together in Heaven unless we have begun to live so in this world. Death makes no change in that. As the tree falls, so shall it lie. . . Jesus Christ said . . . "He that does not hear the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican." And he also said, "There shall be one fold and one shepherd," and He made St. Peter the chief shepherd of His flock. My dear friend, there are not two ways of serving Jesus Christ. There is only one good way, and that is to serve Him as He Himself desires to be served.
Cast a look round the world, just observe the manner of living, of speaking, and you will see immediately whether the evil of sin is known in the world or whether any attention is paid to it. Not to speak of those who live decidedly irreligious and wicked lives, how few are those who pass for good and who approach the sacraments are aware of the great evil that sin is, and the great ruin it brings with it. It must necessarily happen that, on account of this certainly culpable ignorance in which most men live, an enormous number will come to be damned, because no sin is pardoned which is not detested, and it is impossible to detest sin properly if it is not known as such.
— St. Joseph Cafasso
There are many who arrive at the faith, but few that are led into the heavenly kingdom.
It is as though Jesus said: "O My Father, I am indeed going to clothe myself with human flesh, but the greater part of the world will set no value on my blood!"
— St. Isidore of Seville, Doctor and Father of the Church
In the Great Deluge in the days of Noah, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved.
But that which brings forth thorns and briers is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose end is to be burnt.
— Hebrews 6:8
How few the Elect are may be understood from the multitude being cast out.
— St. Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor and Father of the Church
And they. . . shall be so few that they shall easily be counted, and a child shall write them down.
Beyond a doubt the elect are few.
Some will say, It is enough for me to be saved. "No," says St. Augustine, "it is not enough; if you say that it is enough, you will be lost."
There are many who arrive at the faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for todays Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect?
The greater part of men will set no value on the blood of Christ, and will go on offending Him.
So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling into hell!
— Bl. Jacinta of Fatima
He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by him.
"The number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vinepickers have passed."
St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars, Patron Saint of Parish Priests
They who are to be saved as Saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved.
Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.
. . . let us bear in mind that unless we are humble we shall not only do no good, but we shall not be saved. "Unless you . . . become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." In order, then, to enter into the kingdom of heaven, we must become children, not in age, but in humility. St. Gregory says that as pride is a sign of reprobation, so humility is a mark of predestination.
It is certain that few are saved.
Many begin well, but there are few who persevere.
— St. Jerome, Doctor and Father of the Church
What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! Alas! The greater portion of mankind lives in sin unto the devil, and not unto Jesus Christ. O Saviour of the world, I thank Thee for having called and permitted us to live in the true faith which the Holy Roman Catholic Church teaches. . . But alas, O my Jesus! How small is the number of those who live in this holy faith! Oh, God! The greater number of men he buried in the darkness of infidelity and heresy. Thou hast humbled Thyself to death, to the death of the cross, for the salvation of men, and these ungrateful men are unwilling even to know Thee. Ah, I pray Thee, O omnipotent God, O sovereign and infinite Good, make all men know and love Thee!
Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved.
It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who after a bad life are converted at their death, and are saved; but these cases are very rare: ordinarily he that leads a bad life dies a bad death.
So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lords words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Saviour intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown.
I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.
The Apostle commands us to rejoice, but in the Lord, not in the world. For, you see, as Scripture says, whoever wishes to be a friend of this world will be counted as Gods enemy. Just as a man cannot serve two masters, so too no-one can rejoice both in the world and in the Lord.
It is certain that we absolutely require the divine assistance, in order to overcome temptations. . . Whoever prays obtains this grace; but whoever prays not, obtains it not, and is lost. And this is more especially the case with regard to the grace of final perseverance, of dying in the grace of God, which is the grace absolutely necessary for our salvation, and without which we should be lost forever. St. Augustine says of this grace, that God only bestows it on those who pray. And this is the reason why so few are saved, because few indeed are mindful to beg of God this grace of perseverance.
Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.
— St. John Climacus, Father of the Church
Do you not perceive how many qualities a priest must have that he may be strong in his teaching, patient, and hold fast to the faithful word which is according to doctrine? What care and pains does this require! Moreover, he is answerable for the sins of others. To pass over everything else: If but one soul dies without Baptism, does it not entirely endanger his own salvation? For the loss of one soul is so great an evil that it is impossible to express it in words. For if the salvation of that soul was of such value that the Son of God became man and suffered so much, think of how great a punishment must the losing of it bring.
We were so fortunate to be born in the bosom of the Roman Church, in Christian and Catholic kingdoms, a grace that has not been granted to the greater part of men, who are born among idolaters, Mohammedans, or heretics. . . How thankful we ought to be, then, to Jesus Christ for the gift of faith! What would have become of us if we had been born in Asia, in Africa, in America, or in the midst of heretics and schismatic? He who does not believe is lost. He who does not believe shall be condemned. And thus, probably, we also would have been lost.
Get out of the filth of the horrible torrent of this world, the torrent of thorns that is whirling you into the abyss of eternal perdition. . . This torrent is the world, which resembles an impetuous torrent, full of garbage and evil odours, making a lot of noise but flowing swiftly passed, dragging the majority of men into the pit of perdition.
— St. John Eudes
Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of Gods will only condemns them to more severe punishment.
— St. John of Avila
Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.
— St. John Neumann
The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.
— St. Justin Martyr, Father of the Church
Look higher still, and see the prelates of the Holy Church, pastors who have the charge of souls. Is the number of those who are saved among them greater than the number of those who are damned? Listen to Cantimpre; he will relate an event to you, and you may draw the conclusions. There was a synod being held in Paris, and a great number of prelates and pastors who had the charge of souls were in attendance; the king and princes also came to add luster to that assembly by their presence. A famous preacher was invited to preach. While he was preparing his sermon, a horrible demon appeared to him and said, "Lay your books aside. If you want to give a sermon that will be useful to these princes and prelates, content yourself with telling them on our part, We the princes of darkness thank you, princes, prelates, and pastors of souls, that due to your negligence, the greater number of the faithful are damned; also, we are saving a reward for you for this favor, when you shall be with us in Hell."
If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate.
Woe to you who command others! If so many are damned by your fault, what will happen to you? If few out of those who are first in the Church of God are saved, what will happen to you? Take all states, both sexes, every condition: husbands, wives, widows, young women, young men, soldiers, merchants, craftsmen, rich and poor, noble and plebian. What are we to say about all these people who are living so badly? The following narrative from Saint Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, "Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell."
I see around me a multitude of those who, blindly persevering in error, despise the true God; but I am a Christian nevertheless, and I follow the instruction of the Apostles. If this deserves chastisement, reward it; for I am determined to suffer every torture rather then become the slave of the devil. Others may do as they please since they are. . . reckless of the future life which is to be obtained only by sufferings. Scripture tells us that "narrow is the way that leads to life" . . . because it is one of affliction and of persecutions suffered for the sake of justice; but it is wide enough for those who walk upon it, because their faith and the hope of an eternal reward make it so for them. . . On the contrary, the road of vice is in reality narrow, and it leads to an eternal precipice.
— St. Leo of Patara
. . . a greater number is lost through false confidence than through excessive fear.
— Ven. Louis de Granada
Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way.
The great deluge at the time of Noe was the cause why all mankind perished, with the exception of eight persons who were saved in the Ark. In our time a deluge, not of water, but of sins, continually inundates the earth, and few persons escape it, especially among seculars. . .
Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved.
— Lucy of Fatima
The majority of souls appear before the Judgment empty-handed. They did nothing good for eternity.
Work out your salvation in fear and trembling!
— Phil 2:12
If the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly sinner appear?
— 1 St. Peter 4:18
And how very small is the kingdom of Jesus Christ! So many nations have never had the faith!
— Ven. Peter Julian Eymard
So vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!
— St. Philip Neri
All infidels and heretics are surely on the way to being lost. What an obligation we owe God! for causing us to be born not only after the coming of Jesus Christ, but also in countries where the true faith reigns! I thank Thee, O Lord, for this. Woe to me if, after so many transgressions, it had been my fate to live in the midst of infidels or heretics!
Oh, Jesus, Divine Redeemer of souls, behold how great is the multitude of those who still sleep in the darkness of error! Reckon up the number of those who stray to the edge of the precipice. Consider the throngs of the poor, the hungry, the ignorant, and the feeble who groan in their abandoned condition. Oh Lord, our sins darken our understanding, and hide from us the blessing of loving Thee as Thou dost merit. Enlighten our minds with a ray of Thy divine light. Thou art the Friend, the Redeemer, and the Father of the one who turns penitent to Thy Sacred Heart. Amen.
— Pope St. Pius X
Among adults there are few saved because of sins of the flesh.
It is granted to few to recognize the true Church amid the darkness of so many schisms and heresies, and to fewer still so to love the truth which they have seen as to fly to its embrace.
— St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church
Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.
— 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved.
I fear that Last Day, that day of tribulation and anguish, of calamity and misery, of mist and darkness, that Day on which, if the just have reason to fear, how much more should I, an impious, wretched, and ungrateful sinner!
— Bl. Sebastian Valfre
The greater number of men still say to God: Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil, and condemned to Hell, than be Thy servants. Alas! The greatest number, my Jesus - we may say nearly all - not only do not love Thee, but offend Thee and despise Thee. How many countries there are in which there are scarcely any Catholics, and all the rest either infidels or heretics! And all of them are certainly on the way to being lost.
The number of the damned is incalculable.
— St. Veronica Giuliani
Many religious go strait to Hell because they do not keep their vows!
— St. Vincent Ferrer
Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost.
Ah! A great many persons live constantly in the state of damnation!
— St. Vincent de Paul
Behold how the teachings of our Lord and Saviour, the Eternal Wisdom, are rejected, His deeds forgotten, and the price of His precious Blood lost, in a measure, considering how few there are who seek their salvation.
— St. Ignatius of Loyola
Since their eternal happiness, consisting in the vision of God, exceeds the common state of nature, and especially in so far as this is deprived of grace through the corruption of original sin, those who are saved are in the minority. In this especially, however, appears the mercy of God, that He has chosen some for that salvation, from which very many in accordance with the common course and tendency of nature fall short.
— St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church
Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!
— Matthew 7:13-14
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You may be a high school or college student, a recent graduate, or someone changing careers, but the lesson remains the same: Volunteering makes you a stronger job candidate if you're currently unemployed.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a government agency that promotes volunteerism. In 2013, it released a study that quantifies the relationship between unemployment, volunteerism, and getting hired. In this study, CNCS followed 70,000 unemployed individuals from 2002 to 2012 and learned that those who volunteer have a 27% better shot of securing a job over those who do not.
Interestingly, the link between volunteer work and employment was very strong among individuals without a high school diploma; volunteerism increased this demographic's chance of employment by 51%. If you live in a rural area, your chance of getting hired after a stint of unemployment was raised by 55%. The CNCS found that this connection was consistent across gender, race, age, ethnicity, metro area, and a location's unemployment rate.
This study goes on to suggest that volunteerism increases your chance of securing a job by strengthening both your social capital and your human capital. By volunteering more, you can build a stronger network of contacts (social capital) that may result in employment. Volunteering can also give you new skills and work experience (human capital) that can strengthen an otherwise unremarkable résumé.
People who volunteer are more able to build a strong network of contacts which may result in employment(social capital), as well as learn new skills and gain work experience (human capital). Read below for more.
Volunteering is a great way to expand your networking circle while working to improve your community. When you volunteer, chances are you'll come into contact with other volunteers who are like-minded and support the same causes you do. Volunteering can provide a fantastic setting to create personal and professional contacts. Working directly in your community may be a more fulfilling way to network than going to a formal business luncheon.
If you lack the experience to land your dream job, volunteering can be a great way to strengthen your current skills or gain new ones. Volunteers are often provided with extensive training that is transferrable to a paying job. For example, donating your time towards a nonprofit's social media efforts can sharpen your journalistic skills. Or volunteering as a gallery assistant may help you learn the ins and outs of the art world.
In summary, volunteering isn't a bad option if you're out of work and looking for a job.
By engaging in volunteer work, you can expand your social network and learn new skills while building up your résumé. If you're unemployed, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty with a nonprofit. Donating your time may just lead to your next paid gig!