overnment passed stricter regulations securing themselves one-half of the cargo space, and outlawing importation of a number of luxury goods.[65] However, this was apparently not sufficiently enforced, because over the war, the Confederate government had only shipped out 50,000 bales of cotton to its own account.[66] Thus, for the most part, blockade-running was almost completely in the hands of private ventures. Unfortunately, it was most often conducted by the "Rhett Butlers" of this world, who, instead of bringing vital supplies for the Confederate war effort, chose to bring cargoes full of silks, perfumes, and liquors which fetched higher profits. Thomas Taylor, a blockade-runner, commented that since "It did not pay merchants to ship heavy goods, the charge for freight per ton at Nassau being 80 to 100 in gold, a great portion of the cargo generally consisted of light goods, such as silks, linens, quinine, etc., on which immense profits were made."[67] Even as late as November 1864, after the ban on luxury goods, an official of a Wilmington blockade-running firm wrote to the agent in Nassau not to send any more chloroform, but to send perfume and "Essence of Cognac" because it would sell "quite high."[68] As a result, "Wealthy ladies of the South were provided with dresses and bonnets, while soldiers went without food, clothing, and ammunition."[69] This was not so much the result of the blockade as it was the fault of the Confederate government. The Confederates were, however, able to survive for a long time while dependent on blockade-running for most of their supplies, and this is in itself a proof of the ineffectiveness of the blockade. During the war, 330,000 stands of arms (mostly Enfield rifles, and some Austrian and Brunswick rifles) came in through the Gulf blockade on the Confederate government account. Together with the arms shipped on state accounts in the East coast and private shipments, about 600,000 arms were import...
