demnation of the vessel may be said to be justified when the carriage of contraband formed an important part of her venture a statement which applies to all the cases specified."

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In Article 44 of the Declaration of London upon this subject it is provided that a neutral vessel carrying less than half contraband, and hence not subject to condemnation, may, when the circumstances permit, be allowed to continue her voyage if the master is willing to hand over the contraband to the belligerent vessel of war, whose commander is at liberty to destroy the contraband thus handed over to him. The master must give the captor duly certified copies of all relevant papers. This does not go as far as some of our treaties upon the subject; especially an old one with Prussia, still considered in force by the Empire of Germany. This requires the payment of the ruling market price of contraband goods at the enemy port to which the German vessel is bound, for all contraband surrendered. The loss by detention, etc., to the contraband carrier during such a transfer is to be paid also by the belligerent vessel of war. This treaty virtually creates a trade in contraband for which the belligerent must pay under circumstances which create an abnormal market rate.

10 A. J. I. L. Int. Naval Conference of London, Stockton, pp. 606, 607, 608, 609, etc.

CHAPTER XIII.

UNNEUTRAL SERVICES.-DESTRUCTION OF NEUTRAL PRIZES.— TRANSFER TO NEUTRAL FLAG.-CONVOY.-ENEMY

CHARACTER.

Unneutral services.-The carrying of persons and dispatches for belligerent purposes was often classed under the head of contraband of war, but these acts are really not contraband acts. They are called by Hall analogues of contraband, but the term now in use, originally suggested by Dana, is unneutral acts or services.

These acts differ from contraband acts by a closer connection with belligerent movements; they are more directly warlike than contraband trade, and the association and identification with the enemy becomes more positive and aggressive. In fact, as the title suggests, they are more in the nature of service than any contraband transport of more or less warlike material.

While a contraband trade may simply be a continuation of commerce which is legitimate in time of peace, it seldom occurs that neutrals undertake to transport in time of peace troops of war for another nation, while a forwarding of hostile dispatches as such implies a warlike act.

No neutral ship would, for instance:

1. Transmit or repeat certain messages or information to or for a belligerent.

2. Carry certain dispatches for a belligerent.

3. Transport certain persons in the service of a belligerent.

4. Accompany naval or military forces as auxiliaries, that is, as colliers, supply or repair vessels.

Transmission of intelligence for an enemy.-If a neutral vessel is used by the enemy to repeat signals made between two fleets or portions of a fleet or from shore to fleet, it is manifest that such vessel is serving one belligerent to such an extent that the other can but regard her as an enemy vessel and treat her so while she is engaged in this unneutral service.

In the same manner a vessel which is engaged in laying a telegraph cable in war time for exclusively war purposes in the interest of an enemy is serving one belligerent most effectively at the expense of the other. These vessels, under the rules of the Declaration of London, are subject to condemnation and treatment as if they were enemy merchant vessels.

Cutting of cables.-The cutting and splicing of the South American cable off Iquique during the civil war in Chile was a matter of another kind. In this case the cable was American property laid for commercial purposes. The de facto and recognized Government of Chile, with whom the cable company had contracted to keep open the line under certain conditions, found itself cut off by the cable station at Iquique, at the time in the possession of the Congressionalists. In order to open communication for the government at Santiago, it was found necessary to cut the cables leading to Iquique and splice the line at sea, which was done under the protection of Admiral McCann and some of his vessels. At that time the United States had not recognized the belligerency of the Congressionalists. With such a belligerency recognized, the right of a belligerent to cut a cable that is used to transmit information or dispatches of a hostile nature seems, in the light of recent events, well established. It may well be an important hostile measure.

Carriage of dispatches.-The carriage of certain classes of dispatches for a belligerent is forbidden. These classes are of a military or naval nature, and are between a belligerent

government and the officials of its colonies and dependencies. Diplomatic and consular dispatches may be carried without a performance of unneutral service, or without subjecting vessels to the penalties of such service.

In the case of the "Caroline," an American vessel, captured by a British cruiser in 1808, when on a voyage from New York to Bordeaux, Lord Stowell, the greatest, perhaps, of England's admiralty judges, rendered the decision freeing the ship, notwithstanding she carried dispatches from the French minister at Washington and a French consul to the French Government at home.

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In giving the decision he laid down the rule that the carrying of dispatches for the enemy by a neutral was illegal; and defined dispatches as official communications of official persons on the public affairs of the government; but," he said, "the neutral country has a right to preserve its relations with the enemy, and you are not to conclude that any communication between them can partake, in any degree, of the nature of hostility against you."

Private letters and communications relating to business affairs are not considered as forbidden to neutral vessels when bound to or from belligerent ports. They are prima facie innocent in their character.

Mail steamers carrying the flag of a neutral and under contract with a neutral government to carry the mail cannot be held to be otherwise than innocent in carrying a large quantity of mail within which may be dispatches and information of service to a belligerent. Certainly, the owners and captains of such vessels cannot be held responsible for the contents of the mail bags which they carry, and they would violate the trust imposed upon them if they even endeavored to ascertain the nature of the communications which they carried. Hence, they are exempt from confiscation. In Article 1 of the convention adopted at the Second Hague Con

ference in 1907, relative to certain restrictions on the exercise of the right of capture in maritime war, it is stated that the postal correspondence of neutrals or belligerents, whether official or private in character, which may be found on board a neutral or enemy ship at sea is inviolable. If the ship is detained the correspondence is forwarded by the captor with the least possible delay. This does not apply, however, to correspondence captured while violating a blockade.

Transport of persons by a neutral.-A neutral merchant vessel comes within the forbidden limits by the Declaration of London if it carries on board an individual or individuals embodied in the armed forces of the enemy. Such person may be made a prisoner of war by the opposing belligerent, even though there be no ground for the capture of the vessel.'

In the case of the "Orozembo," a neutral American vessel, Lord Stowell condemned the vessel because she was chartered to take three military persons of distinction and two court officials of the Dutch Government, a belligerent, to Batavia. There were also on board a lady and some persons in the capacity of servants, making in all seventeen passengers. He held that the vessel acted as a transport, notwithstanding the small number of people on board, using the words “To send out one veteran general of France to take command of the forces at Batavia might be a much more noxious act than the conveyance of a whole regiment."

Classification of unneutral service at sea by the Declaration of London.-Unneutral service is classified by the Declaration of London under two heads; under the first, a neutral vessel will be condemned and will in a general way receive the same treatment as a neutral vessel liable to condemnation for carriage of contraband. Under the second head (Article 46) a neutral vessel is liable to condemnation, and in a general way

1 Art. 47, Decln. of London, Appendix. Also Moore's Digest, Vol. 7, pp. 756, 757.