Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia
174 APPENDIX II. |
vessels bound for Scandinavian and Danish ports. Further- | more, from the recent placing of cotton on the British list of contraband of war, it appears that His Majesty’s Government have themselves been forced to the conclusion that the blockade is ineffective to prevent shipments of cotton from reaching their enemies, or else that they are doubtful as to the legality of the form of blockade which they have sought to maintain.
20. Moreover, it is an essential principle which has been universally accepted that a blockade must apply impartially to the ships of all nations. This was set forth in the Declaration of London, is found in the Prize Courts of Germany, France, and Japan, and has long been admitted as a basic principle of the law of blockade. This principle, however, is not applied in the present British “ blockade,” for, as above indicated, German ports are notoriously open to traffic with the ports of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. So strictly has this principle been enforced in the past that, in the Crimean War, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on appeal laid down that, if belligerents themselves trade with blockaded ports, they cannot be regarded as effectively blockaded. (The Franciska, Moore P.C. 56.) This decision has special significance at the present time, since it is a matter of common knowledge that Great Britain exports and re-exports large quantities of merchandise to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland, whose ports, so far as American commerce is concerned, she regards as blockaded. In fact, the British note of the 13th August itself indicates that the British exports of many articles, such as cotton, lubricating oil, tobacco, cocoa, coffee, rice, wheat, flour, barley, spice, tea, copra, etc., to these countries have greatly exceeded the British exports of the same articles for the corresponding period of 1914. The note also shows that there has been an important British trade with these countries in many other articles, such as machinery, beef, butter, cotton waste, etc.
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