Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

178 APPENDIX II. |

or inadequate, to be reviewed by an international tribunal, as | was done under the Treaties of 1794 and 1871. The ground | upon which this contention is put forth, and the results which ! would follow, if the course of procedure suggested were accepted, give the impression that His Majesty’s Government do not rely upon its soundness or strength. Nevertheless, since it has been advanced I cannot refrain from presenting certain considerations which will show that the proposed course embodies the form rather than the substance of redress.

The cases which the British Government would have claimants present to their Prize Courts are essentially different from cases arising wholly within the jurisdiction of a foreign country. They result from acts committed by the British naval authorities upon the high seas, where the jurisdiction over neutral vessels is acquired solely by international law. Vessels of foreign nationality, flying a neutral flag and finding their protection in the country of that flag, are seized without facts warranting a reasonable suspicion that they are destined to blockaded ports of the enemy or that their cargoes are contraband, although the possession of such facts is, by international law, essential to render a seizure legal. The officers appear to find their justification in the Orders in Council and regulations of His Majesty’s Government, in spite of the fact that in many of the present cases the Orders in Council and the regulations for their enforcement are themselves complained of by claimants as contrary to international law. Yet the very Courts which it is said are to dispense justice to dissatisfied claimants are bound by the Orders in Council. This is unmistakably indicated to be the case in the note you were so good as to address to me on the 31st July, which states that :—

““ British Prize Courts, ‘ according to the ancient form of commission under which they sit, are to determine cases according to the course of admiralty and the law of nations and the statutes, rules, and regulations for the time being in force in that behalf.” ”