nd thus stated by Lord Salisbury
during the South African war:

"Foodstuffs, though having a hostile destination, can be considered as
contraband of war only if they are for the enemy forces; it is not
sufficient that they are capable of being so used, it must be shown
that this was in fact their destination at the time of their seizure."

With this statement as to conditional contraband the views of this
Government are in entire accord, and upon this historic doctrine,
consistently maintained by Great Britain when a belligerent as well as
a neutral, American shippers were entitled to rely.

The Government of the United States readily admits the full right of a
belligerent to visit and search on the high seas the vessels of
American citizens or other neutral vessels carrying American goods and
to detain them WHEN THERE IS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO JUSTIFY A BELIEF
THAT CONTRABAND ARTICLES ARE IN THEIR CARGOES; but his Majesty's
Government, judging by their own experience in the past, must realize
that this Government cannot without protest permit American ships or
American cargoes to be taken into British ports and there detained for
the purpose of searching generally for evidence of contraband or upon
presumptions created by special municipal enactments which are clearly
at variance with international law and practice.

This Government believes and earnestly hopes his Majesty's Government
will come to the same belief, that a course of conduct more in
conformity with the rules of international usage, which Great Britain
has strongly sanctioned for many years, will in the end better serve
the interests of belligerents as well as those of neutrals.

Not only is the situation a critical one to the commercial interests
of the United States, but many of the great industries of this country
are suffering because their products are denied long-established
markets in European countries, which, though neutral, are contiguous
to the nations at war. Producers and exporters, steamship and
insurance companies, are pressing, and not without reason, for relief
from the menace to transatlantic trade which is gradually but surely
destroying their business and threatening them with financial
disaster.

The Government of the United States, still relying upon the deep sense
of justice of the British Nation, which has been so often manifested
in the intercourse between the two countries during so many years of
uninterrupted friendship,