nternational duty, and is mainly intended to be exercised, in the way
of self-protection, when Great Britain is, or is likely to be, engaged
in war. The object of the enactment is to enable the Government to
retain in the country articles of which we may ourselves be in need, or
to prevent them from reaching the hands of our enemies. The articles
enumerated--e.g. arms, ammunition, marine engines, &c.--are, neither
in the Act of 1853 nor in the Order in Council of the following year,
described as "contraband of war."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, March 5 (1904).

COAL FOR THE RUSSIAN FLEET

Sir,--The use of coal for belligerent purposes is, of course, of
comparatively modern date, and it is hardly surprising to find that the
mercantile community, as would appear from your marine insurance article
of this morning, does not clearly distinguish between the different
classes of questions to which such use may give rise. There is indeed a
widely prevalent confusion, even in quarters which ought to be better
informed, between two topics which it is essential to keep
separate--viz. the shipment of contraband, and the use of neutral
territory as a base for belligerent operations.

A neutral Government (our own at the present moment) occupies a very
different position with reference to these two classes of acts. With
reference to the former, its international duty (as also its national
policy) is merely one of acquiescence. It is bound to stand aside, and
make no claim to protect from the recognised consequences of their acts
such of its subjects as are engaged in carriage of contraband. So far as
the neutral Government is concerned, its subjects may carry even cannon
and gunpowder to a belligerent port, while the belligerent, on the other
hand, who is injured by the trade may take all necessary stops to
suppress it.

Such is the compromise which long experience has shown to be both
reasonable and expedient between the, in themselves irreconcilable,
claims of neutral and belligerent States. So far, it has remained
unshaken by the arguments of theorists, such as the Swedish diplomatist
M. Kleen, who would impose upon neutral Governments the duty of
preventing the export of contraband by their subjects. A British trader
may, therefore, at his own proper risk, despatch as many thousand tons
of coal as he chooses, just as he may despatch any quantity of rifles or
bayonets, to Vladivostok or to Nag