and (partly modelled on the list of 1877); the
"Imperial Order" of February 28, 1904, rule 6 (this Order keeps alive
the rules of 1895 and 1900, except in so far as they are varied by it);
the "Order" of March 19, 1904, defining "food" and bringing machinery of
certain kinds into the list of contraband; the "Order," of April 21,
1904, bringing "raw cotton" into the list; and, lastly, the
"Instructions" of September 30 and October 28, 1904, recognising, in
effect, a class of "conditional" contraband, placing foodstuffs in this
class, as also, ultimately, other objects "capable of warlike use and
not specified in sections 1-9 of rule 6."

T. E. H.
Temple, July 1 (1905).

COTTON AS CONTRABAND

Sir,--Your correspondent "Judex" will rejoice, as I do, that cotton has
now been declared to be "absolute contraband." May I, however, suggest
that the topic should be discussed without any reference to the
fortunately unratified Declaration of London, that premature attempt to
codify the law of maritime warfare, claiming, misleadingly, that its
rules "correspond in substance with the generally recognised principles
of international law"?

It is surely regrettable that, by the Order in Council of August 20,
1914, our Government adopted the provisions of the Declaration "during
the present hostilities," and "subject to various additions and
modifications," the list of which has since been considerably extended.
This half-hearted course of action painfully recalls certain vicious
methods of legislation by reference, and was additionally uncalled for,
since, as has been shown by recent events, about two-thirds of the rules
laid down by the Declaration are inapplicable to modern warfare.

The straightforward announcement made by the United States in their Note
of January 25 is surely far preferable. It states in plain terms that,
"As the Declaration of London is not in force, the rules of
international law only apply. As to articles to be regarded as
contraband there is no general agreement between nations." In point of
fact, the hard-and-fast categories of neutral imports, suggested by the
threefold Grotian division, as set forth in the Declaration, are
unlikely ever to be generally accepted. Even Grotius is careful to limit
his proposals, and Bynkershoek, in commenting upon them, points out that
the test of contraband of the most noxious kind must be the, possibly
exceptional, importance of objects for hostile use; their being