hat: "Nevertheless the belligerent has, at his option and on
condition of paying an equitable indemnity, a right of sequestration or
pre-emption as to articles (_objets_) which, on their way to a port of
the enemy, may serve equally in war or in peace." This rule, it is seen,
is of wider application than the above-mentioned provision of the
British Prize Act. To become binding in its existing form, either an
alteration of the text of the Declaration of Paris or a modification in
the wording of the clause would be necessary, seeing that under the
Declaration of Paris "the neutral flag covers enemy goods, except
contraband of war." It may be said that, in so far as the continent is
concerned, expert opinion is, on the whole, favourable to the
recognition of conditional contraband in the form of a right of
sequestration or pre-emption and within the limits Great Britain has
shown a disposition to set to it as against herself.

Coal.

As regards coal there is no essential difference between the position of
coal to feed ships and that of provisions to feed men. Neither is _per
se_ contraband. At the West African Conference in 1884 the Russian
representative protested against its inclusion among contraband
articles, but the Russian government included it in their declaration as
to contraband on the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In 1898 the
British foreign office replied to an inquiry of the Newport Chamber of
Commerce on the position of coal that: "Whether in any particular case
coal is or is not contraband of war, is a matter prima facie for the
determination of the Prize Court of the captor's nationality, and so
long as such decision, when given, does not conflict with
well-established principles of international law, H.M.'s government will
not be prepared to take exception thereto." The practical applications
of the law and usage of contraband in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5,
however, brought out vividly the need of reform in these
"well-established principles."

Controversy with Russia in Russo-Japanese War.

The Japanese regulations gave rise to no serious difficulties. Those
issued by Russia, on the other hand, led to much controversy between the
British government and that of Russia, in connexion with the latter's
pretension to class coal, rice, provisions, forage, horses and cotton
with arms, ammunition, explosives, &c., as absolute contraband. On June
1, 1904, Lord Lansdowne expressed the surpri