goods urgently needed by American citizens. In most, if not all, cases it appears that ownership of these goods at the time of the seizure had passed to American consignees. In many instances American citizens had contracted for the sale of the goods consigned to them and were prevented from carrying out their contracts.

The release of shipments on the vessel has been allowed on the production of proofs of American ownership of the goods prior to March 11, 1915. American consignees in order to avoid loss have endeavored to comply with the requirements in the presentation of proofs.

The steamer Neches, which sailed from Rotterdam to the United States, was brought to London and compelled, in June last, to discharge cargo, on the ground, apparently, that the goods originated partly in Belgium. The vessel was detained about a month, and after having been damaged to the extent of approximately £1,500 as a result of a collision with another vessel while under the control of the British Admiralty, and after having been involved in litigation growing out of such collision was allowed to proceed.

The following is a list of the vessels detained prior to March 11 last, among which are some regarding the detention of which details. have been briefly stated in this memorandum:

Platuria, Brindilla, John D. Rockefeller, Kroonland, Noordam, Rotterdam, Sandefjord, Thomas J. Fordney, Fram, Edward Pierce, Ellen, Tellus, Sif, Kim, Canton, Ogeechee, Friedland, Gallileo, Uller, Verona, Zuiderdijk, Greenbrier, Herm, Arkansas, Ascot, Carolyn, Breiford, Bergensfjord, Bjornstjerne, Bjornsen, Ida Cuneo, Kentucky, General Minetonka, General Caloric, Denver.

It will be noted how the various orders in council were modifying the rules of international law by gradually eliminating almost all the conditional contraband by declaring it absolute, applying a practical blockade of neutral coasts by the simple extension of contraband.

This question came up for a test in the case of the Wilhelmina, a vessel loaded with foodstuffs, consigned to an American citizen for distribution to the noncombatants in Germany:

American note, February 15, 1915, regarding the Wilhelmina.

(The Secretary of State to the American ambassador at London.)

The department notes that you have been informed by the British Government that the cargo of the American steamer Wilhelmina has been sent to prize court, but is not yet unloaded. The Government of the United States, of course, has no intention of interfering with the proper course of judicial procedure in the British prize courts, but it deems it proper to bring to the attention of the British Government information which has been received in relation to the character and destination of the cargo and to point out certain considerations prompting the supposition that the seizure may not be justified.

This Government is informed that the W. L. Green Commission Co., an American corporation organized in 1891, which in the past has made extensive shipments of goods to Germany, is the sole owner of the cargo which consists entirely of foodstuffs consigned to the W. L. Green Commission Co., Hamburg, and that the company's

inanager, now in Europe, has instructions to sell the cargo solely to the civilian population of Hamburg. A copy of the ship's manifest has been submitted to this Government, accompanied by a sworn statement from the company's manager, in which he' represents that he was instructed to proceed to Germany to dispose of the cargo to private purchasers in that country, and not to any belligerent Government nor armed forces of such Government, nor to any agent of a belligerent Government or of its armed forces.

According to well-established practice among nations, admitted, as this Government understands, by the Government of Great Britain, the articles of which the Wilhelmina's cargo is said to consist are subject to seizure as contraband only in case they are destined for the use of a belligerent Government or its armed forces. The Government of the United States understands that the British authorities consider the seizure of the cargo justified on the ground that a recent order of the Federal Council of Germany, promulgated after the vessel sailed, required the delivery of imported articles to the German Government. The owners of the cargo have represented to this Government that such a position is untenable. They point out that, by a provision of the order in question as originally announced, the regulations in relation to the seizure of food products are made inapplicable to such products imported after January 31, 1915. They further represent that the only articles shipped on the Wilhelmina which are embraced within the terms of these regulations are wheat and bran, which constitute about 15 per cent of the cargo as compared with 85 per cent consisting of meats, vegetables, and fruits. The owners also assert that the regulations contemplate the disposition of foodstuffs to individuals through municipalities; that municipalities are not agents of the Government, and that the purpose of the regulations is to conserve the supply of food products and to prevent speculation and inflation of prices to noncombatants.

The German Government has addressed a formal communication to the Government of the United States in relation to the effect of the decree issued by the German Federal Council, and this Government deems it pertinent to call to the attention of the British Government a material portion of this communication, which is as follows:

"1. The federal council's decision concerning the seizure of food products, which England alleges to be the cause of food products shipped to Germany being treated as contraband, bears exclusively on wheat, rye, both unmixed and mixed with other products, and also wheat, rye, oats, and barley flour.

"2. The federal council makes an express exception in section 45 of the order. Section 45 provides as follows: 'The stipulations of this regulation do not apply to grain or flour imported from abroad after January 31.'

"3. Conjunctively with that saving clause the federal council's order contains a provision under which imported cereals and flours would be sold exclusively to the municipalities or certain specially designated organizations by the importers. Although that provision had for its object simply to throw imported grain and flours into such channels as supply the private consumption of civilians and, in consequence of that provision, the intent and purpose of the federal council's order which was to protect the civilian population from

speculators and engrossers were fully met, it was nevertheless rescinded so as to leave no room for doubt.

"4. My Government is amenable to any proposition looking to control by a special American organization under the supervision of the American consular officers and, if necessary, will itself make a proposition in that direction.

“5. The German Government further calls attention to the fact that municipalities do not form part of or belong to the Government, but are self-administrative bodies, which are elected by the inhabitants of the commune in accordance with fixed rules and therefore exclusively represent the private part of the population and act as it directs. Although those principles are generally known and obtain in the United States as well as in England itself, the German Government desired to point out the fact so as to avoid any further unnecessary delay.

"6. Hence it is absolutely assured that imported food products will be consumed by the civilian population in Germany exclusively.” It will be observed that it is stated in this communication, which appears to confirm the contentions of the cargo owners, that a part of the order of the German Federal Council relating to imported food products has now been rescinded.

This Government has received another communication from the German Government giving formal assurance to the Government of the United States that all goods imported into Germany from the United States, directly or indirectly, which belong to the class of States in the sea area defined in the German declaration, since such practice would greatly endanger the vessels of a friendly power navigating those waters and would even seem to impose upon the Government of Great Britain a measure of responsibility for the loss of American lives and vessels in case of an attack by a German naval force.

Please present a note to Sir Edward Grey in the sense of the foregoing and impress him with the grave concern which this Government feels in the circumstances in regard to the safety of American vessels and lives in the war zone declared by the German Admiralty.

You may add that this Government is making earnest representations to the German Government in regard to the danger to American vessels and citizens if the declarations of the German Admiralty is put into effect.

BRYAN.

On the 19th of February, nine days after our note was dispatched, Great Britain replied as follows:

British memorandum, February 19, 1915, regarding the Wilhelmina.

(The secretary of State for foreign affairs to the American ambassador.)

The communication made by the United States ambassador in his note to Sir Edward Grey, of the 16th instant, has been carefully considered, and the following observations are offered in reply:

2. At the time when His Majesty's Government gave directions for the seizure of the cargo of the steamship Wilhelmina as contraband they had before them the text of the decree made by the Ger

man Federal Council on the 25th of January, under article 45 of which all grain and flour imported into Germany after the 31st of January was declared deliverable only to certain organizations under direct government control or to municipal authorities. The vessel was bound for Hamburg, one of the free cities of the German Empire, the government of which is vested in the municipality. This was one of the reasons actuating His Majesty's Government in deciding to bring the cargo of the Wilhelmina before the prize court.

3. Information has only now reached them that by a subsequent decree, dated the 6th of February, the above provision in article 45 of the previous decree was repealed, it would appear, for the express purpose of rendering difficult the anticipated proceedings against the Wilhelmina. The repeal was not known to His Majesty's Government at the time of detention of the cargo, or, indeed, until now.

4. How far the ostensible exception of imported supplies from the general Government monopoly of all grain and flour set up by the German Government may affect the question of the contraband nature of the shipment seized is a matter which will most suitably be investigated by the prize court.

5. It is, however, necessary to state that the German decree is not the only ground on which the submission of the cargo of the Wilhelmina to a prize court is justified. The German Government have in public announcements claimed to treat practically every town or port on the English east coast as a fortified place and base of operations. On the strength of this contention they have subjected to bombardment the open towns of Yarmouth, Scarborough, and Whitby, among others. On the same ground a number of neutral vessels sailing for English ports on the east coast with cargoes of goods on the German list of conditional contraband have been seized by German cruisers and brought before the German prize court. Again, the Dutch vessel Maria, having sailed from California with a cargo of grain consigned to Dublin and Belfast, was sunk in September last by the German cruiser Karlsruhe. This could only have been justified if, among other things, the cargo could have been proved to be destined for the British Government or armed forces, and if a presumption to this effect had been established owing to Dublin or Belfast being considered a fortified place or a base for the armed forces.

6. The German Government can not have it both ways. If they consider themselves justified in destroying by bombardment the lives and property of peaceful civil inhabitants of English open towns and watering places and in seizing and sinking ships and cargoes of conditional contraband on the way thither on the ground that they were consigned to a fortified place or base, "a fortiori," His Majesty's Government must be at liberty to treat Hamburg, which is in part protected by fortifications at the mouth of the Elbe, as a fortified town and a base of operations and supply for the purposes of article 34 of the declaration of London. If the owners of the cargo of the Wilhelmina desire to question the validity in international law of the action taken by order of His Majesty's Government, they will have every opportunity of establishing their case in due course before the prize court, and His Majesty's Government would, in this connection, recall the attention of the United States Government to the considerations put forward in Sir Edward Grey's note to Mr. Page of the

10th instant as to the propriety of awaiting the result of prize-court proceedings before diplomatic action is initiated. It will be remembered that they have from the outset given a definite assurance that the owners of the Wilhelmina, as well as the owners of her cargo, if found not to be contraband, would be equitably indemnified.

7. There is one further observation to which His Majesty's Government think it right and appropriate in the present connection to give expression. They have not so far declared foodstuffs to be absolute contraband. They have not interfered with any neutral vessels on account of their carrying foodstuffs, except on the basis of such foodstuffs being liable to capture if destined for the enemy forces or Governments. In so acting they have been guided by the general principle, of late universally upheld by civilized nations and observed in practice, that the civil populations of countries at war are not to be exposed to the treatment rightly reserved for combatants. This distinction has to all intents and purposes been swept away by the novel doctrines proclaimed and acted upon by the German Government.

8. It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the treatment that has been meted out to the civil population of Belgium and those parts of France which are in German occupation. When Germany, long before any mines had been laid by British authorities, proceeded to sow mines upon the high seas, and by this means sunk a considerable number not only of British but also of neutral merchantmen, with their unoffending crews, it was, so His Majesty's Government held, open to them to take retaliatory measures, even if such measures were of a kind to involve pressure of the civil population-not, indeed, of neutral States but of their enemies. They refrained from doing so.

9. When subsequently English towns and defenseless British subjects, including women and children, were deliberately and systematically fired upon and killed by ships flying the flag of the Imperial German Navy, when quiet country towns and villages void of defenses and possessing no military or naval importance were bombarded by German airships, His Majesty's Government still abstained from drawing the logical consequences from this form of attack on defenseless citizens. Further steps in the same direction are now announced, and, in fact, have already been taken by Germany. British merchant vessels have been torpedoed at sight, without any attempt being made to give warning to the crew or any opportunity being given to save their lives; a torpedo has been fired against a British hospital ship in daylight, and similar treatment is threatened to all British merchant vessels in future, as well as to any neutral ships that may happen to be found in the neighborhood of the British Isles.

10. Faced with this situation, His Majesty's Government consider it would be altogether unreasonable that Great Britain and her allies should be expected to remain indefinitely bound, to their grave detriment, by rules and principles of which they recognize the justice if impartially observed as between belligerents, but which are at the present moment openly set at defiance by their enemy.

11. If therefore His Majesty's Government should hereafter feel constrained to declare foodstuffs absolute contraband or to take other measures for interfering with German trade by way of reprisals, they confidently expect that such action will not be challenged on the part