CHAPTER XXXIV INTERFERENCE WITH MAILS AND PERSONS OF ENEMY NATIONALITY ON NEUTRAL VESSELS § 532. German Exploitation of the Postal Service for Belligerent Purposes; § 533. Early Measures of the British and French Governments; § 534. Neutral Protests; 535. Provisions of the Hague Convention regarding Postal Correspondence; 536. Attitude of the American Government; § 537. Views of the British and French Governments; § 538. Removal of Enemy Persons from Neutral Vessels; Case of Piepenbrink; § 539. Cases of Garde and Others; § 540. Seizures on the China; § 541. What Persons are Liable to Seizure on Neutral Vessels?; 8542. Views of the Authorities; § 543. Practice of the Past; § 544. Case of the Fredrico; $545. Status of Despatch Bearers on Neutral Vessels. § 532. German Exploitation of the Postal Service for Belligerent Purposes. During the first year of the war the British and French governments in the enforcement of their measures against commerce with Germany did not interfere with the transportation of mails on neutral vessels. When, however, their measures had succeeded in almost completely putting an end to over-sea trade with Germany, the Germans undertook through the agency of the international postal service to evade the allied restrictions in respect to blockade and contraband, and also to exploit the postal service for military purposes. These efforts took several forms: (1) An attempt was made to import through the medium of the postal service supplies from abroad which, on account of the blockade and contraband restrictions, could not be imported through the regular channels of commerce; (2) an attempt was made to export through the same agency goods which otherwise were not allowed to leave Germany; (3) an attempt was made to establish credits in 1 It was stated in a London press despatch of April 7, 1916, based on information furnished by the foreign office, that the total over-sea exports of Germany at that time amounted only to five or six per cent of those of peace times, and that such goods were being transported exclusively through the mails, except those shipped as freight under licenses granted by the British government for goods purchased before March 1, 1915. ANGLO-FRENCH MEASURES 351 foreign countries by sending abroad through the mails money orders, drafts, bills of exchange, bonds, stock certificates, and instrumentalities of finance; (4) by the organization of a system of incendiarism and sabotage in countries from which the Entente allies were drawing supplies of arms and munitions, and (5) by organizing and carrying on a propaganda in foreign countries by means of the distribution of literature with a view to inciting the people of India to insurrection against the British government. 8533. Early Measures of the British and French Governments. Toward the end of the year 1915 these activities had assumed such proportions and seemed to be such a manifest perversion of the purposes of the international postal service in violation of the rights of belligerents in respect to blockade and contraband, that the British and French governments determined to adopt measures to prevent the further evasion of what they considered their rights, under the cover of the postal service. Accordingly, beginning in December, the allied governments proceeded to examine the mails found on neutral steamers bound for Scandinavian and Dutch ports, and to detain postal parcels containing merchandise destined to the enemy country. The first instance of the kind to attract attention appears to have been the seizure of 734 bags of mail on the Danish steamer Oscar II, which was en route from the United States to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. About the same time 58 bags were removed from the Swedish steamer Stockholm while en route from Gothenburg to New York. Five thousand packages of merchandise were taken from the Danish steamer United States; 597 bags of parcels from the Danish steamer Frederik VIII; 300 bags from the Danish steamer Hellig Olav, and later 800 bags from the same ship; 185 bags from the Danish steamer Lyngenfjord; 130 bags from the Dutch liner Noordam, etc. Throughout the year 1916 this policy was continued, practically all mails destined to or from the neutral countries of northern Europe being removed, taken to London for examination, and those portions containing merchandise originating in Germany or intended for delivery there being detained. The character of a large portion of the mails so destined fully justified, according to the view of the British government, its policy of examination and detention. Among the articles discovered were thousands of parcels of rubber.1 Other large quantities of such articles as jewellery, chemicals, platinum, laces, tea, cotton lint, pictures, toys, cereals, coffee, cocoa, sausages, condensed milk, soap, lard, dried fruit, chocolate, bacon, woollens, seeds, chromos, engravings, violin strings, scissors, needles, files, cigarette cases, revolvers, skins, military boots, etc., were found in the mails. Most of these articles were being imported from America or the Dutch Indies, but in some instances they consisted of exports originating in Germany. Many were found in the first-class mails the postage on which exceeded their normal value.2 In this way a consider 1 Among the parcels taken from the Oscar II were 55 bags of rubber destined for Germany, the aggregate weight of which was estimated to be about 4000 pounds. Among the parcels taken from the mails on the Frederik VIII were 125 packages of rubber weighing not less than 1375 pounds. Of the 300 bags taken from the Hellig Olav, 109 contained rubber consigned to a well-known forwarding house in Sweden. One thousand two hundred and sixty-five parcels of rubber were taken from the Dutch steamer Holandia in February, 1915, and 1390 parcels from the Gelria, both bound from South America to Rotterdam. These parcels were said to have been destined to Germany. On the Gelria were also found 400 revolvers intended for Germany. The parcels from the Gelria were condemned by the prize court in May. In the mails of the Tubantia were found 174 pounds of rubber marked "samples without value." In the mails of the Ryndam was found a large quantity of propagandist literature of German origin addressed to firms with German names in the United States. The Dutch government in a note of March 31, 1916, addressed to Sir Edward Grey, asserted that not only had parcels containing absolute contraband been removed from the Dutch steamers Goenter, Insulinde, and Rembrandt, but that parcels of non-contraband had been similarly removed from the Jan Preterz, the Coen, the Goentoer, the Tubantia, the Rembrandt, the Insulinde, the Orange, the Tubanan, and the Tambara, even when destined for persons in the Netherlands and the Dutch Indies. 2 One hundred and fifty packages of food mailed as first-class matter and addressed to persons in Germany were taken from the Kristianiafjord, each package of which weighed about seven pounds and each bearing postage stamps amounting to $3.48. One parcel contained twelve pounds of dried meat sent by a German in the United States and on which $9.60 in postage stamps had been affixed. Many ingenious devices were resorted to for the purpose of evading the consequences of the allied restrictions. Thus some articles were marked "samples of no value"; others were labelled "reading matter"; rubber was mailed under the disguise of onions, narcissus bulbs, golf balls, and the like. Slices of bacon were sent in letters; sheets of metal were sent between photo-cardboards; rubber gloves in bundles of newspapers; parcels were wrapped in duplicate covers and addressed to persons in neutral countries who only had to tear off the outer cover and repost the parcel to a German address; copper and bronze were mailed under the innocent form of medals, etc. The office of the censor at London became a veritable museum of curiosities of this kind. Cf. an article by Syndey Brooks in the New York Times Magasine of November 12, 1916. NEUTRAL PROTESTS 353 able trade, which the allied governments regarded as an evasion of their blockade and contraband measures, was carried on between Germany and America as well as other neutral countries. Among the articles seized were large quantities of securities and instruments for the transfer of money, which were being sent to America for the establishment of German credit. The aggregate value of the securities thus seized and in the custody of the British prize court in March, 1916, was said to have been ten million dollars. In addition, a vast number of checks, drafts, and money orders, representing a value of $250,000,000, were similarly seized. These securities appear to have been taken from neutral steamers while en route from Dutch ports to America. They were said to have been of German ownership, representing in part the offerings of German banks and individuals to American investors, and had been sold through Dutch bankers under financial pressure.1 Some are alleged to have consisted of Belgian and French securities which had been seized and confiscated by the German military authorities. § 534. Neutral Protests. Against these proceedings the governments of the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden protested, and the Swedish government went to the length of retaliating by refusing to allow British mails to be transported through Sweden to or from Russia and by prohibiting the exportation to England of wood pulp, upon the Norwegian and Swedish supply of which Great Britain was mainly dependent for the manufacture of paper.2 1 In the early days of the war Germany is said to have provided herself with large sums through the sale of American securities to bankers in Holland who subsequently sold them at a large profit in America. Gold and silver bullion as well as paper money are on the list of conditional contraband in the Declaration of London. Nothing, however, is said of drafts, stocks, and other securities. In the general report attached to the Declaration it is declared that paper money includes only inconvertible paper, i.e., bank notes, whether legal tender or not. Bills of exchange and checks are specifically excluded. By a British order in council of April 12, 1916, gold, silver, paper money, and all negotiable instruments, and realizable securities, including checks, drafts, letters of credit, and other documents relating to the transfer of money or credit, were declared to be contraband. Only these securities of German ownership were placed in the custody of the prize court; all others were forwarded to the consignees. 2 On February 18, 1916, it was reported in the press despatches that approximately fifty thousand parcels of British mail were being held in Sweden. The VOL. II-23 In a memorandum of January 10, 1916, addressed to the British foreign office, the secretary of state of the United States declared that the American government was "inclined" to regard parcelspost articles as being "subject to the same treatment as articles sent by express or freight in respect to belligerent search, seizure and condemnation"; but on the other hand, they were entitled to "the usual protection of neutral trade." There was, therefore, no difference of opinion between the two governments regarding the status of mails in the form of parcels containing merchandise. Such mails were subject to the same belligerent controversy between Great Britain and Sweden in regard to the seizure and detention of mails on Swedish steamers at one time threatened to bring about a rupture of friendly relations between the two countries. The British govern- V ment justified the seizures on the ground that the mails so detained consisted of contraband; that the vessels from which they were taken were visited and searched in accordance with the well-established rules regarding visit and search; that the remaining mails were reforwarded as speedily as possible, and that the postal immunity guaranteed by the eleventh Hague convention did not extend to parcels post merchandise. The Swedish government readily admitted the last-mentioned proposition, but nevertheless contended that the contents of parcels “as a rule are of a more personal character than consignments of goods in general" and were not therefore liable to the same treatment; that the amount of merchandise in the objectionable parcels was not considerable enough to warrant their seizure for military reasons, and that rubber was on the free list in the Declaration of London, the rules of which were declared in its preamble "to correspond in substance with the generally recognized principles of international law." Therefore the parcels were not liable to seizure as contraband. Furthermore, since the exportation of rubber from Sweden had been prohibited, and since no lawful blockade had been established by Great Britain, they could not be seized on the ground of being destined to a blockaded port. In a note of January 3, 1916, Sir Edward Grey replied to each of these contentions. The Swedish government, he said, having declared that it did not recognize the Hague conventions to be operative, could not consistently invoke their provisions in the present controversy. As to the Declaration of London, its provisions in respect to contraband had been modified by the British government, as it had a legal right to do. The claim of a special sanctity for post parcels because of their “more personal character" was, to say the least, novel and unprecedented. Finally, the mails in question had been seized because they were contraband and in application of the doctrine of continuous voyage, and the fact that the exportation to Germany of merchandise of the kind which they contained had been prohibited by the Swedish government did not operate as a bar to their seizure by a belligerent. The right to seize contraband destined ultimately to the enemy could not, he said, be taken away by the action of a neutral government in laying an embargo on the exportation of such contraband. See the correspondence between the British and Swedish governments in a parliamentary paper, Relating to the Detention of Mails, Misc., No. 28 (1916), Cd. 8322. The correspondence between the Dutch Government and that of Great Britain relative to British interference with mails on Dutch steamers may be found in 24 Revue Générale de Droit Int. Pub. (1917) docs., pp. 79 ff. See also the Grotius Annuaire International, 1916, p 107. |