owners of both 80. This presumption, unless it be rebutted by documents found on board of the ship when captured, is a præsumptio juris et de jure, which excludes all other evidence to the contrary. In cases where the ship and cargo belong to the same individuals, it is obvious that no difficulty can arise, for the act of the master, as the legal agent of the owner of the ship, will affect his principal to the extent of the whole of his property concerned in the transaction. On the other hand, where the ship and the cargo are the properties of different individuals, the reasonable conclusion is, that the master of the ship does not hazard the interests of his vessel except in the service of the cargo. There is a necessary presumption also in such cases, that this is done with the cognisance and at the instigation of the owner of the cargo. But it may happen that the fact of a blockade is known to the master of a ship, but not to the owner of the cargo; as for instance, a vessel may have begun her voyage when the blockade of her port of destination did not exist, or when it was unknown to the owners of the cargo; and it may happen that the master, having been informed of the blockade during his voyage, or having been warned off at the entrance of the blockaded port, has persisted in pursuing his course to his original destination. In such a case no question of fact can arise whether the owner of the cargo was consentient to the breach of the blockade. Other cases may be supposed; as for instance where a vessel has been despatched in ballast to fetch a cargo from a port, which is placed under blockade after she has entered 80 The Alexander, 4 Ch. Rob. 82 The Adonis, 5 Ch. Rob. P. 93. p. 261. The Alexander, 81 The Columbia, I Ch. Rob. p. 154, affirmed on appeal, 12 August 1801. Rob. p. 93. Ch. 83 The Adonis, 5 Ch. Rob. P. 262. the port, and the owner of the cargo has no opportunity of ascertaining the fact of the blockade, so as to countermand the shipment of his cargo. In such a case Lord Stowell has observed, that it would be hard to bind the owners of the cargo by the act of her agents in the blockaded port, as they do not stand in the same situation as other agents. They have not only a distinct but even an opposite interest from that of their principal, namely, to fulfil the commission at all risks as rapidly as possible, for their own private advantage and for the public interests of their country, at such a time under particular pressure as to the exportation of its produce. This may be fairly allowed to impose a strong obligation on the candour of the Court not to hold an employer too strictly bound on mere general principles by an agent, who may be actuated by interests different from those of his principals. coast which may may be force placed under and blockade. § 117. There is no limit to the extent of coast Extent of along which the blockade of an enemy's ports be extended, short of the natural limit of a adequate to maintain the blockade really effectively. The British Government in 1806 declared the ports of the Continent of Europe, from Brest to the River Elbe, to be under blockade. In the circular note bearing date 16 May 1806, and addressed to the Ministers of Neutral Governments then resident in London, Mr. Fox, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, announced "that a consideration of the novel method adopted by the enemy for the interruption of British commerce, had determined the British Government to issue orders for placing in a state of blockade all the coasts, rivers, 84 The Neptunus, 3 Ch. Rob. p. 177. The Adelaide, Ibid. p. p. 173. 85 The Neptunus, 3 Ch. Rob. 281. and ports, from the Elbe to Brest inclusively, and that these rivers and ports were accordingly to be considered as actually blockaded." On this occasion the British Government maintained that the blockade was not notified to Foreign Governments, until the necessary measures had been adopted by the British Admiralty to make the blockade effective, and that the blockade itself was maintained by a force sufficient to make the entrance into the ports along the line of coast, included within the limits of the blockade, manifestly dangerous. If it be assumed, as a matter of fact, that these conditions were fulfilled, there can be no doubt that the lawfulness of the blockade was not in any way affected by the great extent of coast over which it was maintained. In the war carried on by the United States of America against Mexico in 1846, all the ports, harbours, bays, outlets, and inlets, on the West Coast of Mexico south of San Diego, were declared by Commodore Stockton to be under blockade. The United States Government on this occason, in reply to the suggestions of the British Government that such a proceeding savoured of a paper blockade, did not express any doubts of their Right to maintain so extensive a blockade; but they stated that under Commodore Stockton's general Notification no port on the West Coast was regarded as blockaded, unless there was a sufficient force to maintain it, actually present, or temporally driven from such actual presence by stress of weather, intending to return 88. In the war de 86 Cf. Manning's Law of Nations, p. 332. 87 Note presented by M. Forster, the British Minister, to the United States Government, in 1807. Hautefeuille, Des Nations Neutres, Tom. II. p. 257. 88 Note from Mr. Buchanan, of 29 Dec. 1846, to Sir Richard Pakenham, with its enclosure. Correspondence with the United States Government respecting blockade, presented to Parliament by command of her Majesty, 1861. clared on 28 March 1854, by the three Allied Powers, Great Britain, France, and the Ottoman Porte, against Russia, the combined fleets of Great Britain and France established a blockade of the whole of the Russian Ports in the Baltic and in the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia. So likewise in the war which is at present being carried on by the Government of the United States of America against the States which seceded from the Federal Union in 1861, and have formed themselves into a Confederation of States under the name of the Confederate States of America, the Government of the United States has established a blockade of the whole of the ports on the seaboard of the Confederate States, and this blockade has been enforced against neutral vessels with the same rigour, as the blockade of a single port is entitled to be enforced under the Law of Nations. On the other hand the penalties for breach of a blockade can only be applied to vessels engaged in trade with the ports of the blockaded coast. They cannot be extended to vessels carrying cargoes to ports, which are connected by an inland water-communication with the blockaded ports, nor to vessels carrying cargoes to ports, from which the cargoes are to be dispatched over land to the blockaded ports 89. Thus Lord Stowell held that there would be no breach of the blockade of Amsterdam committed by a vessel carrying to Rotterdam or to Embden goods, which had an ulterior destination to Amsterdam by land, or by an interior canal navigation. A blockading squadron can only apply its force to a blockaded port from the side of the sea. The internal communications of a country are out of its reach, and in no way subject to its operation. 89 The Ocean, 3 Ch. Rob. p. 298. The Jonge Pieter, 4 Ch. Rob. p. 83. The Frau Margaretha, 6 Ch. Rob. p. 92. operation Limited § 118. It is competent for a belligerent Power to of a block- limit the operation of a blockade, provided that the ade. limitation applies to all neutral Nations in an equal manner. Thus the Commanders of the French and British fleets established a blockade of the mouths of the Danube, with the object of preventing supplies being carried to any Russian port on that river. They accordingly forbade the vessels of all neutral Nations from entering the river. Nous sousignés, vice-amiraux, commandant en chef les forces navales combinées de France et d'Angleterre dans la Mer Noire, déclarons par la présente, au nom de nos gouvernements respectifs, et portons à la connoissance de tous ceux que la chose peut intéresser, que nous avons établi le blocus effectif du Danube, afin d'arrêter tout transport d'approvisionnements aux armées Russes. Sont comprises dans ce blocus toutes celles des embouchures du Danube, qui communiquent avec la Mer Noire, et avertissons, par les présentes, tout batiment de toute Nation, qu'ils ne pourront entrer dans ce fleuve jusqu'à nouvel ordre. Le Vice-Amiral, command Le Vice-Amiral, command ant en chef l'escadre française, HAMELIN. Fait à Baltchik 1 Juin, 1854. ant en chef l'escadre G. W. D. Dundas 9o. Again, on the occasion of Great Britain establishing a blockade of the ports of the continent of Europe from Brest to the river Elbe, that blockade was to be limited in its effect by a division of the line of coast into two parts, of which the part from Ostend to the river Seine was to be considered as under the most rigorous blockade, while the rest of the line was allowed to be open to the navigation of neutral vessels, laden with other goods than contraband of war or enemy's property, as long as those 90 Sammlung Officieller Actenstücke in Bezug auf Schiff ahrt und Handel in Kriegszeiten. V. p. 13. Hamburg, 1854. |