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It The Outlook The Seizures in the Red Sea SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1904 The chief interest of the world in the Russo-Japanese war has been transferred during the last week from Manchuria to the Red Sea. Two Russian steamers have been cruising in the Red Sea, and stopping, searching, and, in two or three instances, seizing, the steamers of neutral powers. In one case the mails were taken from a German steamer, and, after some hours of retention and examination, returned. Whether any contraband matter was found in the mail does not clearly appear from the cable reports, nor whether the Japanese mails were retained or not. Two English steamers have been seized and taken as prizes, one of them, the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Malacca, which contained arms and munition of war, apparently supposed by the Russian cruiser to be intended for Japan, but affirmed by English authorities to belong to the English Government, and to bear, in the broad arrow mark of the department, the evidence of governmental ownership. A Hamburg-American Line steamer has also been seized as a prize; the ground for this seizure the reports do not indicate. A third ship, owned in Great Britain, en route from New York to Manila, and containing some supplies which would be contraband of war if intended for Japan, but avowedly intended for Manila, not for any Japanese port, and said to be consigned to the United States Government at Manila, has also been seized. The United States Government is not, however, involved in this seizure, since the ship is owned in Great Britain. So far as we can judge from the published reports, there is very little ground for believing that either the Peninsular and Oriental or the Hamburg-American Line steamer contained matter contraband of war. These seizures have occasioned great excitement both in Germany and in England, and might easily have involved Russia in war with those powers, had the governments not been more conservative than the people and the press. As the result of diplomatic negotiations, it is reported at the present writing, that orders have been sent to the Russian vessels to refrain from further interference with foreign shipping, and that the two steamers taken as prizes, one English and the other German, will be returned to their owners, a previous inspection of the cargo having been made under the supervision of the consuls of the English, German, and Russian countries. If palpable contraband of war intended for the Japanese should be found, it will, of course, be confiscated; but even in this case, it is said, the ships will be released. Although the right The Question Involved 'government has a right to take at any time for military service and transform into naval vessels. Such were the St. Paul and the St. Louis, employed by our Government as cruisers in the Spanish war. By treaty with the Great Powers it is agreed that no naval vessels shall pass through the Dardanelles; so that neither can Russia send out men-of-war to threaten the commerce of the Mediterranean, nor English or other European Powers send into the Black Sea men-ofwar to threaten Russian ports. The two Russian vessels now in the Red Sea came out as merchantmen, and received their commissions as men-ofwar after they had passed the Dardanelles. German and English authorities take the ground that they are either merchantmen or naval vessels; if the latter, they had no right to come through the Dardanelles, the treaty against the passage of the Dardanelles being devised to guard against just such action as the present; if they are merchant vessels they have no right to perform the functions of men-of-war; and some of the newspapers go so far as to claim that they are pirates, which is, perhaps, a logical conclusion, but would hardly be adopted literally by the courts. A third ground of protest, felt, though not very definitely expressed, is the distrust of Russian courts. There is no international definition of contraband. Russia includes in this category many articles which most nations do not, or which they allow to be contraband only when the circumstances indicate that they are specially intended to aid the military forces of a combatant; such are coal, naphtha, telegraphic and telephonic machinery, and breadstuffs. This difference of definition, and a general distrust of the judicial fairness of Russian courts, have intensified the popular feeling, in both Germany and England, against Russia. The shippers of those countries are naturally unwilling to have all their trade with the far East subject to supervision by Russia, and Russia left sole judge of the question to what extent, and under what conditions, that trade may be carried on. This incident may, for the immediate present, be regarded closed by the concession of Russia; but it is greatly to be hoped that it will lead to some international agreement as to what is contraband of war; to the acceptance of the American contention that mails shall be exempt from seizure; and, perhaps, eventually to some agreement by which the questions arising out of the search of neutral vessels on the high seas may be determined by or under the Hague Tribunal, instead of by the prize court of the nation making the capture. The Case It is probable that enterprisThe Law of ing merchants, both English and German, have been shipping goods to Japan in considerable quantities since the Russo-Japanese war began. There is nothing immoral in this, and, strictly speaking, nothing illegal. International law is simply international custom. It has not the authority of national law, for the latter is an act of sovereignty, so that disobedience to it is a kind of disloyalty. International custom forbids any neutral nation, in time of war, to give aid to either of the warring nations; to do so is itself an act of war. But citizens of neutral nations may ship what articles they please to either or both the warring nations at their own risk. Either of the warring nations may stop and seize contraband goods in transitu and confiscate them, and the shipper has no cause of complaint, and no recourse for damages even to his own government. It is evident that there must be some tribunal to decide whether the goods so seized were really on their way to one of the combatants, and whether, if so, they are articles which can be used by the combatant to aid him in the war; for only such articles as are adapted to give aid to the nation in its war are contraband of war. Munitions of war clearly are contraband; books clearly are notunless a military treatise might be an exception. The court to decide these questions is a court of the nation which makes the capture. The vessel suspected of carrying articles contraband of war is taken before this court, and if it decides against the shipper he has no appeal. In other words, after war has broken out between two powers, any merchant who ships goods to either of the combatants does so at the risk of having them captured and declared contraband of war by the captor. The right of the combatants to capture goods contraband of war in transitu involves necessarily the right to stop and search any neutral vessel on the high seas for contraband goods, and to take any vessel found carrying such goods as a prize, subject to the decisions of the prize court. If it exercises this right in too high-handed a manner, it is always liable to be called to account by the offended nation; and this is generally found to be an adequate safeguard. The danger to English and German. merchants engaged in shipping contraband goods to Japan has, however, hitherto been very slight, because the Eastern seas were practically controlled by the Japanese navy, and Russia had no available ships of war in European waters. It is safe to presume, therefore, that the contraband trade has been a very considerable one, and this fact, coupled with Russia's disastrous experience in the East, has probably irritated her into pursuing a course which she is now compelled to abandon. Another Raid by the Russian Cruisers English resentment against Russia is likely, however, again to be excited by the report of the destruction of a British steamship, the Knight Commander. The Russian cruisers some time last week left Vladivostok on another of the bold sea raids which have been the most notable features of the Russian sea strategy in this war. This time the three cruisers, instead of sailing south toward the Korean Strait as before, sailed directly east, passed through the Tsugaru Strait, between the two great Japanese Islands, Yezo and Hondo, and came south along the eastern coast of Hondo. On Monday of this week they were sighted twenty miles off Katsugura, which is not very far from Yokohama. From the last-named place the news was sent the same day that the Russian ships had sunk the Knight Commander, said to hail from New York, and to have transferred her crew to a Japanese steamship, detaining her European passengers. It is rumored that the Russians also captured another British vessel and a German ship, and sank two Japanese sailing vessels. From London it is stated that the Knight Commander carried no munitions of war, but had a general cargo for Japan. Some apprehension is felt that the trans-Pacific passenger steamship Korea, now due at Yokohama, may be captured. While it is recognized that warships, situated as are these Russian cruisers, may take more extreme measures in destroying an enemy's merchant ships after capture than if it were possible to take them into port, there seems on the face of it no justification for the destruction of a neutral vessel carrying ordinary cargo, even although that be contraband as destined for the enemy. The Russian ships are thrce in number, are fast ships, and are fine armored cruisers; their bold raids form a strong argument for the value in war of this type of war vessel.—The campaign in Manchuria remains puzzling, and the Russians confess that the Japanese movements leave them in doubt as to where the heavy blow soon to be expected is to be struck. The Japanese policy seems to be to make slight advances first on the road to Liaoyang, then on the eastern road to Mukden, and finally on that to Haicheng. The Russians still hold Niuchuang, but early this week it was reported that the Japanese were advancing upon that place and had defeated the Russians east of Tachekiao. France and the Vatican A strained situation, which may not improbably result in a dissolution of the Concordat, exists between France and the Vatican. Under the terms of the Concordat both the appointment and dismissal of French bishops are made dependent upon an agreement between the Pope and the French Government. Now the Vatican has called for the resignation of the bishops of Laval and Dijon and ordered them to repair to Rome to meet certain charges. It is asserted in France that this action of the Vatican is due to the fact that the French bishops obeyed their |