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INTEBESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 485But it wasbecause it admitted of no practical application.obvious that it would not be neglectedin new wars, inwhich circumstances should favour a revival of the scheme.England had certainly given occasion for its restoration :not only were the old subjects of controversy renewed, theywere even multiplied and augmented. The meaning of contraband was extended to a degree unheard of before ;evencorn and provisions were reckoned as such, in the vainhope that France might be reduced to submission byfamine. One of the favourite ideas of Pitt was to ruin thecommerce, and above all, the maritime commerce, of France,because he fancied he had discovered the means thereby offorcing her to a peace. The allied powers readily concurred in his views ;it was a standing article in the leagueswhich were formed to close their harbours against theFrench shipping. The only alternative, therefore, thatFrance had left, was to carry on its trade in the ships of neutral nations ; but never was England less disposed to toleratethis than at the present time. The pressure, therefore, nefellcessarilyon those neutrals which had a traffic of theirown, in which class only the northern powers of Europecould be reckoned. No sooner was the principle once admitted, that an enemy's goods in neutral ships was fairbooty, than the claim to search neutral ships became adirect consequence of this admission and who;could fail toperceive what disputes and altercation such searches mustlead to, whether the property of an enemy should be discovered or not.The assertion 3that the neutrality of the flag protectedthe cargo, even though the property of an enemy, cannotbe proved from the law of nature, but rests upon conventional principles of international law, founded either on1mere custom or positive compact. The idea of neutrality,according to our conception of it, extends only to the notionthat every neutral ought to be at liberty to offer for sale, tobelligerent parties the products of its own country, (sofar asthey are not acknowledged . to be contraband,)as its own1In order not to interrupt the thread of the inquiry, I have thoughtitbetter to investigate the claims of the armed neutrality, considered in thispoint of view, in an appendix to the present treatise ;the more so because,with the majority of readers, the ideas on this subject can hardly be sufficiently accurate.