WHO ARE THE HUNS?

290 Breaches of Sea-Law by England.
the German coast. But a blockade to which neutrals are also
supposed to submit, can be recognized as valid, according to
international law, only if it is proved to be effective, in other
words it must be maintained by a fighting force that is sufficient
to prevent all actual access to the enemy coast. The
Paris Conference has established the law that a "fictive blockade"
no longer exists. But England now attempts to make this
"fictive blockade" valid everywhere.
According to undisputed reports, the British, as early as
October, 1914, demanded a deposit from all neutral ships that
left English ports,—this guaranty to be three times the value
of the cargo. This sum is paid back only after the British
consul in a neutral port has certified the arrival of the vessel.
This was intended to prevent the neutral ship from proceeding
to a German port. Surely this "paper blockade" in connection
with neutral ships is something which must shortly become
unendurable.
In other cases the English have determined that relative
contraband was to be forwarded only upon a written declaration
ofj the shipper's that this relative contraband was really
destined for the needs of the neutral land in question. Here
England returns to her theory and practice of the "continuous
voyage." This was done away with in the London Declaration
upon the proposal of Germany, as is clearly established in
Articles 33 and 35. This is as much as to say that relative
contraband, even though it be eventually destined for the
enemy, is not subject to seizure even when it is to be unloaded
in a neutral intermediate port. England on the contrary, seizes
as contraband, or as that which she considers as contraband,
all in violation of the most express provisions regarding
positive contraband, wares upon neutral ships—even when these
are under way to neutral ports.
II.
It appears to be the chief endeavor of England to antagonize
all neutrals by the way in which she interprets the accepted
customs of sea-law as laid down in the Declaration of London,
and to reveal to them by drastic object-lessons the whole
brutality embodied in the English tyranny of the seas. And