This right of examining the cargo of neutral ships to make certain they contain nothing of contraband nature, destined directly or ultimately for the enemy, has been fully, conceded throughout history, Internaional law, however, gives it the additional authority of allowing the belligerent the use of force to compel neutral ships to submit to visit and search. While the principle remains the same as that applied in the Napoleonic wars, changing conditions of ocean transport have necessitated deviations from, and the development of, the earlier practice.
For the same reason the size and complexity of modern cargoes, examination necessarily involves greater delays than in former times,—The system of contraband control instituted by the British Government in the last war, and renewed in the present conflict, is designed to enable the authorities to ce-operate with neutral ship-owners and reduce unavoidable delay to the very minimum.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.