Possibly Mr. Lawrence does not do full justice to the points taken by the German Government as enunciated in the speech of Count Von Buelow, although he clearly indicates what he thinks the general tendency of the proposed German system of law would be.  It would seem that he does not give a clear statement of the German doctrine.  When he asserts that “Count Von Buelow committed himself to the crude doctrine that neutral ships plying between neutral ports would not be liable to interference,” the inference is not a necessary result of the German position.  Nor does it necessarily follow according to the German standard that, “to constitute the offense of carrying contraband a belligerent destination” is “essential, and therefore there” can “be no contraband when the voyage” is “from neutral port to neutral port,"[39] Mr. Lawrence possibly has reference only to the position taken arguendo by the German Government during the correspondence immediately following the seizure of the German ships and not to the general rules formulated by the German Chancellor on January 19, 1900, in his speech before the Reichstag.[40] There is no indication that Mr. Lawrence had this speech before him when he passed judgment upon the German doctrine, although the preface to the third edition of his Principles of International Law is dated August 1, 1900.

[Footnote 39:  Principles of Int.  Law, p. 679.]

[Footnote 40:  The German argument was that according to English expression in the past, notably in 1863, and expressly in her own naval guide, there could not be contraband of war between neutral ports.]

It is possibly true that the German rules were advanced because of their expediency in view of the geographical position of Germany.  But the English writer apparently admits a similar motive in opposing the proposed German system, when he says, “Great Britain is the only European state which could not obtain,” in time of war, “all the supplies she wished for by land carriage from neighboring neutral ports, with which according to the doctrine in question, neutrals would be free to trade in contraband without the slightest hindrance from the other belligerent."[41]

[Footnote 41:  Principles of Int.  Law, p. 680.]

The view taken by Mr. Lawrence would seem unfair to the proposed rules in a number of points.  Count Von Buelow clearly pointed out that belligerent vessels might capture a neutral vessel if the latter resisted the order to stop, or if irregularities were discovered in her papers, or if the presence of contraband were revealed.  Under the term “contraband of war” he admitted that articles and persons suited for war might be included, provided they were at the same time destined for the use of one of the belligerents, and he was ready to admit that discovered contraband should be confiscable.  It is true the caution was added that should the seizure prove to be unjustifiable the belligerent State should be bound to order immediate