1764. CONTRABAND OF WAR, National Law and.—
What is contraband by the law of nature? Either everything which
may aid or comfort an enemy or nothing.
Either all commerce which would accommodate
him is unlawful, or none is. The difference
between articles of one or another description,
is a difference in degree only. No
line between them can be drawn. Either all
intercourse must cease between neutrals and
belligerents, or all be permitted. Can the world
hesitate to say which shall be the rule? Shall
two nations turning tigers, break up in one
instant the peaceable relations of the whole
world? Reason and nature clearly pronounce
that the neutral is to go on in the enjoyment
of all its rights, that its commerce remains
free, not subject to the jurisdiction of another,
nor consequently its vessels to search, or to inquiries
whether their contents are the property
of an enemy, or are of those which have been
called contraband of war.—
To Robert R. Livingston. Washington ed. iv, 410.
Ford ed., viii, 90.
(M.
1801)
