) to be in the highest degree
unlikely, that they should be designed for any other purposes besides
the purposes of war.[167]

[Sidenote: Provisions, when Contraband.]

Common Provisions are not Contraband in general prize law, except in
the single case of being sent to a beseiged or blockaded place.[168]

It is a modern practice, in order to remove all possible doubt as to
what goods are contraband, for nations at war to enumerate them
particularly in treaties or compacts with neutral states; and such
treaties leave the neutral, with which they are made, at liberty to
supply the enemy with all goods that are not enumerated in them. These
treaties do not operate as a law; but like other treaties, are binding
only between the nations that are parties to them.[169]

[Sidenote: Lord Stowell's Opinion on Contraband of War.]

The Opinions of our great English authority, Lord Stowell, on this
subject, are contained in two judgments, of which the following is the
substance:--

"In 1673, many unwarrantable rules were laid down by public
authority respecting Contraband. It was expressly asserted
by a person of great knowledge and experience in the English
Admiralty, that by its practice _corn, wine, and oil_, were
liable to be deemed contraband. In much later times, many
sorts of provisions, such as butter, salted fish, and rice,
have been condemned as Contraband. The modern established
rule was, that generally they are not contraband, but may
become so under circumstances arising out of the peculiar
situation of the war, or the condition of the parties
engaged in it; among the causes which tend to prevent
provisions from being treated as contraband, one is that
they are of the growth of the country which exports them.

"Another circumstance, to which some indulgence, by the
practice of nations, is shown, is where the articles are in
their native and unmanufactured state. Thus, iron is treated
with indulgence, though anchors and other instruments
fabricated out of it, are directly contraband. Hemp is more
favourably considered than cordage; and wheat is not
considered so noxious a commodity as any of the final
preparations of it for human use. But the most important
destination is, whether the articles are destined for the
ordinary uses of life, or for military uses. The nature and
quality of the port