ountry; and thus such goods are not liable to
confiscation on ground of the blockade.

[Sidenote: Right of Search.]

On the great question of the Right of Search, the International Law
has been summed up by Lord Stowell, in the case of the _Maria_, where
the exercise of the right was attempted to be resisted, by the
interposition of a convoy of Swedish ships of war.[194]

First, the right of visiting and searching merchant ships on the high
seas, whatever be the ships, whatever be the cargoes, whatever be the
destinations, is the incontestible right of the lawfully commissioned
cruizers of a belligerent nation.

Secondly, that the authority of the Sovran of the neutral country,
being interposed in any manner of mere force, cannot legally vary the
rights of a lawfully commissioned belligerent cruizer. It cannot be
maintained, that if a Swedish commissioned cruizer, during the wars of
his own country, has a right, by the Laws of Nations, to visit and
examine neutral ships, the King of England, (being Neutral to Sweden,)
is authorized by law to obstruct the exercise of that right with
respect to the merchants' ships of his country.

Thirdly, that the penalty for the violent contravention of this right,
is the confiscation of the property withheld from visitation and
search.

The judgment of condemnation, pronounced in this case, was followed by
the Treaty of Armed Neutrality entered into by the Baltic Powers to
resist the Right of Search, in 1800, which league was dissolved by the
death of the Emperor Paul, and the points in controversy between those
Powers and Great Britain were finally adjusted by the Convention of
5th of June, 1805.[195]

[Sidenote: Convoys.]

It now remains to say a few words on the subject of Convoy. Convoy is
a ship or ships of war appointed by the Government, or by the
Commander-in-Chief on a particular station, for the guard of merchant
vessels bound to their destination. A warranty that the vessel shall
sail with convoy, is very common in Policies of Insurance, and if not
complied with, the Insurance becomes absolutely void.

This warranty to sail with convoy, does not mean that the vessel shall
depart with convoy immediately from the lading port, but only from the
place of rendezvous appointed for vessels bound from that port, and
must be strictly and impartially maintained by force, to the uniform
universal exclusion of all vessels not privileged by law.[196]

From many ports, and a