form this Government would
not be justified in presenting the matter to the offending
belligerent. Complaints have come to the department that mail on board
neutral steamers has been opened and detained, but there seem to be
but few cases where the mail from neutral countries has not been
finally delivered. When mail is sent to belligerent countries open and
is of a neutral and private character it has not been molested so far
as the department is advised.

_(3) Searching of American vessels for German and Austrian subjects on
the high seas and in territorial waters of a belligerent._

So far as this Government has been informed, no American vessels on
the high seas, with two exceptions, have been detained or searched by
belligerent warships for German and Austrian subjects. One of the
exceptions to which reference is made is now the subject of a rigid
investigation, and vigorous representations have been made to the
offending Government. The other exception, where certain German
passengers were made to sign a promise not to take part in the war,
has been brought to the attention of the offending Government with a
declaration that such procedure, if true, is an unwarranted exercise
of jurisdiction over American vessels in which this Government will
not acquiesce.

An American private vessel entering voluntarily the territorial waters
of a belligerent becomes subject to its municipal laws, as do the
persons on board the vessel.

There have appeared in certain publications the assertion that failure
to protest in these cases is an abandonment of the principle for which
the United States went to war in 1812. If the failure to protest were
true, which it is not, the principle involved is entirely different
from the one appealed to against unjustifiable impressment of
Americans in the British Navy in time of peace.

_(4) Submission without protest to British violations of the rules
regarding absolute and conditional contraband as laid down in The
Hague Conventions, the Declaration of London, and international law._

There is no Hague Convention which deals with absolute or conditional
contraband and, as the Declaration of London is not in force, the
rules of international law only apply. As to the articles to be
regarded as contraband, there is no general agreement between nations.
It is the practice of a century, either in time of peace or after the
outbreak of war, to declare the articles which it will consider as