were held to be engaged in the carriage of
contraband, although their destination was a neutral port, were
substantially approved of by Great Britain. Their principle wast adopted
by Italy, in the _Doelwijk_, in 1896, and was supported by Great Britain
in the correspondence upon this subject which took place with Germany in
1900. It was endorsed, after prolonged discussion, by the Institut de
Droit International in 1896.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, July 11 (1904).

_(Unqualified Captors)_

Among the objections raised by the British Government to the
capture by the Russian ship _Peterburg_ in the Red Sea, on July
13, 1904, of the P. and O. ss. _Malacca_, for carriage of
contraband were (1) that the so-called contraband consisted of
government ammunition for the use of the British fleet in
Chinese waters; and (2) what was more serious, that the
capturing vessel, which belonged to the Russian volunteer
fleet, after issuing from the Black Sea under the commercial
flag had subsequently, and without touching at any Russian
port, brought up guns from her hold, and had proceeded to
exercise belligerent rights under the Russian naval flag. In
consequence of the protest of the British Government, and to
close the incident, the _Malacca_ was released at Algiers,
after a purely formal examination, on July 27, and Russia
agreed to instruct the officers of her volunteer fleet not to
make any similar captures.

The question of the legitimacy of the transformation on the
high seas into a ship-of-war of a vessel which has previously
been sailing under the commercial flag was much discussed at
The Hague Conference of 1907, but without result. Opinions were
so much divided upon the point, that no mention of it is made
in Convention No. vii. of that year, ratified by Great Britain
on November 27, 1909, "as to the transformation of merchant
vessels into ships-of-war." At the session of the Institut de
Droit International held at Oxford in 1913, this question was
discussed, and rules relating to it will be found in Section 2
of the _Manuel des lois de la guerre maritime_, the drafting of
which occupied the whole of the session.

THE _ALLANTON_ _(Unqualified Captors)_

Sir,--The indignation caused by the treatment of the _Allanton_ is
natural, and will almost certainly prove to be well fo