were condemned by the district court of southern New York, but the
cargo alone was later considered liable to condemnation by the Supreme
Court of the United States. Great Britain at the time noted an exception
to the decision, but refused to take up claims on the part of the
English owners against the United States Government for indemnity. Earl
Russell, in refusing the request of the owners for intervention by Great
Britain, said in part: "A careful perusal ... of the judgment,
containing the reasons of the judge, the authorities cited by him in
support of it, and the ... evidence invoked ... goes ... to
establish that the cargo of the _Springbok_, containing a considerable
portion of contraband, was never really and _bona fide_ destined for
Nassau [the alleged destination], but was either destined merely to call
there, or to be immediately transshipped after its arrival there without
breaking bulk and without any previous incorporation into the common
stock of that colony, and to proceed to its real port of destination,
being a blockaded port."[5]

[Footnote 4: Sessional Papers of the House of Commons, Correspondence
respecting the Seizure of the British Vessels "Springbok" and "Peterhof"
by United States Cruisers in 1863, Miscl. No. I (1900), C. 34]

[Footnote 5: Sessional Papers of the House of Commons, p. 39.]

This case is often cited as containing an application of the doctrine of
"continuous voyages" to contraband _per se_. But it seems that the
primary question was not one of contraband. The guilt of the ship lay
rather in the intention, presumed upon the evidence, that a breach of an
actual blockade was ultimately designed. The Supreme Court in reviewing
the decision of the lower court said: "We do not refer to the character
of the cargo for the purpose of determining whether it was liable to
condemnation as contraband, but for the purpose of ascertaining its real
destination; for we repeat again, contraband or not, it could not be
condemned if really destined for Nassau, and not beyond, and, contraband
or not, it must be condemned if destined to any rebel port, for all
rebel ports are under blockade."[6] In other words, the decision was
upon presumption and not upon the evidence in the case; upon the
presumption that a breach of blockade was premeditated and not upon the
ground that the cargo was contraband. The fact that the cargo was of a
character which did not seem likely to be incorporated into the sto