reached the British Foreign Office from the scene of the occurrences
which were alleged to have been in contravention of established
principles. Flour or any other foodstuff might or might not be
contraband of war according to the particular circumstances of the case.
As a general rule products like flour shipped from a neutral State are
not contraband, but it is always a question of fact whether the
immediate destination of such flour is for hostile purposes, namely, the
sustenance of a belligerent army. If flour or foodstuffs generally were
so destined they became contraband of war for the particular case.

Not less than twenty thousand barrels of flour had been shipped by
citizens of the United States upon the three steamers, _Maria_,
_Mashona_, and _Beatrice_, and the proposer of the resolution insisted
that the Senate was entitled to know in what manner the rights of the
United States were being asserted in view of the obvious hardship which
_bona fide_ neutral shippers had thus suffered. He urged that the
seizure of property of citizens of the United States by one of the
belligerents was "a thing which profoundly affects the American people;
it affects every corn grower, every wheat farmer, the owner of the
cattle upon a thousand hills, the mill man, the middleman, everybody who
is interested in producing and exporting the products of the farm and
the field is interested in this question and is entitled to know what
has been done in this case."[27]

[Footnote 27: Hale of Maine, 56 Cong., 1 Sess., Rec., Vol. 33, Pt 1, p.
896.]

It is to be hoped that the Senator's constituents read this speech in
the next morning's papers, for otherwise it must go down in history as a
burst of eloquence wasted upon unhearing ears. Had he been able to pass
his resolution so worded as to "_direct_" the Secretary of State to
throw open the entire files of the Department's foreign correspondence
for the Senate's inspection, instead of merely "_requesting_" the
President to furnish such information as the Senate desired "if not, in
his opinion, incompatible with the public interest," the result would
have been practically the same. In either event the President would have
controlled the situation, since he can not be compelled to furnish
information to the Senate when he considers it incompatible with the
public interest to do so. The only power possible to be exercised by the
Senate over the Executive in such a case is that of impea