y suggested that possibly
their shipments had been confused with those of an English firm, Collier
and Sons, of Bristol. It was alleged to be a notorious fact that this
firm had made large shipments of flour to the Transvaal Government; that
Arthur May and Company were the agents of the firm in the Republic, and
that the Bristol firm had shipped on the same steamers on which American
goods were carried. A.J. Toomey, President of the Pennsylvania firm, in
alleging these facts pointed out that he mentioned only what was well
known in shipping circles and did so merely to establish the fact that
there had been no wrong intent with reference to his shipments. He urged
that the question of the justice of indemnification should be settled,
leaving the respective rights of consignors or consignees to the
proceeds to be settled afterward.[48]

[Footnote 48: For. Rel., 1900, p. 589; Toomey to Hay, Feb. 12, 1900.]

Mr. Choate, in carrying out instructions received from Washington,
insisted that where the ship was seized and taken into port on the
charge of trading with the enemy, and where the flour was not held as
contraband, and was not claimed to be contraband, and under the
circumstances could not be involved in the specific charge against the
ship, it was manifestly a great hardship for the owners of the flour to
be compelled to go into the prize court at a port short of the original
destination even for the purpose of proving their ownership, which he
insisted would involve costs and damages for the detention and possible
deterioration in value.[49] It was intimated that aside from the
pecuniary features of the situation it was of primary importance to
insist upon the principles involved, with a view to preventing an
extension of belligerent rights to the detriment of all neutral commerce
in time of war. Emphasis was therefore placed upon the point that
evidence must be shown that the goods were really for the supply of the
enemy's forces and that this was in fact their destination at the time
of their seizure. The fact was pointed out that otherwise the action of
the British authorities seemed to imply the right to exercise an embargo
on the sale and delivery of non-contraband goods in the ordinary course
of trade with the people of the Republics. It was intimated that this
was inconsistent with the view of contraband expressed by the English
Government, and wholly inadmissible from the point of view of the United
States.