the claimants to go into
the prize court. Although it was pretty well ascertained that no actual
contraband in the usual sense of the term had been carried from America
by the ships which were seized, difficult questions were thus avoided as
between liens and general ownerships which might have arisen had
American shippers been compelled to go into court.

It is not a universal rule where the shipper has not been paid for his
goods that the property is still in him, so as to constitute him the
owner in a prize court, or for the purposes of sale. By the terms of
sale and shipment he may not have retained a lien on the goods. But in
any case as a rule the title of the absolute owner prevails in a prize
court over the interests of a lien holder, whatever the equities between
consignor and consignee may be.[56] Consequently the policy adopted by
Secretary Hay in demanding that Great Britain should settle with all
American shippers on an equitable basis without forcing them to take
their chances in a prize court was the wisest course that could have
been pursued.

[Footnote 56: The _Winnifred_, Blatch. Prize Cases, 2, cited 2 Halleck,
International Law, Engl. Ed. (1893), 392.]

In the final arrangement Great Britain admitted that the American goods
had not been liable to seizure except as a result of the libel attaching
to the ships. But any claims for damages due to the owners of the
cargoes on account of the failure of the vessels to deliver at the port
mentioned in the freight contract, it was asserted, should be made
against those who entered into or became responsible for the execution
of the contract for the delivery which they failed to perform, and the
assumption that such damages could be sustained at law would depend on
the terms of the contract of carriage. The English Government, however,
did not admit that it was in any way liable for damages to the owners of
the flour and other goods, since their detention was due entirely to the
circumstance that the ships were not able to complete their voyages, and
the fact that they could not complete their voyages was due to the
circumstance that such voyages were illegal by the law of the flag under
which they were sailing.[57]

[Footnote 57: For. Rel., 1900, pp. 604-605; Salisbury to Choate, March
3, 1900.]

Although the financial settlement which Great Britain was willing to
make was accepted by the United States, this acceptance did not imply an
acquiescence in