Some Onesfions of International Law. but a terrible storm of indignation was ex cited in England when it was learned that the British liner Malacca, belonging to the Peninsula and Oriental Navigation Company and bound for Yokahama via Hong Kong, had been arrested by the Pctcrbnrg in the Red Sea on July I31 on a charge of carrying contraband, and was being brought to Port Said through the Suez Canal as a prize. At about the same time much excitement was created in Germany by the news that the German mail-steamer Prinz Heinrich had been stopped by the Smolensk on July 15 and that a portion of her mail destined for Japan (two mail bags for Nagasaki) had been con fiscated, the remaining portion having been transferred to the British steamer Persia which was forcibly detained for that pur pose.' Both the British and German Govern ments at once entered vigorous protests against what they regarded as violations of neutral rights. The German Government claimed that, while "the exercise of the droit ce visite in the case of mail-steamers may perhaps be justifiable, the confiscation of mail bags directly contravenes the provisions of International Law."3 It asked for a disa.-owal of the Smolensk's action and the re turn of the captured mail sacks. These de mands were readily agreed to by the Russian Government, and the German Government is said to have been assured that the confis cated mail bags would be returned as soon as possible and that the German mails would not again be molested by the Russian auxJThe news did not reach the public before July 17. Several British vessels had been visited and searched prior to the seizure of the Malacca, but these had merely been detained for a short time.
- A section of the English press had commented
very strongly upon the detention and search of the British mail steamer Osiris by the Russian gunboat Krabri early in May. See Lawrence, op. cit., p. 185. "See London Times (weekly edition) for July 22, 1904. Germany does not seem to have raised the question of the status of the Smolensk.
66l
iiiary cruisers. Russia also agreed to indem nify the German shippers and consignees for any losses sustained on account of the seiz ure of German ships and the detention of German mails. The British Government, in addition to a protest and a demand for the immediate re lease of the Malacca which appears to have amounted to an ultimatum, is said to have instructed the British Mediterranean fleet under the command of Admiral Domville*to patrol the Red Sea and prevent any further molestation of British steamers by Russian merchantmen suddenly transformed into warships. Charges of "piracy" were freelv made by the most conservative London newspapers, and public opinion in England appears to have been a unit in support of the firm attitude of the British Government. The British protest against the seizure of the Malacca was partly based upon the ground that the contraband which the steamer was alleged to be carrying consisted of 300 tons of British Government stores (each case of which was marked with the broad arrow or Government stamp) con signed to the British naval station at Hong Kong and intended for the use of the British China squadron. Sir Charles Hardinge, the Britisli ambassador at St. Petersburg, is also said to have presented a general protest against the exercise of the right of search and seizure by vessels of the Russian Vol unteer Navy, the question of the right of these vessels to pass the Bosporus and Dardanelles not having been raised.0 The Russian officials contended on the other 'Admiral Domville is reported to have detached two of his cruisers with orders to proceed to Port Said, with a view of retaking the Malacca, in case an effort were made to take her to a Rus sian prize court. They fortunately failed to reach Port Said before the departure of the Malacca from that poft. 'The British Government appears to have raised the question of the status of the vessels of the Russian Volunteer fleet rather than to have charged Russia with a violation of the Treaties of Paris and London.
