from his commercial marine and added to his military marine, which he is at liberty to use for the purpose of invading or otherwise injuring me.
But this neutral, it will be urged, has rights too and interests as well, and what right have I—from the fact of being at war with another nation—to interfere with his rights and affect his interests? Let us examine this objection a little closely.
With some part of his trade clearly the belligerent has a right to interfere, and this right of interference is not even contested; I mean his right to blockade and hermetically seal his enemy's ports, which is a very considerable interference with neutral trade. Again, his right to interfere with the neutral's trade in respect to contraband of war has never been called in question, a right accruing only in time of war, and in consequence of the state of war—for at any other time this trade of the neutral is perfectly innocent. So that the absolute-
