The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-25 00:00:00

TUSCANY.

At the reception of Colonel Dumas, of the French
cavalry, on the 16th, by the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
his royal highness was pleased to say that he was
happy to seize the occasion of the passage of the
French troops through his states to testify the senti-
ments of warm friendship and admiration which he
felt for the Emperor of the French and his army ;
and that he congratulated himself on learning that
his personal intentions bad been faithfully acted up
to by his subjects.

THE ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT OF NEU-
TRALITY BY A HANOVERIAN SHIP, SEIZED
BY A FRENCH CRUISER.

OHM THI COIIII3PONDINT 0/ Tll DAILY 3131111
HAMBURG, JAN. 21.
Borne weeks ago the newspapers reported the
startling fact of a vessel, called the Vrouw Honwina,
under the Hanoverian flag, bound from Lisbon to
Hamburg, having been captured by a French cruiser
and carried to Oran for having contraband of war
on board, The Lisbon correspondent of the Times.
in his letter of December 31, gives an account of the
circumstances, which, if correct, would show that
the parties concerned had been guilty of a breach of
the laws of nations, and that the property in question
was justifiably sewed. From his account it would
appear that the goods in question, designated as con-
traband of war, consisted of a parcel (973 bags) of salt-
petre, shipped on the 22nd of September last from
London to Lisbon, and declared for Portuguese con-
sumption, but re-shipped on arrival for Hamburg,
although the consignee procured a certificate from
the British Consulate at Lisbon that the saltpetre
was really landed for local consumption, thus releas-
ing the shipper in London from the bond be had
given to the Custom House. The writer proceeds
to express his satisfaction that the Emperor of Russia
will have to wait a long time for hie saltpetre, for
" that it was intended eventually for Russia," he
says logically, " it is quite clear, as Hamburg lies on
the direct road to Bt. Petersburg."
Without entering into a geographical discussion
with this learned Theban further than by remind-
ing him of the trite axiom, that "all roads lead to
Rome," I would wish to explain to your readers the
real state of the facts, which will of course be laid
before the French Admiralty Court, and no doubt be
duly appreciated by them, as it will be found that
there was no attempt at fraud to justify or even give
a plausibility to the capture of the ship and cargo.
The whole transaction was done openly and above-
board, besides which the shipper of the saltpetre
(Mr. Scholts, who, from his official position, u Hano-
verian Consul-General for Portugal, is not likely to
do anything likely to compromise himself or the
government of Hanover), the captain to whose order
the bills of lading were made out, the shipping port,
the destination of the vessel, and lastly the ship
itself, were all neutral.

But allowing for the sake of argument that the
nature of the cargo may be classified as belonging to
the so-called contraband of war, it must as positively
be asserted that in the commerce of one neutral
country with another there is no such thing known
as contraband of war. Sir William Scott—an autho-
rity that the num and its correspondent we presume
will not attempt to question—has laid it down u an
incontrovertible axiom, in the case of a capture under
similar circumstances, " that cargoes shipped to
neutral ports can never be considered as contraband
of war, all goods going there being equally lawfuL"
(The Imima Robinson's Reports, 111., p. 187, &c.)
And according to the declaration of the Foreign-
office under date of October 9, it is expressly stated
that the verdicts of the Admiralty courts are
to be returned " in conformity with former
decisions published in the reports." It is therefore
not necessary_ to prove anything else, for though the
French and English proclamations on the breaking
out of the war did unquestionably name saltpetre as
belonging to those articles to be considered as contra-
band of war, no one will deny that it might be
shipped to Hamburg for a huodred other purposes
than the manufacture of gunpowder, or sending it on
to Russia. In proof of this I may be permitted to
refer to the year 1862, when all Europe was at peace,
and the possibility of a war breaking
.out was antis&
pated by no one. In that year the importations of
saltpetre at Hamburg amounted to nearly 100,000
cwt., not one tenth part of which was sent to Russia.
Besides, it would be next to madness on the part of
our clear-headed and practical Hamburg merchants I
to attempt shipping saltpetre to Russia, whose ports
are blockaded by the British cruisers in summer, and
by the ice in winter • and as for sending it such a'
great distance by laud, the expanse woald be far too
heavy to make it remunerative, and increase the
value nearly 60 per cent. Ennis can have saltpetre
much cheaper from its own province of Finland,
from which it used to be exported formerly, and
where it is produced is coesiderable quantities; or if
it must absolutely have thou 973 bags, it Would have
been much shorter, and saved both time and expense,
to have bad it shipped at once from London to a
Pruden post in the Baltic.
As far as I have been able to anertain, all cargoes
of saltpetre shipped to this post direst from the even-
tries of which they are "the growth or produce,""
have poised the British and Preach cruisers without
let or Nadeau*, and oontinned to arrive till within
the intim day., when nature pat a temporary stop
be eserflinelgo trade by the severity of the frost,
trig& pewee that the two belligerent governments
motions tp ;sweet the rights of neutrals in the free
=stics et any produce sent here for a market.
ew than have induced the French cruiser to
wins the Vreaw Hoawina, end upon what grounds
can the capture be justified? According to the re-
peat of the Trees' correspondent at Lisbon, the tran-
saction bears the colouring of hiving been made with
a view to circumvent the order in council of the 24th
April last, which prohibits the exportation of all
articles considered contraband of war—amongst
which saltpetre is included—" from British ports to
all parts of Europe situated to the north of Dunkirk,
ant to all places eastward of Malta." Bet he has
failed to bring the slightest proof in corroboration of
this assumption, whereas there is nothing to show
that the saltpetre in question was not originally
destined bona fide for commasption in Portugal. and
that in consequence of a fall in the price at Lisbon,
or a favourable torn io the market at Hamburg, the
owner may not have been induced to tranship it, to
which,.o a neutral suldeet resident in a neutral state,
he has a perfect right by the principles contained
in the universally acknowledged laws of nations.
Should it be proved that be has acted contrary to the
laws in force in Portugal, then it becomes an affair
between hint and 'the Yortnirdrit government, with
which no thirdsarty huspay,right.to,usterfers. But
of this there is not a word ismil.aor lies the identity
of the saltpetre even been proved se being the same
.parcel as that shipped from London to Lisbon.
But it may alseimve happened that the =
shipper In London acted coesessetionly, and
taut fide that the shipment was really intended for
unsamption in Portugal. However, even supposing
that be was aware of the intended subsequent trans-

I shipment of the saltpet:e to Hamburg, %fine of the
value of the shipment to 01 that he is exposed to ;
' for the order in council does rot go further than to
prohibit British subjects from ezocuting contraband
of war under the penalty of enutilllsti". No"'
word is said about making a prse Pf neutral pro-
perty under a neutral flag, from a 'centre country to'
a neutral port. Its stated object is a motlitievtion of
the antecedent order in council (of February 18)
prohibiting altogether the export. of those motet-
band articles, in favour of the general trade of neu-
trals. I may here mention that the French govern.
ment have not thought proper to order any relaxa-
tion of their original prohibition, as contained in the
Imperial Ordinance of February 24, except to autho-
rise the Minister of Finances to make occasional exeep-
flocs ; but on the other hand it must not be overlooked
that the prohibition does not extend beyond the ter-
ritory 'object to the French jurisdiction, as is evident '
from the words "soot prolubets la sortie et la rd- '
exportation," and there can be no doubt that this is
the interpretation which will be put upon the sub-
ject when the case is brought before the French
Admiralty Court for adjudication.