On the continent of Europe no such palliative has yet been adopted; but moved by the same desire to distinguish unmistakable from, so to speak, constructive contraband, and to protect trade against the vexation of uncertainty, many continental jurists have come to argue conditional contraband away altogether. This change of opinion has especially manifested itself in the discussions on the subject in the Institute of International Law, a body composed exclusively of recognized international jurists. The rules this body adopted in 1896, though they do not represent the unanimous feeling of its members, may be taken as the view of a large proportion of them. The majority comprised German, Danish, Italian, Dutch and French specialists. The rules adopted contain a clause, which, after declaring conditional contraband abolished, states that: "Nevertheless the belligerent has, at his option and on condition of paying an equitable indemnity, a right of sequestration or pre-emption as to articles (_objets_) which, on their way to a port of the enemy, may serve equally in war or in peace." This rule, it is seen, is of wider application than the above-mentioned provision of the British Prize Act. To become binding in its existing form, either an alteration of the text of the Declaration of Paris or a modification in the wording of the clause would be necessary, seeing that under the Declaration of Paris "the neutral flag covers enemy goods, except contraband of war." It may be said that, in so far as the continent is concerned, expert opinion is, on the whole, favourable to the recognition of conditional contraband in the form of a right of sequestration or pre-emption and within the limits Great Britain has shown a disposition to set to it as against herself. Coal. As regards coal there is no essential difference between the position of coal to feed ships and that of provisions to feed men. Neither is _per se_ contraband. At the West African Conference in 1884 the Russian representative protested against its inclusion among contraband articles, but the Russian government included it in their declaration as to contraband on the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In 1898 the British foreign office replied to an inquiry of the Newport Chamber of Commerce on the position of coal that: "Whether in any particular case coal is or is not contraband of war, is a matter prima facie for the determination of the Prize Court of the captor's nationality, and so long as such decision, when given, does not conflict with well-established principles of international law, H.M.'s government will not be prepared to take exception thereto." The practical applications of the law and usage of contraband in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, however, brought out vividly the need of reform in these "well-established principles." Controversy with Russia in Russo-Japanese War.