Granted the soundness of the American proposition, the British case falls within it; the ‘imperative necessity for the safety of the country’ has arisen. As to concealed contraband the case is even clearer. Cotton is not on the list of contraband. But information has reached the Government that ‘precisely because we have declared our intention of not interfering with cotton, ships carrying cotton will be specially selected to carry concealed contraband; and we have been warned that copper will be concealed in bales of cotton.’ For this there is only one remedy: the cargo must be examined and the bales weighed; further, this cannot be done at sea, therefore the ship must be brought into port. The general justification of the action of the British Government is couched in these weighty words, which go to the foundations of the whole law of contraband and the right of search: ‘We are confronted with the growing danger that neutral countries contiguous to the enemy will become, on a scale hitherto unprecedented, a base of supplies for the armed forces of our enemies and for materials for manufacturing armament.... We endeavour, in the interest of our own national safety, to prevent this danger by intercepting goods really destined for the enemy, without interfering with those which are _bona-fide_ neutral.’ The extraordinary procedure adopted by the United States Government of _prohibiting_ the publication of manifests within thirty days after the departure of vessels from American ports, obviously increased the difficulties of the British Government in exercising its right of search even in the most ordinary circumstances. If I am right in my view that the duty of neutrals is to do nothing, for the simple reason that any action may be of assistance to one of the belligerents, it must be confessed that this order comes perilously near to a breach of neutrality. The reply deals also with the seizure of foodstuffs, but it is unnecessary, in view of subsequent action taken in regard to them, to refer to this part of the document. It also mentions a somewhat unusual complaint, not included in the American Note, of our own embargo on rubber, imposed in consequence of a new trade in exporting rubber from the United States in suspiciously large quantities to neutral countries, which had sprung up since the war. The complaint is not very intelligible, because it looks at embargo from the wrong point of view. The right point of view is explained later in this article.