The right of the neutral merchant was put on the large commercial ground by Mr. Huskisson: ‘Of what use would be our skill in building ships, manufacturing arms, and preparing instruments of war, if equally to sell them to all belligerents were a breach of neutrality?’[17] But it can be put on a still larger ground. Without it the small nations would go to the wall. If there were such a doctrine as Germany now contends for, a great country with unlimited resources could speedily annihilate all the weak nations one after the other. There is no such doctrine as that when war is declared the warring nations are to fight it out with their own resources only. It is not the duty of neutral merchants to keep the ring and let the best man win. Sentiment does not come into the question. The neutral merchant may serve that side which he earnestly desires should win; but the other belligerent has the extreme penalty of confiscation in his hands, and sentiment must inevitably fade into the background. The conclusion of the whole matter is that the two great war doctrines are, the right of the neutral merchant to trade in contraband, and the right of the belligerent nations to seize his cargoes. Combined, they make the simple principle that the neutral merchant may supply contraband to either side subject only to the risk of seizure by the other. ‘The right of the neutral to transport,’ says Kent, ‘and of the hostile Power to seize, are conflicting rights, and neither party can charge the other with a criminal act.’[18] _The Right and the Duty of Search_ But the principle of seizure is still in a very crude state; and seeing that all cargoes destined for the enemy are not liable to seizure, and that for practical reasons it is neither possible nor advisable to bring in every cargo for adjudication in the Prize Courts, a supplementary right has been devised, known as the ‘right of search.’ It is the first step in the seizure, and, on the one hand, affords the belligerent an opportunity of letting non-contraband cargo go free; on the other hand, it gives the owner of the cargo an immediate opportunity of proving its innocent character. The right of search is often stated as an independent right, but it is in reality secondary to the right of seizure, and references to it obviously apply equally to the right of seizure. As to its unlimited nature I need do no more than quote the well-known words of Lord Stowell in the case of the Swedish convoy.[19] It is incontrovertible