The discussion of narrow rules hinders the clear vision of the things which are; and of these the all-important one is that, call it by what name you please, a belligerent _will_, whenever he has the power, take the necessary steps to cut off _all_ supplies from the enemy; and he will cut them off whether they are going by direct route or indirectly through a neutral port. The old conditions under which that power was exercised have, it is agreed, passed away; the power, which we call the right, remains. The Government of the United States contends, on behalf of its merchants, that they have the right to evade and therefore to nullify that power by supplying the enemy, indirectly and without risk, with those cargoes which they cannot safely supply him with directly. Surely the proposition is impossible on the face of it. To call such cargoes ‘innocent’ is to beg the question. The introduction of the atmosphere and terms of the criminal law has done more to fog the public comprehension of this branch of international law than any inherent complexity of the problems with which it deals. Yet here it will serve to bring home the inaccuracy of the American contention to the public mind; for seizure and condemnation become a sort of retributive penalty for the neutral merchant’s attempt to evade what, to continue the language of law, the belligerent has the right to command, by darkening and disguising his real intention. Judged even by this imperfect standard, the American Protest has cut away the ground from its own contention. The doctrine of ‘continuous voyages’ was accepted because of its logical simplicity; and this simplicity shows that it must extend and reinforce every exhibition of sea-power by a belligerent against his enemy; and its logic prevents the neutral merchant from setting up any right, more especially any right which is not only in conflict with the belligerent right, but is based on deceit and needs a cloak to hide its real meaning. The right he claims is to send to the enemy those supplies which the belligerent has declared his intention and taken effective steps to deprive him of. If the neutral merchant had such a right it would enable him to diminish the force of the belligerent blow, to heal the stroke of the wound. _Reprisals_ There has been much talk of retaliation. The Order in Council has adopted the formula of the first of the Orders in Council of 1807,[47] that the action of the enemy has given to His Majesty the ‘unquestionable right of retaliation,’ and it has been assumed, too readily as I venture to think, that this is an admission that our action to-day falls outside the principles sanctioned by international law. The American newspapers have found apt expression of their criticism in the ancient adage ‘Two wrongs do not make a right.’ And in the Protest of the Government this sentence occurs: