GREAT       BRITAIN.,                       
    551

  Her Majesty's government are advised that, if the Spanish government is
prepared
to accept the consequences which will follow of raising the Carlist insurgents
to the
status of recognized belligerents by a declaration of belligerent blockade,
there is no
objection to the regulations issued to the Spanish squadron in the Pacific
on November
26, 1864, and adopted by the 4th article of the decree of the 2d instant,
in so far as those
regulations relate to the matter of blockade. Upon other points, however,
Her Majes-
ty's government are advised that the regulations contain serious errors,
against which
they feel bound to protest at once, if it is proposed to put these regulations
in force.
  Article 12, which deals with the question of recapture from the enemy of
neutral
vessels, is directly at variance with the established rule of the law of
nations. The
Spanish regulation claims to treat neutral vessels recaptured from the enemy,
after
twenty-four hours' possession by the latter, as enemy's property.
  The exact opposite of this proposition is the true rule of the law of nations.
PrIna
faeie, and before condemnation, a neutral vessel in the hands of the captors,
if recap-
tured, is to be restored to the neutralowner without salvage. (1Vide Dana's
"Wheaton,"
p. 458; Valin's "Trait6 de Prises," vol. ii, tit. 7, cap. 2; Pistoye
and Duverdy, and
cases there cited, particularly the "Statira," p. 122, and "l'Esther,"
p. 130.)
  It is unnecessary at present to enter on the exceptions to this rule. It
is enough to
say that the proposition laid down in the Spanishregulations, article 12,
is inadmissible.
  Article 14 of the regulations, which relates to contraband, is equally
erroneous.
That article, in the case where one-half of the cargo of a neutral vessel
is contraband,
claims to condemn the residue of the cargo and the ship. This is contrary
to the estab-
lished law of nations as practiced in modern times. The presence of one-half
(or any
other proportion) of contraband cargo does not justify the condemnation of
the inno-
cent residue, or of the ship. (Vide Dana's "Wheaton," p. 665, note,
and Ortolan's
"Regles Internationales," vol. ii, liv. 3, cap. 6.)
  The claim in the same article to condemn the ship and cargo, on the ground
of "1 car-
riage of official dispatches" generally, without limitation, is also
confounded. It is
not the fact that the carriage of all official dispatches works a condemnation.
On the
cbntrary, diplomatic dispatches are lawfully carried by a neutral vessel,
(vide case
of "Caroline," 6 Robertson's Reports, and Dana's note to "1
Wheaton," p. 643 ;) and the
mere fact that dispatches are found on board a neutral vessel, in the absence
of fraud
or actual interposition in the.service of the enemy, is no ground of confiscation.
(" Hal-
leek," p. 643.)
  I have, therefore, to instruct you to inform the Spanish government that
Her Maj-
esty's government cannot admit the belligerent claims asserted in the above-mentioned
articles.
  It would be well that you should place this protest on record, even if
the blockade
should be abandoned.
      I am, &c.,
                                                                  GRANVILLE.

                                    llnclosure 2.]
                           Earl Granville to Mr. Layard.
No. 55.]                                      FOREIGN OFFICE, February 13,
1874.
  SIR: By your telegrams of the 2d instant you informed me of the publication,
in the
Madrid Gazette, of a decree declaring a blockade of the northern coast of
Spain from
Cape Penas to Fuentarrabia, with the exception of the ports of Gijon, Santander,
and
San Sebastian, such blockade to commence on the 20th instant.
  Her Majesty's government have taken this announcement into their serious
considera-
tion, and have consulted the law-officers of the Crown thereon.
  They are advised that, assuming the blockade to be effective, they must
recognize
the fact that it exists de facto and de jure. The result, however, will be
that the Carl-
ists henceforth become belligerents.
  Her Majesty's government presume that the parts of the coast to which the
blockade
is applied are in the hands of the Carlists, for the Madrid government cannot
establish
a municipal blockade of its own ports or coast, so as to entitle them to
exercise on the
hioh seas belligerent rights against foreign vessels.
  I have, therefore, to instruct you to warn the Spanish government that
the establish-
ment of the proposed blockade must lead to the issue by Her Majesty's government
of
a proclamation of neutrality.
  Your dispatehes, No. 106, of the 2d, and No. 125, of the 6th instant, relative
to the
regulations under which the blockade, if established, is to be carried out,
have been
received. Those regulations will be carefully considered by Her Majesty's
govern-
ment, and a further instruction will be sent. to you with regard to them.
  The substance of this instruction has been sent to you by telegraph t~his
day.
      J am, &c.,
                                                                  GRANVILLE.