12851.
No. 111.
(GENERAL.)
FOREIGN OFFICE to LAW OFFICERS.
[Rights of neutrality: Proposed amendment of 33 and 34 Vic., cap. 90, sec. 8 (4), to safeguard:]
GENTLEMEN,
Foreign Office, January 16, 1909.
I HAVE the honour, by direction of Secretary Sir Edward Grey, to inclose, for your consideration, the papers noted in the accompanying list respecting the duties which should be observed by this country as a neutral when hostilities are in progress between other States.
I am in the first place to invite your attention to the terms of Article 8 of a Convention signed by the British Plenipotentiaries to the recent Second Peace Con- ference (subject to reservations as regards Articles 19 and 23) respecting the rights and duties of neutral Powers in maritime war. The Article in question is printed on p. 119 of Paper (A).*
In the spring of last year an Inter-Departmental Committee was appointed, under the presidency of the King's Proctor, the Earl of Desart, K.C.B., to consider the various Conventions which had resulted from the labours of the Conference at The Hague in 1907, and to advise His Majesty's Government as to their acceptance, they having been with one exception-viz., the Convention which relates to the creation of an International Court of Appeal in prize matters-left open for signature down to the end of last June. The Report of that Committee on the Convention concerning the "Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Maritime War" is herewith inclosed (Paper (B)), and I am to draw your especial attention to paragraphs 18-22 of that Report, in which the bearing of the rule of neutrality as embodied in Article 8 of the Convention with the existing Municipal Law in the British dominions is discussed.
The Law in question is "The Foreign Enlistment Act, 1870," 33 & 34 Vict., cap. 90, of which a copy is enclosed (Paper (D)). You will observe that, in the opinion of the Inter-Departmental Committee, the provisions of section 8 (4) of this enactinent go considerably beyond the requirements of the 8th Article of the Convention, and operate detrimentally to the interests of British shipping, inasmuch as they forbid the dispatch of an ordinary British merchant-vessel from British territory for employment in the service of a belligerent, while the comparative leniency of the provisions of the Municipal Laws of other nations admits in the like circumstances of the sale and dispatch unchecked to belligerents of vessels of their respective mercantile marines.
This condition of things was turned to considerable advantage by the subjects of certain neutral foreign Powers during the hostilities between Russia and Japan, when, for instance, several vessels of the Hamburg-American line were sold to the Russian Government and utilised by them as cruisers or transports.
The Committee were accordingly of opinion that it is desirable that the section in question should be amended in such a manner as to make it applicable only to vessels which have been wholly or partially adapted for warlike purposes within His Majesty's
dominions.
The Inter-Departmental Committee was recently reconvened to consider a Bill which has been prepared by Parliamentary Counsel to effect the legislation which it is leemed desirable to enact before the King's ratifications of such of The Hague Con- ventions as necessitate fresh legislation are deposited at The Hague. None of these instruments has, as yet, been ratified. I am, in this connection, to inclose a copy of the Minutes of the proceedings of the Committee at their meeting on the 5th instant, from which you will observe that they earnestly renew their recommendation that section 8 (4) of "The Foreign Enlistment Act,1870," should be amended in order to get rid of the discrepancy above alluded to (Paper C)).
393 (1)
Printed here as an Annex.
(13107-2.) Wt. 96-332. 25. 4/09. D & S.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
Reference :-
C.O.885
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO