Office of the Historian

File No. 763.72112/385

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State 1

American Embassy,
London, November 3, 1914.
[Received November 16.]

No. 549]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a proclamation containing a revised list of articles which the British Government have decided to declare absolute or conditional contraband, respectively, during the present war, as well as a copy of an order in council defining the attitude of His Majesty’s Government toward the Declaration of London during the present hostilities and the rules which have been decided to be adopted in modification of the declaration.

I have [etc.]

Walter Hines Page
[Page 261]

[Enclosure 1]

Proclamation revising the list of contraband o f war1

George R. I.

Whereas, on the 4th day of August, 1914, we did issue our Royal Proclamation specifying the articles which it was our intention to treat as contraband of war during the war between us and the German Emperor; and

Whereas, on the 12th day of August, 1914, we did by our Royal Proclamation of that date extend our Proclamation aforementioned to the war between us and the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary; and

Whereas on the 21st day of September, 1914, we did by our Royal Proclamation of that date make certain additions to the list of articles to be treated as contraband of war; and

Whereas it is expedient to consolidate the said lists and to make certain additions thereto:

Now, therefore, we do hereby declare, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, that the lists of contraband contained in the schedules to our Royal Proclamations of the 4th day of August and the 21st day of September aforementioned are hereby withdrawn, and that in lieu thereof during the continuance of the war or until we do give further public notice the articles enumerated in Schedule 1 hereto will be treated as absolute contraband, and the articles enumerated in Schedule 2 hereto will be treated [as] conditional contraband.

SCHEDULE 1

1.
Arms of all kinds, including arms for sporting purposes, and their distinctive component parts.
2.
Projectiles, charges, and cartridges of all kinds and their distinctive component parts.
3.
Powder and explosives specially prepared for use in war.
4.
Sulphuric acid.
5.
Gun mountings, limber boxes, limbers, military waggons, field forges and their distinctive component parts.
6.
Range finders and their distinctive component parts.
7.
Clothing and equipment of a distinctively military character.
8.
Saddle, draught, and pack animals suitable for use in war.
9.
All kinds of harness of a distinctively military character.
10.
Articles of camp equipment and their distinctive component parts.
11.
Armour plates.
12.
Haematite iron ore and hæmatite pig iron.
13.
Iron pyrites.
14.
Nickel ore and nickel.
15.
Ferrochrome and chrome ore.
16.
Copper, unwrought.
17.
Lead, pig, sheet, or pipe.
18.
Aluminium.
19.
Ferrosilica.
20.
Barbed wire, and implements for fixing and cutting the same.
21.
Warships, including boats and their distinctive component parts of such a nature that they can only be used on a vessel of war.
22.
Aeroplanes, airships, balloons, and aircraft of all kinds, and their component parts, together with accessories and articles recognisable as intended for use in connection with balloons and aircraft.
23.
Motor vehicles of all kinds and their component parts.
24.
Motor tyres; rubber.
25.
Mineral oils and motor spirit, except lubricating oils.
26.
Implements and apparatus designed exclusively for the manufacture of munitions of war, for the manufacture or repair of arms, or war material for use on land and sea.

SCHEDULE 2

1.
Foodstuffs.
2.
Forage and feeding stuffs for animals.
3.
Clothing, fabrics for clothing, and boots and shoes suitable for use in war
4.
Gold and silver in coin or bullion; paper money.
5.
Vehicles of all kinds, other than motor vehicles, available for use in war, and their component parts.
6.
Vessels, craft, and boats of all kinds; floating docks, parts of docks, and their component parts.
7.
Railway materials, both fixed and rolling stock, and materials for telegraphs, wireless telegraphs, and telephones.
8.
Fuel, other than mineral oils. Lubricants.
9.
Powder and explosives not specially prepared for use in war.
10.
Sulphur.
11.
Glycerine.
12.
Horseshoes and shoeing materials.
13.
Harness and saddlery.
14.
Hides of all kinds, dry or wet; pigskins, raw or dressed; leather, undressed or dressed, suitable for saddlery, harness, or military boots.
15.
Field glasses, telescopes, chronometers, and all kinds of nautical instruments.

Given at our Court at Buckingham Palace, this 29th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1914, etc., etc.

[Enclosure 2]

Order in Council1

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 29th day of October, 1914. Present, The King’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas by an order in council dated the 20th day of August, 1914, His Majesty was pleased to declare that during the present hostilities the convention known as the Declaration of London should, subject to certain additions and modifications therein specified, be adopted and put in force by His Majesty’s Government; and

Whereas the said additions and modifications were rendered necessary by the special conditions of the present war; and

Whereas it is desirable and possible now to reenact the said order in council with amendments in order to minimize, so far as possible, the interference with innocent neutral trade occasioned by the war:

Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:

1.

During the present hostilities the provisions of the convention known as the Declaration of London shall, subject to the exclusion of the lists of contraband and non-contraband, and to the modifications hereinafter set out, be adopted and put in force by His Majesty’s Government.

The modifications are as follows:

(i).
A neutral vessel, with papers indicating a neutral destination, which, notwithstanding the destination shown on the papers, proceeds to an enemy port, shall be liable to capture and condemnation if she is encountered before the end of her next voyage.
(ii).
The destination referred to in Article 33 of the said declaration shall (in addition to the presumptions laid down in Article 34) be presumed to exist if the goods are consigned to or for an agent of the enemy state.
(iii).
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 35 of the said declaration, conditional contraband shall be liable to capture on board a vessel bound for a neutral port if the goods are consigned “to order,” or if the ship’s papers do not show who is the consignee of the goods, or if they show a consignee of the goods in territory belonging to or occupied by the enemy.
(iv).
In the eases covered by the preceding paragraph (iii) it shall lie upon the owners of the goods to prove that their destination was innocent.

2.
Where it is shown to the satisfaction of one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State that the enemy Government is drawing supplies for its armed forces from or through a neutral country, he may direct that in respect of [Page 263] ships bound for a port in that country, Article 35 of the said Declaration shall not apply. Such direction shall be notified in the London Gazette and shall operate until the same is withdrawn. So long as such direction is in force, a vessel which is carrying conditional contraband to a port in that country shall not be immune from capture.
3.
The order in council of the 20th August, 1914, directing the adoption and enforcement during the present hostilities of the convention known as the Declaration of London, subject to the additions and modifications therein specified, is hereby repealed.
4.
This order may be cited as “the Declaration of London Order in Council, No. 2, 1914.”

And the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and each of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, all other judges of His Majesty’s Prize Courts, and all governors, officers, and authorities whom it may concern, are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively appertain.

Almeric Fitzroy

  1. The list of contraband articles contained in this proclamation reached the Department on October 30, at 9.30 p.m., in a telegram from the consul General in London (File No. 763.72112/270). The full text of the proclamation was telegraphed by the Ambassador on November 6 (received 11:45 p.m., File No. 763.72112/315); and that of the order in council on November 5 (received 11:40 p.m., File No. 763.72112/303). A decree in substantially identical terms was published by the French Government on November 6 (File No. 763.72112/339)↩
  2. No. 1613↩
  3. No. 1614.↩