LAW OF CONTRABAND OF WAR: WITH A SELECTION OF CASES FROM THE PAPERS OF THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEO. LEE, LL.D. FORMERLY DEAN OF THE ARCHES, ETC. ETC. ETC. AND An Appendix, CONTAINING EXTRACTS FROM TREATIES, MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS, WITH THE CASES TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY FREDERIC THOMAS PRATT, D.C.L. ADVOCATE AT DOCTORS' COMMONS. LONDON: WILLIAM G. BENNING & CO. 43. FLEET STREET, LAW BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS. OF THE COLLEGE OF ADVOCATES, DOCTORS' COMMONS, The following Pages, DERIVING THEIR PRINCIPAL VALUE FROM THE PAPERS OF HIS DISTINGUISHED AND LEARNED ANCESTOR, are dedicated BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL FRIEND, FREDERIC THOMAS PRATT. PREFACE. DURING one of the many visits I have had the pleasure of paying to my friend Dr. Lee, at Hartwell, the former residence of his distinguished relative SIR GEORGE Lee, so well known as an eminent Advocate and Judge in the Courts of Civil Law, and particularly from the part he took in framing the celebrated Answer to the Memorial 1 The following is a brief statement of the circumstances connected with this memorial: In the year 1738 the sum of 250,000l. had been borrowed by the Emperor Charles VI. of English subjects, and certain mines in Silesia mortgaged for its repayment. By the treaty of Breslau, in 1742, the Queen of Hungary, then Empress, ceded the province of Silesia, including these mines, to the King of Prussia, who made himself responsible for the repayment of the loan. In the war which about this time was declared by this country against France and Spain, several vessels belonging to the subjects of Prussia, then a neutral power, had been seized by English privateers, and brought in as prize, on the ground of their being engaged in conveying contraband goods to the enemy. For these seizures satisfaction was demanded by the King of Prussia, who, on failure of obtaining it, took possession of the money destined for the repayment of the Silesian loan. On his part a representation was made by M. Michell, the Prussian Minister, at the Court of London, justifying the proceedings of his own government, upon the ground that the seizures of the Prussian vessels had been made contrary to all principles of international law. The Memorial alluded to in the text was the triumphant reply of the English Government to this representation, and was generally supposed to have been the joint composition of Sir George Lee and Mr. Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield. The dispute between the two governments was ultimately arranged by mutual concessions on both sides. On the part of Great Britain the following declaration in Council was made with reference to it : "In order to put an end to the disputes which have arisen between their Britannic and Prussian Ma |