Three more Orders in Council have issued,—one re g ulatin g the permission
for exporting articles contraband of war to certain places friendly or beyond the scope of Russian operations; the second granting an extension of indulgence to foreign and Russian ships, which may have left foreign and Russian ports to touch at this country before the war, the order securing them safe conduct for the completion of the voyage to their original destination; and the third making a further and most important declaration on the subject of commercial property afloat. The order directs that pro- perty shall be respected on board vessels the bona. fide property of neutral or friendly powers, whatever the origin or ownership of that property; and that British subjects may trade with neutral or friendly ports, or any ports not in the actual possession or occupa- tion of the enemy. In other words, complete freedom of trade is given to neutrals and to British subjects, without any reference to the original production or ownership of property ; with the excep- tions, that direct trading between the ports of the enemy or ports in possession of the enemy is prohibited, and that British subjects are not allowed direct trading with the subjects of the enemy. In short, no- thing is forbidden save direct trading with subjects and ports of Rus- sia, or ports which she actually holds. For neutrals cannot carry on any but an indirect trading : and here is a distinction which appears to have escaped those that complain as if some hardship were inflict- ed upon British subjects in allowing to foreigners what is forbidden to them. There is no distinction : both neutrals and British are debarred from direct trading, both neutrals and British may freely participate in indirect trading ; and thus commerce is rendered as free as it can possibly be, subject only to restraints upon the ac- tual trading of the enemy. When the political reasons for co- ercing an enemy by the destruction of his property, and when the risks which Englishmen would incur by placing themselves within the power of Russia, are taken into account, it will be admitted that the mercantile community, domestic as well as foreign, obtains through these Orders in Council all that it could possibly desire.
