Although we could not complain of the confiscation by either of the supposed belligerents of enemy property found in British vessels, as being a violation of international duty, we might, at our own proper peril, announce that we should treat such confiscation as "an act of war." International law has long abandoned the attempt to define a "just cause of war." That must be left to the appreciation of the nations concerned.

So to announce would be, in effect, to say: "Although by acting as you propose you would violate no rule, yet the consequences would be so injurious to me that I should throw my sword into the opposite scale." We should be acting in the spirit of the "Armed Neutralities" of 1780 and 1800.

The expediency of so doing depends, first, upon the extent to which the success of our action would obviate the mischief against which it would be directed; and, secondly, upon the likelihood that the benefit which could be obtained only by imposing a new rule of international law _in invitos_ would counterbalance the odium incurred by its imposition.

On the former question it may be worth while to remind the mercantile community that, even under the Declaration of Paris, neutral trade must inevitably be put to much inconvenience.

Any merchant vessel may be stopped with a view to the verification of her national character, of which the flag is no conclusive evidence.