[§ 135. Convoy]
A neutral merchant vessel is sometimes placed under the protection of a ship of war of its own state, and is then said to be under convoy.
It has been claimed by many authorities, particularly those of Continental Europe, that such a merchant vessel is exempt from visitation and search upon the declaration of the commander of the neutral ship of war that the merchantman is violating no neutral obligation. England has uniformly denied the validity of this claim.
Practice has been very divergent in most states. From the middle of the seventeenth century the right of convoy has been asserted. From the end of the eighteenth century the claim has gained in importance.[464] The United States has made many treaties directly recognizing the practice, and instructs naval officers that, "Convoys of neutral merchant vessels, under escort of vessels of war of their own State, are exempt from the right of search, upon proper assurances, based on thorough examination, from the commander of the convoy."[465]
In the war of 1894,—
"Japan ordered naval officers to give credence to the declaration of a convoying officer. The idea was simply that, as generosity was the chief object of Japan, she did not wish to search and make actual inspection in order to verify the character of escorted merchantmen and goods, trusting to the honor of neutral officers. This was the main idea of the Japanese in adopting the Continental principle regarding convoy; but she was not, in actual cases, so lax as to admit exorbitant claims of the right of convoy, such as an English admiral made for all British ships in the China Sea."[466]
The present tendencies seem to indicate an inclination to admit the right of convoy within reasonable limits and under reasonable regulations.[467]
[§ 136. Blockade]
Blockade is the obstruction of communication with a place in the possession of one of the belligerents by the armed forces of the other belligerent. The form which blockade takes in most cases is that of obstruction of communication by water.
(a) Historical. In 1584 Holland declared the ports of Flanders blockaded. Holland did not, however, maintain this declaration by ships of war; indeed, in the early days there were no such ships as would make the maintenance of a blockade possible. Such paper blockades were common in the following centuries, and all the ports of a state were frequently proclaimed blockaded, even though there might be no force in the neighborhood to insure that the blockade would not be violated. Treaties of the eighteenth century show an inclination in the states to lessen the evils of blockade by proclamation. The growth of neutral trade led to the adoption of rules for its greater protection. The armed neutrality of 1780 asserted in its proclaimed principles that a valid blockade should involve such a disposition of the vessels of the belligerent proclaiming the blockade as to make the attempt to enter manifestly dangerous.[468] The armed neutrality of 1800 asserted that a notice from the commander of the blockading vessels must be given to the approaching neutral vessel. During the Napoleonic wars there was a return to the practice of issuing proclamations with the view to limiting neutral commerce. The English Orders in Council of 1806 and 1807, and the Berlin Decree of 1806, and the Milan Decree of 1807, by which Napoleon attempted to meet the English Orders, were the expression of the extremest belligerent claims in regard to the obstruction of neutral commerce. The treaties of 1815 said nothing in regard to blockade. The practice and theory varied till, by the Declaration of Paris in 1856, a fixed basis was announced in the provision that "Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective."[469]