172 



CHINA. 



orders from France to exercise belligerent 

 rights, including that of searching neutral ves- 

 sels for contraband of war, and the capture of 

 vessels on which such should be found. 



Rice declared Contraband of War. A circular 

 note was sent to the European powers on the 

 10th of February in which it was said that 

 "the French Government has found itself 

 compelled, on account of the peculiar con- 

 ditions under which the hostilities between 

 France and China have developed, to regard 

 rice as contraband of war, and has accordingly 

 instructed the commanders of French vessels 

 of war to treat the transport of rice as the 

 transport of contraband of war, on and after 

 February 26." In the Paris Congress of 1856 

 the laws of naval warfare and the rights of 

 belligerents and neutrals on the sea were dis- 

 cussed, and the new regulations were recog- 

 nized afterward by all the European powers 

 and by many of the powers outside of Europe. 

 The articles that were to be considered contra- 

 band of war were not defined. During the 

 Franco-German War the French Government 

 protested because Germany declared coal ex- 

 ported from England to France to be contraband 

 of war. The English Government then took 

 a middle ground, contending that coal was or 

 was not contraband according to its destina- 

 tion. In his dispatch giving notice to the 

 powers, dated February 21, M. Ferry said 

 that, having information that large quantities 

 of rice were about to be forwarded to the 

 north of China, the stoppage of which would 

 exercise an efficacious influence on the Pekin 

 Government, the French authorities decided 

 to interdict the trade in rice, in preference to 

 blockading Shanghai and the other treaty 

 ports. In the first energetic protest of Sir 

 Henry Parkes, the British minister in China 

 conveyed the impression that his Government 

 would resist seizures of rice by physical force. 

 Lord Granville explained that the legality of 

 the seizure would be left to be determined by 

 the French prize court under the reservation 

 of ulterior diplomatic action. In March the 

 French Government gave notice that lead would 

 be treated as a contraband article. 



Objections were raised by the neutral gov- 

 ernments against the new doctrine now enun- 

 ciated by France that food, without distin- 

 guishing whether it is destined for the military 

 or naval forces of the belligerent or for the 

 support of the population, could be treated as 

 contraband. The measure was subsequently 

 modified so as to apply only to rice shipped 

 to Chinese ports lying north of Canton. Earl 

 Granville protested that articles of food are 

 presumptively destined for popular consump- 

 tion, and that it rests with a belligerent to 

 prove that they are intended for military use. 

 The French Government replied that it was 

 for the prize court, sitting in Paris, to decide 

 upon the legality of the seizure. The British 

 minister protested against the doctrine " that 

 it is for the belligerent to decide what is and 



what is not contraband of war, regardless of 

 the well-established rights of neutrals." The 

 French Government, in support of its posi- 

 tion, cited the arguments used by the English 

 Attorney-General in 1870, with reference to 

 treating coal as contraband of war, while Lord 

 Granville now took the position, then main- 

 tained by the French Government, in favor of 

 keeping down the list of contraband articles, 

 arid disturbing as little as possible the com- 

 merce of neutrals. Another point raised by 

 the British minister was the exemption of ves-. 

 sels that had sailed previous to the announce- 

 ment by the French Government of the inten- 

 tion to exercise the rights of search and of 

 seizure. M. Ferry contended, on the contrary, 

 that liability to capture accrued at the time of 

 the official announcement. 



The blockade of the rice-traffic of the Gulf 

 of Pechili was more injurious to foreign ship- 

 ping, which is mostly British, than to the 

 Chinese junk trade. Numbers of rice-junks 

 were captured, yet they formed but a small 

 fraction of the total ; but no larger vessel could 

 evade the French cruisers. 



The Formosa Campaign. In the beginning of 

 the year, Admiral Courbet was established at 

 Kelung, and was engaged in operating against 

 Tamsui, the capture of which would complete 

 the second blow in the programme of repris- 

 als, to be followed by the occupation of Taiwan 

 and Takow. On Jan. 6 the transport Cholon 

 arrived at Kelung with troops and munitions. 

 Block-houses were built around Kelung, where 

 the French commander was awaiting re-en- 

 forcements to advance upon Tamsui. This place 

 was fortified with a fort of concrete mounted 

 with antiquated cannon and an earthwork 

 battery with a single Krupp gun. Gens. Liu- 

 Ming-Chuan and Tsun had in the autumn, be- 

 sides a body of hill-men or civilized Formosans, 

 some 3,000 Chinese, about the same number 

 of troops as Admiral Courbet landed at Kelung. 

 Subsequently re-enforcements eluded the block- 

 ade and joined the Chinese commanders. After 

 the arrival of French re-enforcements Admiral 

 Courbet began the long-deferred advance upon 

 Tamsui. During the period of delay the Chi- 

 nese had added to their strength a much more 

 than equivalent force, and now greatly .out- 

 numbered the French. Between the 10th and 

 the 25th of January the French made five attacks 

 on the Petao forts, situated about four miles 

 from Kelung. Though fighting against double 

 or treble their numbers, the French marines 

 displayed the highest degree of bravery, and 

 inflicted severe losses on the Chinese; but the 

 latter stood their ground valiantly, and finally 

 forced their assailants to retire. After the 1st 

 of February they took the offensive themselves. 

 The French sailors began to murmur against 

 their commanders for needlessly sacrificing 

 their lives in repeated attacks against vastly 

 superior numbers. Their rations, moreover, 

 began to fail, an epidemic of sickness raged 

 among them, and the sick and wounded were 



