L. Oppenheim

“ Brazil has never, it appears, taken effective possession of Counany, and the population, whose flag, if ethnographic differences were to be symbolized in it, ought to be a sort of Joseph's coat of many colours, are now apparently once more appealing to the civilized world to aid them to secure a separate existence. ”

“ A political criminal, imprisoned in Port-au-Prince, in Hayti, escapes from the prison and makes for the harbour, with the intention of taking refuge on board a foreign man-of-war lying there. On his way he meets the diplomatic envoy of the state to which the man-of-war belongs, and as the Haytian police are on his heels he asks for the envoy's protection and safe conduct to the vessel. ”

“ As the Italian penal code does not provide capital punishment and he is therefore only condemned to penal servitude for life, the question is raised in the English Press whether England could not demand the extradition of the murderer, so that he might be tried and executed in England for the murder committed there. ”

“ According to Article XIII of the Treaty of July 11th, 1799,—confirmed by Article XII of the Treaty of May 1st, 1828,—between the United States of America and Prussia which is now valid for the whole German empire, in case one of the contracting parties is a belligerent, no articles carried by vessels of the other contracting party shall be considered contraband, but nevertheless the belligerent party shall have the right to seize any military stores carried by vessels of the other party on payment of their full value. ”

“ In 1902, in an inn on the German side of the German-French frontier, an altercation arises between Franz Heller, an Austrian subject, and a Frenchman. They leave the inn together, still quarrelling. The Frenchman hits Heller with his stick and runs away across the frontier. Heller, however, draws a revolver and shoots the Frenchman dead. The French government demands his extradition for murder. ”

“ A belligerent man-of-war sinks his prize, an enemy merchantman, on account of the impossibility of sparing a prize crew. Part of the cargo belongs to neutral owners, who claim compensation for the loss of their goods.
3. American Coasting Trade.
In 1898, after having acquired the Philippines and the island of Puerto Rico from Spain by the peace treaty of Paris, and in 1899, after having acquired the Hawaiian Islands, the United States declared trade between any of her ports and these islands to be coasting trade, and reserved it exclusively for American vessels. ”

“ The commander of the forces of state A is informed through spies that the enemy is throwing up defences within the line where the forces face each other and is concentrating twice as many troops in that place as had been there before the conclusion of the armistice. ”

“ A Man with two Wives.
In 1900 Oscar Meyer, a German by birth, who is naturalised in England without having ceased to be a German subject, marries an Englishwoman in London. In the following year he obtains a judicial separation from his wife. As his marriage was never known in Germany, he succeeds in 1902, while staying in Berlin, in marrying his niece, whom he brings back to England as his wife. In 1905 the niece finds out that Meyer was already a married man when he married her, and has him arrested for bigamy. ”

“ As far as is known the van is there to-day, and nobody appears to care very much about its fate. Perhaps in future years when the six gipsy children are grown up and leave the old home, and its paintwork has grown still more shabby, and the wheels have sunk up to their hubs into the soil, somebody will come across it and the patient gendarmes, and begin asking questions. Meantime the little comedy has already cost the French municipality of Mont Saint-Martin more than 1,000 fr., while the local police force has had to be helped by the neighbouring brigade to perform its ordinary duties. ”

“ Felix Brown was born in London of German parents in 1875. He was brought up in English schools and considered himself an Englishman, although he knew that he was of German parentage and frequently went to Germany to see his grandparents. In 1900 he was a passenger on an English vessel destined for Riga. This vessel called on her way at Stettin. While in that harbour the German police boarded the vessel and arrested Brown for having evaded military service in Germany. Brown telegraphed to the English ambassador in Berlin and asked for his intervention. ”

“ During war between states A and B, an outlying fort of a harbour of state A is being bombarded by the fleet of state B, and is in danger of capture. Suddenly the white flag is hoisted on the fort, and a boat flying a white flag and carrying an officer and some men leaves the fort and makes for the flagship of the bombarding fleet. ”

“ Alexander McLeod was a member of the British force sent by the Canadian government in 1837 into the territory of the United States for the purpose of capturing the Caroline, which vessel had been equipped for crossing into Canadian territory and taking help to the Canadian insurgents. In 1841 McLeod came on business into the State of New York, and was arrested and indicted for the killing of one Amos Durfee, a citizen of the United States, on the occasion of the capture of the Caroline. ”

“ Captain Calder, with a small armed force, went down the Barima river and, crossing the boundary, invaded Venezuelan territory. He then demanded at the point of the revolver that 4,000 pounds of balata, said to have been won in a British forest, should be given up. The incident has been reported to President Castro. Excitement prevails at Morawhanna, the British frontier head-quarters, the people fearing measures of retaliation. Trouble has been experienced for the past few months in connexion with the balata trade, and British officers have been keenly alert to prevent illicit trading. ”

“ He is taken on board, conveyed to Hamburg, and there put on his trial for murder. Counsel for defence asserts that Germany does not possess jurisdiction, as the act was committed, not on a vessel sailing under the German flag, but in the sea itself, and as, according to § 4, No. 3 of the German criminal code, a German can only be punished in Germany for an act committed abroad, if the act concerned is punishable both by the law of Germany and by that of the country where the act was committed. ”

“ Aaron Nietitsch, a native of one of the Balkan states, while residing in London for two years for the purpose of learning English, contracted heavy debts which he did not pay on leaving the country. Shortly afterwards he came again to England as he was appointed secretary to the diplomatic envoy of his home state in this country. ”

“ In 1783, during war between Great Britain and France, the Sybille, a French frigate, enticed the Hussar, a British man-of-war, by displaying the British flag and intimating herself to be a distressed prize of a British captor. The Hussar approached to succour her, but the latter at once attacked the Hussar without shewing the French flag. She was, however, overpowered and captured.
39. Murder of a German Consul in Mexico. ”

“ It appeared that several Spanish smugglers were surprised while attempting to smuggle quantities of tobacco and silk across the frontier into Portugal, and resisted the Portuguese guards. A detachment of Spanish troops arrived on the scene during the fight and crossed over on to Portuguese territory. Here they were fired upon by the Portuguese, who, in the darkness, mistook them for a second band of smugglers. The Spaniards together with the smugglers now opened fire and a terrible fight ensued in which even women took part. ”

“ The French Ambassador has drawn the attention of the Imperial Government to the repeated landing of German balloons on French territory in view of the possibility of unpleasant incidents arising therefrom. The German military authorities are accordingly taking the necessary measures to prevent as far as possible the future landing of German balloons across the frontier. ”

“ During an insurrection on an island belonging to state A, the Southern Queen, a vessel sailing under the flag of state B with a cargo of ammunition and carrying a number of individuals desirous of joining the insurgents, is on her way to a port in the island concerned. ”

“ Murder on a Mail Boat.
The Marie Henriette is one of those mail boats plying between Ostend and Dover which are the property of the Belgian government and are commanded by Belgian naval officers. On the 25th July, 1900, an Italian on board murdered an English fellow-passenger on the voyage between Ostend and Dover, within three miles of the latter port. On the arrival of the vessel the captain handed over the murderer to the English police authorities, but a few days later the Belgian government claimed the extradition of the criminal. ”

“ The captain of the Alexis was put ashore at Puerto Cabello, and he forwarded to his government at Caracas the following communication handed to him by the officer of the Gelderland who boarded his vessel:
"December 12.
"Her Majesty the Queen of Holland has given orders to her warships temporarily to sequestrate and place an embargo upon all vessels of the Venezuelan Government. This is a retaliatory measure. We demand that you lower your flag and surrender your ship and your persons to the commander of the Gelderland. All resistance will be useless. ”

“ Counany is likewise on the high road of sea communication between the south of South America and the eventual link between the Atlantic and the Pacific, known as the Panama Canal. The Counany coast-line is a covetable strip of the South American coast which at more favourable moments might even distract our attention from Morocco. ”

“ Admiral Rozhdestvensky sent 300 sailors to displace the cargo in order to verity this statement, but they worked for two days without getting lower than the main deck. Mr. Berlin invoked the fact that the Procurator at Libau declined to recognize kerosene as contraband within the meaning of the Russian declaration, which specifically mentions naphtha. He argued at length on the question of conditional and absolute contraband of war. Upon these points the Russian and British views have been, and remain, at variance, as exemplified in all the prize cases connected with the late war. ”

“ They likewise passed the Suez Canal under their commercial flag, but after leaving Suez they converted themselves into men-of-war by hoisting the Russian war flag, and began to exercise the right of visit and search over neutral merchantmen. On July 19th the Peterburg captured the British P. and O. steamer Malacca, for alleged carriage of contraband, and put a prize crew on board for the purpose of navigating her to Libau. ”

“ He arranged for the replies to these letters to be sent to five or six different newsagents' shops in various parts of London, and each place brought him in an average of about £10. The prisoner, on oath, now said that he was a British subject, and Mr Lewis asked the magistrate to say that this was not a case in which he ought to surrender the prisoner to a foreign Power. ”

“ In November, 1908, the driver to the Military Attaché at the United States Embassy was summoned at Huntingdon for driving a motor-car at Little Stukeley at a speed dangerous to the public, and which was stated to be 36 miles an hour. ”

“ The Governor has informed the Legislature that Captain Calder, who recently crossed the Venezuelan frontier and seized a quantity of balata which was alleged to have been collected in British Guiana, violated the frontier to the extent of 200 yards. The balata has been returned to its owner and regret has been expressed to President Castro. ”

“ On June 27th, 1908, a telegram from Brody, in Eastern Galicia, stated that a party of 14 Cossacks crossed the frontier into Austria, plundered a house near Radziwilloff, shot dead the owner and his wife, and cut off his daughter's hands and carried them away. They also mutilated two other persons who were returning across the frontier. Austrian gendarmes captured two of the Cossacks.
SECTION XI
41. Islanders in Revolt. ”

“ This he considers a violation of the armistice, and, fearing an attack, at once recommences hostilities, without any previous denunciation of the armistice.
83. Shooting Affray in a Legation.
In 1867 Nikitschenkow, a Russian subject not belonging to the Russian Legation, attacked and wounded a member of that Legation within the precincts of the embassy in Paris. The French police were called in and arrested the criminal. The Russian government requested his extradition, maintaining that, as the crime was committed inside the Russian embassy, it fell exclusively within Russian jurisdiction. ”