THE GENERAL.—­On the fourth of January the senior naval officer at Aden had reported to the English admiralty that the German vessel General, another East African mail steamer, was under detention there upon strong suspicion and was being searched.[19] The German Government at once entered a strong protest and demanded in rather brusque terms “that orders be given for the immediate release of the steamer and her cargo, for that portion of her cargo which has already been landed to be taken on board again, and for no hindrances to be placed in the way of the ship continuing her voyage to the places mentioned in her itinerary.”  Count Hatzfelt, the German representative in London, continued:  “I am further instructed to request your Excellency [the Marquis of Salisbury] to cause explicit instructions to be sent to the Commanders of British ships in African waters to respect the rules of international law, and to place no further impediments in the way of the trade between neutrals."[20]

[Footnote 19:  Ibid., p. 6.]

[Footnote 20:  Ibid., p. 8.]

To the form and imputations of this request the British Government took exception, and the situation appeared ominous for a time.  Instructions had been issued, however, that unless the General disclosed contraband after a summary search it was undesirable to detain the ship since she carried the mails.  The report of the naval officer at Aden disclosed the fact that he had boarded and detained the ship at that place.  The ground for his action was that he had been informed that a number of suspicious articles were on board for Delagoa Bay, including boxes of ammunition stowed in the main hold, buried under reserve coal.  An inspection of the manifest had shown several cases of rifle ammunition for Mauser, Mannlicher and sporting rifles consigned to Mombasa, but this consignment was believed to be bona fide.  Other suspected articles on the manifest were wagon axles and chemicals and at the bottom of the hold was a consignment of food for Delagoa Bay, with boilers and heavy machinery stowed on top of the reserve coal.  The General carried besides a number of Flemish and German passengers for Delagoa Bay, in plain clothes but of “military appearance,” some of whom were believed to be trained artillerymen.  It was suggested that this last doubt could be cleared up only by a search of the private baggage of the persons suspected, but it was not considered by the British Foreign Office that there was “sufficient evidence as to their destination to justify further action on the part of the officers conducting the search."[21]

[Footnote 21:  Ibid., p. 22; see also pp. 10, 17, 21.]

On the seventh the General was released, but was not able to sail until the tenth, a delay due to the labor of restowing her cargo, which was done as quickly as possible.  The crew of the English ship Marathon, assisted by one hundred coolies, having worked day and night after the arrival of the ship on the fourth, completed the search on the sixth but were unable to complete the restowal until the morning of the tenth.