288 CONTINENTAL SYSTEM tained the pardon of his nephew, who soon dis- tinguished himself in the field, especially at the battle of Neerwinden (1693), where' he was wounded. He was elected king of Poland by a part of the nobles in 1697, but his rival Au- gustus of Saxony had seized the throne before he reached that kingdom, and he returned to France. In 1 709 he was appointed commander- in-chief of the French army, but died at the mo- ment of his departure for Flanders. He has been extolled by Saint-Simon and others as the hero of the Conti family. V. Louis Francois de Bonrbon, grandson of the preceding, born in 1717, died in 1776. He displayed courage and skill in Pied- mont, especially at the battle of Ooni (1744), and in Flanders (1746). VI. Lonis Francois Jo- seph de Bonrbon, only son of the preceding, born in 1734, died in Barcelona in 1814. He bore for a long time the title of count de la Marche, and was for some time in the army. He was one of the first of the princes to leave France in 1789, after having protested against the revolution, but gave his allegiance to it on his unexpected return to Paris in 1 790. He was under arrest in Marseilles, together with his cousins, the Orleans princes, from 1793 to 1795 ; after which he was expelled from French ter- ritory by the directory, and fled to Barcelona. He was the last prince of the house of Oonti. CONTINENTAL SYSTEM, the scheme of Napo- leon I. for excluding Great Britain from com- mercial intercourse with the continent of Eu- rope, and compelling her to acknowledge the maritime law established at the peace of Utrecht. By the Berlin decree of Nov. 21, 1806, the ports of France and its allied states were to be closed against all vessels coming from England or from English colonies ; all commerce and correspondence prohibited ; all English goods and merchandise seized; and every English subject found in the countries occupied by the French or their allies made a prisoner of war. The retaliatory measures adopted by the English government caused Napoleon to make the blockade still more stringent. The British retaliated by an order in council, Jan. 7, 1807, which prohibited neutral vessels from entering the ports of France under pain of confiscation ; and a sec- ond order in council, Nov. 11, 1807, placed the harbors of France and her allies, and of all countries with which Great Britain was at war, under the same restrictions. Napoleon, by a decree issued at Milan, Dec. 17, 1807, and another, from the Tuileries, Jan. 11, 1808, declared that any vessel which had been searched by an English ship, had been sent on a voyage to England, or had paid duty to the British government, should be treated as British, and become lawful prize of war. On Aug. 3, 1810, the tariff of Trianon for colo- nial goods was established, followed by the decree of Fontainebleau, Oct. 18, 1810, or- dering the burning of all British goods. Den- mark, Russia, Austria, and Sweden were suc- cessively forced to join this hostile league CONTRABAND against Great Britain ; so that, with very few exceptions, all the ports of Europe were closed against British vessels. Though it was impos- sible to enforce such a system with any com- pleteness, Napoleon refused to give it up, and his declaration of war against Russia in 1812 was chiefly occasioned by his indignation at seeing the ports of that empire reopened to English commerce. The system was finally abandoned only with the fall of the French emperor in 1814. CONTRABAND (law Lat. contra and lannum, contrary to an edict, proclamation, or treaty), a term used to designate goods exported from or imported into a country in violation of its laws. Contraband of war, in international law, applies to goods which neutrals are pro- hibited from carrying during war to either of the belligerent parties. Whatever is directly of use for war, and for that only, as arms and ammunition, would of course be contraband ; but articles which may be of use either in peace or war will be subject to a varying rule according to the existing circumstances. Thus, provisions may ordinarily be carried by a neutral to a belligerent without being deemed contraband ; yet, in the case of a blockade of a town with the expectation of reducing it by famine, a neutral could not lawfully furnish provisions to the besieged party, as it would be giving means of assistance against one of the legitimate operations of war. Naval stores and materials for building or furnishing vessels of war are contraband by the modern law of nations ; formerly they were so re- garded only in a naval war, but at the present day, naval operations being more or less inci- dent to every war, the rule has become gen- eral that the furnishing such materials to a belligerent is unlawful. It has been a ques- tion whether, if the materials are not exclu- sively applicable to the building or furnishing of war vessels, they would necessarily be con- traband. It has been held in the English ad- miralty courts that they would be ; but in the French council of prizes it was decided in 1807 that ordinary ship timber, adapted to the build- ing of merchant vessels as well as vessels of war, carried to an enemy's port, was not perse to be deemed contraband. In the war be- tween England and France which commenced near the close of the last century, it was at- tempted by both nations to enforce a stricter rule against neutral powers than had been maintained before that time by any nation of modern Europe. The national convention of France in 1793 decreed that neutral vessels laden with provisions, destined to an enemy's port, should be seized and carried to France, which was followed by an order of the Eng- lish government to detain all neutral vessels bound for France having corn, meal, or flour, on board. The ground upon which England justified this detention was, that the depriving the enemy of the supplies necessary for her population was one of the means relied upon
