War in Disguise or The Frauds of the Neutral Flags by Stephen James first 1805

STEPHEN, James [attributed]. War in Disguise; or, The Frauds of the Neutral Flags.

London, printed by C. Whittingham, Dean Street; and sold by J. Hatchard, Piccadilly, 1805.
 
Octavo, pp. 215. Original blue paper wrappers, uncut. First edition. A very good copy in original wrappers, with light spotting to the text and an ink stain to the lower wrapper; internally clean and sound with some spotting. Final leaf with printer’s imprint present.
 
An important Napoleonic-era political and legal tract addressing one of the central strategic problems facing Britain during the war with France: the use of neutral shipping to disguise enemy commerce. Britain’s primary strategy against Napoleonic France was economic warfare, enforced through naval blockade and the interception of trade. This strategy was increasingly undermined by the widespread practice of carrying French and allied goods under neutral flags, particularly those of American and Baltic vessels, thereby allowing enemy commerce to pass ostensibly unmolested through British-controlled seas.
 
This pamphlet argues that such neutrality was frequently fictitious in substance, amounting to a legal fraud in which neutral paperwork concealed enemy ownership and benefit. Drawing extensively on prize-court decisions and maritime legal precedent, the author contends that Britain was justified in piercing this disguise and seizing ships whose trade, though outwardly neutral, materially sustained the enemy war effort. 
 
The tract has long been attributed to James Stephen, a prize-court lawyer and colonial reformer. Its arguments played a significant role in shaping British legal opinion on neutral trade, reinforcing domestic support for aggressive enforcement at sea and contributing to the wider acceptance of Britain’s hard line toward neutral shipping, particularly in relation to American commerce.
 
A well-preserved example of an influential wartime pamphlet, rarely encountered in first print and in the original wrappers.