Show SEARCH OF VESSELS MAY BEEU11TED Sir Cecil Spring Rice Makes Suggestion That Is Being Be-ing Considered WASHINGTON Dec 15 S r Cecil Spring R ce the Brit sh embassador advised the state department today that h s government was w lling to forego the exerc se of the r ght of search of vessels carry ng cargo from Amer can ports f the eh pmasters would confer w th the Br t sh cons Is at the ports of departure and sat sfy them as to tho neutral character of the i cargoes Unless th s s done cargo sh ps w 11 be subiect to the ord nary rules ot warfare and may be searched on the h gh seas or taken to the nearest Br t sh port for that purpose f t s mpract cable to get at the whole car go otherw se Owing to the large d mens ons and variegated cargoes of modern sh ps the embassador po nted out t had been found impract cable n n any cases to conduct searches at sea consequently many merchant ves sels were d verted far out of their course into Br t sh ports for exam na t on The embassador and Secretary Bryan d scussed th s subject at length There s no authority to requ re an American sh p capta n to apply to a fore gn con sul in th s country for perm ss on to take away cargo but on the other hand the state department recognizing that the Br t sh go ernment s ent rely w thin ts rights n exercis ng the right of search has 1 stened favorably to the suggest on that costly and vexa tlous interference w th commerce m ght be greatly reduced by the adoption of the arrangement proposed After the embassador s conference with Secre tary Bryan he was referred to Cone Johnson the sol c tor of the Btate de partn ent to d scuss some of the de ta Is of the plan The department today rece ved a note fron the French government stat ng Fran e was prepared to give the same assurances as had been given by the Brit sh government in regard to the noncontraband character of 4mer can cotton Great Br ta n through S r Edward Grey made the pos t ve decla rat on that cotton was not contraband or condit onal cont aband and cable grams today fron the Amen an em bassy n London sa d cotton was not being and would not be stopped on the h gh seas |