t a
distance." Whether an enemy would accept the mere wearing of a brassard
as fulfilling this condition is perhaps an open question upon which some
light may be thrown by the controversies of 1871 with reference to
_francs-tireurs_.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, November 24 (1914).

MISS CAVELL'S CASE

Sir,--The world-wide abhorrence of the execution of Miss Cavell,
aggravated as it was by the indecent and stealthy haste with which it
was carried out, is in no need of enhancement by questionable arguments,
such as, I venture to say, are those addressed to you by Sir James
Swettenham.

It is, of course, the case that Germany is in Belgium only as the result
of her deliberate violation of solemnly contracted treaties, but she is
in military "occupation" of the territory. From such "occupation" it
cannot be disputed that there flow certain rights of self-defence. No
one, for instance, would have complained of her stern repression of
civilian attacks upon her troops, so long as it was confined to actual
offenders. The passages quoted by Sir James from Hague Convention v.,
and from the _Kriegsbrauch_, relate entirely to the rights and duties of
Governments, and have no bearing upon the tragical abuse of jurisdiction
which is occupying the minds of all of us.

May I take this opportunity of calling attention to the fresh evidence
afforded by the new Order in Council of our good fortune in not being
bound by the Declaration of London, which erroneously professed to
"correspond in substance with the generally recognised principles of
International Law"? Is it too late, even now, to announce, by a
comprehensive Order in Council, any relaxations which we and our Allies
think proper to make of well-established rules of Prize Law, without any
reference to the more and more discredited provisions of the
Declaration, the partial and provisional adoption of which seems, at the
outbreak of the war, to have been thought likely to save trouble?

Your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, October 26 (1915).

* * * * *

SECTION 7

_Privateering_

The three letters which immediately follow were written to
point out that neither belligerent in the war of 1898 was under
any obligation not to employ privateers. Within, however, a few
days after the date of the second of these letters, both the
United States and Spain, though both still to be r