man body, such as bullets
with a hard casing, which does not entirely cover the core,
or is pierced with incisions."

To this declaration neither Great Britain nor the United States are
parties, and it is waste-paper, except for Powers on whose behalf it has
not only been signed, but has also been subsequently ratified.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Athenaeum Club, May 2 (1903).

The Declaration last mentioned (No. 3 of the first Peace
Conference) is now something more than waste paper, having been
generally ratified. Great Britain, on August 17, 1907, at the
fourth plenary sitting of the Second Peace Conference,
announced her adhesion to it, as also to the, also generally
ratified, Declaration No. 2 of 1899, which forbids the
employment of projectiles constructed solely for the diffusion
suffocating or harmful gases.

The provisions of Arts. 22 and 23 (_e_) of the _Reglement_
annexed to The Hague Convention of 1899 "concerning the Laws
and Customs of War on Land," as quoted in the letter, have been
textually reproduced in Arts. 22 and 23 (_e_) of the
_Reglement_ annexed to the Hague Convention, No. iv. of 1907,
on the same subject, ratified by Great Britain on November 27,
1909.

The written agreements as to the choice of weapons may be taken
therefore to start from the general principles laid down in the
preamble to the Declaration of St. Petersburg (though held by
some Powers to err in the direction of liberality), and in
Arts. 22 and 23 (_e_) of The Hague _Reglements_. The specially
prohibited means of destruction are, by the Declaration of St.
Petersburg, explosive bullets; by The Hague _Reglements_, Art.
23 (_a_) poison or poisoned arms; by The Hague Declarations of
1898, Nos. 2 and 3, "projectiles the sole object of which is
the diffusion of asphyxiating or harmful gases," and "bullets
which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as
bullets with a hard casing, which does not entirely cover the
core, or is pierced with incisions." As to Declaration No. 1,
_cf. supra_, p. 22. It must be remarked that the Declarations
of St. Petersburg and of The Hague, unlike The Hague
Reglements, apply to war at sea, as well as on land.

_Cf. supra_, p. 22, and see the author's _The Laws of War on
Land (written and unwritten)_, 1908, pp. 40-43.