ARATION OF LONDON

Sir,--You have allowed me, in a good many letters, to criticise the
Declaration of London, both in its original inception and in its
subsequent applications. Thanks to the House of Lords, the Declaration,
which erroneously professed to "correspond in substance with the
generally recognised principles of International Law," has remained
unratified, and therefore diplomatically of no effect.

Its admirers have, however, too long preserved it, perhaps _sub spe
rati_, in a state of suspended animation, using it by way of, as they
supposed, a convenient handbook of maritime law for the purposes of the
present war, though subject to such variations as might from time to
time be found convenient by the Allies. The mistake thus made soon
became apparent. The elaborate classification of contraband had to be at
once thrown overboard, and most of the remaining provisions of the
Declaration proved to be inapplicable to modern warfare.

In December last I accordingly wrote as follows:--

"To put an end to this confusion, I venture to suggest that,
in concert with our Allies, the Declaration should be finally
consigned to oblivion. Either let its place be taken by some
clear and simple statement of unquestioned prize law, for the
use of commanders and Officials, ... or established
principles take care of themselves, certain doubtful points
only being dealt with from time to time by Orders in
Council."

I need hardly say that to anyone holding the views thus expressed,
yesterday's Order in Council must be most satisfactory; getting rid, as
it does for good and all, of the unfortunate Declaration, leaving the
application of established principles to those acquainted with them and
promulgating authoritative guidance on specific novel questions.

I may perhaps add a word or two on the undesirability of describing as
"Declarations" documents which, being equipped with provisions for
ratification, although they may profess to set out old law, differ in no
respect from other conventions. Also, as to the need for greater caution
on the part of our representatives than has been shown by their
acceptance of various craftily suggested anti-British suggestions, such
as were several embodied in the Declaration in question, and notably
that of the notorious cl. 23 (_h_) of The Hague Convention iv., the
interpretation of which has exercised the ingenuity of the Foreign
Office