ssure as constitutes "reprisals" and actual war.

After all that has occurred--statements in Parliament, action of the
Governor of Trinidad in bringing into operation the dormant powers of
the Supreme Court of the island as a prize Court, &c.--one would have
supposed that there could be no doubt, though no declaration had been
issued, that we were at war with Venezuela.

Our Government has, therefore, been well advised in providing for the
renewal of any treaty with that Power which may have been abrogated by
the war; but it is curious to find that the article (7) of the protocol
which effects this desirable result begins by a recital to the effect
that "it may be contended that the establishment of a blockade of the
Venezuelan ports by the British naval forces has _ipso facto_ created a
state of war between Great Britain and Venezuela."

It is surely desirable that henceforth Great Britain should know, and
that other nations should at least have the means of knowing, for
certain, whether she is at war or at peace.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, February 17 (1903).

WAR AND REPRISALS

Sir,--Professor Westlake's interesting letter as to the measures
recently taken by the Netherlands Government in Venezuelan waters
opportunely recalls attention to a topic upon which I addressed you
when, six years ago, our own Government was similarly engaged in putting
pressure upon Venezuela--viz. the desirability of drawing a clear line
between war and reprisals. Perhaps I may now be allowed to return, very
briefly, to this topic, with special reference to Professor Westlake's
remarks.

In any discussion of the questions involved, we ought, I think, clearly
to realise that The Hague Convention, No. iii. of 1907, has no
application to any measures not amounting to war. The "hostilities"
mentioned in Art. 1 of the Convention are, it will be observed,
exclusively such as must not commence without either a "declaration of
war," or "an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war"; and Art.
2 requires that the "state of war" thus created shall be notified to
"neutral Powers." There are, of course, no Powers answering to this
description till war has actually broken out. Neutrality presupposes
belligerency. Any other interpretation of the Convention would, indeed,
render "pacific blockades" henceforth impossible.

In the next place, we must at once recognise that the application of the
term "reprisa