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 "reprisals," whatever may have been its etymological history, must no longer be restricted to seizure of property. It has now come to cover, and it is the only term which does cover generically, an indeterminate list of unfriendly acts, such as embargo, pacific blockade, seizure of custom-houses, and even occupation of territory, to which resort is had in order to obtain redress from an offending State without going to war with it. The pressure thus exercised, unlike the unlimited _licentia laedendi_ resulting from a state of war, is localised and graduated. It abrogates no treaties, and terminates without a treaty of peace. It affects only indirectly, if at all, the rights of States which take no part in the quarrel. The questions which remain for consideration would seem to be the following:--