As between Russia and Turkey individually, Treaties which are still in force purport, no doubt, to give to the former a stronger claim to free passage through the Straits for her mercantile marine than that which can be supposed to be enjoyed by other Powers. By Art. 7, for instance, of the Treaty of Adrianople of 1829, the Porte recognises and declares the passage of the "Canal de Constantinople," and of the Strait of the Dardanelles, to be entirely free and open to Russian merchant vessels; and goes on to extend the same privilege to the merchant vessels of all Powers at peace with Turkey. Art. 24 of the Treaty of San Stefano is still more explicit, providing that "the Bosporus and Dardanelles shall remain open in time of war as in time of peace to the merchant vessels of neutral States arriving from or bound to Russian ports." The rest of the article contains a promise by the Porte never henceforth to establish a "fictitious blockade, at variance with the spirit of the Declaration of Paris"; meaning thereby such a blockade of ports on the Black Sea as had been enforced by Turkish ships of war stationed at the entrance to the Bosporus. It may well be doubted whether these articles, containing concessions extorted from Turkey at the end of wars in which she had been defeated, ought not, like so many other provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano, to have been abrogated by the Treaty of Berlin. They are of such a character that, in the struggle for existence, Turkey can hardly be blamed for disregarding them. As was said long ago, "Ius commerciorum aequum est, at hoc acquius, tuendae salutis." The imperious necessities of self-preservation were recognised both by Lord Morley and by Lord Lansdowne in the debate which took place on May 3, although Lord Lansdowne intimated that "the real question, which will have to be considered sooner or later, is the extent to which a belligerent Power, controlling narrow waters which form a great trade avenue for the commerce of the world, is justified in entirely closing such an avenue in order to facilitate the hostile operations in which the Power finds itself involved." It is, I think, clear that the solution of a question at once so novel and so delicate must be undertaken, not by any one Power, but by the Concert of Europe, or of the civilised world, which must devise some guarantee for the safety of any littoral Power which would be called upon in the general interest to restrict its measures of self-defence. In the meantime, we may surely say that the case is provided for neither by established international law nor by "European" Treaties; and, further, that the Treaties between Russia and Turkey, which do provide for it, are not such as it is desirable to perpetuate. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, May 22 (1912). THE CLOSING OF THE DARDANELLES