Sir,--I am reminded by Mr. Lucien Wolf's courteous letter that I ought probably to have mentioned, in alluding to the Treaty of San Stefano, that it is doubtful whether Art. 24 of that Treaty is in force. It was certainly left untouched by the Treaty of Berlin, but the language of the relevant article (3) of the definitive Treaty of Peace of 1879 is somewhat obscure, nor is much light to be gained upon the point from the protocol of the 14th _séance_ of the Congress of Berlin, at which Art. 24 came up for discussion. The earlier Treaties, however, which were revived beyond question by Art. 10 of the Treaty of 1879, grant to Russian merchant vessels full rights of passage between the Black Sea and the Ægean, exercisable, for all that appears, in time of war as well as of peace, although these Treaties contain no express words to that effect. Such rights, I would again urge, if enjoyed by one Power, should be enjoyed by all; upon terms to be settled, not by any pair of Powers but by the Powers collectively. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, June 5 (1912). * * * * * SECTION 3 _In a Special Danger Zone?_ THE GERMAN THREAT Sir,--It may perhaps be desirable, for the benefit of the general reader, to distinguish clearly between the two topics dealt with in the recent announcement of German naval policy. 1. We find in it what may, at first sight, suggest the establishment of a gigantic "paper blockade," such as was proclaimed in the Berlin Decree of 1806, stating that "Les îles Britanniques sont déclarées en état de blocus." But in the new decree the term "blockade" does not occur, nor is there any indication of an intention to comply with the prescriptions of the Declaration of Paris of 1856 as to the mode in which such an operation must be conducted. What we really find in the announcement is the specification of certain large spaces of water, including the whole of the British Channel, within which German ships will endeavour to perpetrate the atrocities about to be mentioned.