The Regulation in which these articles figure is itself merely an annex to the Convention which alone forms the contractual obligation between the parties, and the engagement which the parties to the Convention have undertaken is (Article 1) to 'issue instructions to their armed land forces in conformity with the Regulations respecting the Law and Customs of war on land.' This makes it abundantly clear that the purpose and scope of the Regulations is limited to the proceedings of the armies in the field; those armies are under the orders of the commanders, and the Governments are bound to issue instructions to those commanders to act in accordance with the Regulations. That is all. There is nothing in the Convention or in the Regulations dealing with the rights or the status of the non-combatant individuals, whether of enemy nationality or domiciled in enemy territory. They are, of course, if inhabitants of the theatre of war, affected by the provisions of the Regulations because they are individuals who are affected by the military operations, and in a sense a regulation which forbids a military commander from poisoning a well gives a non-combatant inhabitant a right or a quasi-right not to have his well poisoned, but his rights against his neighbours, his relations with private individuals, whether of his own or of enemy nationality, remain untouched by this series of rules for the conduct of warfare on land. Turning now to the actual wording of Article 23(h) it will be seen that it begins with the wording 'to declare.' It is particularly forbidden 'to _declare_ abolished, &c.' This wording necessarily contemplates the issue of some proclamation or notification purporting to abrogate or to change rights previously existing and which would otherwise have continued to exist, and in view of Article I of the Convention this hypothetical proclamation must have been one which it was assumed the commander of the army would issue; consequently, stated broadly, the effect of Article 23(h) is that a commander in the field is forbidden to attempt to terrorise the inhabitants of the theatre of war by depriving them of existing opportunities of obtaining relief to which they are entitled in respect of private claims. Sir E. Grey is much obliged to you for calling his attention to the extract which you quote from the German White Book. This extract may be translated as follows:--'Article 23 has also received on German proposal two weighty additions. By the first the fundamental principle of the inviolability of private property in the domain of legal claims is recognised. According to the legislation of individual states, war has the result of extinguishing or temporarily suspending, or at least of suppressing the liability of the state or its nationals to be sued by nationals of the enemy. These prescriptions have now been declared inadmissible by Article 23(h).'