Read Ebook: Letters to The Times upon War and Neutrality (1881-1920) by Holland Thomas Erskine

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"Le droit d'offrir les bons offices ou la m?diation appartient aux Puissances ?trang?res au conflit, m?me pendant le cours des hostilit?s.

"L'exercice de ce droit ne peut jamais ?tre consid?r? par l'une ou l'autre des parties en litige comme un acte peu amical."

Several remarks are suggested by the presentation of this petition:--

One might suppose from the glib reference here and elsewhere made to The Hague Convention, that this convention is already in force, whereas it is , in the case of most, if not all, of the Powers represented at the conference, a mere unratified draft, under the consideration of the respective Governments.

The article, if it were in force, would impose no duty of offering good offices, but amounts merely to the expression of opinion that an offer of good offices is a useful and unobjectionable proceeding, in suitable cases . It cannot for a moment be supposed that the President would consider that an opportunity of the kind contemplated was offered by the war in South Africa.

One would like to know at what date, if at all, the Prime Minister of the British colony of the Cape was pleased, as is alleged, to follow the lead of the Presidents of the two Boer Republics in bestowing his grateful approval upon the petition in question.

Your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, October 28 .

COMMISSIONS OF ENQUIRY AND THE HAGUE CONVENTION

Sir,--It is just now especially desirable that the purport of those provisions of The Hague Convention "for the peaceful settlement of international controversies" which deal with "international commissions of enquiry" should be clearly understood. It is probably also desirable that a more correct idea should be formed of the effect of that convention, as a whole, than seems to be generally prevalent. You may, therefore, perhaps, allow me to say a few words upon each of these topics.

Art. 9 of the convention contains an expression of opinion to the effect that recourse to an international commission of enquiry into disputed questions of fact would be useful. This recommendation is, however, restricted to "controversies in which neither honour nor essential interests are involved," and is further limited by the phrase "so far as circumstances permit." Two points are here deserving of notice.

In the first place, neither "the honour and vital interests clause," as seems to be supposed by your correspondent Mr. Schidrowitz, nor the clause as to circumstances permitting, is in any way modified by the article which follows. Art. 10 does not enlarge the scope of Art. 9, but merely indicates the procedure to be followed by Powers desirous of acting under it. In the second place, it is wholly unimportant whether or no the scope of Art. 9 is enlarged by Art. 10. The entire liberty of the Powers to make any arrangement which may seem good to them for clearing up their differences is neither given, nor impaired, by the articles in question, to which the good sense of the Conference declined to attach any such obligatory force as had been proposed by Russia. It may well be that disputant Powers may at any time choose to agree to employ the machinery suggested by those articles, or something resembling it, in cases of a far more serious kind than those to which alone the convention ventured to make its recommendation applicable; and this is the course which seems to have been followed by the Powers interested with reference to the recent lamentable occurrence in the North Sea.

As to the convention as a whole, it is important to bear in mind that, differing in this respect from the two other conventions concluded at The Hague, it is of a non-obligatory character, except in so far as it provides for the establishment of a permanent tribunal at The Hague, to which, however, no Power is bound to resort. It resembles not so much a treaty as a collection of "pious wishes" , such as those which were also adopted at The Hague. The operative phrases of most usual occurrence in the convention are, accordingly, such as "jugent utile"; "sont d'accord pour recommander"; "est reconnu comme le moyen le plus efficace"; "se r?servent de conclure des accords nouveaux, en vue d'?tendre l'arbitrage obligatoire ? tous les cas qu'elles jugeront possible de lui soumettre."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, November 21 .

But see now the three letters which follow.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Sir,--The League is unquestionably "a brave design." Sympathy with its objects and some hope that they may be realised have induced myself, as, doubtless many others, to abstain from criticising the way in which the topic has been handled by the representatives of the victorious Powers. Recent discussions seem, however, to render such reticence no longer desirable.

It begins to be recognised that, as some of us have all along held to be the case, a serious mistake was made by the Paris delegates when they combined in one and the same document provisions needed for putting an end to an existing state of war with other provisions aiming at the creation in the future of a new supernational society. Two matters so wholly incongruous in character should surely have been dealt with separately. Whether it is now too late to attempt a remedy for the consequences of this unfortunate combination is a question which can be answered only by the diplomatists whose business it is to be intimately in touch with the susceptibilities of the various nations concerned. In the meantime, however, on the assumption that this state of things is productive of regrettable results, I may perhaps venture to indicate, recommending their adoption, the steps which appear to be required for the reformation of the Treaty as drafted. My suggestions would run as follows:--

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, December 16 .

Sir,--Let me assure Lord Robert Cecil that I am perfectly serious in giving expression to a long-felt wish that the Treaty of Peace could be relieved of articles relating exclusively to an as yet to be created League of Nations, and in proceeding to indicate the steps that must be taken if this reform is to be effected.

It can hardly be necessary also to assure Lord Robert that I am fully aware of the formidable, though perhaps not insuperable, difficulties which would beset any efforts to carry out my suggestions. He may have inferred so much from my letter of the 16th, in which, treating the question whether it is now too late to attempt a remedy for the existing state of things as beyond the competence of an outsider, I describe it as one which can be answered "only by the diplomatists whose business it is to be intimately in touch with the susceptibilities of the various nations concerned."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, December 20 .

Sir,--Professor Alison Phillips is not quite accurate in attributing to me a belief that the task of amending the Treaty of Versailles is "not beyond the powers of competent diplomatists." No such belief is expressed in my letter of December 16, in which I was careful to admit that the question, "whether it is now too late to attempt" the reform which appears to me to be desirable is one "which can be answered only by the diplomatists."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, January 5 .

SECTION 2

THE BLOCKADE OF THE MENAM

Sir,--Upon many questions of fact and of policy involved in the quarrel between France and Siam it may be premature as yet to expect explicit information from the French Government; but there should not be a moment's doubt as to the meaning of the blockade which has probably by this time been established.

Is France at war with Siam? This may well be the case, according to modern practice, without any formal declaration of war; and it is, for international purposes, immaterial whether the French Cabinet, if it has commenced a war without the sanction of the Chambers, has or has not thereby violated the French Constitution. If there is a war, and if the blockade, being effective, has been duly notified to the neutral Powers, the vessels of those Powers are, of course, liable to be visited, and, if found to be engaged in breach of the blockade, to be dealt with by the French Prize Courts.

Or is France still at peace with Siam, and merely putting upon her that form of pressure which is known as "pacific blockade"?

In this case, since there is no belligerency there is no neutrality, and the ships of States other than that to which the pressure is being applied are not liable to be interfered with. The particular mode of applying pressure without going to war known as "pacific blockade" dates, as is well known, only from 1827. It has indeed been enforced, by England as well as by France, upon several occasions, against the vessels of third Powers; but this practice has always been protested against, especially by French jurists, as an unwarrantable interference with the rights of such Powers, and was acknowledged by Lord Palmerston to be illegal. The British Government distinctly warned the French in 1884 that their blockade of Formosa could be recognised as affecting British vessels only if it constituted an act of war against China; and when the Great Powers in 1886 proclaimed a pacific blockade of the coasts of Greece they carefully limited its operation to ships under the Greek flag.

The Subject has been exhaustively considered by the Institut de Droit International, which, at its meeting at Heidelberg in 1887, arrived at certain conclusions which may be taken to express the view of learned Europe. They are as follows:--

"L'?tablissement d'un blocus en dehors de l'?tat de guerre ne doit ?tre considere comme permis par le droit des gens que sous les conditions suivantes:--

"1. Les navires de pavillon ?tranger peuvent entrer librement malgr? le blocus.

"2. Le blocus pacifique doit ?tre d?clar? et notifi? officiellement, et maintenu par une force suffisante.

"Les navires de la puissance bloqu?e qui ne respectent pas un pareil blocus peuvent ?tre s?questr?s. Le blocus ayant cess?, ils doivent ?tre restitu?s avec leur cargaisons ? leurs propri?taires, mais sans d?dommagement ? aucun titre."

If the French wish to reap the full advantages of a blockade of the Siamese coast they must be prepared, by becoming belligerent, to face the disadvantages which may result from the performance by this country of her duties as a neutral.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Athenaeum Club, July 26 .

PACIFIC BLOCKADE

Sir,--The letter signed "M." in your issue of this morning contains, I think, some statements which ought not to pass uncorrected. A "blockade" is, of course, the denial by a naval squadron of access for vessels to a defined portion of the coasts of a given nation. A "pacific blockade" is one of the various methods--generically described as "reprisals," such as "embargo," or seizure of ships on the high seas--by which, without resort to war, pressure, topographically or otherwise limited in extent, may be put upon an offending State. The need for pressure of any kind is, of course, regrettable, the only question being whether such limited pressure be not more humane to the nation which experiences it, and less distasteful to the nation which exercises it, than is the letting loose of the limitless calamities of war.

The opinion of statesmen and jurists upon this point has undergone a change, and this because the practice known as "pacific blockade" has itself changed. The practice, which is comparatively modern, dating only from 1827, was at first directed against ships under all flags, and ships arrested for breach of a pacific blockade were at one time confiscated, as they would have been in time of war. It has been purged of these defects as the result of discussions, diplomatic and scientific. As now understood, the blockade is enforced only against vessels belonging to the "quasi-enemy," and even such vessels, when arrested, are not confiscated, but merely detained till the blockade is raised. International law does not stand still; and having some acquaintance with Continental opinion on the topic under consideration, I read with amazement "M.'s" assertion that "the majority in number," "the most weighty in authority" of the writers on international law "have never failed to protest against such practices as indefensible in principle." The fact is that the objections made by, e.g. Lord Palmerston in 1846, and by several writers of textbooks, to pacific blockade, had reference to the abuses connected with the earlier stages of its development. As directed only against the ships of the "quasi-enemy," it has received the substantially unanimous approbation of the Institut de Droit International at Heidelberg in 1887, after a very interesting debate, in which the advocates of the practice were led by M. Perels, of the Prussian Admiralty, and its detractors by Professor Geffken. It is true that in an early edition of his work upon international law my lamented friend, Mr. Hall, did use the words attributed to him by "M.": "It is difficult to see how a pacific blockade is justifiable." But many things, notably Lord Granville's correspondence with France in 1884 and the blockade of the Greek coast in 1886, have occurred since those words were written. If "M." will turn to a later edition of the work in question he will see that Mr. Hall had completely altered his opinion on the subject, or rather that, having disapproved of the practice as unreformed, he blesses it altogether in its later development. With reference to the utility of the practice, I should like to call the attention of "M." to a passage in the latest edition of Hall's book which is perhaps not irrelevant to current politics:--

"The circumstances of the Greek blockade of 1886 show that occasions may occur in which pacific blockade has an efficacy which no other measure would possess. The irresponsible recklessness of Greece was endangering the peace of the world; advice and threats had been proved to be useless; it was not till the material evidence of the blockade was afforded that the Greek imagination could be impressed with the belief that the majority of the Great Powers of Europe were in earnest in their determination that war should be avoided."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, March 5 .

THE VENEZUELAN CONTROVERSY

Sir,--Apart from the practical difficulty, so ably described by Sir Robert Giffen in your issue of this morning, of obtaining compensation in money from a State which seems to be at once bankrupt and in the throes of revolution, not a few questions of law and policy, as to which misunderstanding is more than probable, are raised from day to day by the action of the joint squadrons in Venezuelan waters. It may therefore be worth while to attempt to disentangle the more important of these questions from the rest, and to indicate in each case the principles involved.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, December 18 .

THE VENEZUELA PROTOCOL

Sir,--The close of the Venezuelan incident will be received with general satisfaction. One of the articles of the so-called "protocol" of February 18 seems, however, to point a moral which one may hope will not be lost sight of in the future--viz. the desirability of keeping unblurred the line of demarcation between such unfriendly pressure 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.

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 .

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.

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