and to group them for republication, with some elucidatory matter (more
especially with reference to changes introduced by the Geneva Convention
of 1906, The Hague Conventions of 1907, and the Declaration of London of
the present year) under the topics to which they respectively relate.

The present volume has been put together in accordance with this plan;
and my best thanks are due to the proprietors of The Times for
permitting the reissue of the letters in a collected form.
Cross-references and a full Index will, I hope, to some extent remove
the difficulties which might otherwise be caused by the fragmentary
character, and the chances of repetition, inseparable from such a work.

T. E. H.
EGGISHORN, SWITZERLAND,
_September_ 14, 1909.

* * * * *

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

I have again to thank _The Times_ for permission to print in this new
edition letters which have appeared in its columns during the past four
years. They will be found to deal largely with still unsettled questions
suggested by the work of the Second Peace Conference, by the Declaration
of London, and by the, unfortunately conceived, Naval Prize Bill of
1911.

I have no reason to complain of the reception which has so far been
accorded to the views which I have thought it my duty to put forward.