"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 (1897).


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.

1. Are we at war with Venezuela? Till reading the reports of what passed
last night in the House of Commons, I should have replied to this