may be consulted with advantage). Last of all would come the claims of
unpaid bondholders, as to which Mr. Balfour would seem to endorse, in
principle, the statement made in 1880 by Lord Salisbury who, while
observing that "it would be an extreme assertion to say that this
country ought never to interfere on the part of bondholders who have
been wronged," went on to say that "it would be hardly fair if any body
of capitalists should have it in their power to pledge the people of
this country to exertions of such an extensive character.... They would
be getting the benefit of an English guarantee without paying the price
of it."

3. Reprisals may be exercised in many ways; from such a high-handed act
as the occupation of the Principalities by Russia in 1853, to such a
mere seizure of two or three merchant vessels as occurred in the course
of our controversy with Brazil in 1861. In modern practice, these
measures imply a temporary sequestration, as opposed to confiscation or
destruction, of the property taken. In the belief that reprisals only
were being resorted to against Venezuela one was therefore glad to hear
that the sinking of gunboats by the Germans had been explained as
rendered necessary by their unseaworthiness.

4. Pacific reprisals should also, according to the tendency of modern
opinion and practice, be so applied as not to interfere with the
interests of third Powers and their subjects. This point has been
especially discussed with reference to that species of reprisal known as
a "pacific blockade," of which some mention has been made in the present
controversy. The legitimacy of this operation, though dating only from
1827, if properly applied, is open to no question. Its earlier
applications were, no doubt, unduly harsh, not only towards the peccant
State, but also towards third States, the ships of which were even