I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, December 18 (1902).


THE VENEZUELA PROTOCOL

Sir,--The close (for the present, at any rate) 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.

Our Government has, therefore, been well advised in providing for the
renewal of any treaty with that Power which may have been abrogated by
the war; but it is curious to find that the article (7) of the protocol
which effects this desirable result begins by a recital to the effect
that "it may be contended that the establishment of a blockade of the
Venezuelan ports by the British naval forces has _ipso facto_ created a
state of war between Great Britain and Venezuela."

It is surely desirable that henceforth Great Britain should know, and
that other nations should at least have the means of knowing, for