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 (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.