The Athenæum, October 9 (1911).
THE PROCLAMATION OF NEUTRALITY
Sir,—May I be allowed to point out that two questions arise upon the recent British Proclamation of Neutrality which were not, as they should have been, in the House of Commons last night, kept entirely distinct?
The Government has surely done right in now omitting, as I suggested in 1904, with reference to certain classes of acts which are prohibited neither by English nor by International Law, a phrase announcing that the doers of them would incur the King's "high displeasure"; while retaining the warning that doers of such acts must be prepared for consequences from which their own Government will not attempt to shield them.
On the other hand, our Government has surely erred in not specifying, as in previous Proclamations, the sort of acts to which this warning relates—viz., to acts such as carriage of contraband, enemy service, and breach of blockade, which differ wholly in character from those violations of the Foreign Enlistment Act against which the bulk of the Proclamation is directed. As the Proclamation now stands, no clear transition is marked between breaches of English law and the unspecified acts which, though perfectly legal, will forfeit for the doers of them any claim to British protection from the consequences involved. Traders are left to find out as best they may the meaning of the general words "any acts in derogation of their duty as subjects of a neutral Power."
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, October 31 (1911).