T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, September 17 (1914).

This letter was, it seems, perverted in the _Kreuz Zeitung_.

CIVILIANS IN WARFARE

THE RIGHT TO TAKE UP ARMS

Sir,--I have read with some surprise so much of Sir Ronald Ross's letter
of to-day as states that "the issue still remains dark" as to the right
of civilians to bear arms in case of invasion. It has long been settled
that non-molestation of civilians by an invader is only possible upon
the understanding that they abstain from acts of violence against him.
Modern written international law has defined, with increasing
liberality, by the draft Declaration of 1874 and the Conventions of 1899
and 1907, the persons who will be treated as lawful belligerents. Art. 1
of The Hague Regulations of 1907 recognises as such, not only the
regular army, but also militia and volunteers. Art. 2 grants indulgence
to a _levee en masse_ of "la population" (officially mistranslated "the
inhabitants") of a territory not yet occupied. Art. 3, also cited by Sir
Ronald, has no bearing upon the question.

The rules are, I submit, as clear as they could well be made, and are
decisive against the legality of resistance by individual civilians, the
sad, but inevitable consequence of which was, as I pointed out in _The
Times_ of September 19 last, truthfully represented on the stage in _An
Englishman's Home_.

In the same letter I wrote that "even in our own favoured country it is
most desirable that every one should know exactly how matters stand."
There are, however, obvious objections, possibly not insuperable, to
this result being brought about, as is proposed by Sir Ronald Ross, by
Government action.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, October 26 (1914).

CIVILIANS AND A RAID

Sir,--It is satisfactory to learn, from Mr. McKenna's answer to a
question last night, that the duty of the civilian population, at any
rate in certain counties, is engaging the attention of Government. I
confess, however, to having read with surprise Mr. Tennant's
announcement that "it was provided by The Hague Convention that the
wearing of a brassard ensured that the wearer would be regarded as a
belligerent." It ought surely to be now generally known that, among the
four conditions imposed by the Convention upon Militia and bodies of
Volunteers, in order to their being treated as belligerents, the third
is "that they shall bear a distinctive mark, fixed and recognisable a