ct, military or naval bases, and, by
Arts. 3 and 4, of places which refuse to comply with reasonable
requisitions for food needed by the fleet, though not for
refusal of money contributions. The _Acte Final_ of the
Conference further registers a _vaeu_ that "the Powers should,
in all cases, apply, as far as possible, to war at sea the
principles of the Convention concerning the laws and customs of
war on land." (_Parl. Paper, Miscell._ No. 1 (1908), p. 30.)
This Convention, No. iv. of 1907, in Art. 25 of the _Reglement_
annexed to it, lays down that "the attack or bombardment, by
whatsoever means, of towns, villages, habitations, or buildings
which are not defended is prohibited."

The British Government had, in 1907, so far departed from the
Admiralty views of 1888 as to instruct their delegates to the
Conference of that year to the effect that "the Government
consider that the objection, on humanitarian grounds, to the
bombardment of unfortified towns is too strong to justify a
resort to that measure, even though it may be permissible under
the abstract doctrines of international law [?]. They wish it,
however, to be clearly understood that any general prohibition
of such practice must not be held to apply to such operations
as the bombardment of towns or places used as bases or
storehouses of naval or military equipment or supply, or ports
containing fighting ships, and that the landing of troops, or
anything partaking of the character of a military or naval
operation, is also not covered."

It is hardly necessary to chronicle the indignation aroused by
the raids upon undefended coast towns carried out by German
cruisers during the war of 1914, in violation of modern
International Law and notwithstanding the German ratification
of Convention No. ix. of 1907.

* * * * *

SECTION 15

_Belligerent Reprisals_

REPRISALS

Sir,--The controversy as to the legitimacy of the recent attack on
Freiburg tends to stray into irrelevancies. If the attack was made upon
barracks or troop trains no one would surely criticise what is of
everyday occurrence, although not unlikely to cause incidentally death
or injury to innocent persons. There seems, however, to be no reason for
supposing that such military objects were in view, or that our
aeroplanes were instructed to confi