REVIEWS. 511 a variety of points of international law in a manner which assumes no special knowledge, and which makes them interesting to the general reader as well as to the student. The subjects are roughly grouped under four heads : " The Law of War ; " " Illustrations of the System of Interna- tional Law ; " " The Eastern Question ; " and " Biographical Sketches." In treating under the first group of "The Brussels Conference of 1874." and " The Progress of the Written Law of War," subjects of especial in- terest at this time in view of the propositions of the Czar, Professor Holland doubts the possibility at present of any codification of the laws and usages of 'war, and recommends the promulgation by the various governments of authoritative instructions for the use of their armies, such as those issued by President Lincoln to the armies of the United States, or the Manual of the Institute of International Law, in the hope that these bodies of rules may be assimilated to each other in the future. In " The Bombardment of Open Coast Towns " attention is recalled to the somewhat running controversy which raged in the columns of the
- London Times" during several months of 1888 in consequence of the
author's criticism of the utter disregard of the rules of international law displayed by the attacking fleet during the British naval manoeuvres of that year. In an interesting discussion of " International Law in the War between Japan and China," which has been translated into Japanese by the order of that government, Japan is shown to have conformed to the laws of war in a manner worthy of the most civilized nations, while the Chinese ideas of the subject were merely rudimentary. The author makes a novel distinction between "pacific blockade" when it is a mere measure of reprisal and when it is instituted for some " high political object, as in case of intervention, or is a measure of self-preservation, such as the suppression of a rebellion." In the former case, the opinion is expressed that the blockade should be directed against the flag of the blockaded State alone, while in the latter third powers may be more fairly called upon to submit to interference with their trade. It may, however, be asserted that there is no rule compelling a power to assent, under the guise of a peaceful proceeding, to the application of a purely belligerent right ; and that whenever the blockade is directed against the flag of a third State, such State is entirely justified in assuming that war exists between blockading and blockaded State, and in acting accordingly, as was the attitude of the English government towards the blockade of For- mosa by France in 1884. In the second group of subjects the author takes up " Recent Diplo- matic Discussions as Illustrations of the System of International Law," a somewhat misleading title, since this lecture was delivered in 1878, — • "The Literature of International Law in 1884," and "International Law and Acts of Parliament." Three of the four articles of the third group belong rather to the history of the Eastern question than to international law proper, and the fourth article, "The international Position of the Suez Canal," would be more satisfactory if Professor Holland had given his opinion upon just what is the international state of the Suez Canal in the face of the officially announced reservation of Great Britain regard- ing the agreement between the Powers of 1888 for its neutralization. The fourth and last group of subjects consists of appreciative obituary notices of Mountague Bernard, Sir Robert Phillimore, W. E. Hall, and Sir Travers 'i'wiss, read in French before the Institut de Droit Interna- tional, of which the author is a distinguished member. e. h. s.
