xLiii UNCERTAIN HEALTH 289 



Private and Confidential. 



Oxford Coukt, Cannon Street, 



London, E.C, 



12ih November 1910. 



THE DECLARATION OF LONDON 



(Memorandum by the Right Hon. Lord Avebury) 



As other members of the Declaration of London 

 Committee have sent round their views, and as I am 

 unfortunately unable to attend on Monday, and do not 

 concur with the conclusions, I think I may be allowed 

 also to bring some considerations before the Council. 



1. Some years ago the Council did me the honour of 

 requesting me to bring the Declaration of Paris before 

 the House of Commons, with the view of making private 

 property at sea free of capture or seizure. I asked to 

 be allowed to consult Lord Salisbury, who was then 

 Prime Minister. 



He told me that he quite agreed with the Council ; 

 that if I brought forward a motion in the House of 

 Commons the Government would support it, and that 

 we should be " pushing at an open door." But he 

 feared that France would oppose, and he suggested that 

 I should see our Ambassador at Paris, which I did. 

 He agreed with Lord Salisbury.^ The French Govern- 

 ment, he said, regarded such an arrangement as clearly 

 a great advantage to us and would certainly oppose. 

 Under these circumstances nothing was done. 



At the late Hague Conference, the subject came up for 

 discussion. The proposal to make private property at 

 sea free of capture and seizure met with general support, 

 but, to my great astonishment and regret, was opposed 

 by our Government. 



The Admiralty apparently consider that our Fleet 

 is so strong we should lose by the change. They forget 

 that while our Fleet is the strongest, on the other hand 

 our mercantile marine and our property at sea is 

 enormously greater than that of most other countries. 

 We stand to lose in fact " Lombard Street to a China 

 orange." In round figures half the ships on the ocean 

 fly the British flag, and if we deduct those of Norway, 

 Sweden, Holland and other countries, with which we 

 should all agree that war is out of the question, it is 



' Vide Letter of Lord Lytton, supra, vol. i. p. 275. 

 VOL. II U 



