UNCERTAIN HEALTH 291 



3. Lastly, I come to the question of blockade. The 

 development of railways makes this a matter of com- 

 paratively little importance to Continental Nations. 

 In the Crimean War we blockaded the Russian Baltic 

 Ports. The only result was that Russian goods came 

 through Prussia, and we had to pay the extra cost of 

 carriage. 



I do not I confess think that there is much danger of 

 our ports being blockaded. That any foreign country 

 could blockade London and Southampton, Plymouth, 

 Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Hull does 

 not seem to me to be within the range of practical 

 politics. Still an arrangement which increases the 

 difficulty of blockade seems to me to be, as far as 

 it goes, in our favour. 



Under these circumstances and without committing 

 myself to every word in the Declaration of London, I 

 hope the London Chamber of Commerce will give the 

 great weight of its support to what is, I believe, as far 

 as it goes, a step in the right direction and a distinct 

 advantage to our commerce. 



With reference to the above, Mr. Leverton 

 Harris writes to him : 



70 Grosvenor Street, W., 

 lith November. 



Dear Lord Avebury — I have been very much 

 interested in the Declaration of London, and that is my 

 excuse for troubling you. I have read most carefully 

 your Memo, to the London C. of Commerce. With 

 every word almost I agree except the last Paragraph. 

 In Parliament and out I have advocated Immunity of 

 capture for private property at sea, and I was equally 

 disappointed with you at our throwing over this doctrine. 

 But my main reason for objecting to the Declaration of 

 London has been that it appears to me to be based on 

 exactly opposite principles to those which you and I 

 support. 



Instead of freeing our ocean trade from capture, it 

 increases the risks. 



1. It legalizes the sinking of neutral prizes. 



2. It makes neutral vessels coming to our peaceful 

 ports with food for the civil population liable to be 

 captured and destroyed. 



