Journal and pRoCEEblNtis. 93 



Withought fortifications, feared that they would be bombarded by a 

 hostile Spanish fleet. This fear was, of course, groundless. 



Disputes between nations can be amicably settled either by 

 direct agreement between the parties, by agreement under the medi- 

 ation of another power, or by reference to arbitration. When two 

 states refer a disputed matter to arbitration, the scope and condi- 

 tions of the reference are usually settled by a treaty, and rules and 

 principles are laid down upon which the arbitrators are to proceed. 

 There are two measures falling short of war which it is permissable 

 to take, namely, retorsion and reprisal. Retorsion consists in treat- 

 ing the subjects of the state giving provocation in an identical or 

 closely analogous way with that in which the subjects of the state 

 using retorsion are treated. Thus if the productions of Canada are 

 discouraged or kept out of the United States by differential import 

 duties, it is an act of retorsion to put on similar duties on United 

 States goods coming into Canada ; so our Alien Labor law is an 

 exact copy mutatis mutandis with that of the United States. Repri- 

 sals are resorted to when a specific wrong has been committed, and 

 they consist in the seizure and confiscation of property belonging 

 to the offending state, or its subjects, by way of compensation in 

 value for the wrong; or it may consist in suspending the operation 

 of treaties. Thus, for example, when Holland, in 1780, repudiated 

 the treaty obligation under which she lay to succor England when 

 attacked, the British Government exercised reprisals by suspending 

 the commercial treaties between Holland and Great Britain. Such 

 measures, however, are prima facie acts of war and are resorted to 

 to throw the onus of declaring war on the party first offending. A 

 very common form of reprisal is an embargo of such ships belonging 

 to the offending states as may be lying in the ports of the state 

 making the reprisal. A recent case, combining seizure and embargo, 

 is that of England against the two Sicillies in 1839. The justifica- 

 tion of reprisals is that they are the means of avoiding the graver 

 alternative of war. Another means of constraint short of war is 

 called a pacific blockade, the first instance of which occurred in 

 1827, when the coasts of Greece were blockaded by the English, 

 French and Russian fleets, while still professing to be at peace with 

 Turkey. 



When all means of preserving peace have failed, the right to 



