German War Material for Turkey
Sir,—The Cologne Gazette rightly treats as incredible the rumour, mentioned by your Sofia Correspondent, that a trainload of munitions of war had been despatched by the German Government for the use of Turkey, while admitting that such a consignment may very likely have been forwarded from private German workshops.
It has long been settled international law that a neutral Government, while, on the one hand, it is precluded from itself supplying munitions to a belligerent, is, on the other hand, not bound to prevent private individuals from so acting. The latter half of this rule has now received written expression in Art. 7 of The Hague Convention No. v. of 1907, which deals with “Neutral Powers and Persons in War on Land.”
The only fault to be found with the paragraph in the Cologne Gazette quoted by your Berlin Correspondent, supposing it to be correctly transcribed, would be that it seems to imply that the above-mentioned Art. 7 legitimatises the supply of war material to belligerents by “neutral States.” It is, however, obvious from the rest of the paragraph that the Gazette is not really under that impression.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, December 24 (1911).