In any case, it is not for us to rival the barbarism of their Government by allowing them to drown.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T.E.HOLLAND.
Oxford, March 13 (1915) SUBMARINE CREWS Sir,--My letter in _The Times_ of March 15 with reference to the conduct of certain of the German submarines has been followed by a good many other letters upon the same subject.

Some of your correspondents have travelled far from the question at issue into the general question of permissible reprisals, into which I have no intention of following them.
But others, by exhibiting what I may venture to describe as an _ignoratio elenchi_, have made it desirable to recall attention to the specific purport of my former letter.

It was to the effect--( 1) that the acts of those who, in pursuance of a Government commission, sink merchant vessels without warning are not "piracy," the essence of that offence at international law being that it is committed under no recognised authority; and that neither is it "murder" under English law; (2) that the question of the treatment appropriate to the perpetrators of such acts, even under the orders of their Government, is a new one, needing careful consideration.

I was, of course, far from stating, as a general rule, that Government authority exempts all who act under it from penal consequences.

The long-established treatment of spies is sufficient proof to the contrary.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T.E.HOLLAND.
Oxford, March 22 (1915).
MR.