§ EARL SPENCERI rise to ask the, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: whether, in the event of the seizure of Venezuelan gunboats failing to produce the desired effect, His Majesty's Government propose to take further measures for the purpose of coercing the Venezuelan Government; and, if so, whether he is able to state what the nature of those measures will be.
*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (the MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE)In the event which the noble Lord supposes, further measures of coercion will, no doubt, be inevitable. The question has been considered by His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the German Government; and it has been decided, as I think will be 1290 evident from the general tenor of the Blue-book, to resort to a blockade of the Venezuelan ports, some of which will be blockaded by British and some by German ships of war. It is not, however, intended to land a British force, and still less to occupy Venezuelan territory.