Show STATE OF WAR EXISTS Balfour Concludes a Long Statement J in tho Commons I London Dec lijIr Balfour con eluded a long tatcmcnt today with saying he could make no announcement tin to whether the offer of arbitration j from Venezuela would be accepted by Great Britain In the House of Commons Com-mons today Premier Balfour Bald there was no such thing au a pacific blockade block-ade A state of war actually existed with Venezuela and an Intimation of tho blockade would shortly be given to the power Mr Balfour added that the blockade would be carried out with I as little Inconvenience to neutrals na poilblc Nothing definite had occurred ttlth reference to the arbitration proposal pro-posal alnce hiD previous statement on the subject RELUCTANTLY UNDERTAKEN Tho Premier aleo said the operations ere reluctantly undertaken not to recover re-cover debts but after a long and pa tl1t delay to recover compensation f lor assaults on British subjects and the 1 Jilzure of Britlah vessels He believed tbat the Germans also had claims betides be-tides the ihmnclal ones IIEALEY ASKS QUESTION Mr Henley Irish Nationalist asked It lht United States assented to a Dockadc which would exclude United r BtatoH 1 veseelH Mr Balfour replied Ncutrnlb arc not consulted when we rin a suite of war with a third par w Is war declared asked Mr Healcy file Pruml l < jr replied Docs the hon oraole member suppose that without a state of war you can take vessels and have a blockade T ARBITRATION PROPOSAL Replying to further questions Mr Balfour said he had nothing to add regarding re-garding arbitration beyond what wad contained In his previous statement Papers were being prepared and would be presented to the house as soon na possible lie assumed thtiy would Include In-clude the communications which had passed on the nubjcct of the blockade between the United States and Great Britain Mr Balfoxirs otatement was made In reply to thedesire of the Liberal leader Sir Henry CampbullBanncrman for information on the Venezuelan situation situa-tion After reiterating Lord Lans downes brief statement In the House of Lords yesterday the Premier continued con-tinued I BLOCKADE TO BE CARRIED OUT The blockade ulll be carried out by Great Britain and Germany along different dif-ferent portions oftthe coast and though the two fleets will have the same objects ob-jects they will not act as one force We never hud any Intention of landing troops In Venezuela or of occupying territory even temporarily All the conditions governing such a blockade have been carefully considered and will be published In due time for the Information of neutrals The Government Govern-ment is mont anxious lh these opera tlonu the necessity for which we deep ly regret should ba as little inconvenient inconven-ient to neutrals as they can possibly he made No difference will be made between be-tween the vessels of the various neural neu-ral powers I think It Is quite likely that the United Stales will think that there cannot be such a thing as a pacific pa-cific blockade and I personally take the same view Evidently a blockade Involves a state of war |