The Days of a Man [1913 



seas 



dish. Effective short addresses on the outlook for 

 peace were made by different persons, among them 

 Norman Angell, Mrs. Philip Snowden, and Lady 

 Abercrombie. 



Freedom Later still I attended a mass meeting, one of many 

 then held in England in favor of the freedom of the 

 seas, supporting an effort to bring about, through 

 the next Hague Conference, the entire abolition of 

 the so-called right of capture. The purpose of this 

 movement was to make the ocean no longer a "'no- 

 man's land'" in time of war, but world property on 

 which every liner and freighter should be free from 

 molestation, individual nations being held responsible 

 for shipment to any belligerent of any material agreed 

 upon as contraband. 



Francis W. Hirst, 1 the scholarly and practical 

 editor of The Economist, was a leading spirit in this 

 matter. Others were Sir John Brunner, Lord Lore- 

 burn, and Lord Welby, prominent Liberals. It was 

 also stated that Sir Edward Grey, then head of the 

 Foreign Office, had given his approval to the scheme 

 and the outlook seemed generally promising. That 

 the "menace of navalism" would disappear if such an 

 agreement were made was urged by its proponents, 

 for Britain would no longer have to defend itself 

 from possible starvation by a cordon of huge ships, 

 nor would the growing naval defense of Germany, 

 already costing far more than all the profits of 

 German commerce, be required for the "protection 

 of German trade." On the particular occasion to 

 which I refer, able speeches were made by Hirst, 

 Welby, and George N. Barnes, a labor member of 

 Parliament. 



1 See Chapter xxxvn, page 332. 



n 



