The Review of Reviews. 



July 1, 1906. 



authority of the Government, will there be a firm 

 basis for the League of Peace. 



The propaganda of peace could take many new 

 and unexpected de\elopments when once it was un- 

 dertaken by a Committee acting under the auspices 

 of the Government. An official inspection of the 

 public libraries might, for instance, be undertaken 

 in order to see how far the shelves are stocked with 

 books necessary for informing the public on ques- 

 tions of peace and war. Such a book, for instance, 

 as ■' The Arbiter in Council " (Macmillan and Co., 

 I OS. net) ought to be in every public librar}'. It 

 is one of the best and most hopeful signs of the 

 times that such a book should appear just now and 

 have met with so widespread a recognition of its 

 worth. Arising out of such an inquire the Committee 

 would find it necessary to arrange for the production 

 of a series of International Primers or handbooks to 

 current questions, all treated from the point of view 

 that peace is the greatest of British interests, and 

 that the first duty of ever\- person who expresses an 

 opinion on foreign politics is to know the facts. At 

 present the peace literature of Britain is shamefully 

 deficient. Since the Hague Conference there have 

 been three books at least published in French de- 

 scribing the Conference and its work, one in English 

 in America, but there has been no English book on 

 the subject. The popularisation of the arbitration 

 idea and the education of the masses in a hatred of 

 war and of the passions that lead to war might be 

 undertaken with much greater effect if the work of 

 propaganda were placed in the hands of a Com- 

 mittee acting under the direction of the Imperial 

 Council of Peace. 



The approaching Conference at the Hague offers 

 an admirable opportunity for effective propaganda 

 in favour of the universal entente cordiale. No- 

 thing can be more desirable than that our Govern- 

 ment should instruct its plenipotentiaries to propose 

 that the Conference should recommend the Govern- 

 ments represented at the Conference to create a 

 Peace Budget for the furtherance of internationalism 

 and the development of the principles of the Hague 

 Convention. It is idle to propose that the Confer- 

 ence should enter into discussion for the reduc- 

 tion of armaments. The words of Cardinal Fleur}- 

 to the Abbe de Saint-Pierre, on receiving his projet 



de Paix Perpetudle, may t>e quoted with advan- 

 tage to the advocates of proposals of disarmament : 

 ■' Vou have forgotten, sir, a preliminar)- condition 

 upon which your five articles must depend. You 

 must begin by sending a troop of missionaries to 

 prepare the hearts and minds of the contracting 

 Sovereigns." To finance such troops of missionaries 

 in everv- countr)' will- be possible when Decimal point 

 one per cent, has been accepted. Until that is done 

 it is vain to hopte for any considerable success in 

 the reduction of armaments. 



V._IX CONCLUSION. 



Nations, said Mr. Secretan, Root, have souls, as 

 well as individuals. If so it becomes a pertinent 

 question, what have we done as a nation to incarnate 

 in our national life and international relations that 

 Love by which alone we can manifest God to those 

 in the midst of whom we dwell? Hitherto we have 

 done but little. We have painted the Red Cross of 

 the Crucified upon our flag : but how often has it 

 not flaunted over guns whose "' black mouths grin- 

 ning hate" could hardly be regarded as a practical 

 manifestation of Love. " I say unto you, Love your 

 enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless 

 them that curse you, and pray for them which de- 

 spitefullv use you." We have as a nation attempted 

 to earn- this precept into practice in the realm of 

 international trade, and only there. But the success 

 which even such a limited application of the Golden 

 Rule has brought to the one great Free-trading State 

 mav well encourage us to apply the same principle 

 to other spheres, and especially to that of the per- 

 sonal intercourse of the individuals who in masses 

 constitute nations. If John Bull should now set 

 about being a good host in good earnest, his example 

 is more likely to be followed than it was in the 

 case of Free Trade. For the principle of a Peace 

 Budget based upon a charge of Decimal point one 

 per cent, of the expenditure for war, to be spent in 

 the promotion of hospitality and in the campaign 

 against the causes which precipitate war, is so 

 simple, so ob\ious, and so practical that, once it 

 has been adopted by the British Government, it is 

 certain to make the to'Jr of the world. 



W. T. Stead. 



!n the August Number of THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS will be published a most interesting 

 article written by the Members of the Labour Party in the British Mouse of Commons, entitled: 



Books That Have Helped Us. 



The Labour Members constitute the most interesting group of Britons which has emerged from 

 the democratic depths in our -ime. Mr. W. T. Stead has asked them to indicate what were the 

 b30l(s which had been most helpful to them In the early days of their combat with adverse circum- 

 stances. This article embodies their replies, which are not only most revealing as indicating the 

 origin of their present !< eals, but also most suggestive and helpful to the youth of the new genera- 

 tion who, in the years to come, will succeed them in Parliament. 



