6i6 



The Review of Rk views. 



rumpn)iiii>]iig rcsihliuuo lo tlu' war in all its 

 stages. 'J'herc has never before in any war in 

 inixiern times been so direct and vigorous a demand 

 made for the stoppage of the war and so unspar- 

 ing an impeachment of its criminality as that of 

 which the Stop-the-W'ar Committee has been the 

 organ. 



I wrote a history of the Hague Conference, which is 

 in the press at the Hague, and has been in the press 

 for the last eighteen months, the Dutch printers 

 appearing to find much difficulty in bringing out the 

 French book. 



POPULARISING HAGUE CONFERENCE PRINCIPLES. 



1 was too heartsick during the first twelve months 

 of a war brought on by England's refusal of arbitration, 

 and waged in defiance of the Rules of War to which 

 .ill the Powers had agreed at the' Hague, to undertake 

 much international work on behalf of the principles 

 01 the Hague Conference. No Englishman could 

 appear on a foreign platform without shame at the 

 'ontrast between the professions of his country and its 

 practices ; but when the Interparliamentary Con- 

 ference met in Paris it seemed that a time had come 

 for an attempt to renew the efYort begun at the 

 I-'eace Crusade to organise the forces of peace in all 

 countries upon an international basis, and to secure 

 the harmonious co-opcralion of all the existing 

 elements in an organised effort to popularise the 

 principles of the Hague Conference, and to secure their 

 adoption by the Government. With this end in view, 

 the International Union was formed at a meeting held 

 in Paris in August, 1900. Mr. Cremer and other 

 leading members of the Interparliamentary Conference 

 were present on the occasion. M. Passy was the first 

 speaker, and the proceedings were unanimous and 

 enthusiastic. Professor Charles Richet accepted the 

 presidency of the Provisional Committee, which was 

 constituted of representatives of the leading friends of 

 peace in all countries, including M. dc Hloch, M. Passy, 

 Mr. Lund; Mr. Hodgson Pratt, Mr. Ducommun, 

 P.aroness von Suttner and others. The work ol 

 organising National groups was ncces.sarily .slow, and 

 meantime the provisional Committee took action, 

 Ijrotcsted against the atrocities periK'l rated in China 

 and in South Africa, and began the collection of 

 evidence illustrating the realities of war as waged at 

 present in China, the Philippines, and South Africa. 

 It al.so undertook to secure, if possible, a simul- 

 taneous celebration of the opening- of the Hague 

 Conference on May i8lh by demonstrations in al' 

 I nuntries represented. 



WORK. 1-dR PEACE UP TO I90I. 



Such is a brief statement of what I have done or 

 tried lo do in the cause of peace. In the last two or 

 three years I have neither spared my health nor my 

 purse in the advocacy of the cause. The action which 

 I have taken. has been extremely unpopular, and has 

 affected me seriously from a business, point of ■^■iew, 

 for it is impossible to adopt the most unpopular of 

 all attitudes on a question on which national passion 

 is aroused without feeling the consequences in. the 

 conduct of a popular magazine. The cost of my 

 pamphlets and War Against War papers, with my 

 subscriptions to the Crusade and Stop-the-War 

 movement, has been over £4,000 ; but by this means 

 I was able to raise other subscriptions for the Crusade 

 and Stop-the-War amounting to between £5,000 and 

 £6,000. Altogether the expenditure in the last two 

 years of campaign, of which I may fairly claim to have 

 been the originator, may be estimated at little short 

 of £12,000. 



I hope you will not consider that this narrative is 

 written in any way in a boastful spirit. I am quite 

 sure that its accuracy would be confirmed both by 

 friends and foes so far as relates to my public action 

 in this matter. I have endeavoured to set down the 

 truth and to endeavour to let \ou see both the mischief 

 that I have done and the good that I have tried to 

 do. I am afraid you will say that the former largely 

 out-balances the latter, and up to the present I am 

 not disposed to deny that. I only say that the end 

 is not yet. 



IIISTORV OF THE LA.ST TEN YEARS. 



The foregoing narrative brings down the story to 

 the time when I was engaged heart and soul in battling 

 for the cause of peace and justice against the Chamber- 

 lain (lovernment of that day. The pro-Boers of 

 England kept up the protest to the last, although in 

 the latter stages it was impossible to hold public 

 meetings anywhere, owing to the fact that the mobs 

 would have broken the windows, and the proprietors 

 of the public halls refused to run the risk. During the 

 closing stages of the war I did not hesitate to place 

 mvself in constant commuincation with the Boer 

 leaders in liurope, with President Kruger and Dr. 

 Lcyds, thereby exposing myself to a charge of 

 high treason ; but as I reported all my doings at 

 the time to Lord Salisbury, who expressed himself 

 as very interested in my communications. 1 suppose 

 he recognised that my action was really in the 

 interest of peace. 



