THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 TRIPOLI 
 AND THE TREATIES 
 
 BRITAIN'S DUTY 
 IN THIS WAR 
 
 A PLAIN STATEMENT OF FACTS FOR 
 THE MAN IN THE STREET 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM T. STEAD 
 
 PRIGS SIXPENCE 
 
 'Publishing Office: BANK BUILDINGS. KINGSWAY 
 
 NOVEMBER. 1911
 
 TRIPOLI 
 AND THE TREATIES 
 
 OR 
 
 BRITAIN'S DUTY 
 IN THIS WAR 
 
 By W. T. STEAD. 
 
 Price Sixpence. 
 
 Published at STEAD'S PUBLISHING HOUSE, Bank Build ;ngs 
 Kingsway, London. 
 
 November, 1911.
 
 r^^- ^^^^^^
 
 405985 
 
 cr 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I'ACili 
 
 I. x\n Appeal to the Reader .... 5 
 
 II. The Public Law of Europe .... 10 
 
 f III. Under the]^Hague^Convention . . . II)' 
 
 ^ IV. Why Mediation has Failed ... 25 
 
 \ V. Why Appeal to Arbitration ? . . . 30 
 
 J VI. The Ottoman Appeal to Europe ... 35 
 
 VII. The Story of Naboth's Vineyard . . .41 
 
 VIII. The Wider Issues of the Conflict . . 50 
 
 IX. The Boycott : The Weapon op the Pacifist . 5:5 
 
 I X. The Atrocities of the Italians ... 59 
 
 XI. The International Protest against the War 82 
 
 = XII. Report of Meeting at Whitefield's . . 97 
 
 c XIII. What is to be Done Now 'i . . . . 113
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 An Appeal to the Reader. 
 
 One of those decisive moments has arrived in the history of 
 mankind when the destiny of the future hangs upon the promp- 
 titude with which we seize an opportunity that once neglected 
 goes by for ever. 
 
 For years past we have seen the stealthy encroachment of 
 lawless Might upon the Rights of Nations. It was difficult to 
 say at what precise point this tendency could be challenged. 
 There was always some semblance of justification pleaded by 
 the aggressor. Always some comphcation which rendered it 
 difficult, if not impossible, for the masses of mankind to form a 
 clear idea as to the issue at stake. But at last an occasion has 
 arisen in which it is impossible for anyone to be in any doubt as 
 to the issue that has been raised. The Italian attack upon 
 TripoU is one of those rare crimes which are devoid of any 
 semblance of justification or excuse, which are equally a violation 
 of the moral law and the law of nations. Against this we must 
 one and all take our stand or for ever hold our peace. 
 
 Anything more wicked than the Italian seizure of Tripoli it 
 is impossible to conceive. It is as if the Author of all Evil had 
 deliberately said to his fiends in council, "Go to, let us see 
 whether or not the conscience of the world is dead. We pricked 
 it with Morocco ; it did not stir. We seared it with Bosnia 
 and the Herzegovina, and it remained impassive. Perhaps it is 
 really dead. But let us make certain. Therefore let us create 
 a crime so flagrant, compounded out of outrages so inexcusable, 
 that if there be even a lone glimmering spark of vitahty left 
 in the moral sense of the world, it must be fanned into a flame. 
 If the conscience of mankind will stand the Italian seizure of 
 Tripoli it will stand anything. Therefore let us try it on." 
 
 The Devil has tried it on, and we are face to face with one of 
 these supreme moral questions which decide the destiny of 
 nations. " Some great cause — God's new Messiah ! " has once 
 more risen in our midst to divide the goats upon the left hand 
 and the sheep upon the right. The governments have, by a 
 process of natural selection, gravitated to the side of the goats. 
 " But hast thou chosen, oh, my people, on whose party you shall 
 stand. Ere the doom from the worn sandals shakes the dust 
 against our land ? " It is a question for you, for me, for all 
 of us. Above all it is a question for all who profess, however 
 perfunctorily, to belong to the Church of Christ. 
 
 The Italians, their own allies — nay, their own ultimatum — 
 being witness, are absolutely and demonstrably in the^ wrong. 
 They have trodden under foot their own solemn treaties, they 
 have defied their own allies, they have done none of the things
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 which they ought to have done, tliey have done all the things 
 they oiight not to have done. There is no exiiise conceivable 
 for tlieni Ik'voikI tlio cxeiisf^ of tlie highwayniai) and the burglar : 
 " I coveted my neighbour's goods, I have taken them, and I 
 mean to keep them." But against this monstrous claim, which 
 destroys at one fell l)low the treaties on which European peace 
 depends, and the regard for the great usage of the comity of 
 nations, whereby alone it is possible for weak nations to exist 
 in safety by the side of their stronger neighbours, Humanity is 
 rousing itself to protest. That protest will grow stronger every 
 day until at last it will force Cabinets to do its bidding, and 
 Italy ynW be compelled to disgorge its ill-gotten plunder in 
 Africa. • ' i 
 
 I appeal to my countrymen to do what in them lies to defend 
 the threatened laA\' of nations and the endangered safely of 
 smaller PoAvers from this monstrous and inexcusable attack 
 upon civilisation and humanity. I bear no ill-Mill to the Itahans. 
 The more articulate among them have temporarily gone mad. 
 The Italian Government needs a strait Avaistcoat. It is for 
 you and for me to see that that strait waistcoat is apphed. 
 
 It is a testimony that is due from British Christianity. Last 
 month the Churches, estabhshed and disestablished, were worked 
 up to an extraordinary pitch of excitement in order to prevent 
 one black man beating one white man in a boxing match. 
 
 But when a nominally Christian nation carries fire and sword 
 into the territories of its neighbour in order to seize a province 
 the Christian Churches preserve an omirious and sinister silence. 
 
 The Socialists throughout the whole of Europe have protested 
 and are protesting against this monstrous crime. The Christian 
 Churches are mute. Is Christianity dead amongst us ? And 
 if Clirist came to Europe Avould he find the only followers of the 
 Prince of Peace among the Socialists and those who repudiate 
 His authority ? 
 
 It is for yoii and for me to decide. If at this supreme moment 
 we remain silent we become accomplices in the crime, and we 
 shall share in the retribution \\hich sooner or later will overtake 
 the transgressor. Eor myself I have done what I could. I A\'a.'^ 
 sent to Constantinople as the emissary of aii International 
 Arbitration Emergency Committee, and I have secured from 
 the Sultan and from his Ministers and from the representatives 
 of tiie Ottoman people, a declaration unanimous and enthusiastie 
 in favour of submitting the whole dispute to arbitration. 
 Italy refuses to allow any international authority to decide upon 
 the justice of her claim. Every friend of peace, every believer 
 iu international arbitration is bound to do his utmost to support 
 the appeal of the Turks to an international tribunal. If we 
 are silent and apathetic at this supreme moment, we shall be 
 like the men who held the clothes of those a\ lio stoned Stephen 
 the First Martyr of the Christian Church,
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 I am no ])art.isan of the Turks. No li\iiig iiiau ha.s wiitteii 
 more: arlicles and published more pamphlets denouncing the 
 misdeeds of the late Turkish Government in Europe and in 
 Asia. But even the Devil has a right to fair play, and the 
 Turks, even if anti-human, ought not to be treated as wild 
 beasts. Three years ago the Turks abolished their despot, 
 established a parliament, and manfully attempted to introduce 
 a regime of liberty and progress. Now, while still struggling 
 with the enormous difficulties of their task, they are waylaid 
 by an international highwayman, whose avowed design is to 
 wrest from them their African possessions. However atrocious 
 Abdul Hamid may have been, Italy has no right to annex the 
 provinces of his successor. 
 
 England 1911. i 
 
 Milton ! thou should'st be living at this hour : 
 
 England hath need of thee : she is a fen 
 
 Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen. 
 
 Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, 
 
 Have forfeited their ancient English dower 
 
 Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ; 
 
 Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; 
 
 And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 
 
 Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart : 
 
 Thou had'st a voice whose sound was like the sea ; 
 
 Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free. 
 
 So did'st thou travel on life's common way 
 
 In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart 
 
 The lowliest duties on herself did lay. 
 
 Our Duty in Tripoli. 
 
 It is not to be thought of that the Flood 
 
 Of British freedom, which to the open Sea 
 
 Of the world's praise from dark antiquity 
 
 Hath flowed ; " with pomp of waters un withstood," 
 
 Roused though it be full often in a mood 
 
 Which spurns the check of salutary bands. 
 
 That this most famous Stream in Bogs and Sands 
 
 Should perish ; and to evil and to good 
 
 Be lost for ever. In our Halls is hung 
 
 Armoury of the invincible Knights of old : 
 
 We must be free or die, who speak the tongue 
 
 That Shakespeare spake ; the faith and morals hold 
 
 Which Milton held. — In everything we are sprung 
 
 Of Earth's first blood, have titles manifold. 
 
 I quote Wordsworth's immortal sonnets because they ex- 
 X)ress what ought to be the mood of the nation confronted 
 as it is to-day by the challenge of a monstrous crime. Tbe Italian
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 attuok^uijon Tripoli is tlie'culiniuation of a long series of in- 
 cidents Avhicli liave proved that Ave are living in " one of those 
 reciu-ring eras when force, truculent and unabashed, sweeps 
 away the moral judgments of the world." It has, unfortunately, 
 found (Jreat Britain without any spokesman on either side of 
 the House com])etent to express with adequate authority the 
 horror and loathing inspired by the latest and most C3mical 
 outrage upon tlie elementary principles of international inter- 
 course. Since the coup d'ltai of the Third Napoleon nothing 
 quite so infamous has been accomplished by men in authority. 
 Victor Hugo voiced the conscience of mankind on that occasion 
 as Mr. Gladstone did on the subject of the Neapolitan prisons 
 and the Bulgarian atrocities. But nowadays, since the eloquent 
 voice of the great master has been hushed in death, even the 
 challenge of the Tripolitan crime awakes no adequate censure 
 from those who sit in the high places of the land. But as there is 
 no longer a Mr. Gladstone amongst us, and the voices even of 
 those who stood nearest to him are mufHed by the liveries of 
 office, we must needs be make this like Inkerman, a private 
 soldier's battle, and each man be his oaaii Gb.dstone. Other- 
 wise one of the greatest outrages upon the \>v-'-: 1 bonds which 
 hold the nations together will pass without pioU^t and without 
 punishment. 
 
 Many States, our o\^ti included, have made unprovoked 
 and unwarranted attacks upon the territory of their neighbours. 
 These attacks have been condoned by many specious pleas which 
 impose upon no one but those who hope to profit bj' the aggression. 
 There is a sufficient resemblance between the Italian attack 
 on Tri]ioli and our own harrying of the South African RepubUcs 
 to enable Britons to understand the frenzy of conquest which 
 has converted even Nobel prizemen hke Signor Moneta into 
 exultant jingoes. But bad as was the Boer war, its criminality 
 pales before the lurid hue of the Itahan outrage. The invasion 
 of the Transvaal was, so to speak, a domestic crime. The 
 integrity and independence of the Boer Repubhcs had never 
 been the subject of a solemn international guarantee to which 
 we were parties. The final rupture came at the end of months 
 of negotiation, and was indeed precipitated by a declaration of 
 war from the other side. But notwithstanding these differences 
 in our favour the South African crime entailed a tremendous 
 penalty, a bitter repentance, and ample reparation. In Tripoh 
 the Italian Government suddenly attacked the Turks, without 
 even allowing the twenty-four hours' notice of the ultimatum 
 to exi^ire, an ultimatum in which it was frankly and cynically 
 admitted that the Turks had offered to nuike all the economic 
 concessions Italy asked for. 
 
 The aggressors imagined they would carry everything by a 
 cmp de main. They had but to make their naval Jameson Raid, 
 and in two or three days the provinces would be theirs. The 
 Italian freebooters, like their South African prototypes, found
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 the adventure much less e^sy than they liad anticipated. Instead 
 of it being all over in two or three days, the war haspjeen"Tragmg 
 for a month and more, and the Italians are beginning to realise 
 that the way of the transgressor is hard. It is devoutly to be 
 hoped that disaster may foUow disaster, until the accumulated 
 penalty exacted by unrelenting Nemesis teaches the Itahans 
 in the North of Africa, as we were taught in the South of the 
 same Continent, to desist from evil and to learn to do well. 
 In the schoolhouse of the world the cane of the schoolmaster 
 is replaced by the scourge of mihtary defeat and financial bank- 
 ruptcy. For the sake of the Italians themselves it is well that 
 retribution is following so promptly upon the steps of crime. 
 
 Even in the twentieth century honesty may be the best policy, 
 and that it is well to catch your bear before selling his skin. 
 It is hard for them to kick against the pricks. But out of this 
 tribulation may come their salvation. If they repent, and repent 
 in time, they may escape the worst of the retribution that 
 awaits them. Bankruptcy and revolution loom ahead in the 
 near future. The Giolitti Cabinet will certainly go. I hope 
 the monarchy may not go with it. The King, who hates war 
 profoundly, deserves a better fate than to be sacrificed as a victin 
 to the war which his Ministers forced upon the country. But 
 even worse may remain in store. Italian unity was one of the 
 greatest achievements of the nineteenth centur3^ If the 
 destruction of Italian unity and the division of the peninsula 
 into two Repubhcs, North and South, is not to mar the record 
 of the twentieth, this war in Tripoli ought to be stopped, 
 and stopped at once. 
 
 Already throughout Europe a protest is heard, a protest 
 which Anil rise ever louder and louder until it reaches the deaf 
 ears of the DoAvning Streets of the world, and Italy is compelled 
 to disgorge her ill-gotten prey. 
 
 Everything depends upon the prompt, energetic individual 
 action of each one of us. I appeal to my countrymen to act 
 promptly in this crisis, and I have confidence that I shall not 
 appeal in vain.
 
 ( T^ ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Pubtjc Law of Eueope. 
 
 " Tho Troaty of Paris, of 1856," said Mr. Oladstono, " is 
 the public law of Europe." That law was reaffirmed at the 
 Conference of London in 1871, and again re-enacted at the 
 Berlin Congress of 1878. 
 
 Great Britain took a leading part in 1856, in 1871, and in 
 1878 in defining and in defending this public law of Europe. 
 It has been invoked time and again by successive Foreign Min- 
 isters of both parties to resist the isolated action of any Po^er 
 in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. It has been used re- 
 peatcdty to silence the repeated demands made by the friends 
 of Humanity in this country that something drastic should be 
 done to suppress anarchy in Macedonia or to punisli massacre 
 in Armenia. 
 
 The doctrine of the European Concert formally embodied 
 in the Treaty of Paris is that each of the great Powers binds 
 itself to abstain from isolated action in the affairs of the Ottoman 
 Empire. Any intervention must be collective. Ihe Powers 
 constituted themselves a Board of Trustees for the protection 
 oL^he ^Sick Man's estate. and _-b «und t kaj uselves by a solemn 
 treaty~jto abstain from any isolated action. That remains to 
 I this dayTTie~reeugiiised public law ot Jiiurope on A\hich the peace 
 land security of the modern State system depends. 
 
 To violate the European Concert has always been held to be 
 an act fraught A\ith the most disastrous consequences to the 
 peace of the world. When Mr. Gladstone, in Midlothian, defined 
 the six cardinal principles of a sound foreign policy for the 
 British Empire, " to strive to the uttermost to cultivate and 
 maintain the principle of concert in Europe" occupied the 
 third place. Lord Salisbmy and Loid Rosebeiy repeatedly 
 referred to the prinei])le of the European Ccmeert as vital to 
 the maintenance of law and the lieacetul di^velopiiient of the 
 East. The Treaty of Paris, whieli ensluines and consecrates 
 that principle, is to-day, as it was in Mr. Gladst(me's time, " the 
 public law of Europe," I t al)solutelv forbirls ni^y isolated 
 action by a ny single Power in any pai t of tlie ( )t t()i)u\n doiiinions, 
 i t gua rantee s the uiteg rity of the Ottoman Kiit])n(% and it c.\- 
 pr essTy prescribes that in easr ol' any elis[)iil( - arising between 
 any of the signatories anft tlie Ottoman (Tovernment, no recou rse 
 shaTTbe had to arm s until tlu' other signatory l^owers have 
 l iad an opportnnity to compose the qu arrel by peaceable medi- 
 ation . 
 
 rlie action of the Italian Government in suddenly la\inching 
 an expedition to seize Tripoli, which is part and parcel of the 
 Ottoman Empire, without atTorrling any of ti\e other signal
 
 ( n ) 
 
 tories of the Treaty of Paris an opportunity to compose the 
 dispute by mediation, was hot only a gross breach of treaty 
 faith, it was a deliberate violation of the public law of Euroj)e. 
 
 How was it met bj^ the British Government ? By protest, 
 by warning, by remonstrance, by a declaration that Great 
 Britain would not tolerate this breach of the public law of 
 Europe ? 
 
 Lord Granville in 1871, and Lord Salisbury in 1879 had con- 
 fronted a much mightier PoAver than Italy, and that in a much 
 more questionable quarrel, with the resolute statement that 
 Great Britain was not prepared to tolerate the trampling under 
 foot of the public law of Europe and the contemptuous tearing 
 up of treaties to which the signature of Great Britain was 
 atte.ched. 
 
 But we are living in other days, Avlien the spirit of Gladstone 
 and Salisbury no longer inspires our Foreign Office. The action 
 of our present Government appears tg* have been limited to 
 issuing a Declaration of Neutrality ! 
 
 Is this an adequate discliarge of the duties and obligations 
 of Great Britain in the present crisis ? 
 
 That we have a duty need not be argued, because it has not 
 been and cannot be disputed. Great Britain is one of the great 
 Powers of Europe which has taken a leading part in the past — 
 perhaps the leading part — in framing the treaties which embody 
 the public law of Europe with regard to the Ottoman Emp^ire 
 of which Tripoli is an integral part. We have fought in one 
 great war to secure the right to an equal voice in the settlement 
 of all Turkish questions, and we have faced without flinching 
 the possibility of having to w^age war single-handed in defence 
 of that right. While we have done this in defence of our own 
 right we have been equally loyal to the treaties in question 
 when they limited and subordinated our rights to the equal 
 rights of the other Powers. Every right carries with it a corre- 
 sponding duty, and as our rights remain intact so does the 
 obligation to do our duty. 
 
 AVliat are our rights and what are our duties in relation to 
 Tripoli ? 
 
 They are defined by the Treaties of Paris and of Berlin so 
 far as the war affects the integrity and independence of the 
 Ottoman Empire, and they are set forth in the Hague Con- 
 vention of 1907 so far as they relate to the wide question of 
 international peace. The question is whether our Government 
 is fulfilling the obligations arising out of these treaty rights, or 
 whetlier tlie Administration either through inertia, indifference, 
 secret engagements, or dread of responsibility has neglected an 
 admitted duty, betrayed a public trust, and connived at a 
 flagrant violation of the public law of Europe whicli more than 
 any other Government it was bound to defend. 
 
 In 1856, at the close of the Crimean War in wliich Great 
 Britain and the Italians fought as brothers in arms in vindication
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 of what they believed to be the rights of collective Europe 
 against the claims of Russia, the Trea ty of P aris was signed b y 
 six great Powers and Turke y, "^lis seventh ImdT eljghth article 
 irTtlns treaty, ever since 186 6 has been recognised as the basis 
 of the public law of Europe in relation to the affairs of the 
 Ottoman Empire. It runs as follows : — 
 
 Art. 7. — ^Leurs Majestes . . . declarent la Sublime Porte admise 
 a participer aux avantages du droit public et du concert europ^an. 
 
 Leurs Majestes s'engagent, chacune de son cot^, a respecter 
 I'independance et I'integrite territoriale de remprre ottoman, 
 garantissent en commun la stricte observation de cet engage- 
 ment, et considereraient en consequence tout acte de nature a y 
 porter atteinte comme une question d'interet general. 
 
 Art. 8. — S'il survenait, entre la Sublime Porte et Tune ou 
 plusieurs des autres puissances signataires, un dissentiment qui 
 mena9at le maintien de lem:s relations, la Sublime Porte et 
 chacune de ces puissances, avant de recourir a I'emploi de la 
 force, mettront les autres parties contractantes en mesure de 
 prevenir cette extremite par leur action mediatrice. 
 
 Translation : — 
 
 Art. 7. — Their Majesties declare the Supreme Porte is ad- 
 mitted, to share in the advan tages of publ ic law and of th e 
 Conc err~ot .Europe . ~~ 
 
 ^. Their Majesties engage, each for his own part, to respect the 
 independence and the territorial integrity of the Ottoman 
 Empire, guaranteeing in common the strict observance of this 
 engagement and consequently will consider every act of a 
 nature endangering it as a question of common interest. 
 
 Art. 8. — If a dispute should arise between the Sublime Porte 
 and one or more of the other signatory Powers which menaces 
 the maintenance of good relations, the Sublime Porte and each 
 of these Powers, before having recourse to the employment of 
 force, will afford the other contracting parties an opportunity 
 of averting this extremity by their mediation. 
 
 This was the affirmation in the specific terms of the Inter- 
 national Treaty of the renunciation of the rights of any one 
 Power to deal independently vith the Porte in matters affecting 
 the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire. It 
 affirms specifically that the Powers should only act collectively, 
 and if any one of them should have a dispute with the Porte 
 they should have resort to the mediation of their co-signatories 
 before having resort to arms. 
 
 This was the great principle of the European Concert w^hich 
 both Mr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury frequently extolled as 
 our only safety in dealing with the Eastern Question. Hardly 
 a year has passed since then that the principle has not been acted 
 upon more frequently perhaps in preventing action than in 
 sanctioning intervention. But whether negatively used to 
 veto independent action for the protection of the Armenians or
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 positively to secure the settlement of difficulties in the Lebanon, 
 in Servia, or in Cretej|,theJj)rinGipIe of action by and through the 
 Concert of Europe has never been gainsaid by any responsible 
 Government. 
 
 These articles of the Treaty of Paris may be regarded as the 
 Magna Charta of the rights of the Powers and the sheet-anchor 
 of the peace of Europe. Its authority has often proved irksome 
 to Powers whose subjects waxed impatient at the difficulties 
 which it imposed on the effective coercion of the Turks. As 
 the pace of a Yeomanry charge is fixed by the speed of the 
 slowest horse in the troop, so many a time and oft gTievous 
 Avrongs remained unredressed because of the impossibility of 
 securing unanimity in the governing Powers who constituted 
 this International Trust. But however irksome was the restraint 
 imposed, the disadvantages were recognised as being far out- 
 weighed by the guarantee thereby afforded to European peace. 
 
 Only once in the half -century which has intervened since the 
 signature of the Treaty of Paris has one of its signatories ven- 
 tured to question the validity of this sovereign principle of the 
 law of nations. Wlien the Franco-German War was raging, 
 Russia, with the secret assent of Germany, intimated that she 
 no longer intended to be bound by the Black Sea clauses of 
 the Treaty of Paris. Lord Granville, then Foreign IVIinister 
 in Mr. Gladstone's Government, at once declared that it was " an 
 essential principle of the law of nations that none of the Powers 
 could liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty or modify 
 tlie stipulations thereof unless with the consent of the contracting 
 parties by means of an amicable understanding." Russia pro- 
 tested and bluffed, but Lord Granville stood firm. Russia gave 
 in and consented to submit her claims to a Conference of the 
 Powers which met in London in 1871. The first act of that 
 Conference was to sign the following Protocol, which is still in 
 force : — 
 
 The Plenipotentiaries of North Germany, of Austria- 
 Hungary, of Great Britain, of Italy, of Russia, and of Turkey, 
 assembled to-day in conference, recognise that it is an essential 
 principle of the law of nations that no Power can liberate 
 itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify the stipu- 
 lations thereof, unless with the consent of the contracting 
 Powers by means of an amicable arrangement. 
 
 This was signed on March 13 by the Chevalier Ch. Cadorna 
 on behalf of Italy ; the other Plenipotentiaries were Count de 
 Bernstorff, Count Apponyi, Earl Granville, Baron de Brunnow, 
 and Musurus Pasha. 
 
 This Protocol, it will be observed, strengthens materially the 
 second article. That article expressly binds every signatory to 
 have recourse to the mediation of the co-signatories before 
 having recourse to arms to settle any dispute it might have 
 with the Porte. Tlic Protocol declares it is an essential prirciple
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 of tlie law of nations that no Power can liberate itself from that 
 obligation without the consent of all its co-signatories. ji^ 
 
 This severe interpretation of the binding character of, this 
 governing principle was accepted by the Power against which 
 it was primarily aimed. When the Eastern Question was 
 reopened in 1875, the collective action of Europe was invoked 
 by the Andrassy Note to settle the insurrection in Bosnia and 
 in Herzegovina. AMien that Note faUed to effect its purpose, 
 the three Emperors drafted the Berlin Memorandum in May, 
 1876, and presented it to the other Powers for their approval. 
 Mr. Disraeli rejected it, and it was at once abandon^. The 
 results were disastrous. War broke out in the Balkans. Bulgaria 
 was pacified by massacre, and the outraged conscience of Europe 
 compelled the Powers to attempt to restore the Concert. It 
 was restored at the Constantinople Conference ; but, the Turks 
 having rejected the recommendations of Europe, the Concert 
 was again reduced to impotence. 
 
 Russia then made the cause of the Bulgarians her own. The 
 justice of their claims has been admitted by Europe, but Lord 
 Beaconsfield's refusal to agree to a collective coercion of the 
 Porte left them A\ithout redress. But even in this extreme 
 case, when the justice of the casus hdli was certified by all the 
 Powers, Russia showed so scrupulous a regard to the spirit and 
 the letter of the Treaty of Paris, that before declaring war upon 
 the Turks, she sent General Ignatieff round Europe to make 
 one last despairing effort to secure the collective action of the 
 signatory Powers. The result was the Protocol of 1877, which 
 represented the last effort of collective Europe to settle the 
 dispute by friendly mediation. Tlie Turks rejected the Protocol, 
 and the war began, with the approval of some Powers and 
 A\ithout the active opposition of any. But even when it broke 
 out, Russia was sharply reminded that no arrangements which 
 she might impose upon the Tui'ks as the result of successful 
 war would be regarded as having any validity unless they secured 
 the sanction of the signatory Powers. 
 
 The war ran its course. The Turkish armies in Europe and 
 in Asia were defeated, and the victorious Russians only halted 
 at the gates of Constantinople. Before the Russians imposed 
 their treaty of peace upon the vanquished Turks, althou^ the 
 British Government had declared its neutrality, it did not hesitate 
 to intervene. 
 
 On January 14, in %new of the reports which had reached her 
 Majesty's Government as to the negotiations for peace which 
 w ere about to be opened between the Russian Government and 
 the Porte, and in order to avoid any possible misconception, 
 her Majesty's Government instructed Lord A. Loftus to state 
 to Prince Gortschakoft' that, in the opinion of her Majesty's 
 Government, any treaty concluded between the Government 
 of Russia and the Porte affecting the Treaties of 1856 and 
 1871 must bo a European treaty, and would not be valid
 
 15 ) 
 
 without the assent of the Powers who were parties to those 
 treaties. 
 
 With this warning before them the Russians conckided the 
 preHuiinary Treaty of San Stefano, and sent it round to the 
 other Powers Avith an intimation that portions of it affecting 
 the general interests of Europe could not be regarded as (iefinitive 
 without general concurrence. But this did not satisfy the 
 British Government. They insisted that every single article 
 of the new treaty must' be submitted to the Powers for their 
 approval. 
 
 As Russia appeared to hesitate, the British Government beat 
 the war-drum with vigour. The Reserves were called out, the 
 Sepoys \\ ere brought from India ; six millions were voted for 
 military preparations ; the British fleet Avas ordered to force 
 the Dardanelles and anchor in the Sea of Marmora. Lord 
 Salisbury, on April 1, issued his famous Circular, in which, after 
 citing the Protocol of 1871, he declared in the most categorical 
 fashion : — 
 
 It is impossible for her Majesty's Government, without 
 violating the spirit of this Declaration, to acquiesce in the 
 A\ithdrawal from the cognisance of the Powers of articles 
 in the new treaty Avhich are modifications of existing treaty 
 engagements, and inconsistent Avith them. 
 
 Threatened in Europe and in Asia with war by sea and land, 
 and menaced also by Austria, Russia consented to recognise 
 this extreme interpretation of the Treaty of Paris, and sub- 
 mitted her treaty, lock, stock and barrel, to be revised, muti- 
 lated, and transformed by the Congress of Berlin. 
 
 At Berlin the representatives of the Powers converted the 
 Treaty of San Stefano into the Treaty of Berlin, .and Avhile 
 doing so tliey expressly re-enacted the articles of the Treaty 
 of Paris A\hich Avere not affected by the articles in the ncAV 
 treaty. Among these re-enacted and doubly confirmed articles 
 are Seven and Eiglit, which assert the principle of collective 
 dealing A\ith tlie Porte, which guarantee the independence and 
 integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and Avhich bind each of 
 the contracting Powers to afford the co-signatories an oppor- 
 tunity of mediation before having recourse to force. 
 
 Here avc have the plain, straightforAvard story of the public 
 laAv of Europe as it A\as made in the first instance, and then 
 empliasiz;'d and insisted upon by the British Government. We 
 see how tlrat the essential principle of the laAV of nations Avas 
 formulated by a Britisli Government in our own capital and 
 accepted by all the Powers, including Italy. \Vc sec how, on 
 the only two occasions on Avhich their authority was threatened 
 British Governments, one Liberal, the other Conservative, 
 instantly asserted th?ir authority and proclainuxl their readiness 
 to defend it by arms, A\ith or Avithout allies. In deference to 
 the energetic action of these British Governments, the principle
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 has been unanimously accepted by all tlie Governments of 
 Europe. Here, if anywhere, is the traditional policy of Great 
 Britain. Here, if anywhere, we may expect to find applied the 
 principle of continuity which has been proclaimed by successive 
 Administrations of both parties. 
 
 We come, therefore, to the examination of the action of our 
 present rul«rs with no room for uncertainty as to the principles 
 upon which they were expected to act. 
 
 The public laAv of Europe specifically sets forth (1) that no 
 Power having a dispute with the Porte shall have recourse 
 to arms until after it has invoked the friendly mediation of its 
 co-signatories ; and (2) that no modification whatever of the 
 existing arrangements of the Ottoman Empire shall be made 
 without the concurrence of all the signatory powers. 
 
 How, then, has Sir EdA\ard Grey ajiplied these principles 
 when he was suddenly faced with the intimation that Italy was 
 going to war with the Tm'ks for the purpose of seizing Tripoli 'i 
 We are, of course, left in the dark as to the action of the 
 Foreign Office, and we can only infer what has been done or 
 what has been left undone by the evidence of known facts, and 
 the meagre admissions of the Foreign Secretary. What 
 everyone would have expected would have been done if the 
 Foreign Ofiice had been occupied by Lord Palmerston, Lord 
 Granville, or Lord Salisbury would have been a sharp unmis- 
 takable public intimation to the Italian Government (1) that 
 her proposed action was a flagrant violation of the public law 
 of Europe (Article 7 & 8) of the Treaty of Paris ; and (2) that 
 whatever arrangements she might attempt to carry out by force 
 of arms in Tripoli would have no validity until they had received 
 the concurrence of the signatory Powers. That much, at least, 
 might have been regarded as certain. But Lord Palmerston or 
 even Mr. Gladstone might have gone further and have intimated 
 that if the Italian Government persisted in so high-handed a 
 defiance of the essential principle of the law of nations. Great 
 Britain would be compelled to consider the necessity of inter- 
 vening to defend the public law of Europe. 
 
 That was what might have been done. If even the first 
 stern warning had not been backed up by an unmistakable 
 intimation that Italy might have to reckon with the British 
 fleet, everyone knows the invasion of Tripoli would never have 
 taken place. 
 
 But Sir Edward Grey did none of these things. He, the 
 custodian of British honour, the keeper of the great trust wiiich 
 we have inherited from our fathers, does not appear to have 
 uttered one word of protest, of remonstrance, or of warning. 
 Neither does he appear to have offered his services as mediator 
 between Italy and Turkey. For a whole month the nation 
 waited in vain for a single Avord of information as to what he 
 was doing to protect the public law of Europe from this insolent 
 and defiant assault. ^Vllen at last on November 2 the long silence
 
 { 17 ) 
 
 was broken, the •following was the information vouchsafed in 
 the House of Commons on November 2 (The quotation is 
 from the Times of November 3, p. 15) : — 
 
 Mr. GwYNN asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 
 when the Italian Government communicated to the British 
 Government its intention of seizing Tripoli ; whether the 
 British Government assented to this enteiprise or addressed 
 any remonstrance to the Italian Government ; and whether 
 he would lay upon the table any communications Avhich had 
 passed between the two Governments referring to the Italian 
 expedition to Tripoli. 
 
 Sir E. Grey. — The first communication of any intention 
 to seize Tripoli which his Majesty's Government received Avas 
 the notification of the Declaration of War on September 30. 
 We at once exj^ressed tiie intention of issuing a declaration 
 of neutrality. As stated last Thursday, I am not prepared to 
 lay j)aper6 at the present time. 
 
 Shades of Palmerston, Gladstone and Salisbur}^ ! Only that 
 and nothing more ! 
 
 But worse was to follow. On November the Italian Gov- 
 ernment issued a fantastic proclamation declaring tliat the 
 provinces of Tripoli and Cjrrenaica, in which it held possession 
 of half a dozen coast towns, were irrevocably annexed to the 
 Kingdom of Italy. 
 
 From the point of view of international law this annexation 
 was as null and void as from the point of view of the actual facts 
 it was grotesquely absurd. The Turkish Government at once 
 issued their protest against it. 
 
 Unless our traditional policy was thrown to the A\'inds and 
 the principle of continuity abandoned, we had a right to 
 expect from the British Foreign Secretary the very next day 
 a declaration couched in the spirit, if not in the actual words, 
 of his predecessors to the effect that the status of the African 
 provinces of the Ottoman Empire is by the Treaties of Paris and 
 Berlin a matter which must be dealt with by the signatories 
 of those treaties acting in concert, and that until their consent 
 was duly had and obtained any alleged or attempted alteration oi 
 the status quo in Tripoli was iiiso facto null and void. 
 
 This declaration was imperatively demanded from the Govern- 
 ment as a defender of the public law of Europe, and it could 
 only be regarded as " offensive " by Italy if that Government 
 persisted in trampling treaties and conventions under foot. In 
 that case it would undoubtedly be " offensive," but only to 
 the offender who was placing himself outside the comity of 
 civilised nations of the world. 
 
 No such declaration was forthcoming. Emboldi>ned by the 
 silence of Europe, the Italians waxed more insolent, and threat- 
 ened in their papers to cany the war into otlici- pails of i\tv 
 (Jttonian Empire.
 
 ( IS ) 
 
 On November !l, 8iv Kdwaid ({ley was questioned upon the 
 subject|bv Mr. Dillon. 
 
 : Mr. Dillon asked Avhetlicr llie Italian Government had 
 communicated to the British CJovornment a proclamation 
 announcing the annexation of Tripoli to Italy ; what effect 
 such proclamaticm was interi)reted by the Italian Government 
 to have on the status of the inhabitants of Tripoli, who con- 
 tinue to resist the Italian troo])s ; whether the British Govern- 
 ment had recognised or assented to this ])rochuiiation ; and 
 whether the British Government ANoiild addr(>ss to the Italian 
 Government a remonstrance against any penal measures 
 against the i)eople of Tripoli based on this proclamation ? 
 
 Sii" E. (tREY : The answer to the first question is in the 
 affirmative. I cannot answer the second question because I 
 do not know. The answer to the third question, whether 
 we recognise or assent to the proclamation, is in the negative. 
 The answer to the last part of the question is also in the nega- 
 tive. To give any other answer would mean intervention 
 in the war between Italy and Turkey. 
 
 Mr. Dillon : Is it not a fact that the issue of such a jjrocla- 
 mation involves the treating of all \\ ho resist the advance of 
 Italian troops as rebels ? 
 
 Sir E. Grey : I cannot say what the interpretation of the 
 Italian Government will be as to the effect of the procla- 
 mation. The proclamation has been communicated to us, as 
 also has the protest of the Turkish Government against it. 
 This seems to me to be one of those things about which we can 
 say nothing whilst hostilities are proceeding. 
 
 Contrast this astounding statement with the action of the 
 British Government in 1878, A\hen Russia was at war with 
 Turkey. We had declared our neutrality then as now. But 
 without waiting for any violation of the Treaty of Paris, on 
 the mere expectation that Russia A\ould ])ropose to modify the 
 status quo, Lord Salisbury deemed it necessary to notify Russia 
 in good round terms that she could not alter one article of the 
 Treaty of Paris without the consent of its other signatories. 
 But Sir Edward Grey, confronted with the flagrantly illegal pro- 
 clamation of the Italian Government, can only say that he has 
 neither recognised it nor assented to it, and for this reason : — 
 
 " This " (the proclamation that Italy has dismembered 
 the Empire whose integrity she guaranteed, and annexed 
 provinces \\hich had hitherto belonged to the Turks) " seems 
 to me to be one of those things about which we can say 
 nothing while hostilities are proceeding." 
 
 Not so did Lord 8di.sbury interpret tlie duty of a Britisli 
 Foreign Minister.
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 CHAPTKK III. 
 
 r NJ^ER THE Hague Convention. 
 
 In 1899 and in 1907, the Governments of the world, met in 
 Conference at the Hague for the purpose of extending the 
 Empire of hiw and of strengthening the sentiment of universal 
 justice, agreed to exercise their good offices in case of serious 
 dispute arising between any two Powers with the object of 
 reconciling the opposing claims and of appeasing feelings of 
 resentment. For the attainment of these excellent ends the 
 Powers drew up conventions for the pacific settlement of inter- 
 national disputes, which Avas signed by the plenipotentiaries of 
 the forty-three Powers which divide between them the govern- 
 ment of the human race. This Convention, in the framing of 
 which Great Britain, Italy and Turkey alike took part, states 
 in its preamble that the Governments represented at the Con- 
 ference : — 
 
 Animated by the sincere desire to work for the maintenance 
 of general peace ; 
 
 Resolved to promote by all the efforts in their power the 
 friendly settlement of international disputes ; 
 
 Recognising the solidarity uniting the members of the 
 society of civilised nations ; 
 
 Desirous of extending the empire of law and of streng- 
 thening the appreciation of universal peace ; 
 
 Convinced that the permanent institution of a Tribunal of 
 Arbitration accessible to all, in the midst of independent 
 Powers, will contribute effectively to this result ; 
 
 Having regard to the advantages attending the general 
 and regular organisation of the procedure of arbitration ; 
 
 Sharing the opinion of the august initiator of the Interna- 
 tional Peace Conference that it is expedient to record in our 
 international agreements the principles of equity and right 
 on which are based the security of States and the welfare of 
 the peoples ; 
 
 Being desirous with this object of ensuring the better work- 
 ing in practice of commissions of inquiry and tribunals of 
 arbitration and of facilitating recourse to arbitration in cases 
 Avhich allow of a summary procedure ; 
 
 Have deemed it necessary to revise in certain particulars 
 and to complete the work of the First Peace Conference for 
 the pacific settlement of international disputes ; 
 
 The high contracting parties have resolved to conclude <a 
 new convention for tliis purpose, have appointed their pleni- 
 potentiaries, who have agreed upon the following
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 The Convention then sets forth the following summarised 
 articles for the maintenance of the general peace : — ^. , ^. 
 
 ST Art. I. — ^The contracting parties agree to use their best efforts 
 to ensure the pacific settlement of international disputes. 
 
 Art, II. — Before an appeal to arms the contracting Powers 
 agree to have recourse to the good offices or mediation of one or 
 more friendly Powcis. 
 
 Art. III. — ^The contracting Powers deem it expedient and 
 desirable that one or more Powers, strangers to the dispute, 
 should on their own initiative offer their good offices or mediation 
 to the States at variance even during the course of hostilities. 
 
 Art. VIII. — ^The contracting Powers are agreed in recommend- 
 ing the application of special mediation in which the conduct 
 of negotiations is vested in a special mediator chosen by each 
 party. 
 
 Art. IX. — The contracting Powers deem it expedient and 
 desirable that in case of disputes not settled by diplomacy the 
 disputants should institute an international commission of 
 inquiry to facihtate a solution of these disputes by elucidating 
 the facts by means of an impartial and conscientious investiga- 
 tion. 
 
 Art. XXXVII. — ^International arbitration has for its object 
 the settlement of disputes between States by judges of their own 
 choice and on the basis of respect for law. 
 
 Art. XXXVUI. — ^In questions of a legal nature and especially 
 in the interpretation or application of international conventions, 
 arbitration is recognised by the contracting Po^A'ers as the most 
 affective and at the same time the most equitable means of 
 settling disputes which diplomacy has failed to settle. 
 
 Art. XXXIX. — The arbitration convention may embrace 
 any dispute. 
 
 t» Art. XLII. — The permanent Court is competent for all arbi- 
 tration cases. 
 
 Art. XLIII. — ^The permanent Court sits at the Hague. An 
 International Bureau serves as a registry for the Court. It is 
 the channel for communications relative to the meetings of the 
 Court. It has charge of the archives and conducts all adminis- 
 trative business. 
 
 Art. XL VIII. — ^In case of conflict between two Powers, one 
 of them can always address to the International Bureau a note 
 containing a declaration that it would be ready to submit the 
 dispute to arbitration. The Bureau must at once inform the 
 other Power of the declaration. 
 
 Almost all these Articles are crippled and limited by such 
 clauses as " so far as circumstances permit " or " in cases involving 
 neither honour nor vital interests," limitations A\hich in the case 
 of the International Counnissioiis of Inquiry were insisted upon by 
 the British delegates, acting under the special instructions of 
 Sir Edward Grey.
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 Now, it \vill be noticed that the contracting Powers, which in 
 all cases include Great Britain and Italy, agree to do a great 
 number of things for the avoidance of war. 
 
 Has one of the contracting Powers done any of these things 
 to avert the outbreak of the present war in Tripoli ? 
 
 It is true that Turkey alone seems to have remembered the 
 exisi^ence of the Hague Convention. She appealed for mediation. 
 But, as in the Gospel, she asked for bread and she was given a 
 stone. 
 
 It may be contended that nations have short memories, 
 and that the Italian Government of 1911 had forgotten the 
 recommendations and the pledges which its predecessor had 
 signed in 1907. 
 
 But this contingency had been foreseen at The Hague. Lest 
 any of them might forget, so impressed were they with the 
 importance of the work they had accomplished that they unani- 
 mously declared it was their "duty " {devoir) to bring it before 
 the attention of any Powers whose dispute endangered peace. 
 The text of this momentous declaration (Art. 27 of 1899, 48 of 
 1907) is as follows :— 
 
 The signatory Powers consider it their duty, if a serious 
 dispute threaten to break out between two or more of them, 
 to remind these latter that the Permanent Court is open to 
 them. Consequently they declare that the fact of reminding 
 the conflicting parties of the provisions of the present Con- 
 vention and the advice given to them in the highest interests 
 of peace to have recourse to the Permanent Court can only 
 be regarded as friendly actions. 
 
 This declaration of the recognition of a solemn duty was 
 signed by the representatives of Great Britain among those of 
 the other forty-two Powers. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be too much to expect that Montenegro 
 or Costa Rica, botli of whom recognised this duty at The Hague, 
 would discharge it when a serious dispute threatened to break 
 out between Italy and Turkey. It might be admitted that 
 Austria and Germany, being the allies of Italy, miglit be absolved 
 from their duty owing to the delicacy of their relations to the 
 Italian Government. France also is accused of being an accom- 
 plice before the fact, thanks to a secret treaty negotiated by 
 M. Delcasse. So that of all the great Powers Russia and England 
 alone were free to do their duty. 
 
 But neitlier of them appears to liave stirred hand or foot to 
 remind the disputants '" that the Permanent Court is open to 
 them," and that the provisions of the Pacific Convention re^- 
 commend, with the authority of tlie disputants tliemselves, 
 many methods of composing their quarrel. We may leave 
 Russia out of account. We are not responsible for the Russian 
 Government. We are responsible for our own.
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 \Vbat li;is tl\o British Foreign Secretary done to fulfil the duty 
 winch in 1007 lie undertook to perforin ? 
 
 The answer, and the only answer that ,so far has been forth- 
 coming, is that the duty has not been fulfilled, and instead of 
 fulfilling the duty \shich he was bound to perform, the British 
 h'oreign Secretary issued a proclamation of neutrality — only 
 that, and nothing more ! . 
 
 Strange and incredible though this may seem, what other 
 conclusion can be arrived at froui the' following question and 
 answer in the House of Commons, November 2, which followed 
 imuiediately upon Sir E. Grey's answer to Mr. Gwynn in which 
 he stated that he had issued a declaration of neutrality on 
 hearing the news of Italy's declaration of war ? 
 
 Mr. I). Mason (Coventry, Min.). — Would the right hon. 
 gentleman explain to the House how that is consistent with 
 the treaty obligations that this country entered into at The 
 Hague ? 
 
 Sir E. Grey. — We received notification of a state of war. 
 We expressed our intention of issuing a declaration of neutrality. 
 There is nothing in that, so far as I am aware, contrary to any 
 treaty obligation. 
 
 The treaty obligation into which Great Britain had entered 
 at The Hague was to remind disputants of the existence of the 
 Permanent Court, and that it is open to them. To say that there 
 is nothing in the declaration of neutrality contrary to treaty 
 obligations is to say what is beside the mark, and confuses the 
 issue. 
 
 The only excuse that can be made for the failure of the signatory 
 Powers to recall the attention of Italy and Turkey to the 
 existence of the Hague Convention is that the attack of Italy 
 was so sudden and unexpected that a state of war had arisen 
 before the duty could have been performed. To this there are 
 two replies : first, that the last clause of Article 48, added in 
 1907, expressly states that disputing Powers can alivays notify 
 the Bureau International of The Hague that they are willing 
 to submit their case to arbitration, so that the duty recognised 
 from the earlier clause of the article did not necessarily cease and 
 deteruiine when the guns began to speak. Secondly, that if the 
 conduct of Italy had been so precipitate as to throw out of gear 
 all the peace-making machinery so elaborately provided at The 
 Hague for the composing of international disputes, her action 
 in itself suggested criminality, and called for the sternest rebuke 
 from all her fellow-signatories. If Italy's sudden swoop like a 
 vulture on her prey rendered impossible the discharge of a duty 
 assjimed by Great Britain in the Hague Convention, that, circum- 
 stance alone \\(juld have afforded adequate occasion for the
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 gravest remonstrance. The fact that the gari otter attacked his 
 victim before he had time to call for the police is not usually 
 regarded as justifying a refusal on the part of the police to arrest 
 the garrotter when he is caught red-handed in the act. It aggra- 
 vates rather than extenuates the guilt of the garrotter. It in- 
 creases instead of diminishes the vigilance of the police. 
 
 But in this grave international crisis, when the Italian Govern 
 ment has done none of the things which it undertook to do ; 
 when it deliberately precipitated a war in order to avoid all offers 
 of good offices, mediation, special mediation or arbitration ; 
 when it tore up the Treaty of Paris and trampled the Hague 
 Convention under its feet, the British Foreign Office, confronted 
 with this alarming situation, in which an international act of 
 brigandage threatened to reduce Europe to international anarchy, 
 conceives that it has fulfilled the sum of its duty to Britain and 
 to civilisation by — issuing a proclamation of neutrality ! 
 
 But this was not all. After the Italian Government had pro- 
 claimed the armexation of the two provinces, another oppor- 
 tunity arose on November 7. 
 
 " Italian official quarters," says a Renter's telegram from Milan, 
 " do not conceal their opinion that the annexation of Tripoli 
 must be considered as a second ultimatum. If Turkey does not 
 give in, the fleet will be ordered to attack Turkey at oile of her 
 vital points." ' 
 
 There is every reason to believe that this statement is well- 
 founded, and that Europe is now face to face with what ^dll 
 be to all intents and purposes a new war, far more dangerous 
 to the general interests than the localised war in Tripoli, 
 
 When the British proclamation of neutrality was issued, it 
 was accompanied by the publication by the Italian Embassy in 
 the English papers of the following official announcement : — 
 
 Italy has not the remotest intention of landing troops in 
 any part of the Ottoman Empire except in Tripolitania and 
 Cyrenaica. A categorical denial in advance is given to any 
 similar report that may come to hand later. 
 
 The operations which the Italian Navy is compelled to 
 carry out in European waters are exclusively directed towards 
 protecting Italian coasts, Italian open towns, the military expe- 
 dition to Tripoli, and Italian merchant ships in the Adriatic 
 and Ionian seas from contemplated Turkish raids. 
 
 It was to such a Avar so strictly limited and confined to 
 the two African provinces that our declaration of neutrality 
 applied. 
 
 The question to be asked is whether, now that Italy has threat- 
 ened to extend the application of force to regions lying far 
 outside the African provinces, the signatory Powers will now 
 remember their obligations imder the Treaty of Paris, and insist 
 that Italy sliall fulfil her solcjim obligation
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 before having recourse to the employment of force to afford 
 the other contracting parties an oj)portunity of averting this 
 extremity by their mediation. 
 
 This is not to press mediation upon Ital5\ It is to inform 
 Italy that her ncAv war, Avith its employment of force outside 
 Tripoli, will not be permitted by Great Britain — with or without 
 allies — until Italy has fulfilled her treaty obligations to afford 
 the other contracting parties an opportunity of averting this 
 extremity by their mediation. This is to compel Italy to sue 
 for that mediation which she has hitherto defiantly rejected. 
 
 An opportunity might at the same time have been taken to 
 inform the Italian Government that her annexation of Tripoli 
 is invalid without the consent of all the signatory Powers. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey had here a second chance of sho\nng himself 
 a worthy successor of Lo'-d Granville and Lord Salisbury. Such 
 chinces seldom recur. But nothing was done.
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 • : -r ' CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Why Mediation has Failed. 
 
 Mediation has failed because, instead of compelling Italy to 
 obey the public law of Europe and appeal for mediation before 
 having recourse to arms, the Powers alloAved her to go to war 
 without mediation. After Italy had gone to war, she flouted 
 their appeal for mediation. It was Italy who ought to have 
 asked for mediation, not Europe that should ask for permis- 
 sion to mediate. Mediation is undoubtedly a very good thing. 
 But mediation has failed because tlie Italian Government lias 
 from first to last refused to listen to any proposals to 
 mediate which do not start from the recognition of her right 
 to annex Tripoli. The Italian Government broke the pubhc 
 law of Europe by appealing to force before giving her co-signa- 
 tories an opportunity of mediating. The Italian Government 
 broke the public law of Europe by annexing two provinces of 
 the Ottoman Empire the integrity of whose territories it had 
 guaranteed. The Italian Government with this twofold breach 
 of the public law of Europe on its hands, refuses to mediate 
 except on the basis of allowing her to keep the plunder she 
 has lawlessly acquired. 
 
 Mediation is a good thing, but what is the use of harping 
 on aboiit mediation when the Itahan Government tells us 
 with plain, do\^Tiright brutality that the first condition of its 
 assent to mediation is that it must be allowed not only to 
 occupy and administer Tripoli as we occupy and administer 
 Egypt, but must be allowed to turn out the Turks bag and 
 baggage, and to deprive the Sultan once for all of his 
 sovereignty or his suzerainty over his African provinces ? 
 
 The conduct of the Turkish Government on the subject of 
 mediation has been irreproachable. ThcY- aj^pealerl for tp «^^J"- 
 tion the moment they were threatened with war. Th^ had a. 
 rTg4»tr-4e- me di ation under ilie Eiglilii Arlidti -af the Tre at;r-of 
 Pai'is, b ut they appealed to deaf eais. Th e 8ultan appea led 
 personally to the Kaiser and the King of England to mecTTate . 
 but he was told they could do nothing. The King of England 
 rephed by expressmg' his regret that he could not intervene. 
 The Kaiser was more cordial, but his response came practically 
 to the same thing. 
 
 The Emperor, after expressing feelings of dear friendship 
 and veneration for the 8ultan, says that in the interests of 
 humanity he had instructed the Ambassador to make an effort 
 to intervene, but isolated action by Germany unsupported 
 by the other Powers would be without effect. 
 ^ However, in deference to the wishes of his Majesty, he
 
 ( 2fi ) 
 
 (the Emperor) would make another proposal for mediation, 
 and, at the same time, submit a similar suggestion to the 
 other Powers. 
 
 Baron Marschall von Bieberstein afterwards went, to the 
 Porte and had a lengthy conversation with the Grand Vizier, 
 repeating the eommunicati(m made by the Em])eror. b\it 
 explaining that it Avas most unlikely that it would lead to 
 any result. 
 
 The Turks appealed again for mediation when the Italian 
 Government despatched its ultimatum, and again they aj^pealed 
 in vain. They made their last despairing appeal to the PoAvers 
 on October after the war had broken out. The following 
 is the text of their last appeal : — 
 
 The Government has informed the Great Powers of the 
 conditions in Avhich it suddenly found itself in the presence 
 of a declaration of war by Italy, in spite of the fact that the 
 Italian ultimatum had been met before the expiration of the 
 prescribed delay with a clearly conciliatory re])ly, containing 
 all the elements of an immediate settlement. Contrary to all 
 international rules, this declaration of war Avas preceded by 
 hostilities on the part of Italian ships. 
 
 For this reason the Ottoman Government, Avitli de jure and 
 de facto, has a right to employ against Italy, not only measures 
 automatically arising out of a state of war, but also any 
 measure Avhich the present situation may permit it to decree. 
 
 NotAvithstanding this right, the GoA'ernment has postponed 
 such measures, Avhile making a fresh appeal to the Great 
 PoAvers, in the conviction that it is still possible to put an 
 end to the war. The Government is thus striA'ing to stem 
 the enthusiasm of the Ottoman people, wounded in its most 
 sacred feelings, and in the name of civilisation, justice, and 
 equity, it hopes that the Great Powers will respond to its 
 appeal. 
 
 What Avas the response of the PoAvers ? In brief, it was this : 
 We can only mediate on condition you giA^e up Tripoli to the 
 Italians. The semi-official statement supplied to Reuter's 
 correspondent in Constantinople runs thus : — 
 
 The replies to the Porte's aj)peal have now been received 
 from most of the PoAvers, but as expected, tliey afford but 
 * little satisfaction. The effect of the replies is that the PoAvers 
 are unable to offer mediation until the Porte suggests a basis 
 on the lines of the Italian demands as set forth in the Italian 
 ultimatum. 
 
 From that attitude the PoAVcrs do not seem to have budged 
 from that day to this. 
 
 On November 8, Mr. Acland, in rejily to Mr. Silvester Home, 
 said, Avith refeicnce to the Turco-Italian Avar, that the Govern- 
 ment Avould not deem themselves precluded by the recent pro-
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 clamation of neutrality frowi offering their good offices ot media- 
 tion if any favourable result was likely to Idc brought about by 
 their doing so. They have been, and are always, he said, anxious 
 to take advantage, in conjunction with the other Powers, of any 
 opportunity which may present itself for offering their good 
 offices or mediation to the States at variance. But the views 
 of the belligerents on the matter in dispute are so divergent that 
 no basis exists on which a neutral Power could, at present, 
 offer mediation that would not be refused or even resented by 
 one or other of the belhgerents. 
 
 Nor is there any likelihood that they will depart so 
 long as the public opinion of Europe and America allows 
 them to continue as silent but potent accomplices of the 
 Italian crime. To those Avho continue to meet the demand 
 for a vindication of the public law of Europe and for a settlement 
 of the whole question by a High Court of Arbitral Justice by 
 plaintive appeals for mediation, I venture to address one straight- 
 forward question. Mediation is only possible on one basis, 
 viz., the recognition by the mediators of the right of the Italian 
 Government to tw^o Turkish provinces. Are you prepared to 
 recognise that right ? If you are, you are accessories after 
 the fact, aiding and abetting an international burglar to obtain a 
 legal title to the stolen goods. If you are not prepared to help 
 Italy to Tripoli, how can you mediate ? 
 
 The Italian Government has now been at war for nearly 
 a month, and we have hardly wakened up to the fact that 
 we are at war. 
 
 I say we, because the Italian ultimatum heralded an attack, 
 not on Tripoli only, but on you and me, on treaty faith, on 
 the rights of nations, on the hope of progress and the safe- 
 guards of civilisation. 
 
 Wliat are we going to do about it ? 
 
 One thing is certain, whatever else is doubtful. The Govern- 
 ments will do nothing to help us as things are. They may, 
 however, be roused to a sense of their duty by an appeal to 
 the peoples, who in the long run are the masters of the 
 Governments. 
 
 Left to themselves, the Governments will compromise and 
 temporise, fumble and bungle ; in short, they will do nothing 
 and everything but their duty. 
 
 Meanwhile, not merely is the Ottoman Empire slowly bleeding 
 to death, but the forces hostile to civilisation and to the great 
 laws which bind nations into one community, are entrenching 
 themselves in an impregnable position. 
 
 Tlie time lias surely come to rouse into action the popular 
 forces which as yet are only dimly conscious of the significance 
 of the blow which the Italian Government has dealt against 
 them. 
 
 Tlie Governments will do nothing more than proffer their 
 mediation, exchange their views, make representations solely
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 \\it\\ :i view to arranging some comproiiiist-; by which the robber 
 may be allowed to carry off his booty. That in plain English 
 is what mediation means. 
 
 If the Ottoman peoples are content to see Tripoli handed 
 over to the Italian Government, then they will do well to sit 
 still, and wait till the resources of diplomacy have discovered 
 some means of rendering acceptable the results of brigandage. 
 
 )rr"ttie~contrary7They arc not content to^su bmit to th jsy 
 
 dismemberment of their Emp rre7~they have com ed o the_ con-[ 
 
 elusion that they should resort to some more effective means I 
 
 'of resistance than plaintive appeaTs^To ForeignZ-Uthces wEoiel 
 
 occupants have only one thought, that is to persuade ^e/ 
 
 '^ Lttoman s to a bandon Tripoli^ ■ 
 
 Mediation of this one-sided kind has been going on for a 
 month. It \^dll go on for another month, and a great triumph 
 will be claimed by the mediators if after two months' mediating 
 they succeed in severing Tripoli from the living body of the 
 Ottoman Empire, and in handing it over, coast-line and 
 hinterland, Ottomans and Arabs, to the Italian Government. 
 For the only god of diplomacy is the Fait Accompli, and 
 the object of all mediation is to make all Ottomans bow 
 down and worship that. All the old gods are dethroned. 
 On the ruins of the temples Avhich mankind once erected to 
 the great ideals of Justice, Right and Public LaAV, the mediators 
 have set up this bloody and savage false god, the Fait Accompli. 
 For my own part, I protest against the assumption that when 
 one Government commits a crime all the other Governments 
 are bound to endeavour to induce the victim of that crime to 
 sit still and say nothing about it. That is not the way in which 
 civilisation can be defended. It makes mediators accomplices 
 of the criminal. 
 
 \Vliat the j)eople want is not mediation but justice. What 
 the Governments ought to have done was to have restrained 
 the Italians from violating the public law of Europe. They 
 have failed in their duty. Some of them are even believed to 
 have been accomplices in the crime, having encouraged by 
 secret treaty the perpetration of this outrage. But one and 
 all have failed to discharge the duty they recognised in the 
 Hague Convention and to defend the stipulations of the Treaty 
 of Paris. 
 
 What, then, must be done ? 
 
 That is a question almost as pressing for the nations of Europe 
 as for the Ottoman people. For if the action of the Italian 
 Government is acquiesc(>d in, then we are face to face with 
 an era of international anarchy in which no frontier is safe, 
 no nation is secure ; in which might is the only right, and 
 the conscience of mankind fails even to protest against the 
 most cynical violation of treaty faith. u.t., 
 
 Are solemn international treaties to be torn up like waste 
 paper ? Is no attempt to be made to secure a settlement of
 
 ( . 29 ) 
 
 international disputes save by methods of slaughter ? These 
 two questions ^vill be answered in the negative if nothing is 
 done to check the steady progress of international anarchy. 
 We stand at the parting of the ways. If the action of Italy 
 is to be condoned by the peoples as well as by the Govern- 
 ments, then the fair prospect which shone before the eyes of 
 mankind at the opening of the Hague Convention is blotted 
 out with a black cloud. Instead of progressing towards the 
 establishment of an international world-State in which justice 
 is administered by an impartial tribunal, mankind will be 
 thrown back into the bloody welter of predatory war. 
 
 From the brigandage of the Italian Government and from 
 the criminal connivance of the mediating Powers an appeal 
 must be made to the peoples of the world. They are at present 
 ill-informed concerning what has happened, they are pre- 
 occupied with their own affairs and but half awake to the 
 enormity of the crime that has been committed in Tripoli. 
 
 They must be informed as to the facts, they must be roused 
 to attention, they must be summoned to the defence of the 
 right. 
 
 The task is difficult. But it is not impossible. The con- 
 science of mankind may sleep. It is not extinct. Deep in 
 the human heart lies latent a belief in justice to which it is 
 possible to appeal. 
 
 Let us make that appeal, and make it now, without Avasting 
 another day in waiting for the results of mediation, which 
 simply is another way of spelling annexation.
 
 ( 30. ) 
 
 CHAFIEU V. 
 
 Why Ai'PEAi. to Arbitration ? 
 
 Tht' appruLs of the 8ul)liim' Porte to the Powers have so far 
 produced an offer of mediation on the basis of annexation. The 
 Turks can go on making tliese appeals, and they can go on with 
 their mediating ; but the time has come when the Ottoman 
 people must supplement the appeals for mediation by a demand 
 for justice. This demand nnist be made, not to the diplomacy, 
 but to the democracy of the world. It must be made in broad 
 and simple terms which the man in the street and the peasant 
 at the plough can understand. The case is simple enough. 
 
 The Italian Government has picked a quarrel Anth the Turk 
 in order to pick his pocket. The Italian Government, having 
 seized Tripoli, wishes to keep it. Against this the Ottoman 
 people protest in the name of justice and right. 
 
 But they can do more than protest. They can make known 
 to the peoples of the world that they are ready to prove the 
 justice of their case before an impartial Court. The popular 
 formula is, " We are willing to submit the whole case to arbi- 
 tration and to abide by the decision of the judge." 
 
 In the present case what is needed is not so much a tribunal 
 of arbitration as a criminal court. But a criminal court for 
 international n)alef actors does not exist, whereas there is a 
 Hague Tribunal for Arbitration. 
 
 It is true that this tribunal has not the authority to summon 
 any law-breaking Powers to come up for judgment. But that 
 is no reason why the Ottoman Government should not notify 
 the International Bureau at The Hague that it is willing to sub- 
 mit its case to arbitration, leaving to the Italian Government 
 the onus of refusing to allow an impartial tribunal to pronounce 
 upon tile justice of its case. 
 
 The object of tlie Hague Conference was to constitute " a 
 Tribunal of Arbitration accessible to all." If the Turks are 
 denied access to this tribvmal by the refusal of the Italian Gov- 
 ernment to assist in its creation a no more eflV ctive object lesson 
 can be afforded to the world of the necessity for suiiplementing 
 the Aoluntary tribimal by a real High Cburt of Justice among 
 the nations than by the spectacle of a great Power pleading, 
 and pleading in vain, for an opportunity to prove the justice 
 of its case, because its assailant refuses to jjlead ? 
 
 What is called the Tribunal of The Hague is a list of eminent 
 juris-consults nominated by all the Governments of the world, 
 all of whom are ready when called U])on to sit as arbitrators. 
 But before tliey can be so called ui)()n the t\\() Powers in dispute 
 nuist agree voluntarily to submit their differences to a court 
 constituted by judges of their own selection, who are strictly
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 confined in their jurisdiction by tiie coniprunii.se or stalenient 
 of tlip ca.se in dispute drawn up by the disputing Powers. If 
 either of tlie disputants choosts to declare that any point in the 
 controversy touches their honour or their vital interests they 
 can withdraAV that point from the court. Hence the Hague 
 Tribunal has only been invoked for the settlement of minor 
 questions which Governments are very well content to get 
 out of the way. It has never been emploj^ed to settle matters 
 of life and death touching the integiity or the independence 
 of disputing nations. 
 
 Its inadequacy Avas recognised by the last Hague Conference, 
 Avhich spent much of its time in attempting to establish a real 
 High Court of Arbitral Justice which should be permanently 
 in session at The Hague. The attempt fell through owing to 
 the difficult}^ of apportioning judges between the great and the 
 small Powers. But a great advance Avas made towards agree- 
 ment, as the following extract from the acte finale of the Con- 
 ference of 1907 shows : — 
 
 It is unanimous — 
 
 1. In admitting the principle of obligatory arbitration. 
 
 2. In declaring that certain disputes, iti particular those 
 relating to the interpretation and application of the provisions 
 of international agreements, may be submitted to compulsory 
 arbitration without any restriction. 
 
 Finally, it is unanimous in proclaiming that, although it 
 has not yet been found feasible to conclude a convention in 
 this sense, nevertheless the divergences of opinion which 
 have come to light have not exceeded the bounds of judicial 
 controversy. 
 
 To this " opinion " the Conference added as an annex a Draft 
 Convention relative to the creation of a Court of Arbitral Justice, 
 which proves that there was a unanimous agreement as to the 
 importance of constituting such a Court, and that the only 
 point upon agreement broke doAvn was as to the selection of the 
 judges. Otherwise, the Convention supplies a complete scheme 
 for creating the Court and lays down its procedure mth the 
 utmost particularity of detail. 
 
 The first Articles run as follows : — 
 
 1. With a view to pro))ioting the cause of arbitration, the 
 contracting Powers agree to constitute without altering the 
 status of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a Court of 
 Arbitral Justice of free and easy access, composed of judges 
 representing the various juridical systems of the world, and 
 capable of securing continuity in arbitral jurisprudence 
 
 2. The Court of Arbitral Justice is composed of judges and 
 deputy judges chosen from ])ersons of the liighest Tno^al 
 r(>putation and all fulfilling coiiditions ((ualifying them in' 
 tlieir respective countries to occiinv liigh legal j)osts or bo 
 jurists of recognised competence in Jtiatters of international law.
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 These judges were to be appointed for a term of tAvelve years 
 and were to be eligible for re-election. They werejto rank 
 in order of seniority, and A\ere to enjoy diplomatic privileges 
 and immunities. Out of their whole number they must annually 
 elect three judges to act as special delegation, which would sit 
 permanently all the year round at the Hague. The delegation 
 might by agreement act as the Court, it might settle the com- 
 promis, but eacli of the disputants had a right to nominate a 
 judge of the Court to take part in the proceedings. The 
 judges were to receive a salary of about £800 a year, but when 
 they were employed they were to be paid an extra allowance — 
 eight pounds a day and their travelling expenses. The full 
 Court was to meet once every year in June, unless the delega- 
 tion decided that it is unnecessary ; but, on the other hand, 
 the delegation could summon a special Court when it deems 
 it necessary. 
 
 This Court of Arbitral Justice was to have power to adjudicate 
 in all cases wliich came within special or general treaties of 
 obligatory arbitration, or any other cases in wliich both dis- 
 putants agreed to invoke its intervention. 
 
 The Court did not come into existence because of the im- 
 possibility of reconciling the claims of the small Powers, led by 
 Brazil, to be represented on the Bench by an equal number of 
 judges to those representing the great Powers. Germany led 
 the opposition of the great PoAvers, and between the two 
 groups the Conference had to adjourn the consideration of the 
 question to the Governments. 
 
 Russia proposed as a way out of the difficulty that \\ithout 
 making any distinction between great and small Powers, each 
 continent should nominate seven judges, there being less rivalry 
 between continents than between nations. Mr. Secretary Knox 
 announced this year that such progress has been made in solving 
 the knotty question of the distribution of the judges that he 
 had every hope the Court of Arbitral Justice would be consti- 
 tuted before the meeting of the next Hague Conference. 
 
 The range of the jurisdiction of the Court would, of course, 
 dejDend upon the extent to which the Powers formally or severally 
 had entered into treaties of obligatory arbitration. At present, 
 with few exceptions, they all exclude questions of honour and 
 vital interests ; and it was because he wished to include these 
 questions President Taft proposed to include in the new Arbi- 
 tration Treaties even those questions which are usually ex- 
 cluded. Of course, in the end the High Court of Arbitral Justice 
 will have to have jurisdiction over all disputes, but that is 
 not yet. 
 
 Italy at both the first alid second Conferences professed great 
 pride in being the foremost Power in the world in championing 
 the principle of obligatory arbitration. In the first Hague 
 Conference, Count Nigra proposed to amend the Kussiaii pro- 
 posals for arbitration by enacting —
 
 ( 3:^ ) 
 
 I. In case of an imminent conflict between two of more 
 Powers before the failure of every attempt at conciliation, 
 by means of indirect negotiations, the Powers in dispute are 
 obliged {soni obligees) to have recourse to mediation or to 
 arbitration in the cases indicated in the present Act. 
 
 Another Article declares that arbitration might be proposed 
 not merely when mediation had not been offered, but also Avhen 
 it has been tried and had failed in effecting a settlement. His 
 last proposition was to declare that recourse to mediation or 
 arbitration Avas obligatory in certain specified cases. 
 
 In the second Conference Count Tovnielli took special credit 
 to Italy as being the standard-bearer of international arbitration 
 throughout the world. Italy also has quite recently concluded 
 four General Treaties of Arbitration besides the Treaty with 
 Argentina, Avliich was signed in the Ritterzaal while the second 
 Conference Avas in session. 
 
 Public opinion is obviously ripening in the direction of a con- 
 pulsory International Court of Justice. It is obvious that 
 nothing could do more to educate public opinion as to the need 
 of such a Court than the spectacle of a great Power actually 
 suffering from invasion demanding and demanding in vain that 
 its adversary should afford it an opportimity of demonstrating 
 the baselessness of the charges by AA^hich it sought to justify 
 the Avar. Nothing could more conclusively prove the inade- 
 quacy of the present voluntary system than this e\-idence that 
 the door of the Temple of Justice can be barred by the PoAver 
 that has broken the law. 
 
 But in a broad popular appeal to the conscience of the nations 
 these juristic cUfficulties do not arise. 
 
 What is wanted is a declaration in a clear unmistakable 
 popular formula that the Ottomans desire to settle this dispute, 
 whatever it may involve, by arbitration and not by AA'ar. This 
 declaration can be made under Article 48 of the Hague Con- 
 vention by the simple process of addressing a note to the Inter- 
 national Bureau of the Hague, stating that the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment is AviUing to submit the whole question in dispute betAveen 
 it and the Italian Government to arbitration. The clause is as 
 foUoAvs : — 
 
 In case of dispute between tAvo Powers one of them can 
 ahvays address to the International Bureau a note containing 
 a declaration that it Avould be ready to submit the dispute to 
 arbitration. The Bureau must at once inform the other 
 PoAver of the declaration. 
 
 The advantage of making this declaration in this form lies 
 in the fact that it Avould be immediately understood by every 
 nation as a direct challenge to Italy to settle the dispute by an 
 appeal to a tribunal Avhere truth, laAV and justice are supreme. 
 
 The Note need not assume that mediation has failcel ; all 
 that is necessary is to notify the Bureau that the Ottoman
 
 ( 31. ) 
 
 Cuveiunieiit is willinj:. when the light time arises, to submit 
 the dispute to arbitration. The Government ean then go on 
 with its mediation till Christmas or the Greek kalends. 
 
 The questions in dispute are capable of being simply stated. 
 They are : — 
 
 I. Have treaties, especially the treaties of 1856 and 1878, 
 any value, or may they be treated as waste paper ? 
 
 Turkey answers, Yes. Italy answers, No. 
 Which is right ? 
 
 II. Have the Hague Conventions any value or are the Powers 
 bound to act upon their recommendations ? 
 
 Turkey answers, Yes. Italy answers. No. 
 Which is right ? 
 
 III. Has the Italian Government any legitimate grievance 
 against the Ottoman Government in the administration of 
 Tripoli which the latter refused to remedy ? 
 
 Turkey answers, No. Italy answers, Yes, 
 Which is right ? 
 
 IX. Has any Power, even if she has grievances, any right 
 on that ground to declare war at twenty-four hours' notice, 
 Axithout affording any opportunity of removing these grievances, 
 and then to seize territory in defiance of treaty rights ? 
 
 Italy answers, Yes. Turkey answers, No. 
 Which is right ? 
 
 These are roughly the four (questions in dispute. The two 
 iirst and the fourth concern all the peoples of Europe as well 
 as the Ottomans. The third is a question of fact which could 
 be easily cleared u]) by an International Commission d'Enquete. 
 Why should not all these questions be settled by a High Court 
 of the nations ? 
 
 It is true that no such High Court is actually in existence. 
 But the Hague Bureau offers at least a formal opportmiity for 
 the Ottomans to declare their readiness to settle the whole 
 dispute l)y an appeal to a judicial tribunal. 
 
 It is only a form, but it is useful because it puts Turkey in 
 the right before the nations. If the dispute were really to be 
 sent for judicial settlement, a very different court of nations 
 would have to be created to that contemplated by the Hague 
 Convention. 
 
 ^\^:^ AN^ 
 
 'o^
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Ottoman Appeal to Europe. 
 
 The following telegram sent to The Daily News, Octolier 27, 
 explains the attitude of the Ottoman people or\ the subject of 
 Arbitration : — 
 
 " CoNSTANTEsropLE, October 27, 1911. 
 
 " I have succeeded beyond my utmost hopes. A fortnight 
 ago arbitration was never mentioned ; to-day it is universally 
 demanded. The Grand Vizier, speaking for the Sultan and the 
 Cabinet, gives his public endorsement to the arbitration cam- 
 paign that is now about to be undertaken throughout Europe. 
 The Turks are not satisfied with merely appealing to the Hague 
 Tribunal, which is rendered powerless by Italy's refusal to 
 arbitrate ; they demand the creation of a permanent High 
 Court with obligatory arbitration. They offer to submit the 
 whole dispute to such a High Court, and this week the most 
 influential deputation ever dispatched abroad by Turkey will 
 begin its pilgrimage of propaganda and appeal for obligatory 
 arbitration through Europe. 
 
 " The initiative has been left to the Turkish Inter-ParHa- 
 mentary group because the Government is hampered by the 
 negotiations for mediation, but the Government warmly support 
 the action that has been taken. The deputation, selected by 
 the Parliamentary group, consists of six Senators and Deputies, 
 representing the Turks, Arabs, Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, 
 and Jews of the Empire. [The number has now been raised 
 to nine, and a Bulgarian has been added.] Its Vice-President 
 is Prince Ferid Pasha, the Sultan's brother-in-law. The deputa- 
 tion contains members of all the parties. Boustani Effendi, 
 Deputy for Beyrout, Talaat Bey (former Minister of the Interior), 
 or Djahid Bey (editor of the Tanin), Mavrocordato Eflendi 
 (former Minister of Agriculture), paid Nouradonghian Eflendi 
 (formerly Minister of PubHc Works), and the other members 
 will probably start on Saturday for Bucharest, where they will 
 add to their number a Roumanian Deputy. Thence they pro- 
 ceed to Budapesth, and there will add Hungarian, Bulgarian, 
 and Servian Deputies ; thence to Vienna, Berhn, St. Petersburg, 
 Stockholm, Christiania, Copenhagen, The Hague, Brussels, 
 Berne, Paris, and London. The deputation will then number 
 twenty, representing fifteen States in all, and making a demon- 
 stration all along the route in favour of obligatory arbitration. 
 
 " The scheme has already been assured of the approval of 
 Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, and has been ])romised by 
 the Ambassadors a warm welcome in Germany, Russia, and 
 England. The journey will last over thirty days. The effect 
 will be cumulative ; everywhere an appeal will be m^de to the 
 peoples.
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 " Their commission would be one of protest, of discovery, and 
 of appeal. They go to protest not against Italy as Italy, but 
 against the cynical violation of treaties. They go to discover 
 how far the nations of Europe have deserted their ancient faith 
 in the sanctity of the pledged word, and whether there still 
 lingers in any quarter the aspirationj^to supersede war by Inter- 
 national Arbitration. If they should find in the various Inter- 
 Parliamentary groups, in the Parliaments and in the people 
 at large any regard for treaties and any faith in arbitration, 
 they will appeal to their friends to co-operate with them in 
 bringing the utmost pressure to bear upon their Governments 
 to compel Italy to submit her claims to the judgment of an 
 impartial Court. If it should be objected that, on the facts as they 
 stand, the proper place for the Italian Government is in the 
 dock in -which justice places those caught red-handed in the 
 commission of crime, the Ottoman Delegation will gladly assist 
 in constitutmg such a High Court in which the Italian Govern- 
 ment could be tried for its crimes against the comity of nations. 
 They only say, ' To the Hague ! ' because at the Hague is the 
 nearest approach to an International High Court at present in 
 existence. » 
 
 " The route by Bucharest wiU be taken because of the quaran- 
 tine imposed by Bulgaria upon travellers from Constantinople 
 Belgrade and Sofia could be visited on the return journey. 
 Delegates from the Bulgarian and Servian ParUaments could meet 
 the Delegation at Buda Pesth." 
 
 The following is an outline of the probable course of proceed- 
 ings. On arriving at any capital the Delegation \vi][ be met 
 by the members of the local Inter-Parhamentary group and 
 conducted to their hotel. They will discuss together what means 
 can be taken to bring the question of substituting arbitration for 
 war before the attention of the Government and the pubUc. 
 The means which will be adopted vnW most probably be the 
 following : — 
 
 1. Each delegate will pay his respects to the local repre- 
 sentative of his oAATi Government and endeavour to enlist 
 his sympathy and support. 
 
 2. The Delegation will endeavour to" secure through the 
 agency of the local group : (a) The placarding in conspicuous 
 places thi'oughout the country of the Ottoman Appeal to 
 the Nations ; and (6) the despatch by post of appeals "to 
 every i)erson in a representative or influential position in the 
 country, asking them to append their names to the inter- 
 national demand for arbitration. 
 
 3. The Delegation will then address one or more public 
 meetings, at Avhich resolutions wiU be submitted demanding 
 that the dispute now inflamed by war should be submitted 
 to a Court of Arbitral Justice for settlement, and calling upon 
 the local Government to use its influence to support that 
 demand.
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 4. After the meeting the local Parliamentary group will 
 introduce the Delegation as a deputation to the Foreign 
 Minister, to whom they ^rill state their case, present the 
 resolutions passed at the public meeting and appeal for his 
 support. 
 
 5. The local Parliamentary group -will be asked to nominate 
 one of their members to accompany the Delegation on its 
 progress through other capitals, so that when it reaches London 
 the original nucleus of Ottomans will be surrounded by twice 
 their number of delegates from other nations, all united in 
 presenting the same request. 
 
 6. There will also be an interchange of hospitalities, inter- 
 views Avith the Press, and all the usual subsidiary means of 
 rousing public attention and educating pubhc opinion. 
 
 It is evident that if this programme or even one-half of it 
 be carried out, the net effect of the combined appeal by the 
 accredited representatives of so many Parliaments would be 
 immense. It would ripen opinion in favour of a much more 
 drastic and compulsory International Court than that which at 
 present exists, it would warn the nations of their danger, and 
 it would incidentally confer upon the Ottomans the bean role, 
 of bearing the standard of arbitration and justice through the 
 world. 
 
 The following extract from a zealous worker in the cause 
 of peace Avith Justice describes the preparations already set on 
 foot to welcome the Deputation on its arrival at a European 
 capital : — 
 
 " I think for the reception here a great ocular demonstration 
 would be the most impressive, with everyone carrying white 
 flags and wearing a medal or emblem and lining the streets on 
 either side all the way from the station to the hotel. The 
 Pilgrims ought to arrive here on a Sunday so that we can have 
 the Socialists, &c., in numbers, and everyone with a small white 
 flag with ' Justice ' written on it,'''or something suggestive. 
 
 " Of course, there will be mass meetings, receptions, &c. 
 That others wiU no doubt attend to. But I will try and work 
 up, or at least start, the ocular demonstration by appealing 
 to the heads of the various societies and groups here. I pro]iose 
 to see : — 
 
 1. The heads of all the various women's societies (whom 
 I mostly know) and get them to adhere. 
 
 2. The heads of the students' associations. 
 
 3. The heads of the various religious groups — Theosophists, 
 Behaists, Occultists, Protestants, Jews, &c. 
 
 4. The chief Sociahsts and see what they will do. 
 
 5. The leading members of the American Colony. 
 
 G. The leading members of the various foreign colonies. 
 7. The heads and members of the " Red Cross Societies,"
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 8. The Inter-Parliamentary group will of course take action, 
 but I Avill see what they propose and whether they will adhere 
 to ocular demonstration. 
 
 9. &c., &c., &c. (Heads of Corporations.) 
 
 As a natural consequence, if the Italian Government persisted 
 in refusing to submit to Arbitration it would create a very bad 
 atmosphere for Italy in every country ixi Europe. It would 
 increase the chances that the Italian Government would, hke 
 that of Russia in 1878, be compelled to appear before a new 
 Congress of Berlin. 
 
 Although it forms no official part of the programme of the 
 Delegation, individual members udll probably recommend the 
 boycotting of Italian products, manufactures, stocks, &c., as a 
 simj^le but effective method of showing the resentment aroused 
 by the lawless outrage perpetrated by the Italian Govemmont 
 upon Treaty faith and the rights of nations. 
 
 THE OTTOMAN MANIFESTO. 
 
 To the Men of Great Britain. 
 
 Like a brigand from the mountains, the Italian Government 
 in a time of profound peace has suddenly scooped down upon 
 our country and is trying to make Tripoli her captive. 
 
 It is our turn to-day, it may be yours to-morrow. 
 
 "We appeal to you for your energetic assistance to defend the 
 common interests of civilisation and liumanity against tlie 
 lawless aggression of plundering Powers. 
 
 We are not making war upon the Italians. 
 
 The Italian Government is inaking war upon us in order io 
 steal our provinces in the interest of financial speculators. 
 
 The Italian Government has boinbarded our seaports, 
 slaughtered our people, and seized the whole of our African 
 Coast lines. It continues to prosecute its campaign with un- 
 relenting fury. 
 
 We ask for peace, for a cessation of hostilities, and above all 
 we ask that the whole dispute may be at once referred to the 
 impartial arbitration of the Tribunal of The Hague. 
 
 The world established that Tribunal to be '' accessible to all." 
 We ask you to help us to gain access to it for the settlement of 
 our disputes on the principles of equity and riglit. 
 
 We do not ask you to support our cause against the cause of 
 Italy. 
 
 Still less do we ask to be allowed to act as judges in our own 
 cause. 
 
 We ask only that the International Tribunal which yoii have 
 established sliall not be closed to us by tlie refusal of the aggressor 
 to submit to its jurisdiction. -,^i| 
 
 Brothers : * <J 
 
 It is not merely the fate of Tvi]>oli winch is at strke. Tt is the
 
 ( -!> ) 
 
 futur(> of our nxcc. The drffncr of Hit- antliorily of Ih'jUvgUi.' 
 Tribunal is llic fiisl duty of ci\ilisod 8tates. 
 
 Jf Italy is allowed to cany out her designs unchecked by the 
 moral sense of mankind, the policy of the brigand will be estab- 
 lished upon the ruins of the public law of Europe and the weaker 
 nations will be abandoned, to be devoured by their stronger 
 neighbours. 
 
 To save humanity from so dire a disaster, we appeal to j'^ou 
 to join us in crying, in the hearing of the whole world : 
 
 To The Hague ! To The Hague ! To The Hague ! 
 
 Although war is still b?ing waged against us, and although 
 the questions at issue involve our honour, our vital interests, 
 our independence and our integrity, the Turkish Government 
 unreservedly submit tiie whole question to arbitration. 
 
 We ask you to insist that the Italian Government whose 
 only interest is that of the burglar in theretention of his booty, 
 should not be allowed to evade justice by refusing arbitration. 
 
 It is the first time in history that all the races and religions 
 in the Ottoman Eunnre have appealed for sympathy and help 
 to the peoples of the world. 
 
 But we make this appeal wth confidence that we shall not 
 appeal in vain. 
 
 Wrongs as great may have been perpetrated in the past, but 
 never l)efore has there been an International Tribunal to whom 
 the injured and oppressed could appeal for Justice. 
 
 Hence the supreme importance of the present moment. We 
 have submitted our case to arbitratit)n. (*onscious in the 
 justice of our cause, W(; accept in advance whatever award 
 may be given. 
 
 If Italy, conscious of her guilt, fears to appeal to the Arbitral 
 Tribunal, then in the name of Justice and of Rights we appeal 
 to you to denounce the Italian Government as the enemy of the 
 human race, and to treat it as excommunicate of humanity until 
 it repents and submits to the verdict of The Hague. 
 
 Signed on behalf of the whole Ottoman Nation, 
 
 {Here folloiv signatures'.) 
 
 The above manifesto had not been finally revised when its 
 text was published in Gonstantinople. 
 
 It was preceded by another Manifesto drawn up by the Com- 
 mittee of Union and Progress at the Conference held at Salonica 
 on October 2 : — 
 
 " Italy has at length unmasked her hostile designs on Tripoli. 
 The Italian Charge d' Affaires handed to the Government a 
 Note announcing the occupation of the Tripoli vilayet yester- 
 day. The Ottoman nation prefers honour to life, and indig- 
 nantlj' rejects Italy's audacious demands. There will he wai
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 1)et\\'een the two countries, and our nation will employ every 
 means against tlie enemy. 
 
 " Tripoli will courageously defend itself. Tlie Ottoman 
 Government will expel all Italians from Turkey. - Italian schools 
 and business houses Avill be closed. Our Committee "«ill employ 
 all its influence to cause these measures to be applied in a calm 
 spirit towards <a nation which has trodden imderfoot the most 
 sacred rights of the people. Awaiting the critical moment, 
 w'e beg the population to remain tranquil, and leave to the 
 Government the duty of acting against the Italians, thus 
 . demonstrating that the Ottomans are more civilised and more 
 ' just than the Italians, "who diove their Government to this 
 action. 
 
 '■ We call upon all children of the fatherland to be united at 
 this critical moment." 
 
 This was followed by a long Appeal to Europe, of \\hicli the 
 following is a restime : — 
 
 " The Committee feels the need to address the European 
 public, which, loving equity and justice, cannot rest indifferent 
 in face of a flagTant, monstrous, and criminal \iolation of the 
 fundamental International rights of humanity and civilisation 
 We are convinced tliat Euro])e will do justice and consider the 
 present act of piracy unjustifiable. While seeming to encourage 
 us, Europe closes its eyes to the violatioti of our territory. The^se 
 attacks are sufficient to make our population lose confidence 
 in the new regime and consider the old better fitted to defend 
 our territory. The last act is without parallel even in barbaric 
 times. Italy has declared war and sent her fleet and army 
 to invade a province Avhose people desire to live under our juris- 
 diction, to bombard ports, and to capture boats. We wish 
 only that Europe should appreciate this, act of piracy and give 
 its verdict, considering the undeniable fact that the ultimatum 
 orders us to evacuate Tripoli for no other reason than Italy 
 wants it. It is impossible to call this an heritage of the ancient 
 regime. Tripoli cannot be considered an autonomous province ; 
 it is a vital part of Turkey. (Seeking a reason for the occupation 
 of an immense coimtry, Italy's brutal ultimatum accuses us 
 of failing in our mission of Imnianity and civilisation — a truly 
 original camts belli. If Tripoli has not reached the stage of 
 civilisation desired by Italy, we reply that Italy is certainly 
 inferior in civilisation to England and Germany. We ask Italy 
 if she A\ould be content to see Sicily invaded by England under 
 the same pretext. The new regime is still yoimg. It is unjust 
 to expect us to transform Tripoli into a paradise in three years. 
 The other contention of the ultimatum referring to the proximity 
 of Tripoli and alleging that commercial relations lack security 
 is ridiculous and an insufficient pretext for an act of aggressioh. 
 Italy under-esti mates our means of resistance. Turkey protests 
 as one man against this unjustifiable aggression, and Anil lay 
 down hcv aniiS <mlv when the forniei' ccmditicms are restored."
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Story of Naboth's Vineyard. 
 
 Tripoli, (lie Naboth's vineyard of tlio Italian Ahab, is not 
 a vineyard, but a desert. On the seacoast thei'e are some 
 small towns, about a dozen in all, scattered along a coast-lino 
 000 miles long, stretching from Egypt to Tunis. To these 
 coast towTis, which, for the most part, Mould hardly be regarded 
 as more than fishing villages in Britain, come and go caravans 
 across the desert. A British officer in the Egyptian service, 
 MTiting in The Daily Mail, gives the following vivid description 
 of the territory which has lured the Italian Government into 
 war : — 
 
 " The word ' country ' does not to our EngHsh mind convey 
 anything like a correct inipression of those vast and desolate 
 regions that lie behind the Tripolitan coast-line and stretch 
 in endless repetition across tlie gi'eat Sahara to the marshes of 
 Lake Tchad. It is not a country, it is the waterless bed of a 
 dead ocean, the sands of which have been blo^ai into mountain 
 ridges by a million years of wind ever blowing in the same 
 direction. These sand-hills are being endlessly moved to 
 leeward, and in the valleys between, brackish water is some- 
 times to be found, if one digs for it ; these places, which are 
 few and far between, are dignified by the name of weli« — 
 but an English \nllage pond in the Lybian desert would be. 
 called a lake, and so a puddle is looked upon as a well. These 
 liuddles often lie in a chain of eight or ten along a sand-hill 
 valley, and then that valley is called an oasis. But the sand- 
 hills move, the puddles evaporate, the palms and sparse vege- 
 tation are smothered, the oasis ceases to exist, and man, bowing 
 to the inevitable, moves on seeking fresh puddles to pitch his 
 tents beside. To live — to exist in such a region requires 
 untiring energy, a constitution of iron, and a spirit capable^ 
 of bearing the imkindest blows of fate A\ith equanimity." 
 
 The only thing that can be said in praise of the Sahara is 
 that there is plenty of it. Within tlie frontiers of the Saharan 
 desert which is fringed by the Tripolitan coast you could stovy 
 away the A\'hole of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, and all 
 there is of the Italian kingdom anywhere. Italy^n annexing 
 Tripoli, swallowed a slice of Africa thre e-times. as__wide as Iier 
 own area. But in this vast expanse of dead sand, with an 
 area of 400,000 square miles, there are only 1,000,000 inhabi- 
 tants, or fewer men, Avomen and children than are living 
 to-day in the East-end of London. 
 
 The chief article of trade is esparto grass, which is in con- 
 stant demand for the making of paper. Before the war there 
 >\ovf 200 Italirius in Tripoli, w lio wore mostly artisans and small
 
 ( i2 ) 
 
 traders from Sicily. As wo bad 4,000 MaU(',s(> resident in 
 Tripoli, we had twenty times as many siihjeets there as Italy 
 can hoast of. The Italians have estabUshed in Tripoli one 
 bank, the Baneo di Roma, (me oil-mill, an esparto grass press, 
 an ice machine, a cinematograph, and three newspapers, which 
 are respectively Clerical, Liberal and Anarchist. ^ By way of 
 working up public opinion in favour of war, there have been 
 seven Italian newspaper correspondents in Tripoli since spring, 
 foi^—wkose — idie— hands the Hevij — 8»fe — mwehu^ttisebief- found 
 to do. These industrious pre ssnien, having nothing_serious__to 
 
 re port^ ma^ifie d ev ery trHTe^' ^^aid infl a med every dispute . 
 
 Their note was that if Italian concession-hunters did not imme- 
 diately receive every concession they asked for, and that at their 
 own terms, the Turks were thwarting Italian enterprisc^lf it 
 was not the Turks, it was Germany, or France. It is almost 
 incredible the morbid suspiciousness which was thus de- 
 veloped in the Italian Press. There are hardly any Germans 
 in Tripoli, but there are a few, who are on tbe look-out for 
 business there as elsewhere. One of them got a contract for 
 lighting tlu^ streets of Tripoli with acetylene lamps. Forthwith 
 the Tribnna denoimced " the German invasion." The Germans 
 wanted to put up an hotel. The Italian colony opposed it as if 
 the hotel had been a fortress. Lieutenant von Lochow, Avho had 
 obtained some land concessions in Tripoli from the Turks, was 
 denounced as an avmU covrrier of a German army. The Italians 
 have now expelled him from the territory which they have 
 annexed. The French got a contract to improve the harbour 
 of Tripoli. The Italians made such angry protests, the con- 
 tract had to be cancelled. The fact appears to be that the 
 Italians, having earmarked the whole of Tripoli and Cyrenaica 
 as their own, regarded every foreign merchant or explorer 
 as a potential enemy, and their irritation Avith the Turkish 
 administration ^^ns chiefly due to the fact that the Government 
 would not regard Tripoli as an Italian monopoly, insisted 
 upon recognising the principle of the open door, and admitting 
 all nations to free access to the Tripolitan market — such as it is. 
 To such arbitrary lengths did the Italians carry their claini 
 to be the dominant and exclusive influeiice in Tripoli that thej'^ 
 nearly threatened war because an Argentine journalist called 
 Guzman ]>ublished anti -Italian articles in a newspaper which 
 he had established in Tripoli. He was expelled at the request 
 of the Italian Consul, and then again expelled, but the Guzman 
 affair created much alarm before it was settled. The^ivalry 
 of the O tt oman Bank and the Banco di Roma was n atiiygl, 
 bu_t_ it was Jblie^ foreignb ank wHTclrTesenled the competit ion 
 of the ^ jtt oman instifirtTon, rather th an t ^'ce ver^ a. 
 
 "Of course, the persistent attempt of tlie Italians to manu- 
 facture grievances out of every incident in which the interests 
 of Tripoli were not sacrificed to their ambitions did not pre- 
 dispose the Turks to facilitate their eecmomic exploitation of 
 
 ,1
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 the country. Hence, last sununev, wlirn Fr(>ncli and Italian 
 contractors tonderod for the constnu lion of 100 miles of roads, 
 tile Turkish authorities awarded the contract to the French 
 firm. On the other iiand, by way of placating Italian jealousy, 
 a firman was granted an Italian concession-hunting company, 
 with the most extensive powers for prospecting for mines, 8:c., 
 in Tripoli. 
 
 The Italians now parade an infinity of grievances against 
 the Turks, but they are for the most part trivial, and almost 
 always go back to periods antecedent to the date Avhen the 
 present Italian Government publicly protested against the idea 
 that they had any reason to regard the situation in Tripoli 
 as demanding any drastic action. Similarly, on December 2, 
 1910, the Marquis di San Giuliano, Minister for Foreign Affairs, 
 liad declared, " We desire the integrity of the Ottoman 
 Empire, and we wish Tripoli always to remain Turkish." 
 Still later, in June of this year," the Marquis di San Giuliano 
 told the Italian Chamber he hoped for a good issue of the negotia- 
 tions with Turkey. He had protested against the apprehensions 
 prevalent in certain Turkish quarter's with regard to the exten- 
 sion of Italian economic interests in Tripoli, and against the 
 fears that Italian aspirations might constitute a danger to the 
 territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Such apprehen- 
 sions, he had declared, were based upon mistaken grounds. 
 Italy, he asserted, desired to maintain the prestige and the 
 integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and he added these words : 
 " Our policy, like that of the otlier Great Powers, has for its 
 foundation the integrity of the Ottoman Empire." 
 
 Eight years ago the Italian Government had demanded 
 from the Turks a written guarantee that all contracts for public 
 works, be they great or small, in Tripoli should be given exclu- 
 sively to Italians. Notwithstanding the alarm which such a 
 demand roused in the Turkish mind, practically nearly every 
 important economic concession has been given to the Italians. 
 
 Italy suddenly changed front in September. Up to that 
 month there had been no reason to believe that the situation in 
 Tripoli had growTi worse. The Italian Ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople, wlien T spent an hour Avith him at l^herapia in 
 August, made not even the most distant allusion to tlie possi- 
 bility of a breach witli Turkey in Africa. Towards the end of 
 September the Italians suddenly threw off the »uask and began 
 afresh to complain of grievances. T he Turkish Gove rnment 
 imrofi diate ly offered to make any concession that w^s r-easonable 
 and possib le. But instead of accepting this surrender the 
 Ttalian Government replied by an ultimatum demanding the i J 
 consent of the Turks to the immediate occupation of Tripoli. I" 
 
 Tav this day no one has been officially informed why Italy \ 
 h" '-ade war on Turkey. Various allegations havel)een made, j 
 ^*^K „ t^^'^t the ,Turks made a hostile at mosphere to Italy in > 
 
 i.-'-VlT, but that can hardly be pleaded as an excuse for a war. ] 
 
 \
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 The ultimatum does not help us much. Its authors state that 
 for a long series of years the Italian Government has never 
 ceased to deplore the state of disorder and neglect prevailing in 
 TripoU and to press the Turks to " allow the same progress as 
 that attained by other parts of North Africa." As that " pro- 
 gress " was attained by the occupation and administration of 
 Egypt, Tunis, and Algeria by Christian Powers, it is not sur- 
 prising tlie Turks remained deaf to Italian representations. 
 The ultimatum then goes on from lamentations over " disorder 
 and neglect," which might be raised over the provinces of other 
 Powers than that of Turkey, to rest the Italian case upon the 
 reluctance of the Turks to grant economic concessions to Italian 
 speculators. It says : " All enterprises on the part of Italians, 
 in the aforesaid regions, constantly encounter a systematic 
 opposition of the most obstinate and unwarranted kind." Tlien, 
 having formulated this complaint, Italy is compelled to admit 
 that the Turks have deprived it of any force by giving in " quite 
 recently " to the Italian demands. The ultimatum says : — 
 
 " The Imperial Government, which has thus up to now dis- 
 played constant hostility towards all legitimate Itahan activity 
 in Tripoli and Cyrenaica, quite recently, at the eleventh hour, 
 proposed to the Royal Government to come to an understanding, 
 declaring itself disposed to grant any economic concession com- 
 patible with the treaties in force and with the higher dignity and 
 interests of Turks ; but the Royal Government does not now 
 feel itself in a position to enter upon such negotiations, tlio 
 uselessness of \A'hich is demonstrated by past experience, and 
 which, far from constituting a guarantee for the future, could 
 but afford a permanent cause of friction and conflict." 
 
 Surely an ultimatum unique in history ! You make a 
 demand upon a neighbour. He concedes that demand. Then 
 you declare his su])mission is too late, and will only cause 
 future trouble ; therefore you propose to cut his throat. The 
 ultimatum goes on in the usual cant of such documents to 
 demand that Turkey must promise to hand over the provinces 
 of Tripoli and Cyrenaica in twenty -four hours. 
 
 " The Italian Government, therefore, finding itself forced to 
 think of the guardianship of its dignity and its interests, has 
 decided to proceed to the military occupation of Tripoli and 
 Cyrenaica. This solution is the only one Italy can decide upon, 
 and the Royal Government expects that the Imperial Govern- 
 ment will in consequence give orders so that it may meet with 
 no opposition from the present Ottoman representatives, and 
 that the measures \\'hich will be the necessary consequence may 
 be effected Avithout difficulty. Subsequent agreements would be 
 made between the two Governments to settle the definitive 
 situation arising therefrom." 
 
 To this insulting demand to "stand and deliver" the Subli)ne 
 Porte returned the mild answer which does not always turn a^t pr« 
 wrath. It did not in this instance, as indeed it seklo "^^on oi
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 when the ^vrafch is merely a mask for cupidity. The Turks began 
 by frankly admitting that under the old regime of Abdul Hamid 
 there may have been much to complain of, and also that 
 " manlifod difficulties of circumstance in the last three years 
 have not allowed Tripoli and Cyrenaica to take advantage of the 
 benefits of progress." The Ottoman reply continues as follows : 
 
 " That being laid down, the Subhme Porte, in recapitulating 
 the course of the three last years, searches in vain for circum- 
 stances in which it has shown itself hostile to Italian enterprises 
 concerning TripoU and Cyrenaica. Quite the contrary, it has 
 always appeared to it normal and rational that Italy should 
 co-operate with her capital and industrial activity in the economic 
 uplifting of this part of the Empire. 
 
 " The Imperial Government is conscious of having shown 
 a conciUatory disposition each time that it has been confronted 
 by proposals conceived in this order of ideas. The Ottoman 
 Government has in the same way examined, and generally 
 determined, in the most friendly spirit, all claims and all affairs 
 pursued by the Royal Embassy. It is necessary to add that in 
 that it was obeying its desire, so often manifested, to cultivate 
 and maintain relations of confidence and friendship with the 
 Italian Government. 
 
 " In fact, this sentiment alone still actuated it when it proposed 
 at the last moment to the Royal Embassy an arrangement based 
 on economic concessions, calculated to afford ItaUan activity a 
 vast field in the aforesaid provinces ; in assigning for sole limit 
 of these concessions, the dignity and superior interests of the 
 Empire, as well as the treaties in force, the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment gave the measure of its conciliatory sentiments, without, 
 however, losing sight of the treaties and conventions by which 
 it is bound towards other Powers and the international value 
 of which would not be destroyed by the will of one of the parties. 
 
 " In so far as order and security, both in Tripoli and Cyrenaica, 
 are concerned, the Ottoman Government, which is in a good 
 position to judge the situation, can but point out, as it has already 
 had the honour to do, the absence of any reason capable of 
 justifying apprehensions relating to the fate of Italian subjects 
 and other foreigners established there. Not only is there no 
 agitation at this moment in these countries, much less an in- 
 stigatory propaganda, but the officers and other organs of the 
 Ottoman Authority are instructed to ensure the safeguarding 
 of order, instructions which they are conscientiously carrying out. 
 
 " Reduced to these essential te^s, the present disagreement 
 resides in the absence of guarantees calculated to reassure the 
 Italian Government as to the economic expansion of its interests 
 in Tripoli and Cyrenaica. In not piocecding to so grave an 
 act as a military occupation, the Royal Government Avill be met 
 by the Sublime Porte with the firm desire to smooth away this 
 disagreement. 
 
 "Thus, impartially, the Imperial Government may acquaint
 
 ( ^^ ) 
 
 it \\itli the nature of these guarantees, to which it mil willingly 
 subscribe, so long as they do not affect its territorial integrity. 
 
 ■' It undertakes to tliis end not to modify in any way whatso- 
 ever during the pourparlers the present situation in Tripoli and 
 Cyrcnaica in military respects, and it would like to hope that 
 the Royal Government, yielding to the sincere dispositions of 
 the Sublime Porte, will acquiesce in this proposal." 
 
 This reduces the question to the demand for guarantees. 
 The Turlcs yield everything the Italians claim in the shape of 
 economic concessions so long as their territorial integrity remains 
 intact. Here, surely, theie was an opportunity for the mediation 
 of a friendl}^ Power, as prescribed by the treaty of 1856, or 
 for a settlement by reference to an arbitral court. But an 
 amicable arrangement of the question Avas the very last thing 
 the Italian Government desired. Ignoring the conciHatory 
 tone of the Turkish reply, the Italians declared war, on the 
 expressly alleged grounds that the Turks had not assented to 
 the Italian occupation of Tripoli in twenty-four hours. 
 
 ■" The lack of this reply only confirms the bad mil or want of 
 l)ower of which the Turkish Government and authorities have 
 given such frequent proof, especially with regard to the rights 
 and interests of Italians in Tripoli and Cyi'enaica. The Royal 
 Government is consequently obliged to attend itself to the safe- 
 giuirding of its rights and interests, as well as its honour and 
 diguitj', by all means at its disposal. 
 
 ** The events which will follow can only be regarded as the 
 necessary consequence of the conduct followed for so long by the 
 Turki-h authorities. The relations of friendship and peace being, 
 therefore, interrupted between the tA\o countries, Italy considers 
 herself from this moment in a state of war with T\irkey." 
 
 This declaration of v. ar was handed in to the Porte at 4.30 
 p.m. on September 29, 1911. On the following day the Italian 
 and Turkish diplomatists quitted Constaiitinople and Rome. 
 Even before the time allotted by the ultimatum had expired 
 the Italians liad attacked the Turks at Prevesa. 
 
 The Sultan at once telegraphed to the Kaiser of Germany and 
 the King of Great Britain, asking them to intervene. The 
 Porte issued to the Powers a Xote of protest on October 1, and 
 follo\\ed it on October 2 by another Note of more urgent appeal 
 to the Powers who were by treaty bound to offer their good 
 offices. The Note says : — 
 
 " The Ottoman Government, in consideration of its OAvn 
 rights and these facts, is to-dajy absolutely free to take advantage 
 of all consequences arising out of the existence of a state of 
 ■war and to employ the measures necessitated thereby against Italy. 
 The Ottoman Government, in spite of these considerations, and 
 believing thnt the present state of war can yet be bror^*^^\3 an 
 end, is determined to make fresh representations to ' A^^Ars, 
 and has therefore delayed the execution of the me^^ oullbublj^^g 
 
 referred to. The Ottoman nation, strugghng tr^'^^^^^P^Ibs 
 
 |do "T^fis, ini
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 most sacred impulses, bases its hopes for a favourable reply on 
 the known justice and humanity of the Powers." 
 
 The Powers gave no favourable reply. The Turlis began to 
 belie\'e that Italy was acting in collusion with the Powers who 
 "Were posing as the friends and guarantors of her independence. 
 Russia was the only PoM'er whose policy was not suspect. 
 France, it was believed and asserted, had promised to hand over 
 Tripoli to Italy in exchange for Italian support in Morocco. 
 Austria had in like manner purchased Italy's support for the 
 annexation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina by agreeing to the 
 seizure of Tripoli. England was compromised by her entente 
 Avith France, Germany by her alliance with Austria. When , 
 the Powers one and all began to make excuse, and each ex- / 
 plained elaborately that it could not act alone and threw the 
 responsibility for inaction upon his neighbour, the Turks began \ 
 to feel they Avere betrayed. 
 
 Nevertheless they persisted in their appeal to the Powers 
 to undertake the task of mediation. Mediation meant to the 
 framers of the Treat}' of Paris the adjustment of a dispute 
 within the limits of the integrity and independence of the 
 Ottoman Empire. Mediation, in the mouth of the Turkish 
 Government, meant an attempt to ascertain what the ItaUans 
 wanted, with the resolution to concede it, whatever it might 
 be, so long as it left Tripoli a province of the Ottoman Empire. 
 Mediation, in the mouth of the ItaUans, meant a thing loathsome 
 and abhorred, unless it was preceded by the formal annexation 
 of Tripoli. 
 
 All efforts at mediation, therefore, broke doAvn, and must of 
 necessity break down, so long as the Italian Government 
 demands as a prior conditio sine qua noii that her right 
 and power to partition the Ottoman Empire and appropriate 
 its provinces shall be recognised by the mediating Powers as 
 the basis of their mediation. As they can only mediate on the 
 basis of existing treaties which forbid any such partitioning 
 and annexing of the Ottoman dominions, those who ask the 
 Government to mediate are indulging in futilities unless they 
 mean that the Government should intervene to say to Italy on 
 the one hand, "You have no right to seize Turkish provinces ; 
 by attempting to seize them you are breaking the treaties to 
 which you have set your hand ; your title to these provinces 
 will never be recognised by us," or to say to Turkey on the 
 other, " You are legally in the right, but you are weak ; you 
 have the treaties on your side, but Italy has command of 
 the sea. You cannot hold Tripoli against a stronger naval 
 Power. Therefore, submit to force majeure, and give it up." 
 It is obvious that one of these two courses must be taken 
 by a mediator. No Government at present is prepared to 
 take either, although they have all gone very near adopting 
 the latter alternative. But all hope of bringing pressure to 
 bear on the Turks by demonstrating that they wore powerless
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 to hold an oversea possession against a Power that has commantl 
 of the sea has disappeared since tlie Turks and Arabs have so 
 victoriously demonstrated that no amount of naval and miUtary 
 predominance on the coast can give the Italians the command 
 of the desert.'/. 
 
 Thejvar, which bt^gan on Sejjtember 30, was to have been 
 oteFTh two or three days. It has now (f'Tovember 13)been 
 going on for six weeks, and the resumption of offensive operations 
 in the desert is postponed till the spring. The Italian Govern- 
 ment Is said to have spent already £20,000,000 over this 
 TripoUtan expedition, and the expenditure continues at the rate 
 of £2,000,000 a week. Sojittle was the cost of the warjoregeen 
 that intelHgent observers nrTRome actually asserted iimt j^ 
 Messina earthquake was a much more serious burden-thaiL . tlie 
 Tripoli exp edition ! 
 
 ^l ^jcl for what i sjrh is ruino us burden jaile d upon th p. shmildftrK 
 of the Italian tax payer, " the most patient human animal in 
 the wTioIe "lltstOry of finance"? Signor Giolitti, the Italian 
 Premier, talked oracularly about " absolute necessity," of "facts 
 which take the shape of real fatahty," and, in short, used all 
 the famiUar phrases so often employed to cloak a crime. Signor 
 Giolitti said his Government assumed resjDonsibihty for the 
 war because "it is convinced that, in face of the persistent 
 and systematic hostility which has for years hindered our 
 economic activity in the TripoUtaine, and in face of the con- 
 stant provocations offered by the Turkish Government, any 
 hesitation or delay Avould have compromised both the honour 
 of the country and its political and economic position." 
 
 Thus the country whose Foreign Minister only last June 
 rejjudiated all designs on Tripoli, as opposed to its treaty obliga- 
 tion to maintain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, sud- 
 denly finds its honour demands the destruction of that integrity. 
 Dismissing this preposterous nonsense, we come once more 
 to the " economic activity " argument. Not to have seized 
 Tripoli would have compromised " the political and economic 
 position of Italy." But if the War God be to-day, as Mr. 
 Zangwill says, " a man of business," he ought to have no diffi- 
 culty in ciphering out a balance-sheet which would prove at a 
 glance, first that the profits arising from the exclusive monopoly 
 of the Tripoli markets would not yield 1 per cent, on the capital 
 spent on the war, and secondly that Italy will never be allowed 
 by the other Powers, especially by her ally GerUaany, to have ' 
 an exclusive monopoly of the trade of Tripoh. The French 
 were thirty years in subduing Algeria. The Italians will find 
 the task of pacifying the Arabs by establishing their absolute 
 authority over these sons of the desert will not be accomplished 
 in one twelvemonth. The Turks administered Tripoli at a 
 loss which averaged about £50,000 a year. Tripoli Avill never 
 pay its way. The desert vill swallow up milHons, but it pa^s_ 
 no dividends. ~~ "^
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 The Times correspondent at Rome. declares thai the Italian 
 Ministers ha\e gone into this war Avith their eyes open : — 
 
 '■ They know that Italy can hope for no profit from the adven- 
 ture. Recent expeditions in the Tripohtaine have proved that 
 as a home for some future Itahan colony the territory is useless. 
 Neither the climate, nor the nature of the soil, nor any other 
 conditions are favourable for agricultural enterprise. The 
 possibility of mineral wealth is too problematic to be worth 
 considering. Moreover, such exjjericnce as Italy has had of the 
 indigenous population would show that administration of the 
 Tripohtaine will be a difficult task, subject to constant interrup- 
 tions from unruly Arab tribes." 
 
 Then why in the name of common sense did they embark 
 upon murdering for a market, when they kneAV that market 
 was not Avorth having i 
 
 " For the satisfaction of her amour 'propre," is the corre- 
 spondent's explanation. 
 
 Not so, says the Prime Minister of Italy, Signor Giolitti, 
 who told the correspondent of The Neto York Herald on Novem- 
 ber 5 that the war A\'as necessary because the economic conditions 
 in Italy demanded readjustments and a ncAv outlet. He ia 
 reported as ha\nng declared : — 
 
 " The emigration to North and South America was becoming 
 a misfortune for the country, notAvithstanding that it might 
 have been a necessity. Then, too, the ncAV Italian spirit Avas 
 chafing under its burden, and AAas demanding a colonial field 
 Avhere it could expand, thus enabling Italy to emerge from its 
 position of a nation of a third or fourth class. For her to sit 
 silent and inactiA^e A\'hile other countries AA'ere absorbing Africa 
 became a national impossibility. In fact, Italy had begun to 
 dream of expansion and of findiog herself one day again in the 
 front rank of nations. Tripoli thus became a necessity, hence 
 the present Avar." 
 
 Every sentence in this excuse is a demonstrable falsehood. 
 The Italian emigration to the Americas, instead of being a mis- 
 fortune, is an economic benefit of the first class. It is the re- 
 mittances of American money Avhich A\'ill h Ip to pay the cost of 
 this Tripolitan Avar. " The ncAV Italian spirit," Avhich is but the 
 old, old spirit of vulgar Jingoism, displays its shalloAV ignorance by 
 seeking a colonial field Avhere it can expand in the sands of the 
 Sahara. To tie a hea\'y hobble round, your ankle is a curious 
 AVay of coming to the front in the race of nations. But e\'en if 
 Tripoli AVere as fertile as Australia and Italy Avere as over- 
 croAvded as Japan, does it follow that because the ncAV spirit of 
 Italy craves to cut a SAvagger in the world it is therefore justified 
 in cutting its neighbour's throat and seizing his ])roperty ? 
 
 We are familiar Avith this plea of the bandit and the Thug, 
 but Ave have not hitherto recognised it as a ]ilea vaWd to saA-'e 
 a man from penal servitu«k\ 
 
 r^->
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Wider Issues of the Conflict. 
 
 A veteran statesman who is no longer in the poUtical 
 arena of Europe lias permitted me to publish the foUowinjf 
 observations upon the wider issues of the conflict : — 
 
 In the mid " seventies "' of the nin<>te(Mith century, men's 
 blood ran cold ^\'ith horror at the tales of atrocities committed 
 by order of the Turkish Government upon its Christian subjects. 
 Some years before that time, the nations of Europe had \\ itnessed 
 the frenzied and impassioned struggle of a torn and divided race 
 of men for unity and for freedom from the yoke of the oppressor. 
 Golden, glorious Italy — land of art and minstrelsy, of vast tra- 
 ditions and still greater dreams — we Avept with you, we sorrowed 
 for yon, and Avhen at length the dream Avas realised, and became 
 A\ ith daybreak a living Aerity, avc rejoiced A\'ith you and acclaimed 
 your heroes, Garibaldi, Cavour, Mazzini, as heroes not only of 
 Italy but of the Avliole human race. 
 
 And noAV, as by a stroke of some enchanter's Avand, time and 
 circumstance liaA e changed, and the name Avhich once stood for 
 all that Avas revolting, despotic, inhuman and callous in the appre- 
 hension of mankind — the name of Turk, Avith it« vague attendant 
 associated idea of a shadowy Prince of Darkness knoAvn as 
 Abdul Hamid — signifies noAV a people striA'ing, cA^en as Italy 
 strove, against calamity and oppression ; a people in whom life Avas 
 not utterly extinguished, and Avhose young blood, having risen in 
 rcA^olt against the despot, sought to run in the steady channels of 
 progress, of unity, of gradual enlightenment, and of patriotism. 
 Fervent in Avell-doing as in ill-doing, ardent in faith as fanatic in 
 fatalism, the ncAV embodiment of an Ottoman Empire sought to 
 justify its existence, and to take its stand among the nations of 
 the earth as a people Avho haA^e come through darkness into 
 light, a people to Avhom, alas ! Allah is more of a practical, believ- 
 able reality than the God of Christendom. 
 
 You knoAv the Avanton and insolentlj'^ aggressive act of Avhat 
 has fitly been described as " international brigandage " by 
 Avhich this anti-Christian people has been driven to act on the 
 defensive, in an attempt to maintain the integrity of an Empire 
 Avhich, Avhile it Avas synonymous Avith all that was barbarous and 
 inhuman, Avas yet deemed Avorthy of treaty-recognition by the 
 European Concert ; but noAV that it has repented its misdoings, 
 finding the remembrance of them grievous and the burden of them 
 intolerable, it is ])y tacit acquiescence, if not by tacit understand- 
 ing, to be denied Ww justice usually meted out to the (commonest 
 beggar. You know 1k>w Italy has, iji the ])erson of her Ministers, 
 shiimed and disgraced her noble record and sullied her proud 
 tracbtion. blotted the escutcheon of Danto and defaced the jjocrlcss
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
 missal of St. Francis of Assisi. You know that the ultimate, 
 point of human evolution is the elimination of the baser passions 
 of murder, carnage and bloodshed. You see a Christian Power 
 (so called) sowing dragons' teeth, and a Moslem PoAvcr appealing 
 for the recognition of the highest principles of the Christian 
 religion . . . These things have moved me profoundly. 
 
 I do not for one moment consider that the real and definite pv)int 
 at issue is the actual and immediate fate of Tripoli itself, which, 
 burning though it be in the eyes of the peoples most intimately 
 associated Avith the question, is only to be regarded as secondary 
 and subordinate to the vital international principle lying deep 
 beneath the surface of temporarily associated localities and tribes. 
 Tripoli is but the focus M'hich has drawn together at the present 
 moment some of the mighty and conflicting forces which are 
 usually felt only in their abstract power of manifestation, rather 
 as ideas and ideals to be reckoned with as they gradually arise in 
 the course of evolution, than as concrete realities embodied in a 
 distinct, definite and unmistakable line of action. These forces 
 have met and are grappling together in a mighty embrace. As 
 Titans before the half-stupefied gaze of mankind they stand 
 close-locked in a grip so relentless in its fury, so implacable in its 
 Tesolve,that it would seem that for one momentary space of time the 
 mechanism of the universe had stood still, and in that infinitesimal 
 yet all-pervading interval of complete and absolute suspension, 
 Humanity stood transfixed, mth upturned eyes, as though 
 beneath some petrifying spell, while above them, towering 
 isolated and gigantic, stand motionless in the supreme intensity of 
 their struggle, like colossal figures outlined against eternity, the 
 two superhumanly embodied principles of Justice and Dishonour. 
 And till Humanity ceases to stand transfixed in its frozen torpor 
 of suspended animation, gazing upward or downward with vague, 
 half-sightless eyes, and ears deaf to the myriad voices of the 
 unseen universe Anbrating everywhere around it, even so will 
 these gigantic forces stand mute and transfixed also, in their 
 eternal struggle, which can be terminated only by the awakening 
 of the conscience of mankind, the stirring of mind and heart, the 
 thrilling of aspiration, of passionate scorn, of resolution keen and 
 alert, swift to action, not " sickUed o'er with the pale cast of 
 thought " until thought becomes uncertainty, and uncertainty 
 expediency, and expediency inaction, and inaction the beginning 
 of the disintegration that dragged down Rome from her proud 
 pinnacle. 
 
 I regard with unmeasured satisfaction and pleasure the noble 
 
 and disinterested efforts which are now being made to concentrate 
 
 the attention of the thinking minds of this country upon the 
 
 absolutely real and vital issues of the present crisis. 
 
 '■* That thc! nation as a whole has a conscience, and that that 
 
 So cons(;ience only stands in need of pricking and stimulating, in 
 
 f order to be rojised into spontaneous and enthusiastic action, I 
 
 believe now implicitly and emphatically. My belief in tlu^ innate
 
 ( 52 J 
 
 instinct for justice of the Ejiglish people is unshakable. And 
 I believe also that the same instinctive capacity for right feeling 
 will lead them to view this matter in its higher bearings apart from 
 merely localised traditions and associations. I am thankful that 
 I m3^self am sufficiently detached from international and party 
 politics to be able to perceive clearly that this qvu^stion is no 
 more a question of either international or party politics than it is 
 in reahty a question as to the immediate fate of the Turkish 
 vilayet which happens to be the present casus belli. The real 
 principle which is now at stake affects the question of 
 international honour, the sanctity of treaties, the inviolability 
 of a political understanding, entered into in good faith, Avhich 
 becomes absolutely binding upon the combined moral 
 conscience of the statesmen who have taken part in it. 
 But greater than all other considerations Avhich now 
 present themselves is the conviction Avhich has been 
 steadily forcing itself more and more emphaticaHy upon 
 me that the ultimate outcome of this apparently irrational 
 activity of the Powers of Darkness at whose instigation all such 
 activities, all impulses towards evil, whether arising in individuals 
 or nations, come into a positive state of being — that the outcome 
 will be the eventual quickening of the ethical conscience of 
 Humanity to a definite and continuous sentient existence, and 
 that the result of such an aA\'akening will be the establishment 
 on a permanent footing of the Tribunal of Arbitration A\liicli, 
 long ago conceived in the invisible universe of ideal thought and 
 transcendental emotions, but too long regarded by the visible 
 luiiverse of concrete practicaUties as part of the \\'orking 
 conditions of an apparently unattainable Millennium, will rapidly 
 assume definite form and substance, and proclaim to all the nations 
 of the earth that the Ideal Brotherhood of Men is " no idle 
 dream, but a solemn reality." 
 
 I earnestly believe that what -we consider evils are often but 
 the obscure beginnings of greater good, and that they form, as 
 it were, the darkened and earth-encumbered roots out of which 
 arises the Tree of Life, whose branches are extended and upraised 
 towards the eternal sunlight of the Divine Presence, which is 
 everywhere, andAvhich, seeking to fulfil itself in many Avays, 
 reveals itself to nations as to individuals in the form, custom, 
 and ritual most adapted to their gradually evolving needs, and 
 whose ultimate unity with all other nations and peoples, not 
 only of this earth, but of the many Avorlds of this illimitable 
 universe, is the 
 
 "one far-off, Divine event, 
 Towards Avhich all Creation moves."
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Boycott, the Weapon of the Pacifist. 
 
 The pacifist has neither gun nor bayonet, but he has, never- 
 theless, a Aveapon Avhich, if he chooses to use it, is more efficacious 
 than high explosives. War in the old style with weapons and 
 fleets and armies is daily becoming more and more impossible. 
 The immense magnitude of modern armies is now the greatest 
 security for the general peace. W^hen there were small standing 
 armies always ready for war a country thought nothing of 
 engaging in war upon the most trivial pretext. Nowadays, 
 with universal military service, to send a nation to war is to 
 pluck that nation up by the roots. The cost of mobilising the 
 Germany Army was estimated by Bebel at £2,000,000 per day. 
 The present little war is said to be costing Italy £2,000,000 a 
 week. The cost of appealing to the Court of Mars, who has 
 hitherto been the final judge between nations, is becoming pro- 
 hibitive. Only among nations of comparatively low order and 
 ■who have not yet evolved a high state of civilisation will war 
 remain possible. Another reason why war on land and sea will 
 become impossible is that warfare will soon be transferred to 
 the air, and the aeroplane and airship will make armies, fleets, 
 frontiers and fortresses obsolete. But although mankind may 
 no longer be able to use armies or navies it Avill be absolutely 
 necessary to find some means for coercing the evil-doer and 
 reducing to obedience a state which outrages the comity of 
 nations. Some method of coercion will have to be devised 
 unless States are to relapse into a condition of lawless anarchy. 
 It is here where the weapon of the pacifist supplies the im])ortant 
 need of advancing civilisation. That weapon is the Boycott. 
 
 The modern pacifist can lay no claim to be the fiist discoverer 
 of this potent weapon. The suggestion that it should l)e used as 
 a settlement of disputes between man and man was first made 
 by the first of all pacifists, to wit, Jesus Christ, who is worshipped 
 by Christians as their Lord and Saviour. It is remarkable that 
 Jesus Christ, whether he be God or man, legendary myth or 
 Jewish carpenter, has seldom or ever given directions as to tli(^ 
 application of the princi])les M'hich he laid down to the affairs 
 of actual life. He coufiiicd himself to c^nunciating subliine 
 truths or to laying down general ])iii)(i])les. Only on oiie occasion. 
 and the exception is very significant, did he give piaclical 
 directions as to how His disci])lcs should apply those ]irinciples 
 It, in the facts of life. The one exception was that in Mhich He 
 <iQ recommended the boycott as the last means of settling disputes. 
 f This Avill probably startle most Christians. For the truth of 
 my statement if you will turn to the eighteenth chapter of the
 
 (54 ) 
 
 Gospel of St. Matthew you "will find the three following verses. 
 There are only three verses, but they eontain clear directions 
 as to the settlement of disputes between man and man, which 
 can equally be applied for the settlement of disputes between 
 nations. 
 
 If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him 
 his fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, 
 thou hast gained thy brother. 
 
 If this principle be applied to national disputes this command 
 must be taken as directing that in the first place when disputes 
 arise nations should communicate with each other by the 
 direct method of diplomacy, which is, of course, always followed. 
 
 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or 
 two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every 
 word may be established. 
 
 Here we have the command that if direct diplomatic methods 
 fail, recourse must be had to the mediation of friendly powers. 
 The wisdom of this course has been recognised and unanimously 
 confirmed by both the Conferences at the Hague. It is laid 
 do\vn in the Treaty of Paris, but it was cynically set aside by 
 the Italian Government wlien it declared war on the Tuikish 
 Government at such short notice as to render mediation im- 
 possible. We now come to the third verse which suggests the 
 boycott : — 
 
 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church, 
 and if he shall neglect to hear the Church also, let him be 
 mito thee as a heathen man and a publican. 
 
 ' The practical application of this verse to the present circum- 
 stances is quite clear. If mediation has failed, an appeal must 
 be made to the Hague Tiibunal. 
 
 Christ uses the word Church in an ol)viously non-ecclesiastical 
 sense, for at the time that he spoke the Church, as we now 
 know^ it in its ecclesiastical sense, did not exist. 
 
 What is the idea of a Church ? It is that of a community 
 of believers in the Prince of Peace Avho organise themselves for 
 the purpose of realising what they believe to be tlie will of 
 God in all parts of the world. When we come to look into it 
 there is no institution existing in the Morld to-diiy Avhich corre- 
 sponds to tliat ideal, or nearly so, but the Tribunal of the Hague. 
 At the Hague Conferences, mankind, in th<^ representatives 
 of the forty-three organised States of the woild, assembled on 
 a footing of equality in-order to frame regulations and make 
 recommendations with the object of securing the peace of the 
 nations. The Hague Conference was universal and catholic, 
 as no Church can claim to be, and its cliief o})je('t is the realisa- 
 tion of peace on eaith. If, therefore, mediation fails, all dis-
 
 ( -■> ) 
 
 putc8 must be loferrcd to tli(> Cluivcli, A\hirh Ix'idi; inlcipivlcd 
 means — Appeal to the Hague Tribunal ! 
 
 If appeal is made to the Church or to the Hague by one 
 disputant and the other refuses to listen, then we have the clear 
 direction that the obstinate recalcitrant brother must hence- 
 forth be to us as a heathen man and a publican. 
 
 Here, therefore, we have the Plan of Campaign of the pacifist 
 set out in a few and simple words. 
 
 If any Power refuses to appeal to the Hague Tribunal, or 
 which, having appealed, refuses to abide by the award, boycott 
 him — " let him be as a heathen and a publican." 
 
 Now a heathen man and a publican in the time of Jesus Christ 
 was one with whom the devout Israelite would not have anything 
 to do. He did not drink with him, eat with him, or have anything 
 whatever to do with him. He simply left him alone. If that 
 policy were pursued to-day resolutely by all the nations towards 
 any one of their neighbours which would not settle its dispute 
 by arbitration instead of by war there would be no more war 
 between civilised States. With the enormous growth of inter- 
 communication between nations, every modern State is de- 
 pendent upon its neighbour for the necessities of life. Suppose, 
 for instance, Germany and England were to have a dispute. 
 If mediation failed, and Germany offered to go to arbitration 
 while England refused, if all the other nations of the world were 
 to boycott England, Germany would have no need to fire a shot 
 to reduce England to submission. For England is the workshop 
 of the world, and two-thirds of her food supplies reach her from 
 abroad. She lives by taking in the raw materials from various 
 countries and working them up into manufactures and re-selling 
 them. Universal boycott would immediately reduce her to 
 submission, and the same result would follow the application of 
 a boycott against Germany if the cases Avere reversed. In fact, 
 in relation to the two great European Powers, the enforcement 
 of a strict boycott in the case of war by only three Powers, the' 
 United States of America, the Argentine Repubhc, and R«ssia, 
 would be sufficient to starve the outlawed nation into submission. 
 
 It is remarkable that the Christian law of settli ng disputes 
 has^eveTTteeiOpplied by anyri2if|s naii"State,~ Bur T^ It has 
 been reserv ed for the C hi nese a nd the Turks to s uXmit to th e 
 world aiT object-lesson as to the efficiencj^ 6T this me thog o f 
 coercion. In both cases the boycott was applied spontaneously 
 by the action of private individuals acting, no doubt, with the 
 approval of the Govenmient. The Chinese employed it with 
 great effect in their disputes with America and Japan. The 
 Turks first made it famous l)y their using it in their dispute 
 with Austria, and afteiwai-ds, with less effect and mu(rh less 
 wisdom, in the dispute with the Greeks. Neither China nor 
 Turkey by their Governments as a whole have tndertaken to 
 wield the weapon of tlie pacifist. It has been left to private
 
 ( r,c. 
 
 iiulividiiulH. Tlu! samo course Avill uiidonl^tedly bo followed in 
 tiie present dispute l)etweon rivilisation and the Italian Ciovern- 
 ment. 
 
 The war whicli the Italian Government is waging against 
 Turkey for the purpose of seizing Tripoli is a crime Avhich ought 
 not to be tolerated l)y a world which calls itself civilised. It 
 ought to have been prevented by the other Powers. But as they 
 failed in doing their duty, this atrocious crime has been com- 
 mitted, is being committed, and will continue to be committed 
 until it is stopped. It ought to be stopped and stopped at once. 
 If it is not stopped it will breed more crimes. More plunder- 
 wars Avill be waged, not only against Turkey, but against other 
 nations, imtil at last this wicked A\'ar for Tripoli may involve 
 the whole Morld in the catastrophe of a general war, in Avhich 
 civilisation itself may disappear. 
 
 " It is all very well," the leader may reply — '" it is all very 
 well to say that the war ought to be stopped, but who is to 
 stop it ? Who is to bell the cat ? Where is the gendarme of 
 the nations A\ho can be summoned to arrest this international 
 criminal, and to compel him to keep the peace ? "' 
 
 The objection is just. There is as yet, unfortunately, no 
 gendarme of the nations — although if the Hague Tribunal is 
 supported and developed, A\'e shall some day have an inter- 
 national police. But for the moment there is no international 
 gendarme, and so the criminal goes scot free — also for the 
 moment. It is a mistake. ho\\ever, to assume that because 
 there is no gendarme nothing can be done. On the contrary, 
 a great deal can be done, and very effectively done, if we all will 
 but make up our minds to try and do it. 
 
 " But who is to try, and A\'ho is to do it ? " 
 
 You and I, just you and I. We are to try and mo are to do it. 
 What is more, if we are but earnest enough and numerous 
 enough we can do it. Make no mistake about that. You 
 shrug your shoulders ? That is natural. But wait and see 
 if it is not true. 
 
 Why did this war begin ? Why are brave Arabs and Turks 
 })eing blown to pieces by shells because they defend their country ? 
 Why this hideous bloodshed, this cold-blooded muidcr of innocent 
 men ? Everybody knows Mhy. The Italian Government is 
 committing murder to gain a market. A few tinancial specu- 
 lators think that if Tripoli is stolen from Tuikcy they can make 
 a lot of money. So they ure using the Italian navy and army 
 as the monkey used the cat, to ]>ull the chestnuts out of the firo. 
 The Government makes the wai-. the financial men of business 
 pocket the profits. Behind all disguises this ugly fact stands 
 out clear and plain — war is being made on Turkey in order to 
 make more business for Italian financiers. 
 
 If the Italian Government is making the war to make business, 
 the way to stop the war is to stop doing business with Italy, and 
 so make them see that they are losing more business in Europe
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 n they can ever gain in Tripoli. The criminal a\ ill cease 
 
 >ni stealing when h^- finds that thieving does not pay. 
 
 It is the duty of all honest citizens to do what they can to 
 teach the Italians that honesty is the best policy. If the Italians 
 persist in killing men and women and children — for long-range 
 shells make no distinction of age or sex — in order to sell moie 
 goods in the African market, then we must make it impossible 
 for them to sell many goods in the markets of Europe, Asia, 
 America and Australia. The Italian Government having resorted 
 to methods of barbarism to open up a market in Tripoli, let us 
 resort to the methods of civilisation in order to close her markets 
 in Europe, in Asia, in America — everywhere outside Tripoli. 
 
 When civilisation has made further progress all the Govern- 
 ments of the world Mill punish any State which is guilty of a 
 crime like this of the Itahan Government by forbidding all 
 trade and all intercourse ^ith the criminal country. Imports 
 and exports would alike be prohibited, no ship bearing the 
 criminal's flag would be allowed to enter a foreign port. The 
 stock exchanges of the world would be closed against the offender. 
 The country and its inhabitants would be placed under an 
 interdict. The strictest quarantine would be enforced, as in 
 the case of the plague, against all persons, letters, or news- 
 papers coming from the country that made war without first 
 exhausting all methods for settling the dispute amicably. For 
 that country is suffering the worst of plagues — ^a rottenness of 
 the soul. 
 
 Ci\'ilisation has not yet advanced sufficiently for us to hope 
 that any Government will declare a legislative compulsory 
 boycott and permanent quarantine against Italy as long as this 
 war lasts. But in every land there are many sufficiently civilised 
 persons to impose a voluntary boycott upon all things Italian. 
 In the old days in England, when re£ormergL.wei-e. ,a ^rj t;xt j ng f < > r 
 the abolition of the slave trade, it was a principle ()f honour 
 among all good abolitionists never to l)uy or to use aTiy~s TaY"e- 
 grown sugar. " The bloodof the shwc,"' they sai d7'""Ts on 
 every piece of shne-grown. siigar._^....iy,e-J-*,annot s\\' eeten our te a 
 or_our coffee with human blo od.'' There was the boycott in its 
 purest form, the boycott of self-sacrifice for the good of humanity. 
 It gives us an example and an inspiration. 
 
 We say to all who care for the peace of the world, or for the 
 laws of nations, or for the rights of peoples, let us enter into 
 a solemn pact to abstain from buying or using all things Italian 
 imtil the Italian Government rejients and ceases from its Tii- 
 politan brigandage. Let us each for himself make a vow — nf>t 
 out of hatred to the Italian ]ieople, but with a sincere desires 
 to deliver them as speedily as possible from their present evil 
 rulers — to do the following tilings : — 
 
 (1) Not to purchase or to hold any Italian Government l)onds. 
 
 (2) Not to drink Italian wine, to eat Italian food, to wear 
 Itahan silk or cloth, to use Italian mannfactuies ; in short, to
 
 ( 58 ) 
 while lhi^ 
 
 1 , , I in 
 
 lasts, as k'pioiif 
 
 re^arcl evorythiiij; Kalian, wlule this war 
 plague-smitten. 
 
 (3) Not to \nsit Italy or take passage on or despatch goodh 
 by any Italian ship. 
 
 (4) Never to write or speak to any Italian without expressing 
 to him your conviction as to the wickedness of this war. 
 
 This self-sacrificing vow, if taken and kept by even a small 
 number of earnest, resolute men and women in every country 
 in the world, will soon bring the Italian Grovernment to its 
 senses. 
 
 It is a duty which we owe to civilisation and international 
 morality, to m«ke the way of the transgressor hard. To allow 
 the attack on Tripoli to remain unpunished is to put a premium 
 upon brigandage, and to reward murder as if it were a virtue. 
 
 We cannot make our Government act, but no Government 
 can com- tl us to buy Italian goods against our will. 
 
 Therefore our advice is — 
 
 If we want to stop the war let us b>oycott Italy !
 
 < ( 59 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The ATROCiriES of the Italians. 
 
 The Italians landed and occupied the forts without difficulty. 
 For a moment it seemed as if the sudden irresistible attack 
 had stunned the defenders. The fact was that the Turkish 
 General yielded to the urgent entreaties of the European Consuls 
 and did not oppose the landing of the Italiansjn order to,s^iaxe 
 the \vomen and children of the town the horrors of a bombard- 
 ment, Mr. McCullagh, writing in the Westminster Gazette of 
 November 9, thus records the facts : — 
 
 " That the Turks retreated, practically without firing a shot, 
 is due, not to their inefficiency, but to their humanity. It 
 was unspeakable Stamboul which was merciful. This statement 
 may seem incredible, but I have it on the best authority. Like 
 a Byronic hero, the Tripolitan Turk has left a name at which 
 the world grows pale, a name linked with one virtue and a thou- 
 sand crimes. The one virtue came at the last moment, but it 
 was nevertheless a virtue. Two of the Consuls arranged that in 
 the dead of night, on October 2, the day before the bombardment, 
 a dozen of the leading Turkish officers and functionaries should 
 assemble secretly in one of the Consulates. I am unable for the 
 present to be more precise, as the two Consuls in question acted 
 without the knowledge of their colleagues, the Consular body 
 in Tripoli, being, as is often the case in out-of-the-way places 
 abroad, somewhat divided by internal cliques and jealousies. 
 I have therefore promised to refrain from giving names. 
 
 " Among the Turkish officers and functionaries who came was 
 the Defterdar, who acted as Vali in the absence of Ibrahim 
 Pasha ; General Munir Pasha, the PoUtical Agent, a highly- 
 educated and thoroughly Europeanised Turk of between thirty 
 and forty years of age, and Colonel Nechit, a man of forty-two 
 years, who acted as Chief of Staff, but who is really head of the 
 Turkish military forces in the Tripolitaine. The faces of tht 
 Ottoman leaders wore a strangely grim and determined expres- 
 sion. It was clear that they had just arrived at some desperate 
 decision. The Consuls plunged at once into the subject which 
 was uppermost in the minds of all by begging Colonel Nechit to 
 leave the town quietly witli his troops for the sake of the women 
 and children, and thus spare the town the horrors of a prolonged 
 bombardment. The Ottoman General was grimly determined, 
 however, to dispute every inch of ground, and to perish 
 with his men beneath the ruins of Tiipoli. In this desperate 
 resolve he was sup])orted l)y all his officers, eleven of whom 
 were present at this Conference. Anyone who knows the Turkish 
 soldier, anyone Avho has read the heroic story of Plevna and 
 Silistria, will readily amit that Osmanli soldiers were quite capable 
 of tills heroism.
 
 ( c>(^ ) 
 
 " The Consuls recognised with horror that they stood in the 
 piesenec of men wiio liad aheady passed through the terrors 
 whicli guard tlie gate oi; death and keep most of us as far as \\e 
 can get from that awful portal. They begged the Ottoman 
 leader to change his mind. They pointed out how thousands 
 of innocent lives ^\■ould inevitably be sacrificed if he did not do 
 so. One of the Turkish officers replied bitterly : ' You always 
 speak of humanity when Christian lives are in danger. When 
 Turkish lives are in peril you never use that word.' The dis- 
 cussion continued all night. Finally, when roundly accused of 
 sheltering himself behind women and children, the Turkish 
 General gave way and promised to leave after little more than 
 a formal jjrote:gt__ag ainst the It alian- JaHdipg. He burst into 
 HStfter fears as hegaveThis undertaking, and remarked that the 
 Italians would certainly impute his action to cowardice. This is 
 exactly A\hat happened. I was talking the other day to a young 
 officer at the front, A\'ho loudly asserted that the Turks had fled 
 like madmen when they heard the big guns of the warship. 
 This was an ungenerous remark for any soldier to make of a 
 brave opponent, and it Avas an untrue remark." 
 
 The Italian bulletins, lying after the fashion of bulletins, re- 
 presented the Arabs as welcoming their deliverance from the 
 Turkish despotism. Not even a bulletin, however, can disguise 
 the fact that after the first moment of paralysis and dismay the 
 Arabs, rallying round the remnant of the Turkish garrison, 
 actually resumed the offensive against the Italians, and were 
 giving them a great deal of tx'ouble. This. I confess, came 
 as a surprise to Europe. We knew that the Desert would 
 hold its o\\'n ; but that the sons of the Desert would actually 
 attack, and that not Mithout success, the Italian positions 
 on the coast, where they were under the guns of the fleet, 
 was not expected anywhere in Europe, least of all in Italy. 
 
 Then it was that the Italians, irritated by finding their prim- 
 rose path of triumpliant concjuest suddenly coiiverted into a 
 via dolorosa filled •with their A\'ounded and their dead, al^andoned 
 all the restraints of civilisation and gave way to an orgy of 
 savagery fiom which mankind A\'ould fain avert its eyes in 
 shame. They Imlmii liy sliDntiiig in cold ])lood every _Aral) 
 foiind Avitli a iilic in his jjosscssion. niidei- the pretexOnatthey 
 •vv;ere.J,lrpbels " (' revoltts ""). Rebels against A\'hom ? Tripoli 
 was not then annexed, even by proclamation. The Sultan was 
 the legal Sovereign to whom these Arabs owed allegiance. To 
 shoot patriots in cold blood merely because tlK\v have not given 
 up their arms was bad. But worse remained behind. Finding 
 that the fusillade, in Avhich they massacred prisoners and dis- 
 arined iieas^Uts<--iaikd_JUL id^xike-tewor i nto the hearts, -£t£— the 
 Arabs, rather, indeed^ provoked them to assume the offensive , in 
 which theTtalians lost heavily, the Itahans lost then- temperrand 
 before the horrified eyes of the civilised world in the twentieth 
 f^entury loosed upon the population of the oasis of Tripoli all the
 
 ( fil ) 
 
 Ibaiidogs of hell. Thiti avhb no frenzied onrush of panie and 
 passion. The Italian authorities appear to have ordered a 
 systematic massacre Avhich lasted three days, from the 24:th to 
 the 27th October. The A\"ar correspondents, seasoned to the 
 horrors of war, were appalled at the atrocities committed when 
 hell was let loose in the interests of Italian conquest. 
 
 Of course, the usual ofhcial disclaimer followed. But the 
 evidence of independent e3'c-A\'itnesses is conclusive. The 
 Times correspondent' says : — 
 
 Italians having set themselves to cow the Arabs, the flood- 
 gates of blood-lust were opened, and in many instances 
 the men got beyond control and the imiocent suffered with 
 the guilty. 
 
 The memory of this awful retribution will take long to live 
 down. Even making allowances for the exigencies of the 
 military situation, there is every possibihty that the hideous 
 severity of this retribution will give rise to a Mar of sanguinary 
 and pitiless reprisals upon the unfortunates Aviio fall by the 
 way. War is merciless. I have witnessed one of its most 
 merciless phases. 
 
 Renter's correspondent says : — 
 
 Parties of soldiers penetrated throughout every portion 
 of the oasis, shooting indiscriminately all whom they met, 
 without trial, \\ithout a])p<'al. For three days the popping 
 of rifles marked the progress of the troops. Innocent and 
 guilty were wiped out ; many of those killed were quite 
 young, and many women perished in the confusion. It is 
 impossible to state the numbers of the persons thus shot, 
 but scarcely any escaped. Nothing more deplorable than 
 the scenes in Tripoli has been witnessed in war for many a 
 day. 
 
 With these telegrams before them, British Ministers Avere 
 subjected to an interrogation in the House to which they replied 
 in a fashion which recalls Mr. Disraeli's airy dismissal of the 
 first reports of the Bulgarian atrocities as " coffee house 
 babble." On November 2, 
 
 Mr. Leach (Yorks, Colne Valley, Min.) asked the Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs if lie A\ould use his good offices 
 and the influence of the United Kingdom to put a stop to the 
 killiiig of Arabs, men, women, and children, by the Italians 
 at Tripoli. 
 
 Sir E. Grey. — The military operations of the Italian 
 Government in Tripoli are a matter in which his Majesty's 
 Government cannot interfere, and any other attitude would 
 not be consistent with the Declaration of Neutrality that 
 they have issued. I understand that tlie statement imphed 
 in the question has been denied on the highest authority, 
 and I must earnestly deprecate the putting of questions
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 on the notice paper of the House of Commons in a form that 
 must be offensive to other Governments. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Gwynn asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 
 Avliether liis attention had been called to the accounts of the 
 sack of Tri})oli and the bombardment of Benghazi ; whether 
 he had received any official information giving authentic 
 particulars of these transactions, and, if so, whether he would 
 immediately communicate such information to the House ; 
 and, if he had not received official accounts of these events, 
 whether he Would telegraph to the British Consuls asking 
 for full and detailed reports. 
 
 Sir E. Grey.— His Majesty's Government have received 
 no information to show that since the outbreak of hostilities 
 between Italy and Turkey any event has occurred that can 
 be described as a sack of Tripoli. With regard to Benghazi, 
 I would refer to the reply returned to the hon. member for 
 Rutland. His Majesty's Government are kept informed of 
 the course of events in Tripoli and Cyrenaica by his Majesty's 
 Consuls in Tripoli and Benghazi, but I cannot inulertake to 
 give information except when British subjects are concerned. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Later in the same sitting 
 
 Mr. D. Mason asked the Prime Minister on private notice 
 what action the Government intended to take to express the 
 horror and detestation which the House felt at the recent 
 reported massacre of Arabs by the Italians in Tripoli. 
 
 Mr. Asquith. — I would refer my hon. friend to the answer 
 given by my right hon. friend the Foreign Secretary earlier 
 in the day. To that answer I have nothing to add except 
 this, that questions of such a character ought not to be asked 
 or answered on private notice. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. D. Mason. — ^Is the right lion, gentleman aware that 
 that answer referred to the denial by the Italian Embassy 
 which contained the following sentence, " Those who during 
 the fighting or immediately after it, were found with arms 
 in hands Avere shot," and that according to Article III. of 
 The Hague Convention aU belUgerents — the aimed forces of 
 belligerent parties — may consist of combatants and non- 
 combatants t Is the right hon. gentleman aware of that fact ? 
 
 Mr. Asquith. — I have nothing to add to what I have said 
 except to repeat that I deprecate such questions in the strongest 
 possible way. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. D. Mason. — ^May I ask you, Sir, whether i should be 
 in order, having regard to the fact that all the time of the 
 House has been allocated to the Government, in giving notice 
 of a resolution of protest which I wish to propose to the House ? 
 
 The Speaker. — ^The hon. member is certainly entitled to 
 give notice of any motion he desires to mov(; and |)ut it on 
 tlie ])aper. 
 
 Mr. D. Mason. — Having regard to your ruling. Sir, and as
 
 ( 6S ) 
 
 I regard this as a matter of very urgent importance, t move 
 tlie adjournment of the House. 
 
 The Speaker. — The hon. member has forgotten the resohi- 
 tion of the House which forbids any motion for the adjourn- 
 ment of the House. 
 
 So for tlie moment tlic matter ended. Tlie ItaUan Govern- 
 ment, of course, issued the usual empliatic denials of the truth 
 of the story, and Signor Giolitti went so far as to claim that tho 
 Italian soldiers had set the world an example of Christian 
 chivalry. We had not long to wait for a lurid revelation of tho 
 kind of Christian cliivalry the Italian soldiers were introducing 
 into Moslem Africa. 
 
 The first detailed statement of what the Italians had done in 
 " the Red Oasis " was supplied by a gallant young English 
 officer who had yielded to the dictates of a generous enthusiasm 
 80 far as to ignore the proclamation of neutrality and take 
 service with the Turks as a volunteer. 
 
 Lieutenant H. G. Montagu, of the 5th Battalion Royal 
 Fusiliers, cabled to the Central News. His letter, which 
 appeared in the London paper's of November 4, is as follows : — 
 
 I feel it my duty to send you the followng telegram, and 
 I beg you, in the name of Christianity, to publish it through- 
 out England. I am an English officer, and am now^ volun- 
 tarily serving in the Turkish army here. As you know^ already 
 about the ferocious resistance which the Turks and Arabs 
 are offering to the Italians I will only j usfe express my admira- 
 tion for their bravery and fortitude, which would warm the 
 heart of any Englishman and of any true soldier of the 
 Avorld. 
 
 Imagine, then, my feelings w^hen, on entering and driving 
 the Italians out of the Arab houses which they had fortified 
 and were holding, we discovered the bodies of some hundred 
 and twenty women and children, with their hands and feet 
 bound, mutilated, pierced, and torn. Later on at (?) we 
 found a mosque filled with tlie bodies of women and children, 
 mutilated almost beyond recognition. I could not count them, 
 but there must have been three or four hundred. 
 
 Sir, is this European war ? Are such crimes to be per- 
 mitted ? Cannot England do something to stop such horrors i 
 In our civilisation and times you can hardly believe it, but 
 it is nevctheless true. I myself have seen it, and so I know . 
 Even now we are getting news of furtlier massacres of women 
 and children discovered in different farms (?) lately occupied 
 by the Italians. 
 
 I am permitted to send this for your Mr. Seppings Wright, 
 of the Central N^ews, who will photograph these horri]>l(^ 
 seenciii, and so cannot coirespond with you from here. The 
 idea of tlie Italians when they slaughtered these innocentt*
 
 { 64 ) 
 
 ■\Aas obviously one of reAcnge, from the A\ay tlic bodies were- 
 mutilated — revenge for their heavy losses in battle. 
 
 We are at this moment under a heavy shrapnel fire, so yoU 
 
 I must excuse me if these sentences are someuhat disjointed. 
 There is also an aeroplane circling over our i)()sition, directing 
 the enemy's gunfire on us. Hoping you will do all you can 
 to bring the barbarous atrocities I have mentioned before 
 the British public and authorities, I am, Sir, yours truly, 
 
 Hekbert G. Montagu. 
 Soukel Yohnia, Tripoli. 5th Roval Fusiliers. 
 
 Nov. 2, 1911. 
 
 Lieutenant Montagu's letter was recived with some caution. 
 He Mas young, unknown and a volunteer in the Turkish ranks. 
 His evidence was therefore regarded as suspect. It A\as, how- 
 ever, soon to be confirmed by a\ itnesses of experience and stand- 
 ing Avhose impartiality Mas beyond dispute. 
 
 The most distinguished of these was Mr. Francis McCullagh, 
 wlio, although still in the prime of life, liad achiev^ed a leading 
 position among the war correspondents of the world. Few pro- 
 fessional soldiers liad seen more active service than Mr. McCullagh , 
 A\ho had risked his life in every war of the last ten years. 
 
 He had been through the Russo-Japanese War, he had wit- 
 nessed the horrors of Pekin, had seen the atrocities of Russian 
 pogroms, and had just returned from campaigning in Morocco. 
 He was no tyro who a\ ould shriek at the sight of blood. He was 
 seasoned to the hoiTors of Mar, He had gone to Tripoli as the 
 representative of The New York World and I'he Westminster 
 Gazette, and his letters had shown him to possess a power of 
 keen observation and of impartial observation. He was ad- 
 mittedly a first-class Avitness, with no prejudices and with an 
 abuost unequalled store of experience of the actual realities of 
 war both civilised and savage. 
 
 Imagine, then, the impression Avhich was produced on every- 
 one outside the Foreign Office Avhen, on Monday, November 6, 
 The Westminster Gazette, which is regarded as the semi-official 
 organ of Sir Edward Grey, published the following ghastly 
 narrative from the pen of Mr. McCullagh. I reprint it in full just 
 as it was published, headlines and all. 
 
 " As a protest against the murders of innocent Arab w omen, 
 children and men last Aveek, I returned my official papers as a 
 war correspondent to General Caneva. About 400 mo men and 
 children have been shot, and 4,000 men, M-Kereofnot a hundrejl 
 Avere guilty. ~* 
 
 " Clippies and blind beggars have been deliberately shot ; 
 sick people, M'hose houses Avere burned, Avere left on the ground 
 and refused even a drop of Avater. 
 
 " I personally Mitnessed scenes of horror, and photographed 
 them. There lias not ])een the faintest pretence of justice. 
 The Arab quarter was overrun by crazy soldiers svmed witli
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 ( ♦»5 ) 
 
 revolvers, avIio were shooting every Arab man and woman 
 they met. The officers were ^^'orse than the men, and the army 
 is demoralised. 
 
 '" On returning mj^ papers I Mas summoned to headquarters, 
 "but refused to consider any communication except through the 
 Consul, and no further attempt was made to communicate with 
 me. I am now leaving voluntarily. Herr Gottberg, the well- 
 known German military critic and war correspondent of the 
 Berlin Lokakmzeiger, took the same step. Every British corre- 
 .spondent, save one, leaves to-day (Saturday). 
 
 Facts Beyond Dispute. 
 
 " The facts of the massacre are beyond dispute. The Consuls 
 "have already informed their Governments. The scenes are 
 worse than any Russian pogrom or Armenian massacre. Two 
 pro-Italian Jews were massacred by mistake among the Arabs. 
 
 " The Arabs did mutilate corpses, but not till after the Italians 
 began the massacres. The Arabs were at first most courteous 
 opponents, bringing in the Italian wounded under a flag of 
 :truce. 
 
 " I visited the Italian front of battle on October 26, and 
 found the soldiers paralysed with fear. Very many of the 
 soldiers are now heartily sick of the war. The dreadful per- 
 sistency of the enemy day and night affects the soldiers' imagina- 
 tion powerfully. 
 
 " Up to a few days ago, when heavy reinforcements arrived, 
 the Italian line was in great danger of being rushed any moment, 
 in which case there would have been a mad Sauve qui pent — 
 a wild rush for boats, and every European in Tripoli would have 
 run the danger of being massacred. 
 
 " So anxious are the Consuls still that they are desiring the 
 Italian Government to provide transports whereon the Europeans 
 may take refuge. General Caneva persists in regarding the 
 Arabs as non-combatants, who fight at their own risks. He 
 says he is fighting Turkey, and the Arabs, therefore, are not 
 regular soldiers in uniform and must be shot if caught with arms 
 in their hands, w hether under the white flag or not. ^^ ^ 
 
 Italian Line Broken. 
 
 " On October 26 a small, brave band of Arabs who broke 
 the Italian line at Bu-meliana was surrounded in a house and 
 fought for twelve hours till their ammunition became exhausted. 
 They were all butchered, despite the white flag they displayed. 
 
 " Mortally wounded men in battle front creep up to the Italian 
 lines for the satisfaction of killing at least one more Italian 
 before they die. A Holy War has been successfully proclaimed. \ 
 Bedouins from Egypt and Arabs from Soudan are all joining 
 the Tripoli tans. 
 
 " Only an advance guard of 1,500 Arabs is so far attacking 
 
 E 
 \
 
 ( 06 ) 
 
 the Italians, despite the ridiculous statements of the Italian 
 papers that the entmy's losses are thousands. 
 
 " The Italians may be able to hold on here, as the Spaniards 
 at Melilla. Init there is absolutely no chance of their advancing 
 into the desert against the main Turco- Arabic force under Fethi 
 Be\-, the new energetic Vali. A\'hose appearance on the scene 
 changed the whole face of the wsly. 
 
 Last Stages of Fright. 
 
 I" This little Arab vanguard is armed with antiquated rifles 
 but fights so desperately that, despite the battleships, aeroplanes, 
 seven field batteries, nine mountain batteries, sixteen machine- 
 giuis, and an infinite supply of the best rifles and ammunition, 
 -atiLenrlid ]a.nd.-iULld sea_sea rch-lights sweeping the sea-shor e and 
 desert, deep tr enches wherein hide wire entanglements, loop- 
 holed walls, behind whlcli crouch over 20,000 men, whereof 
 1.200 are perpetually in the trenches ; despite all these advantages 
 the Italians are practically besieged. i 
 
 " The Italians have retreated on the east, so that the Arab 
 sharpshooters in the date-palms now reach the town with. 
 bullets. The citadel wherein General Caneva lives was hit by 
 a bullet to-day, and the German and American Consulates have 
 been repeatedly hit. A soldier was killed near the American 
 Consulate by a bullet from the Arab firing-fine. ' ' i ' 
 
 " Both the German and American Consuls have abandoned 
 the Consulates and taken refuge in the to^\Ti, and everybody in 
 the outskirts has done the same. 
 
 " On October 31 the Turks actually shelled the town, and 
 large crowds in the cafes on the sea-front and the streets watched 
 the Turkish shells bursting inside the Italian lines on the sea- 
 shore two miles off. 
 
 " Shells repeatedly burst in the English cemetery. Four 
 shells burst in the city, two near the American Consulate, and 
 the Italians have informed the Consuls of their intention to 
 demohsh, if necessary, all houses in the oasis on the outskirts, 
 afterwards paying an indemnity. 
 
 " This order may necessitate the demolition of the German 
 and American Consulates. 
 
 The Italians' Last Stand. 
 
 " The Italians contemplate a last stand inside the city. The 
 invaders are thus worse oft" than a month ago, being gradually 
 shoved into the sea territory, ^hich is shrinking daih'. 
 
 A Besieged City. 
 
 " One could go round the Italian territory in a little ride before 
 brealcfast. Strictly speaking, we are a beseiged city of very 
 limited extent. The Italians are cutting all trees in the oasis, 
 so as not to afford shelter to the enemy, and thus the invaders
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 are reducing the scanty oasis to a desert instead of reclaiming 
 the desert. 
 
 '■ Great shells from the ships are constantly smashing date- 
 palms, olives, amid Avhich the enemy is hidden. Loiid explosions 
 every day indicate the blowing up of houses outside the walls, 
 wherein every night the enemy take cover. 
 
 Cholera Haging. 
 'j Jleanwhile cholera is raging among the troops and the people, 
 and the disease has attacked the Arabs for the first time. Whole 
 streets are closed to traffic by the troops on account of the cholera. 
 Twenty-seven soldiers died of cholera yesterday, and hundreds 
 are sick. Thiry-three civilians died. 
 
 *4''The soldiers refuse to bury the murdered Arabs who litter 
 the oasis. There is a terrible stench. The Arabs also refuse, 
 save at bayonefs point, and, consequently, contagion is spreading 
 fast. 
 
 Italian Battle Losses. 
 
 " The Italian battle losses are 1,500 — 300 dead. Five hundred 
 wounded left on the hospital-ship a few daj^s ago. 
 
 '' Attempts are made to conceal these figures. They lie 
 generally about the position here. They have admitted officially 
 having executed forty Arabs in one day, when I saw fifty men 
 and children executed in one batch alone, and executions on a 
 far larger scale going on all round. 
 
 General Caneva lives in the citadel, fortified and surrounded 
 with sandbags, bomb-proof shelters, with soldiers on the roof 
 aad in the cellar. The general of di\asion does the same. Under 
 such absentee leadership any army would be degenerate. -j 
 General Caneva is never seen at the front or outside his bomb- 
 proof shelter. | 
 '■ One sentinel, at midnight, on Halloween, fancied he saw 
 approaching a white-clad Arab woman Ashom he had murdered 
 and buried v.ith. 150 others in a trench out in the desert. He 
 fired. The figure threw up its hands and fell ; but in the 
 morning no corpse or footprints were found. 
 
 "The same thing happened twice, and the soldiers think that 
 the third time the ghostly figure will not fall, but advance, and 
 the Italian line will be broken. 
 
 " The story is significant of the state of mind of the whole 
 army." 
 tj Mr. McCullagh's more detailed description of the Italian 
 ^^atrocities appeared in the New York World of November 7. 
 
 His letter is dated, Malta, November 6 : 
 1^ '■ The situation of the Itahan army in TripoU is desperate, 
 (jThe subjugation of TripoU by Italy is now as distant as the 
 ■^^Ilalian subjugation of the moon. 
 
 I '■ Without further preface I will now give details of the Italian 
 atrocities which I witnessed Avith my own eyes in Tripoh and'
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 of Avhich I have numerous photographs, taken, not out of morbid 
 curiosity, but to substantiate a narration of facts so horrible 
 I knew they would be felt to be inci-edible. Otto von Gottberg, 
 the correspondent of the Lokal Anzeiger of Berhn, can confirm 
 all I say. He, too, witnessed these barbarities. 
 
 " At daybreak on October 26 there was a combined Turkish 
 and Arab attack on the Italian lines. These lines had been 
 constructed in defiance of all militarj' laws. The Italian troops 
 were so badly placed that if the line were anywhere broker by 
 a mad rush of the desert fanatics, thera would inevitablj'' be 
 an immediate sauve qui pent into the town, and in the 
 toAvn no stand could or would be made. In such an event 
 everybody would run to the harbour, and the result would be 
 that every available boat there ^\'ould be swamped in the lirst 
 wild stampede. 
 
 " This explanation of the ItaUan position is necessary to a 
 proper comprehension of what follows. It was the frightful 
 risk in which General Caneva had placed his men that led to 
 the appalling cruelty toward the native population. Hie 
 danger of such a position may have been outlived by the Italiin 
 army by this time, but if it has, it is certainly not due to Gene al 
 Caneva that the salvation of his force would be due. 
 
 " On October 23, 24 and 25 there Mere attacks by Turks aid 
 Arabs from outside, combined with firing on the troops W 
 natives inside the city. The attack of October 26 was backd 
 by firing by the natives, and was a dangerous one. 
 
 " This firing in the city was serious, and justified Geneiil 
 Caneva in resorting to military law and shooting everj'^ nati'e 
 possessing arms. Had, however, General Caneva proceedd 
 under military law, he would have found that one hundred t 
 the most were guilty. Instead of doing that General Canev. 
 executed 4,000, including many women and children. 
 
 " The whole suburbs were surrounded by soldiers, who she 
 as sight every Arab they could find. Soldiers wandered abou 
 revolvers in their hands, shooting every Arab who showed liin 
 self, frequently firing at comrades whom they mistook in th 
 distance for Aral^s. They were literally drunk with tlicJbloii' i 
 /^hey had spilled. All the symptoms of intoxication charact erise' j 
 I their jippLaiaiiic and conduct. They had the fluslied facesTha j 
 1 come from imbibing alcoholic spirits — bloodshot eyes, unsteady; 
 V hand, and a complete loss of self-control. ___— — .~^_^-^_^ 
 
 " Behind the esparto-grass factory of theT^ank of Rome la^*.^ 
 a native village containing fifty or sixty inhabitants. A sole 
 was found shot in the vicinitj^ of this village. The village " 
 thereupon burned to the ground and all the inhabitants m 
 I butchered. 
 
 " Among the burning embers I found a sick boy and two t ' 
 bedridden Arab women lying on the ground. All three had b 
 t exposed to the great heat of the fire. The two poor bedrid 
 creatures had died of the heat, literally roasted to death.
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 '' The boy, who seemed about thirteen, was left lying half- 
 naked, exposed for a whole day without food or drink to the 
 intolerable heat of the sun, 
 
 " There was a military hospital 220 yards from the spot, and 
 I made representations to the officials there. Two faultlessly 
 dressed officers promised to have the lad attended to. They 
 said they would see that he was carried inside. They paid 
 no heed to their promise, for when I returned an hour later the 
 boy was still lying where I had had to leave him in the killing 
 heat. We tried every means to get attention for the unfortunate 
 Arabs. It was in vain. The fury of the Itahans against the 
 Arabs made the admission of the latter into any hospital an 
 utter impossibility. I suggested that we try a nice Italian 
 hotol. We went there, and it was as he said. My offer to 
 pay all expenses availed nothing. 
 
 " During our quest for some place whei'e humane treatment 
 might be assured the man-hunt of the Italians was going on 
 through the extensive, handsome Arab quarter. In that district 
 men lay dead on the ground in all directions. A large negro 
 occupied the middle of one of the streets. The whole top of 
 his held had been blo^vn off, his brains scattered around. The 
 body was not yet cold. A soldier was amusing himself by 
 kicking it. 
 
 " Near a burned village I found a pretty Arab girl of perhaps 
 seventeen lying helpless on the ground. She had been seriously 
 wounded or her legs broken, for she could not walk. She lay 
 at the gate of the hospital piteously begging for water. No 
 one would give her a drop. Another woman, evidently ill and 
 certainly unable to walk, was dragged along the ground by 
 soldiers who held her by the wrists. 
 
 Every Native a T.miget. 
 
 "The soldiers in my vicinity blazed away with their revolvers 
 like maniacs. Everything native was fair game to them. At 
 a turn in the road we came upon fifty soldiers conducting a 
 dozen prisoners whose hands had been tied behind their backs. 
 Among them was a tall negro Arab in European dress and a 
 light-coloured lad wearing a red cap. Yelhng wildly the soldiers 
 ordered us to stand back. They SAvayed to and fro ; lurched 
 like drunken men. At their head was a captain, his face as 
 flushed and his manner as unsteady as that of the worst of his 
 troop. He had lost control of himself and of his followers, 
 who shoved and jostled iiim as if he were in the ranks, 
 
 " None of them had tasted wine. Of that I am sure. Blood 
 had maddened them. In their excited condition they were 
 dangerous even to their friends, for from the reckless way in 
 which they handled their firearms any one might be shot by 
 them, friend as easily as foe. 
 
 " My party demanded possession of the prisoners. The
 
 . ( 70 ) 
 
 guards not objecting, all hands marched to a hut at the road- 
 side. Most of the building had been demohshed, and the i^art 
 left standing had been used by the troops for refuse. Taldng 
 the prisoners by ])airs they stood them against the bullet-riddled 
 Mall. Those waiting their turn stood facing the victims. Two 
 by two they were led to the Avail, and received volleys of bullets. 
 Every Arab led forward remained perfectly calm and silent, 
 as has been the case, indeed, with all Arabs whose execution 
 I witnessed. In this slaughter every bullet told. The soldiers 
 kicked aside the twisted, bloody limbs that blocked the way 
 to one corner, and shoved an old man and the negro into the 
 opening thus made. As they faced their executioner^, the 
 old man said something to the negro, Avho nodded. At that 
 instant nine rifles spoke out at once. The negro fell dead, 
 while the old man spun around like a top and doubled up on 
 the ground. 
 
 ■' Scores of soldiers and officers AN'itnessed this series of 
 executions. As each pair of Anctims fell the spectators 3'elled 
 in a frenzy of dehght. One captain had a camera. He put 
 himself in a position where he could snap the successive scenes. 
 A volley was often delayed to enable him to arrange his focus. 
 
 '■ The photographing officer has been a feature of slaugliters 
 almost daily. He usually smokes cigarettes while snap-shotting. 
 
 • Maddened by Blood. 
 
 " There A\as a mad rush forward when the laj^t victims fell, 
 and the air was filled with jeers and outrageous remarks. I tried 
 to get away from this horror. l)ut only succeeded in running into 
 a greater one. Doa\ n the main road, toward Bumeliana, marched 
 fifty soldiers in a holloAV square. Inside the square Avere more 
 than fifty Arabs — some men of all ages and some children aged 
 about ten, sUm little children, as lightly and gracefully l)uilt 
 as Arab foals. These children seemed to be feehuL' quite safe 
 since they Avere A\-ith their parents and in company with their 
 relatives and all the people of their street. They looked out 
 beyond the line of bayonets Avith A\ide-open ])ut not alarmed 
 eyes, and CAidently Avere Avondering Avhere the fc^ri-igners yverv 
 bringing them. The soldiers marched toA\ards tlie oasis on the 
 outskirts of the toAMi. About a mile from tlie edge of the desert 
 shots began to ring and bullets passed OA'cr our heads. Panic 
 seized the soldiers, and they rushed to the ditches on the sides 
 of the road. The prisoners A\ere left standing roped together. 
 All remained silent, and, in their white garments and bent 
 attitudes, they looked like a flock of sheep. One soldier remained 
 near them. He drove his bayonet into an old man and a youth. 
 The lad fell dead, but the man AA'as not mortally AAOunded. 
 The soldier tore the clothes from his victims, and the old man 
 Avas left to bleed to death after shameful mutilation. His 
 moanings AA'ere fearful, but instead of finishing him Avith a bullet 
 the soldier kicked him and jumped upon his body.
 
 ( :i ) 
 
 Sickening Barbarity. 
 
 ■■ Meanwhile the other soldiers maintained an exchange of 
 fire from the ditches -with the persons in the undergrowth. I 
 knew that both sides firing Avere Italians, hut these blood- 
 crazed fiends weve so blinded as to fire at one another right antl 
 left. This shooting at one another, however, has occurred all 
 over Tripoli. The captain of the party to which I had attached 
 ni3'self was utterly ignored by the men he commanded. The 
 purple-faced little man kept roaring continually at the top of his 
 voice, though nobody paid the least attention to his orders 
 except to disobey them. The soldiers continued to fire on 
 their comrades for half an hour, and then a number of ofiicers 
 ran up and the convoy Avas persuaded to proceed with its work. 
 The soldiers again surrounded the prisoners and marched them 
 into the empty hiit. At the corner of the hut the soldiers drove 
 a bayonet into the heart of the old man and the others were 
 hurried by groups into the hut. 
 
 ■■ Then the usual business began, and soon the floor was so 
 encumbered Avith bodies that those Avho came last had to climb 
 to their o\^i death over a hillock of their dead friends. Manj^ fell 
 as they climbed. 
 
 " When the Avork of the firing party AA'as finished the floor 
 presented an aAN-ful spectacle of tangled bodies and limbs, inter- 
 tAA'ined in agony. Despite the great number of bullets poured 
 into the house, many Arabs retained some spark of life. As one 
 or another moA'ed the captain of the escort began reA-ol\-er prac- 
 tice, shooting at the quiA^ering limbs, and Avhen no more move- 
 ment occurred he fired at A^isible heads, making horrible jokes 
 and inducing other officers to Join in the abomuiable AVork. 
 
 " There Avere yet left in that frightful heai:> of bodies men and 
 boys who still gaA e signs of fife, cA'en after the officers had tired 
 of their ghastly amusement. At the top of the pile lay an old 
 grey-bearded Arab ; suddenly his head began to roll from side 
 to side. He Avas just regaining consciousness. The captain 
 aimed at him, but missed. The head continued to roll more as 
 the realisation of pain became keener, and the captain aimed 
 again. This time he hit, and the motion of the head stopped. 
 From the bottom of the pile came a deep, hoarse moaning, and 
 the officers again emptied reA-oh^ers into the tumult of bodies 
 from where the sound seemed to come. Still the plaintive moan- 
 ing continued, and the officers, with ribald expletives, then 
 ordered up the firing party. Again the boches \>'ere raked A\'ith 
 half a dozen A^oUeys, and Avhen I listened again the moaning had 
 ceased. The final^volley had torn and lacerated the bodies in a 
 frightful manner, and the pitiful pile Avas now too ghastly for 
 ■description." 
 
 So'much for Mr. McCulIagh's story. It Avas amply corroborated. 
 
 Reuter's special correspondent has left Tripoli and has aho 
 •sent a message from Malta so as to be '' free from the trammels
 
 ( 72 ) 
 
 of the censorship." In this he rephes to the Itahan Prime 
 Minister's denial that any innocent men, vomen. or children 
 were shot after the insurrection on October 23. Reuter's 
 correspondent contiimes : — 
 
 " As he has made this statement, thus throwing grave imputa- 
 tions on the veracity of all foreign correspondents who were at 
 Tripoli at the time, 1 am sending you those cases M'hich came under 
 my o\^Ti observation and those of Mr. Davis of the Morning 
 Post, and Mr. Grant, of the Daily Mirror, in the course of one 
 ride on October 27, four days after the insurrection in the town. 
 This is an exact statement drawn up by me and signed by Mr. 
 Davis, Mr. Grant and myself at the request of the British Consul 
 in Tripoli, and to its absolute truthfulness we are prepared to 
 swear." 
 
 Mi\ Bennet Burleigh, the veteran doyen of British war 
 correspondents, a man of vast experience, tells the same story. 
 Writing at Tripoli on October 29, he reported : — 
 
 " The oasis of palms is being ruthlessly cleared of its popula- 
 tion of villagers, small farmers, and peasants. Very many have 
 been killed, and their corpses bestrew the fields and roads. 
 The scent of war's scythe poisons the air. An aged Arab de- 
 clares that 4,000 have been slain, and with them at least 400 
 women and many children. Say half that number, and you 
 have a fearful sanguinary monument of the horrors of war and 
 conquest, if not of something w^orse, and of a massacre of the 
 strong, the weak, of aged greybeards and the young. Many 
 have unquestionably been wantonly murdered. That is not 
 always preventible in war, but in the twentieth century and in 
 civilised warfare, it is quite without the pale to shoot men and 
 lads wholesale on sight without trial, and because of their skin 
 and dress. 
 
 *' I have seen a crippled beggar — a man whose limbs \\'ere so 
 deformed that he had to move by pushing along the ground in a 
 sitting position — deliberately shot at near the Austrian Consulate. 
 Dozens of other natives I have seen herded and coralled, and 
 others fired upon in bx'oad daylight. But there are half a dozen 
 colleagues — English. French, and German — who assert that 
 they have seen Arabs fusilladed in groups, and have even ' snap- 
 shotted ' instances where soldiers and officers indiscriminately 
 fired upon these unfortimate natives." 
 
 In face of all this overwhelming array of evidence General 
 Caneva has the assurance to assert that the Itahans only shot 
 " every man who fired against us," although this itself implies 
 a denial of quarter, a thing expressly , forbidden by the Hague 
 Convention — and that those Avho persisted in retaining arms 
 were arrested and taken prisoners to Italy. If General Caneva 
 were as bold in the field as he is audacious in unveracity the 
 Turks might mcU tremble. 
 J Renter's correspondent says : — 
 
 " The affair of October 23 led to a general order to shoot all
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 Ai'abs found with arms in their hands in the oasis. On the 
 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th the troops proceeded to make a 
 clean sweep of all that portion of the oasis of which they held 
 possession. 
 
 " For four days parties of soldiers scoured every portion of the 
 oasis, shooting indiscriminately every Arab they met." 
 
 The three correspondents rode out of the to^vai into the 
 oasis. It was four days after the fight. They thus record 
 Avhat they saw : — 
 
 " On leaving the toAMi, the first object which met our eyes was 
 a group of from fifty to seventy men and boys who had been 
 caught in the town on the pre\'ious day, or on October 25, and 
 shot without trial of any sort. The majority of them were 
 caught without arms, and were executed under a general order 
 issued by the Governor, General Carlo Caneva, to exterminate 
 all Arabs found in Tripoli or in the oasis. They had been led 
 to this spot with their hands tied behind their backs and shot 
 down indiscriminately. This mass of corpses lying in all atti- 
 tudes in a sohd mass piled on one another could not have covered 
 a space greater than fifteen yards wide by five deep. 
 
 " During our whole progress over a distance of two miles 
 we never saw a single living Arab — man, woman or child. 
 Lying just outside the outpost line was another group of about 
 fifty men and boys who had evidently been taken out there 
 on the previous day and shot en masse. 
 
 " Now these men could not have been guilty of an attack on 
 the Italians, because they had been living under their observation 
 ever since the occupation, and had they been guilty, they should 
 have been shot on the 23rd, the day of the outbreak in the 
 town, and certainly should not have been allowed to roam in 
 and out perfectly free for four days." 
 
 The three correspondents had not witnessed this shooting, 
 though others had. But they describe shootings which they 
 did witness : — 
 
 " Cases 4, 5, and 6. — Just as we reached this detachment 
 (of Italian soldiers) they met three perfectly harmless-looking 
 Arabs walking up the road and carrying no weapons. They 
 were clad in clean white robes, and evidently men of high 
 class. It was obvious at a glance that they were not men of the 
 
 fighting class They were seized by order of the officer and 
 
 without a word of interrogation or explanation, for the Italians 
 had no interpreter with them unless one of their own number 
 could speak Arabic, a most unUkely contingency, they were 
 taken inside a cottage and shot against the wall, not by a regular 
 volley, but by a series of isolated shots." 
 
 TMs took place far within the then firing fines of tlic Italians, 
 close to the town ; but for the whole of two miles, 
 
 " Every few yards we came across fresh corpses lying where 
 they had been shot down .... some bayoneted or clubbed to 
 death with the butt ends of rifles. Many had evidently only
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 been wounded, and had craAvled to the side of the load, there 
 to die. 
 
 "Although there Mas no lighting on the afternoon of October 
 27, there Mas continual firing in all parts of the oasis. This 
 was entirely produced by small bodies of soldiers, in many in- 
 stances without officers, roaming throughout, and indiscriminately 
 massacring all M'hom they met. We must have passed the 
 bodies of over one hundred persons on this one high road, and, 
 as similar scenes Avere enacted throi;ghout the length and breadth 
 of the oasis, some estimate of the numbers of innocent men, 
 Avomen and children M'ho Avere butchered, doubtless M^ith many 
 who were guiltj^ of attacking the Italian troops in the rear, may 
 be appreciated." 
 
 Signor GioUtti said : — 
 
 " He Avho asserts that an Italian soldier Mill offend a Moman 
 ■or a child shoAvs ignorance of our country and our race." 
 
 The ItaMan soldier is a human being like other hmnan beings, 
 and being so. he is capable of anything M^hen maddened M-ith 
 Ijanic and let loose upon a helpless population. 
 
 But even this array of evidence by independent Mitnesses — 
 English, German, French and American — did not shake the 
 imperturbable ignorance of the Foreign Office. On Monday, 
 November 6, in the House of Commons, 
 
 Ml'. McCallum Scott asked the Foreign Secretary v.ht'ther 
 he had received from the British representative in Tripoli 
 any report as to the Mholesale massacre of Arabs. M-omer. and 
 children, bj' the Italian troops ; also as to the refusal of the 
 Italians to recognise the native population defending their 
 country as combatants ; also as to the refusal of the Italians 
 to respect the AA'hite flag, and as to the illegal use of the M'hite 
 flag by the Italians and the red cross flag ; and Mhether-neM's- 
 paper correspondents had sent in their jjapers to General 
 Oaneva refusing to remain Mith the army. 
 
 Mr. AcLAXD : No. sir. Me have not received up to the 
 present from H.M. Consul at Tripoli any report indicating 
 that the events the hon. member refers to have taken place. 
 I have no knoAAledge of the circumstances under Miiich the 
 correspondents referred to returned their papers to the Italian 
 military authorities. 
 
 Mr. Mc'Calli'm Scott asked Mhether, in A-ieA\' of the fact 
 that the Italians were conducting the M'ar in Trij^oli by bar- 
 barous methods and contrary to the laM' of nations — (Oppo- 
 sition cries of "' Oh. oh I " and Radical cheers) 
 
 The Speaker : I do not think a question of that sort ought 
 to be put in these terms AAith leference to a country with 
 Mhich Me are on friendty terms. Before the hon. member 
 asks such a question, perhaps he Mnll kindly let me see a 
 copy of it. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Mr. McCallum Scott Mas understood to say he had sub-
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 mitted a copy, but the Speaker, rising again, said. " No, I 
 had a copy of the other one. The hon. meml)er had U\o 
 barrels to fire." (Laughter.) 
 
 Mr. Mason asked if he would be in order in moving the 
 adjournment of the House, seeing that this was not an allotted 
 day. 
 
 The Speaker said he might submit the question. 
 Mr. Mason said he Avould therefore ask leave to move the 
 adjournment in order to call attention to a definite matter of 
 urgent public importance, namely, the events in Tripoli in 
 their relation to the Hague Conference. 
 
 The Speaker : The hon. member must be definite. The 
 hon. member has not named anything definite. 
 
 Mr. ;Mason : The atrocities in Tripoli are a matter of 
 definite and urgent importance. 
 
 The Speaker : That is altogether too vague. The Govern- 
 ment is not responsible for the so-cailed atrocities in Tripoli. 
 ^Opposition cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Mason : As regard our treaty obligations 
 
 The Speaker : The hon. member should at least have taken 
 the trouble to prepare the matter. 
 
 Mr. Mason did not rise again, and the next business was 
 proceeded \\ith. 
 
 An attempt ^^'as made to move a resolution asking the Govern* 
 nient to protest against the atrocities. It was resisted success- 
 fully by those ^\'ho held that it Avas necessary to wait for 
 official information. In this the precedent set by Mr. Gladstone 
 was followed. He waited until Mr, Baring's official report 
 confirmed the letters of Mr. MacGahan before he published his 
 memorable pamphlet. But Sir Edward Grey, warned by the 
 experience of Lord Beaconsfield, refused to pubhsh the official 
 information in his possession. 
 On November 9, 
 
 Mr. Dillon asked the Foreign Secretary whether he had 
 received from the British Consuls full uncensored reports of 
 occurrences in Tripoli and Benghazi during the last three 
 weeks. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey. — The Consul-General in Tripoli has 
 heard from newspaper correspondents some of the statements 
 such as appeared in the Press, but, as I informed the hon. 
 gentleman, the Government cannot vuidertake to publish 
 official information except "where British subjects are concerned. 
 As a matter of fact, the Consul-General was not present v/hen 
 the fighting took place, nor was it any part of his duty to be 
 there. 
 
 Mr. D. M. Mason asked if it was not the duty of the 
 British Consul to furnish information as to the occurrence 
 at Tripoli, and if he was not prepared to accept the evidence 
 of newspaper correspondents against the violation of the 
 <.'onvention to which the Government had been a party I
 
 ( :h ) 
 
 Sir E. Grky replied that he had not said it was not thedutj'" 
 
 of the Consul to furnish reports. What he said was that it 
 
 was not his duty to be A\here the fighting was taking place. 
 Mr. Mason. — How can he give evidence if he is not present^? 
 ^ Upon reading this report I addressed to the Press the follow- 
 ing indignant protest against conduct \\'hich is worse than Lord 
 Beaconsfield's metliod of dealing v^ith. the Bulgarian atrocities : — 
 
 " I have just read in the evening papers the reply made by 
 Sir Edward Grey to Mr. Dillon on the subject of the Itahan 
 atrocities at Tiipoli. It fills me with amazement, indignation, 
 and disgust. 
 
 " The Foreign Secretary is reported as having declared when 
 questioned as to the reports received from the British Consul 
 at Tripoli concerning the statements made by neAvspaper corre- 
 spondents on the spot, A\'ho were eye-Avitnesses of the three 
 days' massacre of non-combatants, prisoners, Avomen, and chil- 
 dren, that the Consal-General had heard these statements, but 
 ' the Government cannot undertake to publish official informa- 
 tion except Avhere British subjects are concerned.' 
 
 " It is almost incredible that a British Foreign Secretary could 
 actually have made a statement AA'hich is as revolting as it is 
 appalling. It is Avorse than the Avorst outrage of A\'hich Mr. 
 Disraeli Avas guilty in connection Avith the Bulgarian horrors, 
 Mr. Disraeli ncA^er carried the doctrine of indifference to any- 
 thing but British interests or British subjects to such inhuman 
 lengths. He scoffed at the first reports of the atrocities perpe- 
 trated at Balak as ' coffee-house babble,' but he ncA^er, in his 
 most cynical moments, denied that it awis the duty of the British 
 GoA^ernment to publish ' official information ' on the subject of 
 the massacre of non-British subjects. On the contrary, he 
 said that he had no official information, but that he Avould send 
 an official to the scene of the alleged atrocities to examine and 
 report. He sent our Mr. Baring, Avho, three months after the 
 massacre had taken place, rejDorted that he had found ample 
 evidence of the atrocities Avhich the TurlvS had iierpetrated. 
 Although not one solitary British suliject had suffered, Mr. 
 Disraeli deemed it his duty to publish the ' official information ' 
 received from Mr. Baring, and it A\'as upon that official information 
 that Mr. Gladstone Avrote and published his memorable pamphlet 
 on the ' Bulgarian Horrors.' Noav, is it to be tolerated that a 
 Liberal Foreign SecretarA^ shall suppress ' official information ' 
 because the Anctims of massacre are not British subjects ? 
 
 " Were the Vaudois British subjects ' slain by the bloody 
 Piedmontese ' whose A\rongs caused CroniAvell to threaten that 
 the roar of cannon \\'ould be heard at the Castle of St. Angelo ? 
 
 " I admit it is a far cry from Milton to Sir EdAvard Grey. 
 But it is intolerabl<> that a Liberal Foreign Minister should be 
 more callous to the cries of mangled Avonien and children, killed 
 day after day, long after the panic had subsided, than Mr. 
 Disraeli was at his AVorst.
 
 ( " ) 
 
 "Of coiirse the obvious, the only inference to be drawn from 
 i:his dehberate suppression of official information is that the 
 reports of the newspaper correspondents arc true and that Sir 
 Edward Grey, in his zeal for neutrality, dare not allow the truth 
 to come to light in an official report. Mr. Disraeli was not so 
 lacking in moral courage. He published Mr. Baring's report of 
 the Bulgarian massacres in which no " British subjects were con- 
 cerned,' although he knew that in so doing he exposed himself 
 to a storm of indignation which shattered his cherished policy 
 in the East. 
 
 '' The Liberal Party has tolerated much, too much, in the blind 
 loyalty of its devotion to its leaders. But surely this last out- 
 rage \\'ill be more than the most servile of party hacks can tolerate. 
 If there be even a spark of its ancient spirit left in the House of 
 Commons it will insist, not only upon the immediate publication 
 of all ' official information ' on the subject of the ItaUan atroci- 
 ties, but it v.'ill compel the Foreign Office to command from its 
 Oonsul-General an exhaustive report upon the allegations so 
 circumstantially made that the Italian sokhers, by the orders 
 of their officers, long after the fighting had ceased and days after 
 the panic had passed, violated the explicit rules of war laid doAvn 
 by the Hague Conference by killing enemies who had laid dowTi 
 their arms, by massacring prisoners, by murdering non-combat- 
 ants and by shooting women and children. 
 
 " It may not l)e a Consul-General's ' duty to be on the place 
 where the fighting was taking place.' It is his duty to ascertain 
 and report upon the truth of allegations made by credible wit- 
 nesses as to the deliberate and A\'holesale breach of the laws of 
 war embodied in a Convention to which the signature of a 
 British Government is attached." 
 
 I have no A\ish to argue from the hideous story of the doings 
 of the Italian panic-stricken soldiers that the Italians are worse 
 than any other soldiers in the same circumstances. But the 
 matter is of importance because of its bearing upon the Hague 
 ■Conventions of the Rules of Land War. 
 
 We signed that Convention. It forms the recognised Code 
 for the conduct of hostilities. Italy signed it also. If the 
 Italians set its provisions at naught, there ought to be some 
 means of bringing them to book, even though they are a nation 
 with whom we are on '" friendh^ terms," and even though we 
 have declared our neutrality. We may be the be^st of friends 
 with a neighbour, but if he cuts his servant's throat we hand 
 him over to the police. Neither do we recognise that a declara- 
 tion of neutrality frees us from responsibility for acquiescence 
 in his crime. 
 
 The laws of war embodied in the Hague Convention have 
 long been r(>cogniscd by all civilised nations. The Articles 
 l)earing upon the misdeeds of the Italians are ver\' explicit. 
 
 It is often assumed, and inde^^d asserted, by the ignorant 
 "that there arc no Ka^nsof war or that the notion of laying down
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 laAvs for the conduct of troops in the field is a sentimental fantasy* 
 of the Hague Conference. Nothing could be more contrary to 
 fact. The great fighting nations have for centuries recognised, 
 the necessity for defining the limits of legitimate warfare. It is 
 not necessary, however, to go farther back than the Brussels 
 Conference of 1874 to prove that civiUsed nations have recognised 
 the necessity of laying do\\7i a code of the laws and customs of 
 war. It is worth while quoting some of the articles of this 
 Brussels code which bear upon the questions raised by the 
 present war. 
 
 Ai't. 1. — A territory is considered as occupied when it is^ 
 actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. 
 
 The occupation only extends to those territories where this- 
 authority is established and can be exercised. 
 
 Art. 10. — The population of an unoccupied territory who on 
 the approach of the enemy of their own accord take up arms to 
 resist the invading troops without having had time to organise 
 themselves in conformity wdth Art. 9 (which prescribes that they 
 shall have a responsible chief, wear some badge recognisable at a 
 distance, carry arms openly) shall be considered as beJhgerents 
 if they respect the laws and customs of war. 
 
 Art. 11. — ^The armed forces of the belligerents may consist 
 of combatants and non-combatants. In the event of being 
 cajitured by the enemy, both the one and the other shall enjoy 
 the rights of prisoners of war. 
 
 Art. 12. — The laws of war doTnot allow to belligerents an 
 unlimited power as to the choice of means of injuring the enemy. 
 
 Art. 13. — According to this principle are strictly forbidden : 
 (c) Murder of an antagonist, who having laid down his arms, or 
 ha\ing no longer the means of defending himself, has surrendered 
 at discretion. 
 
 Art. 9. — All destruction or seizure of the property of the enemy 
 which is not imperatively required by the necessity of war. 
 
 Art. 14. — Stratagems {ruses de guerre) are considered lawful 
 means. 
 
 Art. 15. — Fortified places are alone liable to be seized. Towns, 
 agglomerations of houses, or villages which are open and unde- 
 fended cannot be attacked or bombarded 
 
 Art. 18. — A town taken by storm shall not be given up to 
 the victorious troops to plunder, 
 
 Tlrt. 23. — Prisoners of war are lawful and disarmed enemies. 
 They should be treated with humanity. 
 
 Art. 38. — The honour and rights of the family, the life and 
 property of individuals, should be respected. Private property 
 cannot be .cpnfiscated. 
 
 Art. 39.-7rI^iUage is. expressly forbidden.
 
 ( 7y ) 
 
 These law s, with some shght modifications in phraseologj% were 
 re-enacted at the first Hague Conference, and again at the second 
 Conference. As the Convention of 1907 represents the last 
 word of the Governments of the world— includuig Italy and Great 
 Britain — upon the subject, I quote the latest version of the 
 laws of war. 
 
 The preamble states that the signatory Powers — 
 
 Animated by the desire to serve even in the extreme case 
 [of an appeal to arms] the interests of humanity and the ever 
 progressive needs of civilisation ; 
 
 Thinldng it important ^ntll this object to revise the general 
 la^^'s and customs of war^, either with a A-iew of defining them 
 \nth greater precision or of confining them Anthin such limits 
 as would mitigate their severity as far as possible ; 
 
 Have deemed it necessary to complete and explain in 
 certain particulars the work of the First Peace Conference, 
 which, following on the Brussels Conference of 1874, and 
 inspired by the ideas dictated by a M'ise and generous fore- 
 thought, adopted provisions intended to define and govern 
 the iisages of war on land. 
 
 The preamble proceeds to declare that, while they lay down 
 a general rule, they cannot frame regulations covering all possible 
 circumstances, but they do not intend that unforeseen cases 
 should, in the absence of a -written undertaking, be left to the 
 arbitrary judgment of military commanders. In such cases 
 " the inhabitants and the belligerents remain under the pro- 
 tection and the rule of the principles of the laws of nations as 
 they result from the usages established among civiHsed nations, 
 from the laws of humanity and the dictates of the public con- 
 science." 
 
 The Convention, which, it is well to remember, was framed 
 by the representatives of Great Britain, Russia, and Japan, 
 among other nations, fresh from great wars waged in Africa and 
 Asia, is divided into chapters. In Chapter I. we find the following 
 articles : — 
 
 Art. 2. — ^The inhabitants of a territory which has not been 
 occupied, who on the approach of an enemy spontaneously take 
 up arms to resist the invading troops without having had time 
 to organise themselves in accordance with Art. 1 (as to re- 
 sponsible chief wearing a recognisable emblem and carrying 
 arms openly), shall be regarded as belligerents if they carry 
 arms openly and if they respect the laws and customs of war. 
 
 Art. 3. — The armed forces of the belligerent parties may 
 consist of combatants and non-combatants. In the case of 
 capture by the enemy, both have a right to be treated as prisoners 
 of war. ;■ 
 
 Chapter II. is, devoted to prisoners of \Var.
 
 ( 80 ) 
 
 Art, 4. — Prisoners of war must be humanely treated. 
 
 Chapter III. relates to hostilities. 
 
 Art. 22. — ^The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring 
 the enemy is not unhmited. 
 
 Art. 23. — Ih addition to the prohibitions provided by special 
 conventions, it is expressly forbidden — 
 
 (c) To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his 
 arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at 
 discretion. 
 
 {(l) To declare that no quarter ^^'ill be given. 
 
 {g) To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such 
 destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the neces- 
 sities of war. 
 
 Art. 24. — Ruses of war . . . are considered permissible. 
 
 Art. 25. — The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of 
 towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended is 
 prohibited. 
 
 Art. 28. — The pillage of a town or place, even when taken by 
 assault, is prohibited. 
 
 Art, 30. — A spy taken in the act shall not be punished ^\'itll- 
 out previous trial. 
 
 Art, 42. — Territory is considered occupied when it is actually 
 placed under the authority of the hostile army. 
 
 The occupation extends only to the territory where such 
 authority has been estabhshed and can be exercised. 
 
 Art. 46, — Family honour and rights and the lives of persons 
 and private property must be respected. Private property 
 cannot be confiscated. 
 
 Art. 47. — Pillage is formally forbidden. 
 
 Art. 50. — No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be 
 inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of indi- 
 viduals for which they cannot be regarded as jointly and severally 
 responsible. 
 
 Such are the laws and usages of war which the Italian Govern- 
 ment undertook to respect. Such are the laws and usages of 
 war A\hich the Italian army stands convicted, on the unim- 
 peachable evidence of independent eye-witnesses, of having 
 trampled under foot in the Tripohtan oasis. 
 
 There are certain laws so obvious, so universally admitted, 
 that, on the same principle that the Romans framed no law 
 ii^ainst parricide, were not included in the code of The Hague. 
 
 Thej" are, for instance : — 
 
 The killing and violation of women is strictly forbidden. 
 The murder of children is strictly forbidden.
 
 ( 81 ) 
 
 The shooting of blind men, cripples and aged persons is 
 
 strictly forbidden. 
 The murder of prisoners of war is strictly forbidden. 
 The shooting, wholesale or retail, of non-combatants is 
 
 strictly forbidden. 
 
 All these laws of civilised war are universally recognised. All 
 these laws of civilised warfare were trampled under foot and set 
 at naught by the Italian soldiers. 
 
 The Hague Conference laid down the law. It provided no 
 Court of Justice for punishing offenders who broke the law. 
 The only punishment that can be meted out to the criminals 
 is to gibbet them in the pillory of the world. That duty the 
 Press has nobly performed. To his lasting shame. Sir Edward 
 Grey has endeavoured to deprive civihsation of this last poor 
 method of punishing offender?, by using his official position to 
 -suppress official information as to the perpetration of these 
 'Crimes.
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The International Protest Against the War. 
 
 Italy declared war on Turkey on September 29, 1911. The- 
 Italian Ambassador qui tteil Constantinople on the following day. 
 On the same day (the 30th) a memorial was drawn up in 
 London addressed to Sir Edward Grey, which, after expressing 
 profomid alarm and regret as to the war, respectfully ventured 
 to point out that the British Government and other signatories 
 of the Hague Convention had not performed the duty which 
 they had undertaken to discharge (Article 48). The memorial 
 concluded as follows : — 
 
 As the existence of the Hague Convention appears to have 
 been entirely ignored in the recent negotiations, we venture 
 respectfully to request that the duty undertaken by Great 
 Britain should be performed without anj^ further delay, and 
 that the Powers in dispute should be reminded of their own 
 adhesion to the Hague Convention and urged to employ its 
 peace-making machinery for the settlement of their present 
 dispute. 
 
 On the following day, the Baron D'Estournelles de Constant 
 addressed a letter to M. Caillaux, President of the Council, 
 reminding him of the duty undertaken by France and othet 
 signatories of the Hague Convention to intervene for the purpose 
 of offering their good offices to compose the quarrel. 
 
 The memorial and the letter were acknowledged by the 
 IVIinisters to whom they were addressed, but no action of any 
 kind appears to have been taken. 
 
 I went over to Paris and there saw Baron D'Estournelles de 
 Constant, who in conversation pointed* out to me the significance 
 of the clause added by the Conference of 1907 to Article 27 of 
 the Convention of 1899, A\hich accepts the duty of reminding 
 conflicting powers of the existence of the Hague Convention, 
 x^rticle 27 became Article 48 in the 1907 Convention. The 
 added clause was as follows : — 
 
 In case of conflict between two Powers, one of them can 
 al\\'ays address to the International Bureau a note con- 
 taining a declaration that she would be ready to submit the 
 dispute to arbitration. The Bureau must at once inform the 
 other Power of the declaration. 
 
 " As this afforded an opportunity to any Power in conflict 
 at any time while the conflict lasted to notify to the world its 
 readiness to submit the controversy to arbitration, I called upon 
 the Italian and Turkish Ambassadors at Paris to ascertain 
 whether there was any hkelihood of their Governments availing; 
 themselves of this permission. The Italian Ambassador smiled, 
 slirugged his shoulders, and said there was no occasion for
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 taking any such steps, as there was no war, and the operations 
 necessary to straighten out a somewhat tangled situation would 
 be completed in two or three days, Avhen the incident would be 
 at an end. The Turkish Ambassador at first demurred on 
 technical grounds, then raised the objection that it might seem 
 cowardly to appeal to arbitration while the Empire was in- 
 vaded, but ultimately decided that he would advise his Govern- 
 ment to take this course. I then saw representatives of the 
 Berne Bureau, which represents the federated Peace Societies 
 of the world, the representatives of the American Peace Trust, 
 and other well-known pacificists, discussed the matter with them, 
 and found them unanimously in agreement with me in thinking 
 that it was now or never with the advocates of International 
 Arbitration. Something must be done and that at once to 
 remind the world of the existence of the Hague Tribunal, and 
 we agreed that if the Turks could be induced to declare their 
 readiness to submit the dispute to arbitration we should have 
 an unexpectedly favourable jumping-off point for an inter- 
 national demonstration in favour of International Arbitration. 
 On my return to London on Wednesday, October 4, I at once 
 summoned a meeting of the representatives of peace and arbitra- 
 tion societies at my office in Kingsway, and to them briefly 
 stated the great new hope that had dawned upon the world out 
 of the darlmess of the ItaUan war. It was decided to summon a 
 more representative meeting at Mr. MilhoUand's house, 4, 
 Prince of Wales Terrace, Kensington, on Monday night. In- 
 vitations were sent out to every London Society of Peace and 
 Arbitration named in the Peace Directory issued by the Peace 
 Council, and to all the notable pacificists whose addresses were 
 published in that directory. The Independent Labour Party, 
 the Socialists, the Women's Societies were all invited, and, of 
 course, the representatives of the Tnter-ParUamentary Union. 
 On the following day, Thursday October 5, the Times and 
 other daily papers published a long letter of mine entitled " The 
 War and the Hague Convention. It began thus : — 
 
 Will you allow a private person the use of your columns 
 to attempt to discharge a duty which all the Governments of 
 the world have undertaken to perform, but which hitherto 
 they have unaccountably neglected ? 
 It concluded with the following appeal : — 
 
 The Governments of the world may forget their duty. The 
 nations have a better memory. In the name of all the high 
 hopes which hailed the creation of the Hague Tribunal we 
 appeal, and we shall not appeal in vain, to all those in whom 
 conscience is not finally extinct to defend this palladium of 
 the world's peace as men fought to defend their fatherland 
 against an invading foe. 
 
 A copy of this letter was enclosed ^vith each invitation to 
 jjtend the meeting. 
 irJn the meantime the International Peace Council had m^t
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 under Lord Courtney of Penwith, and passed a memorial urging 
 the Government to offer mediation and " shoiild press upon 
 Italy the submission of its complaints and claims against Turkey 
 to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, or to some 
 other method of international determination." 
 
 On October 6 (Friday), at Mr. Milholland's, there met 
 some fifty or sixty men and women, members of all the leading 
 Peace and Arbitration Societies, representatives of organised 
 Labour and Women's Societies. Sir Thomas Barclay was in 
 the chair. Letters were received from about half as many more 
 notable pacificists, all expressing their entire sympathy with. 
 the movement. 
 
 The following resolutions ^^•ere unanimously passed : — 
 
 1. This meeting, representing those in every country 
 A\ho regard The Hague Tribimal as the Temple of Justice, 
 the Citadel of Riglit, and the Pallachum of Peace, express 
 their amazement and indignation that two signatories of 
 The H^gue Convention should have appealed to arms without 
 being reminded by any other of the forty-one signatories of 
 the existence of The Hague Tribunal, a duty which they 
 undertook in Article 48 to perform, and that a copy of this 
 resolution be forwarded in the name of this meeting to Sir 
 Edward Grey. 
 
 2. That the organised Governments of the world having 
 failed in their duty, it is necessary that an appeal should at 
 
 " once be made to the nations whom these Governments repre- 
 sent, in order to remind the world of the existence of The 
 Hague Tribunal, to assert its authority, and to insist that 
 the present dispute between Italy and Turkey should be 
 referred to The Hague for adjudication in accordance with 
 the principles of justice and right. 
 
 It was further decided, at the suggestion of Mr. Milholland, 
 that delegates should be sent to Constantinople and to Rome to 
 remind the Governments of the warring powers of their obliga- 
 tions and 0]3portunities under the Hague Convention, and to 
 make a final appeal to each of them to refer the merits of their 
 dispute to arbitration. I was nominated as envoy to Con- 
 stantinople, Mr. Moscheles envoy to Rome. 
 
 I left London on Sunday. October 8, and reached Constan- 
 tinople on Thursday morning, October 12. I saw the Grand 
 Vizier, the Foreign ^Ministers, the Sultan, the Sheikh ul Islam, 
 and other personages. The Ottoman group of the Inter- 
 parUamentary Union took up the idea with enthusiasm, and 
 decided to make the appeal to Europe on behalf of treaty 
 faith and interjiational arbiti-ation. 
 
 I left Constantinople on my return journey on Wednesday 
 night, October 27, spent a day in Brussels, ^vhere I saw the 
 President and Secretary of the Inter-parUamentary Union 
 the President of the Berne Bureau, ctnd the Secretary of tl^^
 
 ( So ) 
 
 International Socialist Bureau ; and another day in Paris, 
 reaching London on Monday, October 30. 
 
 I found on my arrival that an International Arbitration 
 Emergency Committee had been formed out of those who 
 attended the original meeting at Mr. Milholland's, and to them 
 I submitted on Tuesday, tlie 31st, a report of my mission. 
 The Committee decided to summon a public meeting for the 
 purpose of considering the duty of Britain in relation to the 
 A\ar. It was impossible to obtain the Queen's Hall, as it Avas 
 engaged for every night till the end of the year. It was 
 decided, therefore, to take Whitefield's Tabernacle for Tuesday, 
 November 7. ' 
 
 Invitations were sent out to all members of Parh anient, 
 Mayors, and other notables, accompanied in every case with a 
 reprint of my article in the Daily Chronicle of November 1, " For 
 Peace with Justice by Arbitration." 
 
 In reply to this appeal the following letters were received, 
 among others : — ■ 
 
 The Right Hon. THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON : 
 
 " I am only able to say that every moment of my time next week is 
 
 occupied, or I would most gladly have accepted your invitation to the 
 
 meeting about the lamentable war now being waged in Tripoli. 
 
 " I do most profoundly deplore that war should have been commenced 
 
 without the points in dispute, whatever they may be, having been first 
 
 referred to impartial arbitration. 
 
 " I venture to say my own experience warrants me in believing that it 
 
 is always the party in a dispute that feels the greatest confidence in its 
 
 cause that is most ready to avail itself of friendly arbitration." 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir EDWARD G. CLARKE : 
 
 " I am heartUv with you in your desire to make a public and emphatic 
 protest against the wicked violation of moral law, and the law of nations, 
 which Italy has committed in her sudden and wholly unprovoked seizure 
 of Tripoli. It will be a calamity to the world if the Governments of Europe 
 fail to make effective protest against an act which, if condoned and 
 sanctioned, makes international law a trumpery phrase and allows the 
 reign of mere barbaric force." 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord AVEBURY : 
 
 " I am quite in sympathy with the object of your meeting, and cannot 
 too strongly express my indignation at the wicked and barbarous behaviour 
 of Italy. Unfortunately, I am laid up with an attack which makes it 
 impossible for me to come. Please express my great regret." 
 
 The Right Hon. LORD WEARDALE : 
 
 " The position in Tripoli is deplorable, but I am more sanguine than 
 you as to the possibility of mediation. The Italians are finding out 
 that- they have a very heavy job before them. They can, of course, hold 
 the court under the protection of their fleet, but the pacification of the 
 districts behind their line of defence is a very serious matter for them 
 indeed, and the Arab forces beyond will be a continual menace. 
 
 " We have our Jingoes, as the South African War painfully demonstrated, 
 and so have all other nations. The Jingo element in Italy wiW very 
 rapidly lose its force, and the sober opinion of the country will view with 
 increasing disfavour the horrible bloodshed and desolation which their
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 Tripoli venture is entailing. ConseqUfently, I am personally more hopeful 
 that the time has ahnost, if not already, arrived, Avhen Italy would listen 
 to friendly overtmes, and thus enable this lamentable business to be 
 brought to a conclusion. 
 
 " As to the breach of International Conventions, and the deplorable 
 disregard of solemn assurances which v,e have witnessed, no one could 
 feel more strongly than I do. The Conventions of the Hague are openly 
 flouted. Civilisation is mocked at, and the methods of barbarism we 
 had hoped were discarded are again resorted to. Still, I cannot believe 
 that Italy will be deaf to appeals to her more enlightened opinion. We 
 have to appeal to a generous people who have played a noble part in 
 history, and in tendering the good offices of a friendly nation, we should 
 not assume too readily her indisposition to listen to representations so 
 made. The Inter-Parliamentary Union is taking action in this sense in 
 many different countries, and our British group more particularly is actively 
 pressing it? views upon the Government." 
 
 The Right Hon. LORD COURTNEY OF PENWITH : 
 
 " I watch your activity with much sympathy and admiration. You 
 are working in the right way, and I hope wUl be abundantly rewarded. 
 I cannot promise to come to your meeting next Tuesday ; indeed, I fear 
 this will be impossible, but I shall w'ait its result with some impatience. 
 With such a bus}' man the fewest words are best." 
 
 LORD LAMINGTOX: 
 
 " I entirely sympathise with the objects of the meeting. Apart from 
 the question of annexation, there is no parallel in modern times to the 
 methods employed in carrying it out. How can Christian principles be 
 extolled at such an instance of might is right ? It is to be hoped that 
 our Government will find some means of vindicating their position as 
 responsible for the welfare of so many million Mohammedans." 
 
 LORD XUXBURXHOLME : 
 
 " I am in hearty sympathy with the proposed international protest 
 against the War in Tripoli, Avhich seems to be nothing but brigandage, 
 and should never have been allowed by the Powers." 
 
 The EARL OF ROXALDSHAY, M.P. (Hornscy Division) : 
 
 " I regret that I cannot be present owing to other engagements ; but 
 I am in hearty sympathy with the object of the meeting. Xo British 
 Government should ever be allowed to lose sight of the fact that there 
 are sixty million Mohamnicflans in India who are citizens of the British 
 Empire, and uho have loyally stood by the British Government through 
 troublous times. They surely have a right to look to Great Britain to use 
 her best endeavours to secure fair play for their co-religionists. For 
 this reason, if for no other, I heartily support you in your endeavour to 
 arouse the interest of the public." 
 
 ViscoTJNT SIDMOUTH: 
 
 " Infirm health, old age (87), and other causes must prevent me from 
 availing myself of your courteous invitation, which had it lain within 
 my power I would willingly have accepted. All my life through I have 
 loved Italy, her literature, language and gallant struggles for liberty, 
 but I must say that the present attack upon the territories of another 
 Power wears an aspect that needs explanation, and so far as I am aware, 
 no sufficient ex])lanation has been laid before the British public. Until 
 that has been given, I nuist k serve my opinion."
 
 { 87 ) 
 The Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER: 
 
 " You may indeed count upon my sympathy upon this matter. Only 
 this morning I wrote to George Trevelyan thanking him for his letter in 
 The Times, and saying how much I was appalled by what looks like 
 civilisation turning its face backward from the way of progress towards 
 earlier and more barbarous things, rarticularly am I struck with the 
 contrast between this high-handed, isolated action of Italy, and the iron 
 barrier with which we used to be confronted in the days of the Eastern 
 Question, of action b_v any single Power to mitigate the woes of Armenia, 
 or the Uke, because of ' the impossibility of acting without the consent 
 of the European Consort.' It seems as if aggression could do at a stroke 
 what was forbidden to humanity." 
 
 The Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS: 
 
 " I cannot come to the meeting, for I am engaged elsewhere, but I 
 am full of sorrow and horror about the war, and consider it may lead, 
 if unchecked, to a very serious Mohammedan outbreak in many other 
 parts besides those in which the ItaUan War is carried on. Our hope 
 of ever winning the ^Mohammedan races \y]il be by peaceful, not warlike, 
 measures." 
 
 The Very Rev. the DEAN OF DURHAM : 
 
 ■' I cannot leave Durham at aU in this present month, for I am ' in 
 close residence,' i.e., responsible for every service day by day. 
 
 "I am specially sorry for this hindrance, for I am heartily with you in 
 this case. The Turks will inflict great harm on misguided Italy — and 
 that will be all her reward. Our Government ought to be ready to interfere 
 in the matter as an independent Power that has no direct interest to 
 mislead her. 
 
 " If this war hngers on it will endanger the peace of Eastern Europe 
 and be fatal to the new rule of more enlightened Turks at home, as well 
 as to the finances of poverty-stricken, and to her credit among the 
 European members of our Western comity of States," 
 
 The Very Rev. the DEAN OF CARLISLE : 
 
 " I am in entire sympathy, and desire to unite myself with the inter- 
 national protest against the war in Tripoli organised by yourself. I am 
 not in a position to offer an opinion on the merits of the dispute or of 
 the character of our Treaty obligations ; but I would venture to enter 
 a most earnest protest against the action of the Italian Government in 
 disturbing the peace of the world, and that apparently without provocation 
 and practically without notice, before and without referring her complaint 
 to a Tribunal of the Hague Court, or some other form of arbitration. 
 In the interests of humanity I earnestly trust that His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment will offer its good offices to Italy and Turkey with a view to the 
 termination of hostilities." 
 
 The Rev. Canon SCOTT HOLLAND : 
 
 ■■ You will appeal from the Italy of Tripoli, from the Italy that has 
 suiTcndered to some blind and cruel hour of panic, to the Italy that we 
 remember, the Italy that we have loved so long, the Italy that stood 
 always for Liberty, and saw the Vision, and followed the Gleam ; surely 
 that Italy is not yet dead ? We look to her to live again." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. CLIFFORD : 
 
 " Alas ! I am in Newcastle on Tuesday night, and therefore cannot bo 
 with you. Had I been in London I would gladly hive attended. Vou
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 will have a great gathering and a glorious send-oft". We must go ahead 
 and put down this latest iniquity." 
 
 The Hon. NEIL PRIMROSE, M.P. (Wisbech Division): 
 
 " I regret I shall be unable to be present at the meeting on November 7, 
 owing to a previous engagement. I hope the meeting will be a successful 
 one, as no one should support Italy in her poHcj'^ of wanton aggression." 
 
 Mb. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. (Westminster): 
 
 " Not only as an old friend of the Turks (the Turkish peasants, who 
 are the backbone of the nation), nor only as a fellow-subject of the King 
 with millions of Moslems, but as a mere ordinary associate in the cause of 
 justice and fair play, I am ready to join in any protest against the most 
 flagrant outrage in modern history. Nothing but a flaccid and helpless 
 spirit of assent to everything that ?.<, A\hether it be right or wrong — and 
 in this case to the theory that ' might is right,' against which the conscience 
 tf Christendom as well as every instinct of popular liberty has protested 
 through the ages — can keep the English nation silent and unmoved in this 
 matter. But to my mind that spirit is abroad in the land, threatening 
 in many ways the honour of England and the strength of the Empire." 
 
 L. A. ATHERLEY-JONES, M.P. (Duiham, North- West) : 
 
 " In response to your kind invitations I regret that a previous engage- 
 ment which I am bound to keep must prevent my attendance at your 
 meeting of international protest against the Italian aggression on 
 Tripoli. 
 
 " It was my pride when a child to have met at my father's Garibaldi, 
 when he came to England to receive the ovation of a freedom-loving 
 people on his triumph over the tyrants of Ms native country. 
 
 " Fate, with cruel irony, now compels us to condemn the nation, whose 
 liberty he redeemed, for the most wanton violation of international rights 
 and the most callous disregard of the sacred principle of national inde- 
 pendence that modern history can record. 
 
 " An Eastern despotism is busy destroymg the poor remnants of Turkish 
 liberty ; that is within the eternal fitness of things. A liberated people 
 is seeking to enslave those who have begun to learn the first leadings of 
 constitutional government ! " 
 
 GEORGE J. BENTHAM, M.P. (West Lindsey) : 
 
 " I seldom criticise foreign Governments, as I believe each nation should 
 work out their own salvation as we have done. I much regret Italy's 
 attitude. If Italy had rights in TripoU she should have sought thein at 
 the Hague Conference, and if she had no rights, her action is that of a 
 highway robber. At the same time, after we have expressed our abhor- 
 rence of Italy's action, I should be no party to be dragged into stronger 
 methods, as it is no part of our duty to right everj^ wrong in the world."^ 
 
 The Right Hon. THOMAS BURT, M.P. : 
 
 " I am entirely in sympathy with the object of the meeting to-morrow 
 night. Heartily do I wish every success to the gathering, and I regret 
 that I cannot be with you in person." 
 
 SiK W. P. BYLES, M.P. (Salford) : 
 
 " Though I can't be at your meeting on Tuesday, I am sternly opposed 
 to the ' encroachment of might upon the rights of nations ' — whether- 
 it be by Italy in Tripoli, by France in Morocco, or by Great Britain inv 
 South Africa.
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 " Let us have the same moral code for nations as for hidividuals, and 
 (in case of quarrel) the same resort to law instead of to violence.'' 
 
 HEXRY G. CHAXCELLOR, M.P. (Shoreditch) : 
 
 " On Tuesday last a meeting of my own constituents unanimously 
 passed the following resolution : 
 
 That this meeting of Haggerston citizens, having regard to our 
 Treaty obligations, and in the interests of humanitj-, urges His Majesty's 
 Government to oiler its best offices to Italy and Turkey' with a view to 
 the termination of hostilities.' 
 
 ■' This was sent to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretarj^. 
 
 " Anything I can do wUl be done to help the movement for%vard for 
 stopping this horrible war, and for making resort to the Hague Tribunal 
 customary, and, in time, compulsory before war is declared." 
 
 T. EDilUXD HARVEY, M.P. (Leeds West) : 
 
 " I strongh' sympathise with your protest against an act which is im- 
 \\orthy of the great ideals of Italj-'s past, destructive of the binding 
 character of international obligations, and a betrayal of the hopes of 
 civihsed Europe." 
 
 ARTHUR HENDERSON, M.P. (Durham, Barnard Castle Div.) : 
 
 " If I can manage to get awaj- from the House I shall be present, as 
 I am very strongly with you in your protest against the policy adopted 
 by the Italian Government. It is seriously to be deplored that Italy 
 should have broken with her splendid traditions, especially at this junc- 
 ture, when there ^;as a growing feeling amongst civilised communities 
 in favour of settling disputes by arbitration. I trust the demonstration 
 to-morrow Avill speak strongly against the course which has been adopted. 
 Permit me to say you have placed all lovers of peace and international 
 fair-play under an increasing obligation for the splendid stand you have 
 made with regard to this regrettable business." 
 
 RICHARD C. LA^IBERT, M.P. (North Wiltshire) : 
 
 " It may be that the reports are untinie, though, even it this be so, 
 the Italians have only themselves to thank if their rigid censorship has 
 produced the usual crop of exaggeration — but, if a fiftieth part of what 
 we hear has any foundation, they seem to be behaving hke a gang of robbers 
 and cut-throats, who justly deserve the execration and contempt of every 
 Christian man and woman. It is indeed time that Europe roused itself 
 from the moral lethargy into ^hich it has fallen, and showed that there 
 is still some shred of decency left even to the Chancelleries. What is the 
 use of Ministers who speak fair words on arbitration when there is no 
 cloud on the horizon, but when the day of trial comes are afraid to put 
 their principles into effect ? 
 
 " I wonder what the late W. E. Gladstone would have said or done 
 had he been alive to-day ? Would he have stood aside in fear lest action 
 might give offence to some country ? I think not. It is a disgraceful 
 business — disgraceful first of all to the pirates who have started the war, 
 but disgraceful also to every nation which by its inaction and silence 
 makes itself a party to the crime." 
 
 DAVID M. MASON, M.P. (Coventry) : 
 
 " You may have noticed my endeavour to obtain from the Crovernment 
 information and an opportunity for the House of Commons to express 
 its horrors and detestation of recent occurrence)* in Tripoli. This is 
 apparently impossible. It is then to the people of this country to whi m
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 ■we must appi'ul. 1 believe that appeal will not be made in vain, and if 
 a so-called Liberal CJovernment is so false to the highest and noblest 
 traditions of Li'>eralism, it will deserve, and rightly deserve, to be hurled 
 from office, to make way for those who luave remained true to these 
 traditions." 
 
 PHILIP SXOWDEX, -M.P. (Blackburn) : 
 
 " I am in the fullest sympathy with the objects, and will do my best to 
 support any decision at \\hich the meeting may arrive. The whole business 
 connected with this v ar is so outrageous that the Christian nations of th.e 
 world ought to exert their power aud influence to the utmost to bring 
 it to a speed}' end." 
 
 GEORGE R. THORXE, M.P. (Wolverhampton East): 
 
 " The war between Italy and Turkey is disastrous in its effect upon 
 international efforts towards universal arbitration, and I earnestly hope 
 that what you are doing may have beneficial results in the direction in 
 which you have devoted your life."' 
 
 WILLIA3I THORXE, M.P. (West Ham) : 
 
 " In consequence of another engagement I fear that it will be impossible 
 for me to be present at the meeting at Whitetield's Tabernacle in con- 
 nection with the International Protest against the war in Tripoli. I may 
 assure you that there is a strong feeling among Trade L'nionists and 
 Socialists that steps should be taken to put an end to the unfortunate con- 
 flict. At a meeting of the Joint Board of organised labour — composed 
 of representatives of the Labour Part}', the General Federation of Trade 
 Unions and the Trade LTniou Congress — held yesterday in the House of 
 Commons, a strong resolution of protest was unanimously carried."' 
 
 The Hex. ROLLO RUSSELL : 
 
 " I have read with great interest and sympathy your letter on Italy 
 and Turkey, and shall be glad to join in a solemn and well-directed protest." 
 
 Mr. FREDERIC HARRISOX : 
 
 " I desire heartily to support the resolutions to be moved at the meeting 
 at Whitefield's, and I authorise the secretary to append my name to the 
 appeal to be forwarded to the Foreign Office." 
 
 Sir JOHN MACDOXELL : 
 
 " Sympathise heartily with any protest against greatest crime against 
 pubhc law of Europe since Napoleon." 
 
 Sir THOMAS BARCLAY: 
 
 " The annexation of the Tripolitaine, to say the least, is quite premature. 
 Annexation in international law creates a legal situation which would 
 justify the Italian Government in resorting throughout the country to 
 acts of repression, an example of which has filled Europe with indignation, 
 and which, I feel sure, every patriotic Italian as bitterly deplores as 
 Italj''s friends. 
 
 " We are entitled, I think, to conclude from Sir E. Greys statement 
 (House of Commons on the 2nd inst.) as to none of our Treaty rights 
 being permanently impaired by anything which is taking place in Tripoli, 
 that the Foreign Office is by no means blind to the illegality of the 
 annexation.
 
 ( 91 ) 
 
 "" I hope you ^vill have a good meeting, and that nothing will be said 
 or done to wound the feelings of the Italians in connection with the efforts 
 we are all making in the interest of this country and civilisation to place 
 international relations on a footing of order, legality and justice." 
 
 Professor L. T. HOBHOUSE : 
 
 " I am sorry I shall not be able to come to the meeting on Tuesday, but 
 I am strongly in sympathy with every effort to arouse public opinion in 
 Europe ^ith regard to the present war and its methods. To put aside 
 all other considerations, the action of Italy in embarking on an admittedly 
 causeless war is a source of danger to the peace of Europe, which, if the 
 methods which her troops are charged with employing are allowed to pass 
 without question, it is to be feared that the character of warfare in the 
 future will be even darker than it has been in the past." 
 
 Mr. H. M. HYXDMAN: 
 
 " I am wholly with you, without any reservation, about the Tripoli 
 business. It is an outrage in every way. Our Party, as you see, is doing 
 its utmost to stop the war m aU countries, and our Italian comiudes are 
 I'unning precisely the same sort of personal risks which we ran at the time 
 of the Transvaal piracy, in tlieir endeavours to check this Imperialist mania. 
 Unfortunately, as I wrote you before, protests by the English bourgeoisie 
 seem to be not a little hypocritical." 
 
 WALTER CRANE : 
 
 " I am obliged by your letter and other communications on the subject 
 •of this terrible war. 
 
 " I certainly entirely sympathise with the object of your meeting, 
 but I am only one of those Socialists who have protested against the action 
 of Italy throughout Europe. We have no ultimate appeal except in com- 
 mon humanity, the sense of justice and right, and the welfare of the race, 
 but these ought to be fully sufficient as giving us standards of national 
 and international conduct. But I understand financial reasons, as usual 
 in modern Mars, are at the bottom of this Tripoli business. 
 
 " I think your resolutions are quite to the point ; but as I shall not 
 be able to attend the meeting I send you this letter, and I fully appreciate 
 the efforts you are making in the cause of peace and arbitration. 
 
 " As a great lover of Italy, it is particularly painful to feel compelled 
 to be opposed to her present action as a nation, and this feeling is, I 
 believe, largely shared by English people ; but how few nations, and 
 their Governments, are in a position to throw stones ? " 
 
 The Rev. Dr. T. J. LAWRENCE : 
 
 " I have just returned from the Church Congress, where I have been 
 pleading the cause of international peace and arbitration. 
 
 " I am inclined to think that some, at least, of the leading Governments 
 ■ of the civilised world, our own included, have been doing much behind 
 the scenes to (1) prevent the outbreak of war, and (2) find some means 
 of terminating it now that it has broken out. The real grounds of Italy's 
 action are, one feels sure, of such a kind that it would be exceedingly 
 difficult to find a formula under which they could be referred to an Arbitral 
 Tribunal. But this is no reason why a serious attempt should not be 
 made to discover some means of terminating the war forthwith, and with 
 as little injustice as possible. I trust you and your friends will b;.- able 
 to think out some practicable plan."
 
 ( S»:i ) 
 i\lK. E. D. MOREL : 
 
 " I regret that a previous engagement makes it impossible for me to 
 be present at your meeting. 
 
 " It is difficult to find language in \\hich to express one's feelings at 
 the outrageous violation of elementary justice and humanity which has 
 characterised Italian action. On that point the meeting is likely to voice 
 the sentiment of the great mass of Englishmen. 
 
 " But there is another matter which calls for searching investigation, 
 both from the point of view of British honour and from the point of view 
 of British Imperial interests. The President of the Tiukish Chamber 
 has stated categorically in a letter to M. Emile Vandervolde, that France 
 and England were aware of the projected Italian raid, and sanctioned it. 
 Unless we are in a position to disprove (not merely to deny) this assertion, 
 we shall appear in the ej^es of millions of our loyal Muslim subjects — - 
 on the eve of His Majesty's visit to India — abe xcrs of an outrage which is 
 being condemned in meeting after meeting throughout India. To 
 emphasize the momentous consequences which such a belief will entail is 
 unnccessar\'. 
 
 " The key to the v/hole situation app3ar3 to ms to lie in the present 
 conduct of foreign affairs in this country. Unless and until the British 
 nation regains some sort of control over its foreign policy — which at present 
 is a dictatorship, pure and simple — I fail to see, for my part, how protests 
 like yours, valuable as they are in showing the world the real sentiment ' 
 of the nation, can have practical results in influencing British foreign 
 policy." 
 
 Mr. CHARLES MONTEFIORE : 
 
 " I sincerely hope that at the meeting something v.ill be decided upon 
 of a practical nature. The attitude of the Powers over the lamentable 
 war between Turkey and Italy seems to "me to be nothing short of 
 disgraceful." 
 
 Professor SILVAXUS THOMPSON : 
 
 " I have no faith in physical force movements ; but is it not clear that 
 some organisation is needed of the nature of an international police to 
 represent visihlij the authority of the Hague Conventions ? " 
 
 Mrs. SAUL SOLOMON: 
 
 " Needless to say I am with you heart and soul on your moral grounds, . 
 and in the intei-ests of peace and arbitration. Beyond these consideja- 
 tions there is the large question of Imperial policy. Already Islam is on 
 the alert, and upon its knees in everj' mosque in India and in Africa to 
 pray for the Sultan. What does this mean ? Just what the proclamation 
 of the ' Colour Bar ' has meant in our vast Dependencies — the awakening 
 of the forces of Mahomet to realise that the hour draws near for their 
 advance when Allah or Christ must prevail on the earth. 
 
 " I would fain re-echo your cry for a statesman to take the lead in this 
 crisis in Tripoli, which, if neglected, ma^^ induce complications of the 
 gravest import to Christian f^urope." 
 
 Mr. ROBERT BLATCHFORD : 
 
 " I'join in the protest against the Italian theft of Tripoli ; it i« as wicked 
 as our theft of Egj-pt, though more frank. And while I am protesting 
 I grasp the occasion to protest, also, against all the other war of my time. 
 . . . What is France doing in Morocco, f^ngland in Etrypt, Glermany 
 at Agadir ? Certainh', I protest against the whole hypocritical, cowardly,, 
 bloody business."
 
 ( 93 ) 
 The Rev. Dr. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: 
 
 '■ I recognise the extreme difficulty of these international questions 
 but this whole business, so far as one is able to judge it from the news- 
 pa.p:'rs of all political opinions, is so utterly bad that I do feel that the 
 most solemn protest ought to be made. 
 
 '■ From iliv view-point, Italy has no right in Tripoli of any kind. How- 
 ever, I should have felt, as an Englishman, unable to protest against her 
 wrong-doing in that direction, because our own hands are not clean in 
 like matters. But when I read of the methods that are being adopted, 
 I do feel that it is impossible to be silent. I earnestly hope j'our meeting 
 will prove to be what Carlyle declared Kingsley's ' Alton Locke ' was, 
 ■* a sxlvo of red-hot shot against the djvil's dung-heap.' " 
 
 Mr. WILFRID S. BLUXT : 
 
 " I am. of course, in complete, indeed, in violent sjanpathy with all you 
 say in denunciation of the Italian raid, and I entirely agree with you 
 that a strait-waistcoat must be appUed, and applied at once. I go even 
 farther than you do, knowing how absolutely destructive of their domestic 
 and moral life such a Government as modern Italy would impose on the 
 Arabs of Triijoli would be. The modern Italian has divested himself of 
 all restraint, moral or religious. He has cast off his mediaeval beliefs, 
 and, apart from his still remaining superstitions, acknowledges no 
 principle we in England connect with the name of Christianity. The 
 Italian of the South especially, to establish whom as colonist the raid 
 has been devised, is an iitterly depraved being. His establishment in 
 North Africa would mean the establishment of the drink-shop and the 
 brothel and the gambling hell. It is against these and in defence of 
 their domestic life, fair more than against dogmatic Christianity, that 
 the Mohammedans of Tripoli are fighting. There need be no doubt as 
 to which side in the present quarrel represents the causs of God and 
 which of the devil. 
 
 " In all this I am sure that j^our view and mine are pretty much the 
 .same. What I have, however, a doubt about in your programme is the 
 efficacy of the means you propose for putting an end to the war and 
 defeating the proposed iniquity. I cannot think that there is the smallest 
 chance at the present stage of the affair of an appeal to arbitration being 
 listened to, and soiuething much stronger than argument is needed to apply 
 what you call the strait -waistcoat on the wrong- doer. The Italian 
 fleet is cruising loose in the Mediterranean and is threatening new murders 
 everywhere among the seacoast towns and villages of the Ottoman Empire. 
 What is wanted now, and at once, is not a Court of Law to settle where 
 the right and the wrong is, but a policeman to arrest the disturber of the 
 peace. The Hague Tribunal, though excellent as a (Jourt of Appeal, has 
 no executive authority. Some Power stronger at sea than the Italian 
 must be persuaded or forced by agitation to intervene and insist upon an 
 evacuation of the country seized. Then, if you will, we can go on to The 
 Hague for a final settlement. 
 
 " If you agree with me in this, as the right order of procedure, I would 
 suggest that the first point to determine at your meeting on Tuesday will 
 be, Which of the Great Powers of Europe is in the best position to apply the
 
 ( ?4 ) 
 
 needed force, and which can best be acted upon and constramed to under- 
 take the executive duty ''. It is clear that none of them are willing, and, 
 that being so. it is all but hopeless to expect them to act in concert. In my 
 own opinion. I have no hesitation in saying that the duty of intervention is 
 rightly England's OAvn — England is, in the tirst place, by far the strongest 
 Power at sea. and this is essentially a naval affair. Secondly, England 
 is far more free than the rest to act. Were the German Powers to intervene, 
 there would always be the risk of a combination against them of Italy with 
 France. Weie France to act, there would always be danger of such a 
 combination with the German Powers. England's island position and her 
 entente with France leave her free. Lastly, f^ngland is in reality the 
 Power more than any other responsible for the partition of North Africa,, 
 and this has been the cause of the present trouble ; it has been Italy's 
 excuse for action. I need not argue this. Our position in Egypt, our 
 agreement with France seven years ago about Morocco, are sufficient 
 proof even without the all but certainty we have that .Sir Edward Grey 
 was secretly cognisant this summer of the intended raid on Tripoli, and 
 consented to and approved it. It is, therefore. England's dutj' of re- 
 paration more than the duty of any other Power, seeing what inhuman 
 results have foIlo^^ed from Sir Ed\\ard Grey's connivance, to intervene 
 now and bid Italy go no further. There is a saying of the late Lord 
 Salisburj' which I was reading only yesterday in Mr. Holland's Life of the 
 Duke of Devonshire and which applies well to the case : " Those,' said Lord 
 Salisbury, ' who have the absolute power of preventing lamentable events, 
 and, knowing what is taking place, refuse to exercise that power, are 
 responsible for what happens.' 
 
 " I will not do Sir Edward Crrey the injustice of supposing that he fore- 
 saw, when he consented to the raid on Tripoli, that it would be carried-f 
 o ut by the Italians j is^a war of extermination against _ the Arab populat ionJ 
 Sir Edward Grey~is a^orthy English country gentleman, ot old-fashionea 
 Whig opinions, and he cannot have foreseen the massacres that have 
 resulted, the lust and rapine, the murder by hundreds of women and 
 children. Sir Edward is neither brutal by nature nor callous, but he is 
 singularly ignorant of any country but his own, and he is entirely without 
 imagination and woefully ill-advised by his subordinates. He probably 
 had been told that the Arabs, because they do not love the Turks, would 
 greet the Italians Mith joy as deliverers, and he gave consent on this 
 understanding in England's name. The raid was, of course, immoral ia 
 itself, but not more immoral than many an English raid which he and men 
 of his Whig type of Imperialism have schooled themselves into regarding as- 
 necessities of civilisation. He foresaw nothing except perhaps a little 
 bloodshed of the ordinary military type. All the same, he has made one 
 of the most ghastly mistakes ever an English Foreign Secretary com- 
 mitted this country to. If you want to do any good with your agitation,, 
 you should begin with Sir Edward Grey and our own Foreign Office. 
 You should insist on his making a clean breast of the whole affair. If he 
 says he knew nothing of it, tell him he ought to have known and foreseen ; 
 the result has been criminal, his ignorance was in itself criminal. If he 
 admits his knowledge and consent, then insist on his resignation, as the 
 admission will be one of a double criminality. Above all, insist on repara- 
 tion at once being done and the murderous work being put an end to ; 
 insist on a cessation of hostilities. 
 
 " Sir Edward, if brought to book, will probably plead that England 
 cannot withdraw from her plighted word to Itah' ; that England has 
 declared neutrality ; that she cannot now resort to force or to anything 
 more than expostulation. These are idle words. It is a maxim in law
 
 ( ^o ) 
 
 that an immoral agreement cannot be enforced ; it is not binding either in 
 law or equity ; it is null and void. Neither is a dishonourable agreement 
 binding in honour. Insist with Mr, Asquith's Government that the lan- 
 guage his Foreign Secretary shall use to Italy shall be this : ' When we 
 agreed that you should take possession of Tripoli we thought that the 
 Sultan, its legal owner, would be willing to part with a province useless to 
 him for money ; we thought that the Sultan's subjects there would be glad 
 to exchange theu- allegiance from him to you ; we thought that things 
 would go easily, that it would be a walk-over for you ; above all, we 
 tliought that yoii would behave like a civilised people, not like wild beasts, 
 in your conduct of the war. We see we were mistaken, that you are 
 without honour, without civilisation, without Christian decency. We 
 w ill have no further part in this aflfair. We will not continue to be your 
 accomplice. We summon you to recall your fleet and evacuate the ports 
 you have seized. We insist that this war shall cease.' This, translated 
 into the polite phraseologj' of diplomacy, would suffice ; Italy would give 
 in. If she does not give in, insist that England shall make common 
 cause with Turkey and mobilise the British Fleet." 
 
 Other letters and telegrams were received from the Rev. 
 Monro Gibson, Mr. H. M. Hyndman. Mr. Tom Mann, General 
 Sir Alfred Turner, the Bishops of Hereford and Lincoln, and 
 Rev, J. Esthn Carpenter. 
 
 The speeches delivered at Whitefield's are reported in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 The most remarkable and least noticed demonstration of 
 public feeling on the subject of the war was the great series 
 of meetings held throughout Europe on November 5, under the 
 auspices of the International SociaUst Bureau of Brussels, which 
 was entrusted by the International Congress, which met at 
 Zurich on September 24 and 25. A\ith the duty of organising a 
 Continental demonstration against the Tripolitan Expedition 
 and povr la paiv mondiale. The response was most satisfactory 
 everywhere. 
 
 On Sunday. November 5, mass meetings were held in all the 
 great towns in Europe, from Scandinavia in the north to the 
 Balkan peninsula in the south-east. Everywhere the working 
 classes spoke with one voice, and condemned with unhesitating 
 emphasis the indescribable brigandage which the Italian 
 Government is carrying on in Tripoli. 
 
 In Buda Pesth 50,000 men took part in the demonstration. 
 In Paris 5,000 persons assembled to listen for five hours to 
 speeches by M. Jaures, M. de Pressense. and M. Vandervelde 
 in denunciation of the war. Of these great demonstrations 
 the Press reported not one word. But they took place all 
 the same. 
 
 In Egypt and in Didia the demonstrations of public feeling 
 have been very remarkable, very persistent, and very menacing. 
 They usually take the form of protests against the war, vows to 
 boycott Italian goods, and demands that the British Government
 
 { 36 ) 
 
 Bhoiild intervene. The most notable thing about the Indian 
 meetings is that Hindoos and Moslems vie Avith eaeh other in 
 expressing s3-ni])athy for the Turks and abhorrence of the Italian 
 invaders. 
 
 In the United States of America the movement in favour of 
 appealing to the disputants to refer the question to international 
 arbitration has assumed very large dimensions. According to 
 the circular issued by the International Arbitration Emergency 
 ■Committee, very vigorous measures are being taken to rouse 
 Am(u-ican sentiment on behalf of the Turks. 
 
 Professor Dutton, ex-Principal of tlic famous Horace Mann 
 School, now Secretary" of the great Xew York Peace Society, 
 of which Mr. Carnegie is President, reports as follows to Mr. 
 Milholland as to the action that is being taken across the Atlantic. 
 Dr. Butler, to whom he refers, is President of Columbia 
 University and among Mr. Carnegie's most intimate friends 
 and advisers. 
 
 " I am glad to tell you that Dr. Butler, representing the 
 Carnegie Endowment, has taken up the matter of the treaties 
 most vigorously, and, incidentally, of course, the high-handed 
 action of Italy will receive a good deal of attention. Meetings 
 are to be held throughout the country ; the machinery of the 
 Press is to be set in motion ; our own Peace Society has been 
 -delegated to correspond Avith 100,000 clergymen throughout 
 the United States ; business and Labour organisations are to be 
 invoked ; and, in fact, a good deal of a stir will be made during 
 the next three months. 
 
 " I share in your feeling. Italy's action is simply a lynching 
 and sliows the unscrupulous character of some Governments. 
 I almost wish that the Avar Avere in a part of the Avorld where 
 Turkey could give Italy a good trouncing, AA'hich she Avould do 
 if land forces AAcre emploA'ed." 
 
 All round the Avorld, from East to West, rises in increasing 
 volume the chorus of malediction for the Italian Government 
 and of sj'mpathy for the Turks. But noAvhere in the Avhole 
 circumference of our planet has there so far been heard from a 
 .s"ngle public meeting one AA'ord of approval of the Italian crime, 
 •On this subject the human race speaks with a single voice.
 
 
 CHAPTKR XII 
 
 The Meeting at Whitefield's 
 
 The meeting summoned by the International Arbitration 
 Emergency Committee to hear the report of its emissary was 
 held in Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham ^ Court Road, on 
 Tuesday, November 7, 1911. The spacious building was crowded 
 to the doors by a representative and enthusiastic audience. 
 The chair was taken at 8, but it was after 11 that the meeting 
 dispersed. 
 
 The Chairman, the Rev. Thomas Yates, of Kensington, was 
 supported on the platform by Mr. W. T. Stead, Mr. Milholland, 
 and Mr. H. {5. Perris, of the Committee; by the Right Hon. 
 Syed Ameer Ali and Shakour Pasha ; by Mr. Sherwell, M.P., Mr. 
 Silvester Home, M.P., Sir W. Byle8,»M.P., Mr. G. R. Thome, 
 M.P., the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw Thompson, the Rev. Mr. Chisholm, 
 Mrs. Despard, Mr. Cunninghame Graham, and Mr. Israel Zang- 
 will. 
 
 In the audience there were a few Italians, who occasionally 
 expressed their dissent, but they were not numerous enough to 
 deflect even for a moment the steady glowing enthusiasm of the 
 meeting. ' 
 
 Owing to the desire of Members of Parliament to return to 
 the House of Commons, Mr. Stead's speech was cut in two. 
 The second half was delivered after the Chairman had left the 
 chair declaring the meeting dissolved. In this report the speech 
 is printed as if it had been delivered without a break. For the 
 same reason the extraneous remarks of some of the other speakers 
 which had no relation to the subject of the meeting are not 
 reported here. 
 
 At the word of the Chairman, the audience rose and stood 
 while the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw Thompson opened the meeting with 
 prayer. 
 
 The Hon, Secretary, Mr. H. S. Perris, then read extracts from 
 the large number of letters of sympathy, beginning with the 
 Lord Mayor and ending mth the Rev. Campbell Morgan. Ho 
 also acknowledged the services of a detachment of Boy Scouts, 
 who were sent by Sir Francis Vane to act as stewards at the 
 meeting. 
 
 The Chairman, in the course of a brief, earnest and eloquent 
 address, said that he thought that meeting was long overdue. 
 The war had been raging for a month, and this was the first 
 pubUc meeting that had been held in favour of peace. It ^^'as 
 impossible for them to remain still any longer. Silence meant 
 saying Amen to proceedings from which they altogether dissented. 
 He had no sympathy with those peace advocates who were 
 zealous and outspoken so long as the sky was clear and no war
 
 ( ^s ) 
 
 was in sight, Init who became mute when war actually broke 
 out. Better make mistakes in trying to do something in the 
 cause of peace than be idle and silent in the face of tiiis monstrous 
 wrong. They A\'ould be told, no doubt, that they would disturb 
 the Foreign Office. He Avas of opinion that the natioii would 
 benefit if that Office sutTered a great deal of disturbance, and if 
 that disturbance were kept up \nitil the secret ways of the Foreign 
 Office Avere brought into accord with the ideas and the prin- 
 ciples of the democracy. (Cheers.) Another objection was 
 that we had not clean hands, and therefore had no right to 
 object to the action of the Italians. But if no criminal was ever 
 to be arrested except by immaculate poHcemen every rascal 
 Avould go scot-free. (Cheers.) He then called upon Mr. W. T. 
 Stead to report as to the mission to Constantinople Asith Avhich 
 he had been entrusted by the International Arbitration Emer- 
 gency Committee. 
 
 Stop the War. 
 
 Mr. Stead, after a brief inA'ocatory prayer, said : — ^Mr. Chair- 
 man, Ladies and Gentlemen : Why are Ave here ? What is it 
 that you Avant ? What is it that I Avant ? We want to stop 
 this Avar, and stop it noAV. We Avant to stop this war, I repeat ; 
 and, Avhat is more, I am here to explain to you hoAV, if you will 
 all be earnest, energetic, and resolute, you can make your Gov- 
 ernment stop this AAar. and stop it now. Why do AA'e AA'ant to 
 stop the Avar ? Some of us Avill say, for the sake of civi- 
 lisation and humanity, others for the sake of Christianity ; but 
 there is another reason Avhich, perhaps, you have not thought of, 
 and that is, for the sake of Italy. I have not come here to say 
 one word on this platform against Italy. Italy is the second 
 country of all of us, Avho in our fervent boyhood Avere inspired 
 Avith enthusiasm for Italy AAiiich no other country could inspire. 
 SheAvas the country of Mazzini and Garibaldi, the country whom 
 Ave love, and it is the country Avhom Ave noAV wish to serve by 
 trying to stop this Avar, and stop it noAV. No greater service 
 could be rendered to Italy than by stopping this war. If you 
 doubt it, pray considei' hoAV much Italy AA'ould have gained if, 
 instead of AAaiting for five or six Aveeks, our Foreign Office had 
 realised its duty and stop})ed the Avar before it began ! If 
 there had been no wnv the name of Italy would not have become 
 a byAVord and a reproach. Italy stands to-day disgraced by her 
 oAVTi Government — a treaty-l)reaker and an international highway 
 robber. Italy, Avhose oAvn brave sons ha\'e been gubjected 
 to a strain Avhieii tiiey Asere not able to bear, has afforded to the 
 Avorld a s])ectacle of unbridled ]iassion and cold-blooded murder 
 at Avhich avc all shudder. Italy Avould have been sa\'ed from all 
 that if Avar had [)een stoppcnl befoie it began. If the Avar be 
 not stopped now Italy Avill go from bad to Avorse. She is just 
 at the A'cry beginning of her trou])les. She AA'ent into this Avar 
 not dreaming A\hat it would cost her, Three days after the
 
 ( 9« ) 
 
 war broke out, I had an interview with an ItaUan Ambassador 
 Avhom T went to see in the cause of International Arbitration. 
 His ExcelleJicy laughed at the idea of arbitration. He said : 
 " Why are you worrying yourself about this affair ? There is 
 no war. It is all over." " No Avar ? " I said ; " Avhat is there 
 then ? " He said, " Only a little necessary operation to straighten 
 up a tangled situation. Everything will be over in two or three 
 days. Don't distress yourself." I said, " You have not yet 
 begun the beginning of this war." Since then, the M^ar has gone 
 on for five weeks. They thought it would last five days. 
 They thought it would involve small expense. It is costing 
 them £2,000,000 per week. How long will they stand that 
 strain ? How long do you think the Italian people will bear 
 that burden ? Its soldiers are like caged rats on the border 
 of the desert, afraid to venture from the shelter' of their own 
 guns. Bankruptcy is an unpleasant thing for any nation to 
 face, and behind bankruptcy there will be revolution. Bank- 
 ruptcy and Revolution are standing as great rocks right in 
 front of the way in which the ship of state of Italy is being 
 steered. Therefore I say, for the sake of Italy, stop the war 
 and stop it now ! ^\ 
 
 Tke Reign of Brute Force. ' 
 
 There are many of us who have lost all heart and lost all 
 faith, who have said, " What is the use of talking about Right 
 and Justice when it is clear that Force is the only thing that 
 counts. It seems to be all nonsense about peace and arbi- 
 tration, let us stick to armaments." 
 " Force rules the world ; 
 Has ruled it, will rule it ; 
 Meekness is weakness, Force is triumphant." 
 
 We live, as Lord Morley once said, in 6ne of the ever-recurring 
 epochs wherein force, truculent and unabashed, sweeps away 
 the moral judgments of the world. You and I are here to-night 
 to take up our stand in defence of the moral Judgments of the 
 world, which force would sweep away. We may be but feeble 
 folk, but Truth and Justice are on our side. If we are but 
 faithful we shall to-night kindle a flame which, please God, will 
 never be extinguished. 
 
 The Futility of " Tu Quoque." 
 The moment we make this protest on behalf of Riglit against 
 Might, there are many who say, '" Britain has not clean hands ; 
 people who live in glass houses should not throw stones." I 
 do not think that I need to be told that England has done wrong 
 things. I, who have been hunted through the streets of this 
 city as a traitor and a pro-Boer for denouncing my own Gov- 
 ernment am not likely to stand here to say that John Bull is 
 always right. Indeed, one of the reasons why I think the present 
 protest is so necessary is because I wish, to strengthen the barriers
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 which restrain the lawless Jingoes among our own people from 
 repeating their crimes. For if the Itahans are allowed to make 
 this war of brigandage \^ithout protest to-day, their action Avill 
 be invoked as a precedent to excuse some equally monstrous 
 crime on our port to-morrow. 
 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 We see this in the way in wliich Italy endeavours to condone 
 her raid upon Tripoli by pointing to the action of Austria- 
 Hungary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thus, when a small 
 wrong is condoned, it is the thin end of the Avedge, and because 
 Austria, after thirty years' occupation, changed her status from 
 occupant to oAvner, Italy is to be free to invade and annex two 
 provinces of the Ottoman Empire. If I alloAv a neighbour to 
 steal a kitten, it does not follow that I ought to allow him to 
 steal a cat. I admit that we ought to have stood up about 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sir Edward Grey made a 
 bold and gallant stand about Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 but it seems to have exhausted his figliting capacity, and 
 then, when a m\ich greater outrage comes along, he declares 
 his neutrality I 
 
 The Great Red Dragon of War. 
 
 What we have to recognise is that the great red dragon of war 
 has broken loose from confinement and is ravening amongst 
 us once more. Of late years, for fifty or sixty years past, the 
 human race, becoming ever more intelligent and educated, has 
 endeavoured to chain up this monster, and with some success. 
 For forty years no gunshot has been fired in war in Western 
 Europe. For fifty or sixty years the greatest danger of war 
 which has threatened us in the Eastern part of Europe has 
 been held up by barriers which have been placed round the 
 lair of this wild beast. We have fenced him in with a triple 
 barrier of solemn treaties. We built one at Paris in 1856, 
 another at London in 1871, and a third at Berlin in 1878, Wlien- 
 ever he tried to break through this triple barrier he was headed 
 back, and all the powers of Europe acted as watchmen to guard 
 the triple palisade. In order to make assurance doubly sure 
 we set up at the Hague in 1899 and again in 1907, a double row 
 of fences intended to render it impossible for the huge carnivore 
 to break out to desolate the earth. Austria pulled down a 
 palisade despite the warnings of the watchmen, Italy now 
 levels flat the whole fivefold barrier of the public law ■. f Europe, 
 and none of the watchmen raise the alarm. Hence it is that 
 we meet here to-night to see what can be done to re-erect the 
 restraints which the law has placed upon lawless power and 
 to vindicate the authority of The Hague Conventions before 
 mankind. 
 
 His Mission to Constantinople, 
 
 A month ago I was asked by a meeting of friends of peace
 
 ( l'»l ) 
 
 l)eld in the house of Mr. Mjlholland to go to Constantinople to 
 ascertain how the land lay. ]\Ir. Milholland is an American 
 gentleman resident in London, who has for many years past 
 shown an enthusiastic determination to serve humanity by 
 promoting international peace on the basis of justice ; and it 
 was his idea that I should be sent to the capital of Turkey in 
 order to see what could be done to seciu:e a recognition of The 
 Hague Conventions. T have to give an account of my steward- 
 ship. I was away for three weeks, and I -will endeavour to 
 briefly mention as many things of interest as possible. In the first 
 ])lace, I have to tell you that there is not the slightest possible 
 chance of the Turks giving in to the Italians in this war. (Loud 
 and prolonged applause.) I had opportunities of ascertaining 
 the views of my Ottoman fellow-men, from the Sultan upon 
 liis throne downwards. And they all said one thing. " No, we 
 wall not ; we cannot give up Tripoli. We are Avilling and have 
 always been willing to meet Italy in every way. We offered 
 every concession short of ceding our sovereignty. But Italy 
 refuses to be content with anything less than annexation out- 
 light. and to that we shall never consent." 
 
 - The Turks Will Fight. 
 
 The\ Turks told me : " We are Avilling to accept mediation. 
 We have asked for it once, twice, three times, and what answer 
 have we got ? Always one thing. You shall have mediation 
 if you will give up Tripoli lock, stock and barrel. We have 
 been asked, ' Could you not make some arrangements so that 
 if your suzerainty w^ere recognised you would let the Italians 
 keep the administration of Tripoli ? ' Our answer to that is, 
 ' Are the Italians willing to recognise our suzerainty ? ' and the 
 reply is, ' No, not a rag, not a vestige of Turkish sovereignty shall 
 remain in Tripoli. Take the Tm'kish provinces ahd hand them 
 over to us, then we will consent to mediation.' " It is of no use 
 talking of mediation till you have first made the Italians recog- 
 nise that its basis will be not for the highway robber to keep in 
 his pocket the plunder. I have spoken to the Grand Vizier and 
 ex-Grand Viziers, I have had talks with the Foreign Minister. 
 They said : " We want peace, but we want peace with honour. 
 It is not the value of Tripoli. It costs us more than it brings 
 in. But are we going to hand over our Moslem Arabs to a 
 Catholic Power ? And if w^e did, what would it prove ? It 
 would proclaim to the world that Turkey is no longer a living 
 body but a dead carcase, from which any hungry neighbour 
 might cut a steak. It is Tripoli to-day. It might be Syria 
 to-morrow, and Salonika the next day. Unless w^e are prepared 
 to be cut up piecemeal we must make a stand some time, and 
 we may as well make it now." So you may dismiss from your 
 minds once for all any. notion of stopping the war by inducing 
 the Turks to surrender Tripoli. (Loud cheers.)
 
 f 102 ) 
 How LoNT! Cax Thky Kekp it Up ? 
 A\niat is iiioif. il' lli(\ (lid, (In- Italians c-onkl not fako Tripoli, 
 f'ven if flic Tiiiks licUl llniv liands. Tliey ar«^ at war with thr 
 desert, and tlu' sons ol' (lie dc^scit will he too many for tlicin. 
 None of us ventured to think that they Avoidd have any diffieidty 
 in the sea-coast towns, it was only when tliey ventured into 
 the desert that it was thought they would find any serious 
 opposition. But now we see the Italians besieged in Tripoli in 
 imminent danger of being driven intf) tlie sea. The Turks say 
 that they Mill be able to keep np the war till March. The best 
 authorities say that the Italians will })e lucky if they are able 
 to subdue the Arabs in five years. 
 
 The Extension of the War. 
 
 The burning question for the moment is as to whether the 
 Italians, having been foiled in Tripoli, will be allowed to carry 
 the war into other provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Now, 
 that is a matter on which we have a right to have a voice. When 
 we declared our neutrality it Avas after the Italian Government 
 had expressly dischiimed any intention of landing troops in 
 any other part of the Ottoman Empire than Tripoli and Cyre- 
 naica, and had as explicitly declared that it limited its naval 
 operations to the protection of its oavti coasts and its own 
 shipping. So said the Italian Government when the wav broke 
 out. And, so help us God, we will keep it to its words. If 
 it breaks the conditions it itself laid down, we will not 
 be neutral any more. If we are united, earnest and resolute, 
 there will not be one Italian soldier landed in any part of the 
 Ottoman Empire outside Tripoli or the Britisli fleet will know 
 the reason why. I am a pacificist, and l)ecause I love peace 
 so much I am in favour of upholding the law which is the sole 
 security of peace. You can never get rid of the soldier till you 
 have created the policeman, and to allow Italy to trample the 
 public law of Europe imderfoot is to dethrone peace and esta- 
 blish international anarchy. 
 
 Italy and Her Allies. 
 
 The Italian Government, befooled by the notion that the 
 annexation of Tripoli Avould be a primrose promenade, were 
 awaking to discover that in that respect they had been in a 
 fool's paradise. Tliey still flattered themselves that the Powers 
 would .allow them to do as tliey ])leased. There also they might 
 find out their mistake ere long. The indignation expressed in 
 this meeting is sliared by all the peoples of the world. Italy in 
 vain looks round Europe to find a single face which smiles upon 
 lier, and least of all does she find one in Austria and Germany 
 her own allies. If anyone A\ould rejoice at a settlement it would 
 l)e Austria and Germany. Instead of indulging in absurd 
 alaims about German designs, it. would be much wiser to seek
 
 ( 1^^ ) 
 
 to oo-oporato witli tlio Kaiser to bring this criminal war to a 
 closo. 
 
 The Turks, Old and Young. 
 
 The question is not whether we love the Italians or hate the 
 
 Turks. We all love the Italians, and most of us have been 
 
 stout anti-Turks since the days of the Bulgarian atrocities. 
 
 But it is not a (juestion of jmrtiality or of preiudice^ It is a 
 
 ({uestion of justice. I may be regarded as a witness free froru 
 
 any partiality for the Turks, but I must bear evidence to the 
 
 fact that in this issue they are so absolutely in the right that 
 
 ! no one even among the allies of Italy ventures to defend 
 
 her conduct from the point of vieAv of law or justice- Further, 
 
 I deem it my duty to testify that although the Yoiuig Turks 
 
 have their faults, no one can visit Turkey without recognising 
 
 that they have in three years achieved great things. They 
 
 have achieved a great and beneficent revolution. A Parliament 
 
 has been created in which any man can speak his mind with 
 
 absolute freedom. Is it nothing that the spy system lias been 
 
 abolished, the passport system abolished, and that the police and 
 
 soldiers and civil servants get their \\ages paid regularly without 
 
 having to plunder the people ? These things have been done by the 
 
 Young Turks. Is it right that Treaties protecting the Ottoman 
 
 l^^mpire which had been vigorously enforced when AMul Hamid 
 
 was on the throne should now be thrown into the waste-paper 
 
 l)asket when the Young Turks are endeavouring to establish 
 
 freedom and progress ? 
 
 Interview with the Sultan, 
 AMien I was received by the Sultan I asked after his health, 
 He said : '" My health is good, but my heart is broken." I 
 said to him. "■ You will be surprised to know that I have come 
 to congratulate you upon the greatest blessing which could 
 have happened to you." He said, " What is that ? " I said, 
 " The Italian attack upon Tripoli." He looked as if I were 
 playing a bad joke upon him. I said, '' It is demonstrably 
 correct. The fate of Tripoli is a small affair compared with the 
 two great dangers which always threaten the Ottoman Empire 
 with destruction. Both these dangers have been reduced by 
 the action of the Italians. The first danger is the universal 
 dislike and distrust with which the Turks are regarded by the 
 nations outside theii- frontiers. The second the tendency of 
 parties, religions, and reHgions within the Empire to fight with 
 each other and destroy the unity of the Ottoman Empire. Thanks 
 to the wanton attack of the Italians, the Tiu'ksarenow regarded 
 with sympathy throughout the world, and the invasion of 
 Tripoli has so unified the Ottomans that instead of Turks fighting 
 Arabs, they now fight side by side against the common foe. 
 Believe me," I said, ''the Italians have done you more good 
 in one week than all your friends could have done you in 
 twenty years."
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 The Great Pilgrimage of Peace. 
 
 The Sultan was cheered by what I said, and inquired what 
 pacificists proposed to do. I then had an opportunity of ex- 
 plaining to His Majesty what I will now proceed to explain 
 to you, the great campaign which it is proposed to make through- 
 out Europe in the cause of International Arbitration. The 
 president of the Ottoman Group of the Interparliamentary 
 Union has conceived the brilliant idea of appealing to the affiliated 
 groups in every Parliament in the world by means of an Ottoman 
 Deputation.. Never before was the European atmosphere so 
 favourable to the Turks. Never before has there been so much 
 unity within the Empire, The idea is to compose a deputation 
 of the fine flower of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, 
 representing all races and religions, so as to make it a microcosm 
 of the Ottoman Empire, and send it round Europe to plead 
 for peace with justice by arbitration. The Sultan was so much 
 pleased with the idea that he promised to subscribe £1,000 
 towards its expense. They have, however, raised £3,000 with- 
 out the need of appealing to His Majesty. They have selected a 
 deputation which will contain the Sultan's brother-in-law, and 
 two other Turks, a Greek ex-Cabinet Minister, an Armenian 
 Judge of The Hague Tribunal, an Arab, a Bulgarian, a Syrian 
 Christian and a Jcm . These nine Senators and Deputies, repre- 
 senting both the Ministry and the Opposition, will start shortly 
 for a pilgrimage of protest and appeal of propaganda and of 
 agitation in favour of enforcing the public law of Europe by 
 an International High Court of Justice of the world. 
 
 How THE Great Appeal Will be Made.^ 
 
 The Deputation starting with the benediction of the Sultan 
 will j)roceed in the first place to Bucharest, and from thence 
 pass on to Buda-Pesth, Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. 
 From St. Petersburg it will visit the Scandinavian capitals, 
 and then turning southward, visit in their order The Hague, 
 Brussels, Berne, Paris, and London. They will arrive here 
 about Christmas. But they will not come alone. The funda- 
 mental idea of the pilgrimage is that the Ottoman nucleus will 
 grow like a snowball as it progresses from capital to capital. At 
 each place it will appeal to the local groups of the Interparlia- 
 mentary Union to advise and assist in the best method of 
 bringing before the people of that country their manifesto and 
 their appeal. In every capital they will hold meetings, submit 
 resolutions and appoint deputations to wait upon the Govern- 
 ment. Everywhere and always they will cry. We do not ask 
 you to take our part, we only appeal to you to enable us to 
 enforce the public law of Europe by the authority of an Inter- 
 national Court of Justice. Then they will add to their number 
 at each capital one new delegate from the local Parliament, so 
 that when they arrive in London the pilgrims will consist of an 
 Ottoman delegation of nine members supported and surrounded
 
 ( 105 ) 
 
 by the representatives of fifteen other nations which have signed 
 The Hague Conventions. 
 
 Why the £5,000 Fund 1 
 
 Never before have the friends of peace and arbitration liad 
 such an opportunity of educating pubUc opinion as to tlie need 
 of an International Court of Justice to enforce and defend the 
 pubHc law of Europe. Never have we had so striking an object- 
 lesson of the consequences of permitting international law to 
 be disregarded and the right of the Aveak overridden by the 
 might of the strong. It is Turkey's turn to-day. Who can 
 say whose turn it may not be to-morrow ? The appeal of the 
 Ottoman Deputation, so picturesque, so unexpected, so natural 
 and so necessary, will strike a responsive note in the heart and 
 conscience of mankind. I a\ ant- this meeting to instruct its 
 conv^enors to constitute an International Comuiittee of Appeal 
 to the nations to give a more than royal welcome to these pil- 
 grims of peace. I place the sum at £5,000 because it is no use 
 endeavouring to apj^eal to a whole continent unless you have 
 enough jiioney to pay for printers' bills and postage stamps. 
 If the j)oor war-liarried Turks can raise £3,000, it is nonsense 
 to think that the richest country in tlie world cannot raise 
 £5,000 in such a cause. 
 
 Grounds for Confidence. 
 
 There is indeed no ground for discouragement save in tbe 
 apathy of the middle-classes and the apparent indifference of 
 ('bristian Cluirches. Already in every land the Socialists aro_ 
 up and stirring, making their prote^st, Avith an enthusiasm we 
 shall do yvi'M to enuilate. l^'or this is a testing time for you, for 
 me, and for all of us. If this suprtmie outrage upon public law 
 and international morals rouses no indignant reaction in our 
 hearts, tiien the conscience of this nation is dead and our doof)i 
 is nigh. But I do not fear any such failure to our appeal. The 
 very monstrosity of the indefensible crime Avhich challenges us 
 is our best ground of confidence that our appeal Avill not be 
 made in vain. Everywhere Ave hope the response AAill hv sAvift, 
 decisive and overwhelming. But it is for everyone A\ho loves 
 justice and hateth inifjuity, and above all for all those avIio call 
 themselves by the Christian nanie to act and to act at once. 
 (Loud and long continued cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Sherwell, M.P., then moved the first Resolution, which 
 is as folloAvs : — 
 
 " That this meeting regrets and condemns the action of the Italian 
 Government in attempting to seize Tripoli, as a violation of the public 
 law of Kuroitc set forth in the Treaties of Paris and liOndon. and of the 
 moral judgment of mankind embodied in tlu- Hai^iic Coiivcntioiis. 
 
 •■ T)iis meeting believes it to be the imperative duty of the Britisli 
 (rovernment to intimate to the Italian Government, without delay, 
 that no annexation of territory made by it in North Africa can have 
 any vaUdity until it has been sanctioned by the Signatories of the Treaties
 
 f 106 ) 
 
 of 1856 ;uk1 1878, and that no suoli sanctiuu will bi- given until Italy has 
 made L'ood lici- case and jiislKicd lici roiidiict before an international 
 tribunal." 
 
 What is meant by tliis resolution ? In the first plaee, it ^^ 
 an nnniistakahle protest against a great and a\ holly iinju^' 
 titiable act of brigandage. In tlie second place, it a clearly 
 explicit declaration that in the judgment of this groat audience 
 the time has come when the sacred and binding obligations 
 of treaties must be honoured and observed. I am not here 
 to-night to make any ])r(mouncement upon the merits of the 
 quarrel betAvecn Italy and Turkey. Italy may hv A\Tong. But 
 what we as a great gathering of citizens complain of is that 
 Italy entered upon a ])iratical raid on the territory of a neigh- 
 bouring Power A\ithout bringing her case before the proper 
 tribunal. The time has come to ask a plain and straightforward 
 question and the question I submit to-night is this : What are 
 we to understand is the attitude of the European Powers towards 
 The Hague Conventions ? Are these conventions worth nothing 
 more than the ]iarchment u]ion which they are written ? I 
 wish to say that if they mean nothing to the rulers of EurojM' 
 they mean much to the peoj)les and to the naticms. The rulers 
 of Kurope may attach no importance to these Conventions, 
 but the people of Europe believe in them Avith a fervour which 
 is a religion. But Ave are opposed, and I have been repeatedly 
 asked in the last few days, " Why interfere ? Why should 
 England and other European nations not directly interested 
 inferfere ? Why should avc attempt to interfere in a ({uarrel 
 between those two Powers ? " My reply is that avc are about 
 to interfere in the highest inteicsts of the progress of humanity, 
 and we dare not let such an instance jjass unheeded. This is 
 not a (|uestion of a few thousand miles of territory. The real 
 matter Avhich is at stake under this international question is 
 w hcthcr the spirit of honour and the soul of Europe is to live? 
 as a governing power over the peoples. We are sometimes told 
 that if Ave are not careful to mind our own business avc may 
 provoke a European conflagration. 1 admit that this dang(>r 
 of a European conflagration is the most pathetic, most tragic 
 possibility, and shoAVs to us more clearly than anything else 
 iiow great is the loss of faith Avhich Euro})ean nations haA^e 
 suffered in recent years. I do not believe the danger to be 
 real. Will any sane man suggest that if the Powers address 
 themselves to Italy and remind her that the treaties she had 
 signed Avere still in force that a conflagration Avould ensue. 
 Italy would at once resjwnd to the imited voice of Europe. 
 Mr. Silvester Home, M.P., sectmded the icsolution: I am 
 glad to have the meeting in lliis ])la{i', and I am ])ers(mally 
 grateful to Mr. Stead foi- what he is doing not only in the cause 
 of humanity in Tripoli but for the adAancement of international 
 laA\ Avhich has been outraged. I am proud to stand on this 
 platform as a Liberal of the old school. 1 was not brought
 
 ( l07 ) 
 
 up in the school which could be silent in a position like thij 
 The school I Avas brought up in was ready to protest agains 
 injustice not only in its own countr}- but in every country 
 under the sun. When that is gone, Liberalism as I understand 
 it is gone also. We are here because wc feel that Liberalism is 
 still a cause worth fighting for. But let us take courage and 
 be of good cheer. This movement may only have begun, but 
 it has begun and \\ill go on. AA''hat has happened is not 
 simply that certain soldiery are niaking A\ar on women and . 
 children, but that war is being nuxde upon a Convention 
 instituted for the sake of the pacific settlement of inter- 
 national disputes, and v\e in this meeting arc determined 
 to see that not without a hard fight shall the international 
 tribunal be given up. One more thing, which is this. England 
 cannot remain sihmt and retain her moral force in the 
 world. While this crime against international law is being 
 prosecuted no Englishuum Avho is really worthy of the name of 
 Englishnuin \\ill forget that the Jiritish CJovcrnment contains 
 millions of Mohammedans among its subjects. Xo Englishman 
 ought to need to be told reasons for not keeping silent upon 
 this great crime A\hich is being conimitted. All Avar is horror, 
 but there are horrors and horrors, and the present Avar is getting 
 doA\n to the lowest depths of the hell of Avar. England has got 
 to stand up and say '' These things shall not be." 
 
 Syed Ameer Ali, of the Judicial Committee of the PriAy 
 Council, said that when the ncAvsof the horrors of Tripoli reached 
 India, the question Avhich Avas universally asked Avas, Hoav is 
 this matter regarded by the people and by the Churches of 
 England ? The response is given to-day at this meeting this 
 evening, and I hope and trust that this will not be the only 
 meeting avc shall have to exj^ress our chsapproval, not only of 
 the A\ar but the methods by Avhich that Avar is being carried 
 on at this moment by a country A\hich calls itself civilised. 
 There is a strong feeling among the Mussulman subjects of the 
 British Empire, Avho number 100,000,000. Since the war broke 
 out they haA'e held numerous meetings. When the news of 
 fresh horrors A\hich have transpired in Tripoli reaches them I 
 only hope that they A\ill come to hear that you have pronounced 
 emphatically not only against the Avar, Ijut also against the 
 methods by Avhich it is being conducted. 1 venture to hope 
 that A\hen the country has spoken it A\ill be recognised that 
 this Avar must be brought to a termination as soon as possible 
 in order to prevent the development of a terrible possibility. 
 
 The Resolution was then put and carried unanimously. 
 
 Mr. Cunninghanu' Graham then moved the second Kesolution : 
 
 That this nu'ctiiig, welcoming the promised visit of the Ottoman 
 delegates pleading for the observance of treaties and the settlement of 
 disputes by obligatory arbitration, instructs its conveners to get together 
 an International Committee of Appeal to the nation to utilise to the utter- 
 most the opportunity thus atYorded of rousing the public conscience to
 
 ( ios ) 
 
 demand that any f^tate making war wiLliouL Jiist appealing to arbitration 
 should he treated by all other States as an outlaw and enemy of the 
 human race. 5 -l '..^ :, "— j i;:^ 
 
 It would bs as imreasonable for any man to charge upon the 
 Italian nation the horrors which liave been perpetrated in Tripoli 
 as it would be to charge upon the British nation the stain of 
 Denshawi, the massacre perpetrated in the Matoppos, and the 
 bombardment of Alexandria, or for all the manifold interna- 
 tional crimes which have stained our escutcheon. The same 
 classes in Italy as in England are responsible for the blood that 
 is shed. The same classes that have fought against freedom 
 in Italy are the same classes which have placed Italy in her 
 position of to-day. The '''guilt lies upon the head of the clever 
 rascal, San Giuliano, and upon the time-serving Giolitti, 
 and upon the clerical scamps who direct and control the Cabinet, 
 and upon the infamous Banco di Roma, It is for us and for 
 you to help us to light such a candle and to kindle such a blaze 
 of sympathy that we may consume, if necessary, not only the 
 Italian Government which has dragged down the great names 
 of Mazzini, Garil^aldi and Cavour, which we all revere, but also 
 the British Government, who have been made parties to the crime. 
 Much capital will be made of the fact that The Hague Tribunal 
 permits the execution of non-combatants and "j)eople not duly 
 provided with a uniform. But all protocols and all comnmnings 
 together of diplomats (the dullest and most futile class of hu- 
 manity) will never destroy the right inborn in every man to 
 take arms in defence of his o'v\ti country and the inherent right 
 of the man who strikes against the invader of his own fatherland. 
 Italy is the Benjamin of the European family. In our youth 
 we watched her cast aside her chains. We have seen her emerge 
 from feudalism and clericahsm day by day and little by little 
 and become a great Power. She is our Benjamin, om* beloved 
 son, our youngest christened nation. But if our youngest son 
 does wrong shall we not argue with him and place before him 
 the error of his ways, and. if necessary, beat him Avith a rod 
 and save his soul ahve ? That is what we have to tell to Italy. 
 We have to remind her that a year ago she signed a treaty of 
 arbitration Avitli the Argentine Repubhc, that she signed the 
 Treaty of Berlin and the Treaty of Paris. We have to recall 
 her to a due sense of what is incumbent upon her. The greatest 
 and most heroic figure of the nineteenth century received his 
 warmest welcome here in this town of London, and avc speak 
 in his name as friends of Italy which, by the action of its Gov- 
 ernment, has placed its people in the position of Tedeschi and 
 Stranieri, whom the Italians themselves hate and execrate as 
 they are themselves now hated and execrated by the inhabitants 
 of Tripoh. Let us examine what has been going forward in 
 Tripoli. Along the shore of the Mediterranean Ues a narrow 
 strip of green ribbon. It is the fertile plain of Tripoli. Here 
 and there little huts are clustered together, and round them
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 •five times a day I'ise reverently to God tlie noblest and most 
 impressive call to prayer that humanity has conceived. In this 
 Sahal wave countless palm trees and beneath them in the evening 
 the silent Arab maidens gather round the village well. It serves 
 to bring before us, who really love the Scriptures, the patriarchal 
 days of the past. Friends, on these men and these women 
 who, a month ago, were happy in their peaceful life and in their 
 arrested civilisation, on them have been loosed the dogs of 
 war, and where there was peace, plenty, simplicity and patri- 
 archal life desolation reigns. Bloodshed and lust have been 
 slipped like uild dogs upon this people, and their simple tribal 
 life is made an abomination and desolation from which their 
 cries rise to us as free citizens of this mighty Empire for help 
 in their extremities. How can we help them ? How can we 
 l^ut an end to these horrors ? In two ways. We can call upon 
 tlie Governments to assert the rights of The Hague Tribinial 
 A\'ith no uncertain voice. We can appeal to the peoples of 
 I^jUTope. And I have one great faith, the faith of citizens who 
 indulge in a life of agitation, that the appeal will not be in vain. 
 I^Viends, I })lace but Uttle faith in our Government. I believe 
 that there is help in England. 
 
 Mrs. Despard seconded the Resolution : I think that on 
 such a platform as this, a platform where it is a question of the 
 world's peace, it is right that the women should be represented. 
 This question of peace is to women much more important than 
 it is to men. I often say that in these matters the men have 
 the fun of the thing while the women have nothing but to sit 
 at home and wait for news of what is being done by those who 
 have gone out to fight in the name of the country. I think 
 this ought to be specially emphasized when talking about inter- 
 national arbitration. The point has been mentiontHl, hut I 
 wish also to speak about it, that for this war and othei' wars 
 in general we have not to blame the peoples of the coinitries. 
 Between the peoples there is no war, there is no quarrel. They 
 are quite ready to love one another. The Governments are to 
 be blamed for the wars. The Governments come upon the 
 peoples by surprise. The workers who are the very backbone 
 of the nation do not give sufficient attention to these things. 
 They ought to be more wideawake than they are, and then 
 they would not l)c so suddenly surprised to find that A\'ar is 
 upon them. That was the case in Italy and in England not 
 so long ago. Previous speakers have voiced that which some 
 of us women have also felt deeply. The Italian people have 
 been the heroes and heroines of our youth. I have never for- 
 gotten how I felt when Italy's independence was gained by 
 those noble men and women . . . that spirit of liberty which has 
 gone forth into our lives. There is another thing I wish to 
 say, that while we have war within we shall have war without 
 the nations, and that this competitive commercial system in 
 which the nations live constitutes a war far more terrible in
 
 r no ) 
 
 its misery-pjoducing cfTt'tts than any other. If \vc arc to got 
 rid of Avar mv musi get rid of the A\'ar .s])irit both within and 
 without the Uuid. 
 
 'J'hc JlcsdJution A\'a« (tarried unanimously. 
 
 Mr. Isiael ZangAs ill tii(>n said Honic few Avords on the general 
 question : I do not think anyone has more admiration for the 
 Italians than 1 have. My hist book ended with a remarkable 
 praise of Italy. J actually jiicked out tlie Jtalians as the coming 
 leaders of juaidvind, not as being the most fitted but as the least 
 unfitted. J find that at the time J A\rote this they were proving 
 1 Avas mistaken. The Jtahans had com])leted their fiist Dread- 
 nought and had christened it Dante. And then they celebrated 
 their unity by a great equestrian statue inside which fourteen or 
 forty men could dine at a time. They were following the path 
 of all otlier Jiations instead of striking an ideal path for them- 
 selves — largo army, large navy, large taxes, and " my country 
 right or wrong." In the resolution you have passed you have 
 really adumbrated some sort of international council whi(!h will 
 have behind it the A\ill of all peoples and A\ithout some such 
 council I am afraid our lio[>es on the subject will remain but 
 hopes. This is where Mr. JStead aiul 1 disagree. I am a prac- 
 tical man. T\\o empires can arbitrate, but betweeu the wolf 
 and the lamb there is no arbitration. If the wolf wants to eat 
 the lamb it can always find mint sauce. This usually takes 
 the shape of various pretexts. Note, for instance, Germany. 
 '■ Population increasing," &c., and need for her p\a.ce in the sun. 
 The countries they take they find are Jiot A\'hite men's coinitries. 
 Germany and i^rjince get countries for their surplus population, 
 and these ])o))ulations take tickets for the U.S.A. It is an ethical 
 lie. It haj^pens that J am a little mixed uj) in this Avar. Some years 
 ago, in search of a land in which to save the Jews from perse- 
 cution in Kussia, I conceived the idea of using Cyrenaica and 
 organising emigration there. I have been looking up a book 
 I A\'rote in connection Avith this matter, and I find I quote that 
 Signor Tittcmi declaretl in the Italian Parliament on January 4, 
 11)08, A\ith solejnn assurance that Italy had no territorial designs 
 on Trijjoli. 'J'hc icsult of our labours Avas the discovery that 
 the countr}' was not worth while. 'I'here Avas Aery little Avater, 
 and the soil A\'as such that Avater sank doA\n to irrecoA^erable 
 depths. I did not think it Avas good enough for the poor Jews, 
 but the Italians have gone to A\ar for it to-day. This report 
 of mine has been published by the anti-Italian Press. I hope 
 \\('. shall g(^t to the lieart of things and get an international 
 tribiuial, and bring u]» the Kuro])ean Concert to (concert pitch, 
 foi- it noAv only sings music-hall tunes. 
 
 The third Resolution. Avhich i uns as follows, Avas mOA'ed I)}' 
 Shakour Pasha, a Ciuistian Ottoman from Egypt : — 
 
 " That, apart from the ])olitical aspect of the question, this 
 meeting calls upon the British nation to take the lead of Chris- 
 tendom in stigmatising the atrocities committed by the Italian
 
 ( 111 ) 
 
 Army in Tripoli, and in nr^liv;.! (lir Italian nation to niakc' anR-nds 
 for the inhuman ai^'tion of its army. 
 
 '■ That peoples of other ereeds, and Moslems in partiiailar, 
 should be notified of the abhorrenee felt by Christian nations in 
 general of sueh crimes against humanity/' 
 
 He said: This is the first time I have spoken in pubhe. I 
 AN'ant to ask you for a few minutes to look upon this question 
 from the point of view of the Mussulman, the ]X)int of view 
 from A\hieli your felloM-subjeets are looking at it at present. 
 In your dominions there are no fewer than 100,000,000, or two 
 and a half times as many as the inhabitants of this country. 
 These all look upon the Sultan as the representative of their 
 religion upon earth, although they are loyal British subjects. 
 How strong is this tie can be seen from the fact that an Arab 
 sheik who had been fighting the Turkish Government for many 
 years and whose people had been fighting the Government for 
 more than a century, came forward, threw down his arms, and 
 said. " I am with you until the last.*' There is a very real tie 
 which binds together th(; Mussulmen in all parts of the Avorld. 
 1 am not a Mussidman. I at)i a Christian, and therefore I can 
 speak from a perfectly neutral }K)int of view. I have been 
 educated in Italy. My son has been brought up l)y an Italian 
 nuise. I have great faith in the Italian nation, and I think 
 that in time the Italian nation will wish to repair the harm 
 that has been done. One of the speakers has said that England 
 would have rendered a service to Italy if she had stopped h«^r at 
 the begitming. It is necessary that the war should be sto})])ed 
 to prevent the possibility of the terrible consequences which 
 might ensue, if you k)ok at the matter from the point of view 
 of the JOO.000.000 Mussulmen. To them the nations of Europe 
 are almost th<^ same. English, German. French and Italian are 
 all the same to them. To their simple and ignorant eyes the 
 l)lame rests equally on the nations of Europe. To their minds 
 it is Christianity against Islam. That is what I want to wariv you 
 against. That is what 1 want to emphasize. There are at least 
 60.000.000 in China, and it is necessary that they should knoAV 
 that this war is not one that is backed up by the Christian nations. 
 
 Mr. J. E. MilhoUand said : I am something of a traveller, 
 but I do not want to talk to a travelling congregation. What 
 strikes me is that we spend millions for war, not even thousands 
 for peace. No civilised nation had a State Secretary for Peace. 
 No war was necessary when the United States made the Louisiana 
 purchase or in the settlement of the Alaska Boundary question. 
 If the Italians wanted Trijioli, they should have gone to the 
 leal estate people of the world and bought it ; it would have 
 l)een nuich cheaper. He had drafted a Resolution which, 
 however, he A\-ould not move, but merely lay its substance 
 before the meeting : — 
 
 " Whereas the maiutenanee of peace throughout the wofld
 
 ( 112 ) 
 
 is of the highest importance to human progress, tlierefore be 
 it resolved : that this task be left no longer entirely to the 
 impulse of philantliropic wealth or to the voluntary effort of 
 private individuals, but be made one of the most serious functions 
 of every civiUsed Government, and with that end in view be it 
 resolved : as the opinion of this meeting that the position of 
 Secretary for Peace should be created forthwith by His Majesty's 
 and by all other Governments worthy of the name, and filled by 
 the most competent persons that can be fomid for such port- 
 folios, resolved : that a copy of this Resolution be sent to 
 the Prime Minister and to the resisonsible official heads of the 
 various nations." 
 
 The Chairman said that there were present on the platfoiin 
 ])repared to speak in support of the resolution representatives of 
 Italian Socialists, American Trade Unionists, Indian Radicals, 
 and a full-blooded Red Indian from Canada. Owing to the 
 late hour he could not call ujion these gentlemen. 
 
 The following is a brief summary of the speech which the Red 
 Indian would have dehvered had an opportunity been afforded 
 him : — 
 
 Mr. J. Ojijatcklui Brant-Sero, a Canadian Moluuvk Indian : — 
 
 " As a representative Canadian, born of full aboriginal blood 
 in the forest of Ontario, I am pleased to be here to support the 
 hands of those who are protesting against this butchery at 
 Tripoli. I am a veteran of the South African War, but I was 
 born and reared amongst a j)eople whose organic law — the 
 Six Nations — is based on the rule of women, and the total 
 abstention from all wars. I am only voicing the democratic 
 sentiments of Canada in doing so, having full regard for the 
 Anglo-Saxon and the French-Canadian sections of my native 
 land. It is horrifying to think that Italy should close her 
 iifty years of freedom by such commemoration of blood-thirsti- 
 ness and wanton brutality to stain her otherwise glorious history. 
 Only a few Sundays ago I witnessed an inspiring spectacle of 
 ov(»r one hundred thousand Germans assembled in Treptow 
 Park, Berlin, unitedly jjrotesting against the i)ossibility of war 
 over the Moroccan question. Amongst this huge gathering 
 there was not a policeman or a soldier to be seen. It was the 
 exi>ression of Germany's democratic heart for Peace. Here 
 is a lesson, a demonstration for democratic unity and desire 
 for i>eace. I have reason to beUevc that the French people are 
 (equally desirous for the maintenance of Peace, and that their 
 hearts are with us in this matter. Let us stop this war, and 
 set our minds to work repairing the neglected tatters of modern 
 civilisation by living in peace Avith all men, regardless of 
 creed or race, is the message of hope T offer the white race, 
 coupled with this national protest against the horrors at Tripoli." 
 
 The Resolution was carried muvnimously. One of the most 
 enthusiastic and intense meetings held in London of late years 
 came to an end.
 
 { 11:^ ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 What We Can Do. 
 
 Let us consider what', the Government can do. 
 
 The British Government is bomid by the ])recedents of its 
 predecessors and bv its OAvn obhgation as one; of the sifjnatorics 
 of the Treaties of Paris (1856), London (1871), and BerHn (1878), 
 which form the basis of the Public Law of Europe, to protest 
 against the violation of these treaties by the Italian Government, 
 and to intimate that no alteration of the status quo of the Ottoman 
 Empire has any vahdity until it has received the sanction of all 
 the signatories of the aforesaid treaties, and that no such sanc- 
 tion will be given by His Majestj'^'s Government until Italy has 
 made good her case and justified her conduct before an impartial 
 tribunal of international arbitration. 
 
 The British Government can, and ought, as one of the signa- 
 tories of the Ha^gue Convention for the pacific settlement of 
 disputes, perform the duty which it has hitherto neglected by 
 reminding the Powers in dispute of the existence of the Hague 
 Tribmial and pressing them to settle their disputes by means of 
 arbitration. 
 
 The British Government can and ought to obtain and pub- 
 l ish authentic information as to how the rules of war drawai 
 up and signed by the representatives of all civilised Powers, 
 including Great Britain and Italy, have been \nolated in the 
 miUtary operations in Tripoh ]>y the massacre of unarmed men, 
 women and children, the shooting of prisoners of war, &c. 
 
 The British Government can and ought to declare that if 
 the Itahan Government persists in carrying on the war in Africa 
 in defiance of the Hague rules of war, it will mark its condemna- 
 tion of such an outrage upon civilisation in the same way that 
 it indicated its condemnation of the murder of the King and 
 Queen of Ser^^a — by withdrawing its Ambassador from Rome. 
 
 The British Government can and ought to intimate to Italy 
 that its declaration of neutrality was issued on the emphatic 
 assurance that the military operations would be confined to 
 North Africa and the naval operations to the protection of 
 Italian coasts and shipping, it cannot and will not consent to 
 the extension of the Avar beyond its original limits, and that any 
 attempt to make war upon the otherj provinces or ports of the 
 Ottoman Empire would be regarded as an unfriendly act and 
 a violation of the Pubhc Law of Europe,^Avhich it is thehr duty 
 and their intention to defend. 
 
 "^The British Government can and OMght to declare (hat as 
 the institution of a blockade of the Dardanelles — onc^ of the main 
 arteries of the world's commerce — would increase the price of
 
 ( Ui ) 
 
 the broad of t]ic pooplo hy 10 per cent., no such blockade will 
 be ])crmitlt(l for the purpose of enforcing the illegal seizure 
 of Turkish provinces in North Africa. 
 
 So mucli for the Government. Now let us consider Ashat 
 ])iivatc citizens caii do to urge the Government to do its 
 duty. » 
 
 lii(li\ idu;ils l)y themselves (van do little. But if each docs 
 what lie can, and docs it at once, much may be effected. 
 
 1. Write to your Member of Parhament. You need not be an 
 elector. So long as you reside in his constituency you are a 
 constituent, even if you be a woman, and a letter addressed to 
 your Member at the House of Commons, asking him to do what 
 he can to stop the war, and stop it at once, is one of the simjjlest 
 and most obvious means of bringing your influence to bear ii])oii 
 the House of Commons. If you can do nothing else, you can 
 tear out the Memorial on the last page, leave the first line blank, 
 sign it yourself and get four others of the most influential ])ersoi.s 
 in your acquaintance to sign it. and then send it to your Member, 
 a.sking him to sign it and return it to you. 
 
 2. Write to or call ujion the Mayor of your toAvn, or the chaii- 
 man of your local governing authority, asking him whether he 
 would consent to call a town's meeting on the suVjject of the 
 war if a lerpiisition were presented to him signed by a suflficient 
 number of householders. At the same time you might enclose 
 a form of the Memorial to the Government A\hich has been 
 drawn up by Lord Avebury, asking him to sign it. If he pro- 
 mises to call a town's meeting, then you can proceed to get u]) 
 the requisition. (See suggestions on following page.) 
 
 3. W^rite to your local editors, caUing their attention to this 
 l)am]>hlet. and asking them {a) to sign the Memorial them.selves. 
 (h) to ask their readers to do the same, and (c) to call for a 
 publi«- expression of local opinion on the subject. (See suggested 
 form of letter to editors.) 
 
 4. Write to or call upon your own minister, and ask him 
 (a) to sign the Memorial, (6) to sign the requisition, (c) to 
 pi'cach or speak upon the appeal to the conscience of the nation, 
 and ((/) to secure the passing of resolutions on the subject by 
 the local Church Council. Biothcihood meeting, or any similar 
 as.sociation of Christian men and women in the town^oi- village. 
 ^See suggested form of letter to ministers.) 
 
 5. If a towns meeting is impossible, and if your ministers 
 and editors make no response to your ajipeal. see what can be 
 done by appealing to any other organisations — industrial, social, 
 or political — or to any persons whom you can influepce, asking 
 them to do wh.at can be done to afford the public an opportunity 
 of expressing an opinion on this question.
 
 ( ll.-^ ) 
 
 6. Abstain from buying any Italian goods, dealing 'with any 
 Italian firms, buying any Italian stocks, travelling in any Italian 
 ships, visiting Italy, or holding any communication with any 
 Italian so long as the war lasts, unless at the same time you 
 express your opinion on the conduct of the Italian Coveniment 
 and urge your corres]iondent to use his influence to stop the war. 
 and stop it noAv. 
 
 7. Subscribe yourself to the extent of your means and collect 
 subscriptions from your friends towards the £5,000 fund for 
 the reception of the Ottoman delegates, and the education of 
 public opinion in favour of the maintenance and enforcement 
 of the Fu])lic La\A' of Europe l)y the csta])lishment of an Int(^r. 
 national High C-ourt of Arbitral Justice with compulsory powcrs- 
 
 8. Purchase and distiil)ute pam])hlcts and leaflets giving 
 information on the subject of the war. 
 
 By doing any oi-, bcttci' still, all these things, you will utilise 
 the present opportunity afforded l)y the tremendous object- 
 lesson of this un])rovoked wai', by educating the pul)lic opinion 
 of the nation in faxoui' of a gieat onwaid movement to\var<ls the 
 substitution of IVace witii Justice by Ar])itration for international 
 anarchy and the uncheckcfl d(tmiiiance of armed foice over tlic 
 libeities and rights of nations. 
 
 SUGGESTED l^^ORM 0I-' flRQUISTTION FOR A TOWN'S 
 
 MEETING. 
 
 To the Worshipful the Mayor of 
 
 We, the undersigned inhabitants of 
 lespectfully request your Worship to summon a Town's ]\t<'cting 
 at the earliest convenient date, in order to consider the violation 
 of the Public Law of Emope committed by the Italian Govern- 
 ment in attacking the Ottoman Empire and annexing two of 
 its provinces, and to pass resolutions calling upon the Govern- 
 ment to piovide safeguards against similai- outrages in the; future 
 by pressing for the establishment of an International Ffigh ( V)ui( 
 of International Justice with compulsory poMcrs. 
 
 SUGGESTED RESOLUTIONS FOR PUBLIC 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 1. "That this meeting regrets and condemns the action of 
 the Italian Government in attempting to seize Tripoh, as a
 
 ( nn ) 
 
 violation of the Piililic La^^ of Europe set forth in the Treaties 
 of Paris and London, and of the moral judgment of mankind 
 embodied in the Hague Conventions. 
 
 " This meeting beheves it to be the imperative duty of the 
 British Government to intimate to the Italian Government, 
 witliout delay, that no annexation of territory made by it in 
 North Africa ean have any validity until it has been sanctioned 
 l>y the signatories of the treaties of 1856 and 1878, and that 
 no such sanction will be given until Italy has made good her 
 case and justified her conduct before an international tribunal." 
 
 2. " That this meeting, welcoming the promised visit of the 
 Ottoman delegates pleading for the observance of treaties and 
 the settlement of disputes by obligatory arbitration, demands 
 that any State making war without first appeahng to arbi- 
 tration should be treated by alljother States as an outlaw and 
 enemy of the human race." 
 
 3. " That these resolutions be signed by the Mayor in the 
 name of this meeting and forwarded to His Majesty's Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs, to the Member for this constituency, 
 and to the Italian and Turkish Ambassadors in London." 
 
 SUGGESTED LETTER TO THE EDITORS OF LOCAL 
 PAPERS (MORNING, EVENING, AND WEEKLY). 
 
 To llie Editor. 
 
 Sir, — May I ask you to call the attention of your readers to 
 the grave moral and political issues raised by the sudden and 
 unprovoked attack made by Italy upon Turkey for the avowed 
 purpose of annexing two Turkish provinces ? If this violation 
 of treaty right be passed by in silence, the Pubhc Law of 
 Europe is destroyed, and the fate of Turkey to-day may be 
 tliat of any other Power to-niorrow whose military and naval 
 forces are too weak to oppose effective resistance to the 
 might of a stronger neighbour. The facts of the case are suc- 
 cinctly stated in a pamphlet entitled " Tripoh and the Treaties," 
 a copy of which I forward for your perusal. I earnestly hope 
 that we may have your assistance in securing an adequate 
 expression of the public sentiment of this community on tliis 
 burning question. 
 
 I am, yours truly,
 
 ( 117 ) 
 
 SUGGESTED LETTER TO MINISTERS OF RELIGION. 
 
 Reverend Sir, — May I respectfully ask whether you will assist 
 ill eiiabUng the Christian conscience of the nation to condemn 
 the lawless outrage upon the Pubhc Law of Europe and the 
 moral sense of mankind by the attack made by Italy upon 
 Turkey for the avoAved purpose of seizing its African provinces ? 
 
 The Bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, Hereford, and Bath and 
 Wells have already united their voices with the heads of the 
 great Nonconformist bodies and the Free Church Council in 
 protesting against this international crime. But it is surely a 
 matter which should be pressed upon the conscience of every 
 citizen, especially of those who call themselves by the name of 
 Christ. I enclose you a brief statement of the case, with a copy 
 of a Memorial to the Government on the subject. I shall be 
 glad if you will sign the latter and return it to me. Pray inform 
 me of any action which you or your congregation may see fit 
 to take in this matter. 
 
 I am, yours truly,
 
 W. SPEAIGHT AND SONS, 
 PRINTERS 
 
 FETTER LANE, LONDON.
 
 MEMORIAL TO THE 
 GOVERNMENT ON THE WAR. 
 
 (Drawn up by the Right Hon. Lord Avebury.) 
 
 " IVe offer no opinion on the merits of the dispute. 
 Turkey may be in the wrong ; Italy may have real 
 grievances ; but this does not justify her in disturbing 
 the peace of the world. Moreover^ the fact that 
 Turkey was attacked with practically no notice^ is an 
 aggravation of the evil precedent which has been set. 
 
 " We deeply regret that Italy did tiot refer her 
 complaint to a tribunal of the Hague Court or some 
 other form of arbitration. 
 
 " We hope that no Government will consent to 
 recognise any annexation of territory by Italy, but 
 that all will insist on reference of the dispute to 
 arbitration!' 
 
 Signature. 
 
 Address. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TO THE READER. l^'ease tear out this page, sign it yourself, 
 "^~~~~~~~——~~— —————— obtain as many influential signatures as you 
 
 can and return it to W. T. STEAD. BANK BUILDINGS. KiNGSWAY. 
 London. W.C, from whom' additional forms of the Memorial for signature can 
 be obtained on^pplication.
 
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