dy end. A
few days ago, when the Trades Union Congress met at Liverpool, when
delegates were present representing some two millions of the organised
workers of the country, the representative of the Navvies' Union
declared, amid the resounding cheers of the Congress, that it was
impossible for a man to be a Christian and in favour of war at the
same time."[527] The Navvies' Union will no doubt play a great part in
the foreign policy of the Socialist commonwealth, but is the
importance of their declaration not exaggerated? Wars begin, as a
rule, by an act of aggression. What would the Navvies' Union and the
Trades Union Congress have said if the secretary had read a telegram
stating that British ships had been fired upon and sunk by an enemy,
or that British territory had been invaded and British blood had been
spilt? I fear that eternal peace is not yet in sight, notwithstanding
the "sign and portent" of the statement made by the representative of
the Navvies' Union. Indeed, clear-headed foreign Socialists are aware
of the very limited usefulness of Peace Conferences, and they deride
disarmament proposals, such as that submitted to the last Hague
Conference by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

An exceedingly able article in the foremost Socialist organ of Germany
gave, early in the spring of 1907, the following views on the probable
result of The Hague Conference and on the British proposals regarding
the limitation of armaments, views which are particularly interesting
because they show the sound good sense of the German Socialists and
the difference between the political views of German and British
Socialists. The article stated:

"Just as the first Hague Conference of 1898 in reality achieved
nothing more than a few secondary amendments to the law of nations,
conformity with which was left completely to the fancy of the
individual Powers, so the second Hague Conference will, it is highly
probable, result in nothing further than a few general peace
assertions and international arrangements which, when it comes to a
war, will not outlive the first interchange of shots. Certainly the
English Premier is right. There does exist among the thoughtful
persons in all European States an intellectual tendency towards the
peaceful settlement of differences between the nations and the
diminution of the gigantic military and naval armaments. But this body
of thoughtful people is--as the last elections in Germany have again
proved-