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High-Handed Action at Abertillery SEE PAGE 2

The Case for Negotiation. GERMANY IS NOT TOP DOG, I MR CHARLES TREVELYAN, M.P., ON I THE SITUATION. WHAT THE NEXT WAR MEANS. Another of those most remarkable Rink meetings, held by the Merthyr and District Peace and Anti-Conscription Council, was held on Tuesday night, when fully 1,600 people gave an enthusiastic reception to Mr Charles Tre- velyan, MP, and loudly cheered the telling points in his eloquent speech, and unanimously d the to state the demandedthe Government to state the terms on which it would ;>e prepared to conclude Peace, and declaring" the conviction that the first opportunity ought to be taken to negotiate for an honourable Peace. MR D. DA VIES occupied the chair, and af- ter a fjne eulogiu-in of the principal speaker, spoke of the troublous times in which we are living. The times were so troublous and so dangerous that it was a very difficult thing for a person to express himself without disob- for I 1),e,rsoll to expi-c-- eying in some way or another the several Acts and enactments made by this Government. They had gone out of their way to split the people into a thousand detachments, and to i set every man's neighbour against his neigh- bour.. We had a.lmmt reahsed the words of the Prophet that The prudent man keepeth silent, for the days a-i-eTliov were there that night to ask the Government to consider the making of Peace, and they were pèeotly within their right in doing so..The inhab- itants of the world had been set one nation against another, and all the wisdom, the arts I and the sciences had been turned into the ma- 1 king of instruments and all things necessary for the carrying on of the hellish system of war. j It was time that the people should open their j eyes to the enormity of this thing. and to put an end to it for all time. MR TREvULYAN—whoso reception was a repeti tion of that accorded to Mr Ponsonby— the audience rising and cheering—said: "I ailIL one of the wry small baud of men in the House of Commons who have ventured in tha.t assembly to tell them that they ought to dis- cuss' Peace as well as war." (Cheers.) And who are venturing to tell the people in every as- serab! That iiwteii to us tliSh- as the Gov- ernments. in peace times prepare for war, so the people in war tfme ought to be preparing for Peace (cheers). We are not universally po- Flllar (laughter). But we are unrepentant and undaunted (cheers). They cannot suppress such a sane view as ours that fighting is not all that a nation has got to do during war in order to win a good peace; that a nation has also to do some right thinking; has to know what its right objectives are has to have a right national policy; not opinions vaguely held by its rulers, but declared from the house tops bv its rulers, and sanctioned by the peo- ple (loud cheers). If at the end of the war there is going to be anything but a miserable j: conclusion—which will give the lie to at the | efforts of those brave soldiers who had died for } us. who are suffering for us. and who are fight- ing for us. To-day all the powers of the Gov- 1 eminent, of the members of the upper class, of J the mi'itarv, are all directed to suppressing discussion:; but vet slowly through it all has inevitably arisen' up the demand of the peoples for reason to come in the placè of force (cheers) The demand that the Government shall negotiate is a feeling growing daily, which I meet even in the House of Commons. Men who would not talk to me almost a year ago now show that they are feeling the weari- 1:. ness the futility, the beastliness, the horror of the continuation of this war (loud cheers). In all belligerent countries this feeling is growing I up, in spite of the Governments. Look at the positions or the different na- nations. continued Mr Trevelyan. There was i Belgium, for whom we were particularly res- j ponsible. We had shown great charity to- wards the Belgians, but what woul d that char- itv be worth if the war wont on indefinitely ? What, indeed, would it be worth if the military people carried on the war for another two or three years slowly driving the Germans back over the Belgian plains? How many towns, ? villages or cottages would be left for the Bel- I gian people? The Belgians wanted peace; no- bodv more. It, as many Liberals believed, wo were fighting the war for the sake of Bel- gium, then it was time to stop the war for Belgium's sake (cheers). Then there was ,I?ran ce. Fiance was fighting for her exist- ence; but did the French want the war to go On if their national existence and security kmld be made certain ? He was a visitor at the National Labour Conference at Bristol, and \ad there heard Monsieur Longuet, the deleg- ?te from the Labour Party in France, make his kipressive speech in very good English, and j 1 ttie most impressive sentence in that speech ] that in which he said—and this was before | the Verdun battle—" France had 800,000 dad, 1,400,000 wounded; and 200,000 prison- ets; and before her always she had the im- mensity of sorrow and tears these figures re- presented. There was a danger sometimes of English Statesmen speaking too lightly of the war lasting two or n three years." If Ilratiec, could get an honourable peace, did they think that the common people of the country did not want itr' Turn then to our enemies. We were fed up with lying newspapers every } day. Just as in the last naval battle the German ships emitted foul clouds of smoke round them to prevent their being seen by the British gunners, so every day the truth was 4 concealed from us by a foul, fictitious miasma raised by the writers in these newspapers. If we knew the truth, we would know that am- ongst out- enemies was a desire for Peace. Not long ago the spokesman for the greatest Deono- v oratic Party in the world—the German Social f. Democratic Party—speaking in the naame of s 4.000,000 German working men, said to the Reichst-ag, and his statement was not ohal- Jenged by anyone, whether he agreefl with kits general views or not—that the whole German peoples were wanting Peace. And the German Government had twice expressed their readiness to negotiate. The Germans were ready for Peace if they could get it on hon- ourable terms to themselves. That was what all countries wanted. He was told that our people did not want Peace. He spoke to people wher- ever he could meet them in private, and he found, if they had not to makea. public decla- ration, that they all wanted Peace (loud cheers). "High taxation, high prices, loss of freedom, loss of all British standards one after another is beginning to tell on the mind of our people. But another thing was beginning to tell. Do you think that the soldiers want to go on fight- ing? They will go on with their duty so long as they must; but I had a letter the other day from an officer friend of mine; and one parti- cular sentence in it struck me most forcibly. He said: "There is one way in which you can at once make yourself instantly popular am- ongst your fellows, and that is bv prophesying an early end of the war" (cheers). Everybody wanted" Peace in England except a few busy- bodies in England, except newspaper, writers, except officious members of Tribunals. ex- cept the Government, who had staked too much on the war, who had promised the people too much, who knew that their promises could not be fulfilled, and who knew, too, that when Peace came it would sound the death of all their reputations (cheers). There was an- other thing which was beginning to tell on the opinions of our people. sane man now knew that there could be no complete military victory. The Germans would never get to Paris, and the Allies never to Berlin. The Germans 'had a taste of what the naval power of England is. He heard men in England saying, "How can we seek Peace when the Germans are top dog?" Top dog, indeed! What about the naval position? What chance was there if this war went on for ten years that the Germans would be able to get back their trade, their colonies —to get out of the strangle grtp of the British Navy? It was militarily impossible. But equal- ly it was military impossible —unless after in- terminable years of ivair--for the German military lines to be driven back into their own country. This war was essentially a dead- lock it had been for months and months, and for years and years it would so remain. Every- body was beginning to know that. We had better if we doubted it look to those who were able to take a more impartial view than our- selves. Read the American papers, and find o 1 Reia,d the Aiiie,rie,ftii papers, aild, find that the w?r Was a deadlock. We should ev- entually have to take the advice of the Ameri- can President when he said to the warring nations, "When you cannot overcome you must take counsel." It is for this reason that he and his friends in the House of Commons were trying to get a proper discussion in the House of Commons and in the country on these im- portant things: What are our real objects n the war? What are the general terms on which the Government would be ready to conclude Peace? And why should they not at least try to negotiate how? In the Hoase they were met with curt, with sometimes ill-tempered au • swers from the Ministers. It was an offeace to talk of such things. Yet never before in the history of the country had the House of Com- mons failed to discuss such things. Whe ■> a foolish king was losing us the United S t.tis of of America 140 years ago,. the House of Com- mons was constantly throughout the war dis- cussing the policy. Burke and Chatham were never silent, and were always answered by the Ministerial speakers. All through the French Wars, the House of Commons, led by Fox, dis- cussed the policy, and were always answered; and fully and properly answered by the Min- isters of the day. In the Crimean War, time after time, not only Bright, but men like Gladstone insisted on the House of Commons dismissing the policy the country was pursu- ing; and now, so deeply had the spirit of secret diplomacy entered the minds of the British House of Commons, that that House was silent and thought it ought not to discuss these things. It was because of secret diplomacy that he resigned his position in the Government. FOIl' six i or eight years a policy was pur- sued by the Government in secret, and was only revealed to the House of Commons 30 hours before war was declared. (Shame!) That policy might have b-wen tbp. height of wisdom, but it was not Democratic. So far as Foreign Af- fairs were concerned we were so far removed from self-Government as Prussia itself. He did not want"- to talk about the past, but to remind the people that if they were still con- tent not to want to know what was being done in their name, and allowed the same people to manufacture the peace as got us into this war, then the idea of self-government had departed from the people (loud cheers. The Government had a new excuse for con- cealing their operations from the people. They had a treat37—not sanctioned bv Parliament; he was not sure that it was a bad treaty—that no Peace was to be entered into without the con- sent of all the Allies, and they were interpre- ting that to mean that the House of Commons i is not to discuss what the British people thought that Peacie ought to be. But it was not laid down in that treatv that the people should not know what its Government th(lu9?t, -,and it was the duty of the people to insist that the Government should tell it (cheers). Looking back over history, he saiv wars in which Great Britain had been triumphant, wars which had been continued by its rulers, when the martial spirit had long since died in the, people, and ending in some wretched patched- up peace made by the tired soldiers and ill- tempered diplomatists who met at the contu- sion of the war. In the Napoleonic Wars, in which the Allies had been infinitely more vic- torious than either side would be in this war, the consequence was that when peace was made it ended in a disastrous scramble for territory. It was obvious then that seeds had been sown for further wars,. Europe was finding out the mistakes made at the Peace of Vienna. So might it not be to-morrow (cheers). So assured- ly it would be unless the great common sense of the mass ef the people be brought to play as well as the cleverness of the few individuals who happened to be the rulers of Europe. Upon the policy of the Government and what it in- tended to demand rested first of all the dura- tion of the war; and secondly, the likelihood of a, permanent peace. Discussion was the es- sence of understanding, and with only the Northcliffe Press and such like to express the views of the Government we might as well be without moderate men and statesmen. Yet it was the duty of these latter to ex- press views that would give Peace to the world (cheers). Continuing, Mr/Trevelyan entered into the demand of the Union of Democratic. Control, of which he is one of the founders, that territorial .settlements in Europe should only be made by plebiscite of the peoples concerned. That would mean, he pointed out, the retention of Bel- gium by the Belgians, and the North of France Óy the French, and probably the .French speak- ing portions of Alsace-Lorraine would return to their old allegiance. In the light of this wise proposal, he discussed the case of Poland, which 140 years ago wais as much a nation as France or Britain, but by the co-operation or the Czars of Russia and the Kings of Prussia, the most brutal political crime of the last 200 years was committed when the nationality >t Poland was destroyed. and the territory divided between the two. The story went on with the misgovernment of the Poles. Recently the Ger- man Chancellor had described, and with justice, that the Russians had maltreated the Poles, and asked how it was possible now Germany had conquered the Poles to give back the Poles to the misgovernment of the Russians. To that Mr Asquith had replied that whilst the Russians had misgoverned Poland, the Germans had oppressed the Poles under their rule more scientifically and even more brutally. What de- duction was Mr Asquith going to draw from iiis of the (!-a-e. his statement, of the case? Was he going to draw the just and only possible deduction that the Poles must be freed from the Russian and Prussian alike F (Loud cheers.) It is time for Russia to confirm by actions her words that Poland should have freedom altogether. These were the problems which must be faced. If we had perfectly wise statesmen* we might get all the outstanding territorial questions in Europe settled, but if that was done 10 or 20 years hence, the world would not be a fixed place we should have new racial questions aris- ing, and new causes for quarrels would rise in all parts of the world despite anything which might be done at the close of this war. Secu- rity could not be obtained bv merely settling the questions outstanding to-day. Once or twice since the outbreak of war Mr Asquith and Sir Edward Grey had declared their belief in inter- national arbitration. This he took to be a true representation of the ultimate sacrifice and expectation of our rulers. But all the world was not converted, and when one was preaching a new doctrine of international, relations it must be preached from the house tops. Those who opposed it must be fought. Why were our statesmen not doing it if they believed in it? Why were they leaving, it to unpopular people like himself? The hope of the world lay in this direction. And at last had come a voice greater He was _gla,d t?ba f Pre- than theirs to speak up. He was glad that Pre- sident Wilson had spoken up (cheers). He at least had got to be hearkened to. This idea of international arbitration was not impossible. It was the policy of the United States, and now all the countries of America—N orth, South or Central—had agreed to submit their differ- ences to arbitration before going to war; and since the war England had also entered into a similar treaty with America. Perhaps some might laugh at the idea of an agreement bet- ween all. the Great Powers, but there would be tremendous compulsion on all the peoples to adopt some such policy. The people were beginning to see what future great wars would mean if we went on piling up armaments as before the present struggle. Future wars were not going to be the easy thing that this war had been for these who were- not at the front What Cihane was there of mankind surviving the next great war? This war had been dangerous enough to civilisation; the next would mean its destruction. Therefore the al- ternative was Reason (loud cheers). When the peoples had the security that arbitration off- ered them, then would be the opportunity for the spirit of Brotherhood to work. for Govern- ments hitherto had been run on the Philipics of the Jingoes, Junkers and the Chauvinists. At the beginning of thiss war, no people wanted war, The great masses of the peoples loathed the idea, but they were helpless. The people must not be helpless again. (Loud cheers.) The Peace Resolution was carried unanimous- ly and then the Rev. Enoc Hughes (Aber- canaid) moved: — That this meeting protests against the per- secution of men who had Conscientious Ob- jection to military service, and demands of the Government that effective steps should be taken to bring that persecution to an end according to the intentions expressed in Parliament by the members of the Govern- ment. It was painful, he said. to think that this resolution should have been necessary in this country. The extraordinary thinga bout the resolution was not that they should dare to put it before that meeting that night, but that the situation which made it necessary should have arisen in Great Britain during the 20th Century. We thought a little while ago that we had passed for ever the very possibil- ity. let alone the actuality, of publicly perse- cuting a man, or a body of men, on account of their moral or religious convictions. Alas! we know now that such was not the case—not even in Christian and civilised Britain. To place a new law on the Statute Book was one thing; to administer it justly and impartially was quite another thing,, and their complaint that night was that the law had not been ad- ministered according to the original intention neither according to its letter. They demanded that the law be administered imparl ally (cheers) Thev demanded that a man's case should not be prejudged before he appeared before a Court or Tribunal. Coain. Franks, seconding, said that when a country took it into its head to persecute yauag men of the moral worth of thesa yoang men. he could not say that the country was making progress. Take the Local Tribunal. 1 here was hardly a man sitting there that had any interest at all in these young men beyond that of making them food for powder. He contended that the men who sat on these Tribunals should be impartial. He was told that there was reason to believe that these men made up their minds previous to sitting in the Tribunal that they were not going to exempt these people. He did not think that a man over military age ought to sit and condemn other men for not doing what they themselves were not prepared to do. He thought it was high time that the people of Merthyr entered their emphatic protest against the injustice done to these people (cheers). This was also carried unanimously, and the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to Mr Trevelyan.

Y stradgynlais Notes. Successful I L.P, Meetings I Three prominent speakers have addressed meetings in Ystradgyniais during the past week under the auspices of the I.L.P, These were Mrs Drake, Mr J, H. Hudson, M.A., and Mr Charles Trevelyan, M.P. All the meetings were well attended, and the feeling at all was 11t favour of the I.L.P, point of view, Both Mrs Drake and Mr Hudson spoke at out-door meetings. The former was unfortunate in ?Tle'e't I ngs. having to wait until 9 p.m..to commence, as a Scientific Lecture was being delivered at the I L.P. Hall by Mr Northcote. This late start enabled members of the Tory party, who, as usual, had been paying attention to "Y brag a'r hops," at the club and public-houses, to put in an appearance. About six of them be- came obstreporous, and had to be sat upon by those who sympathised with the women's cause. The meeting, however, was very successful, and the crowd was about the biggest ever seen on the Ystrad Square. Mr Hudson's meeting was more so ber, and he succeeded in getting a good hearing and a good reception. Many questions, intelligent and otherwise, were put and satis- factorily answered. Mr Trevelyan's meeting was held at the I.L.P. Hall, which was crowded to overflowing by a most representative gathering. The speak- er dealt with the question of "Peace by Ne- gotiation," and was accorded a great recep- tion. He was not ask.? a single hostile ques- tion, and the following resolution, which was put to the meeting, was carried without a sin- gle dissentient: — Resolved that this meeting considers that the Government ought at once to declare the terms on which it would be ready to make Peace, and ought to take the first opportunity to commence negotiations for an honourable Peace. Peace Memorial forms were signed at the meetings, and more have been sent for. Scientific Lecture. I Mr Northcote addressed a.. good audience at the I.L. P. Hall on Saturday last on "The Bee Commonwealth" he speaks next Saturday on The Wonders of Embryology." Llan-y-Fan Trip. I Members of the I.L.P, and others attending Mr Northcotd's lectures visited Llan-y-Fan last Sunday. The party consisted of about 30 per- sons. A most enjoyable day was spent by some at the lakes, and by ethers in looking for the lakes. The first contingent visited the two lakes, climbed the Van mountains overlooking the lakes, saw the Stone Circle, and Saethonaen and examined the Giant's Grave. The second contingent who started for the lakes rather late in the evening only got as far as the bigger lake. but these found numerous fossils and specimens, and it is rumoured that it will be unnecessary for these to visit the mountains again, as they brought much of them back in their pockets. The third lot missed the lakes altogether, we are afraid deliberately, and stopped not until they got to Llandovery. In spite of these unfortunate misunderstandings, each party declares itself perfectly satisfied with the outing, and hopes to get a similar one ag- ain. Probably this one will bQ the Park Mill Trip on July 22. when all the branches in the West Wales I.L.P. Federation will hold their first great meet,

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Ynysybwl and District Notes. Joint Committee and Mr Beckerlegge. A meeting of the Lady Windsor Mynachdy, and Darranddu Joint Committee was held on Friday evening last, Mr Ellis Lewis, checkweig- her, presiding. Arising from the minutes of the previous meeting, the question of the reinstate- ment of Mr J. J, BeckeriJegge as teacher by the Mountain Ash Education Committee was again considered. It was stated that Mr Beckerlegge had been invited to meet the Edu- cation Committee in order that they might ascertain whether he was prepared, if reinstat- ed, to teach patriotism as the councillors con- sidered it should be taught. Messrs D. Smith and E. Morgan protested against the Education Committee being allowed to dictate to any -teacher that he should teach a particular brand of patriotism. It was as unwarrantable an in- terference with the liberty of the teacher, as it would be to compel him to teach a particular kind of religion, which was a point upon which many of the Councillors had professed them- selves as champions in the past. The members of the Joint Committee were in full agreement with the speakers, and it was decided that should the result of Mr Beckerlegge's interview with the Education Committee be unfavour- able a ward meeting be convened to protest against their action. Councillors Squeak. The Secretary of the Joint Committee stated that he had written to the local Councillors protesting against theu' action on the Tribunal and also in Mr Beckerlegge's case. He had re- ceived a reply, hut it was mentioned that one of them had stated that before censuring them the Joint Committee should have called a ward meeting at which they (the Councillors) could express their views in the matter. The Joint Committee felt, however, that this was a duty that they should have taken on themselves, and, further, it was a duty which the worthy gentlemen had neglected on occasions in the past, when matters of great importance affec- ting the ratepayers of Ynysybwl had been dealt with by the Council. To Care for the Disabled. A communication was read from the Clerk to the District Council asking the Ynysybwl workmen to nominate a Labour representative to act on the committee which was being formed for the area. to administer relief to dis- aoled Soldiers and Sailors under the new Pen- sions Act. It wi slved that a joint genera meeting be called immediately to elect a repre- sentative. The Secretary was also instructed to write for information as to whether the ward was not entited to a Lady representative, and if so, who had the power to appoint? Local Trades and Labour Council to be Formed. The three lodges reported that their general meetings had unanimously decided in favour of contesting seats on the Guardians and on the District Council at the first opportunity. In the course of discussion, it was felt that out- side associations other than miners such as the shop assistants and teachers, should be al- lowed to co-operate, and ultimately it was agreed to form a local Trades and Labour Council, so that these bodies might also be included. Miners and Sunday School Demonstration. A question which is agitating the minds of the workmen just now is the observance of the annual "Sunday Schools demonstration. Last year the collieries worked on that day, and only the Church Schools "turned out." This year the committee responsible have decided upon a united procession. Owing to the dem- ands of the Admiralty, the collieries will re- main open for work, but most of the work- men feel they should- have a day off. One section rightly considers that they are needed in order to supervise arrangements and help with the children. Another section, and pro- bablv the larger, desire the holiday owing to the feeling of stalenes which a too prolonged and incessant toit has brought about. This latter section has endeavoured to get the local lodges to arrange with the management for a stoppage, but the works committee, to whom the matter was referred, feel that it would be exceedingly unwise on their part to do so, on the ground that the night workmen would have no claim to the bonus turn for that week, and also that possibly the colliery company might stipulate after the war that the day be included locally as one of the Federation holidays. Each workmem, therefore, will have to decide and act for himself. A Work that Appeals. A happy feature of Ynysybwl life has oeen the large number of benefit concerts which for some time past have been held to assist, famil- ies where long illness has deprived the bread- winner of his earning capacities, or where the removal of the head of the household by death has left his dependents in straightened cir- cumstances. Credit should be- given to the local bioscope company, who have always given their services gratuitously. The latest of these concerts was that given last week for the bene- fit of Mrs Wm. Newqll, the death of whose husband recently left her with a large family of small children to maintain. On this occa- sion, however, the bioscope was dispensed with, the items given being musical and recitative. It is expected, as a result, that a substantial sum will be handed over bv the committee to Mrs Newell and her family. Mr Fred J. Priday acted as secretary, and to his efforts much of the success of the concert is due.

PROPAGANDA. NOT PROFIT," is the motto of the Pioneer Press." If you are aAive te the tremendous social intprore- mmts that the Pwty the Pioneer repres?ita staads for. than it is your duty tct ? th" aH JOT Trades ?. UnM? CIII.? M? ? G?nwal Printing Mmeø to Williams' Squint. Merthyr the Home ? the Pionow.09