by the simple transposition of the figures of our War Budget into terms of the amount of national energy which its huge sums are intended to purchase. You cannot take millions of men away from the tasks of supplying the peace needs of the community without seriously interfering with the comforts and amenities of the life of that community. The wonder is that the disturbance has not been greater, and I feel that we owe much gratitude to the experienced and able business men who, in various directions, have undertaken to organise the resources of the State for war, for the services which they have rendered not merely in increasing our efficiency for war, but in minimising the evils and inconveniences of war.

It is a remarkable fact that, although our imports have enormously diminished, there is less hunger in the land to-day than in August, 1914. I ask you to help these men and not to "rattle" them. The strain on them is enormous. Make their task easier. There are some people engaged in a constant and systematic grumble. The peace propaganda is fed with grumbles. These people are anxious to break down the national nerve and then to rush us into a premature and disastrous peace. Let us beware of playing their game. We have challenged a sinister power which is menacing the world with enslavement. It would have been better never to have issued the challenge unless we meant to carry it through. A challenged power which is not overthrown always becomes stronger for the challenge. The people who think

that they can begin a new era of peace while the Prussian military power is unbeaten are labouring under a strange delusion. We have all been dreaming of a new world to appear when the deluge of war has subsided. Unless we achieve victory for the great cause for which we entered this war the new world will simply be the old world with the heart out of it.

The old world, at least, believed in ideals. It believed that justice, fair play, liberty, righteousness must triumph in the end; that is, however you interpret the phrase, the old world believed in God, and it staked its existence on that belief. Millions of gallant young men volunteered to die for that divine faith. But if wrong emerged triumphant out of this conflict, the new world would feel in its soul that brute force alone counted in the government of man; and the hopelessness of the dark ages would once more fall on the earth like a cloud. To redeem Britain, to redeem Europe, to redeem the world from this doom must be the settled purpose of every man and woman who places duty above ease. This is the fateful hour of mankind. If we are worthy of the destiny with which it is charged, untold generations of men will thank God for the strength which He gave us to endure to the end.

THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES.

SPEECH DELIVERED TO DELEGATES OF THE TRADES UNIONS, AT THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, JANUARY 5TH, 1918.

WHEN the Government invite organised Labour in this country to assist them to maintain the might of their armies in the field, its representatives are entitled to ask that any misgivings and doubts which any of them may have about the purpose to which this precious strength is to be applied should be definitely cleared, and what is true of organised labour is equally true of all citizens in this country without regard to grade or avocation.

When men by the million are being called upon to suffer and die and vast populations are being subjected to the sufferings and privations of war on a scale unprecedented in the history of the world, they are entitled to know for what cause or causes they are making the sacrifice./It is only the clearest, greatest, and justest of 'causes that can justify the continuance even for one day of this unspeakable agony of the nations, And we ought to be able to state clearly and definitely not only the principles for which we are fighting, but also their definite and concrete application to the war map of the world.

We have arrived at the most critical hour in this

terrible conflict, and before any Government takes the fateful decision as to the conditions under which it ought either to terminate or continue the struggle, it ought to be satisfied that the conscience of the nation is behind these conditions, for nothing else can sustain the effort which is necessary to achieve a righteous end to this war. I have therefore during the last few days taken special pains to ascertain the view and the attitude of representative men of all sections of thought and opinion in the country. Last week I had the privilege not merely of perusing the declared war aims of the Labour Party, but also of discussing in detail with the Labour leaders the meaning and intention of that declaration. I have also had an opportunity of discussing this same momentous question with Mr. Asquith and Viscount Grey. Had it not been that the Nationalist leaders are in Ireland engaged in endeavouring to solve the tangled problem of Irish self-government, I should have been happy to exchange views with them, but Mr. Redmond, speaking on their behalf, has, with his usual lucidity and force, in many of his speeches, made clear what his ideas are as to the object and purpose of the war. I have also had the opportunity of consulting certain representatives of the great Dominions overseas.

I am glad to be able to say as a result of all these discussions that although the Government are alone responsible for the actual language I propose using, there is national agreement as to the character and purpose of our war aims and

peace conditions, and in what I say to you to-day, and through you to the world, I can venture to claim that I am speaking not merely the mind of the Government, but of the nation and of the Empire as a whole.

What We Are Not Fighting For.

We may begin by clearing away some misunderstandings and stating what we are not fighting for. We are not fighting a war of aggression against the German people. Their leaders have persuaded them that they are fighting a war of self-defence against a league of rival nations bent on the destruction of Germany. That is not so. The destruction or disruption of Germany or the German people has never been a war aim with us from the first day of this war to this day. Most reluctantly, and, indeed, quite unprepared for the dreadful ordeal, we were forced to join in this war in self-defence, in defence of the violated public law of Europe, and in vindication of the most solemn treaty obligations on which the public system of Europe rested, and on which Germany had ruthlessly trampled in her invasion of Belgium. We had to join in the struggle or stand aside and see Europe go under and brute force triumph over public right and international justice. It was only the realisation of that dreadful alternative that forced the British people into the war. And from that original attitude they have never swerved. They have never aimed at the break-up of the