¹ Read ‘Sydney’.

² National Liberal Club.

³ A radical-collectivist journal established by members of the Rainbow Circle, that lasted for a year in 1896–7. See Introduction.

⁴ This was the bequest of Henry Hutchinson that assisted the Fabian Society, and of which Clarke was a trustee. Cp. Pugh, P., Educate, Agitate, Organize: 100 Years of Fabian Socialism (London, 1984), pp. 53–62.Google Scholar

⁵ The economist Stiffen, a Fabian originating from Sweden, did not join.

⁶ D'Arcy Reeve was a benefactor of the Fabians.

⁷ Hudson Kearley (1856–1934). Liberal M.P. 1892–1910.

⁸ John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872). Theologian, one of the founders of Christian Socialism.

⁹ Read ‘that’.

¹⁰ Charles Kingsley (1819–1875). Writer and Christian Socialist.

¹¹ A.E. Fletcher, previously editor of the Daily Chronicle (1890–94), was editor of the New Age in 1895. The Progressive Review was to share its offices with the New Age.

¹² The reference should have been to May 1866.

¹³ Social Democratic Federation.

¹⁴ This is loosely paraphrased from Jevons, W.S., The State in Relation to Labour (London, 1882)Google Scholar, from which Samuel also quoted in his book Liberalism: An Attempt to State the Principles and Proposals of Contemporary Liberalism in England (London, 1902).Google Scholar

¹⁵ An elder brother of Herbert Samuel.

¹⁶ The journal of the Oxford University branch of the Christian Social Union from 1891–1914.

¹⁷ The original programme had planned a Circle meeting for that evening, with T.F. Husband talking about ‘The Ethical Societies’. That talk never took place. See Herbert Samuel Papers, A/10/4, House of Lords Record Office.

¹⁸ See Samuel Papers A/10/5.

¹⁹ In effect Clarke was the chief and Hobson the second editor.

²⁰ For all further meetings of the Progressive Review committee see Ramsay MacDonald Papers, P.R.O. 30/69/1201, which contains the minute book of the committee from February 1896 to June 1898.

²¹ A theme developed in Hobson, J.A., The Social Problem (London, 1901).Google Scholar

²² Articles on the subject were shortly to appear in the Progressive Review. See Wuarin, L., ‘Genuine Democracy in Switzerland’Google Scholar and Tomn, L., ‘The Latest Phase of Direct Legislation’Google Scholar, no. 10 (1897).

²³ Rylett was working for the New Age and must have been introduced by Clarke, who was soon to consider him as possible replacement for MacDonald as Progressive Review secretary. See Clarke to Samuel, 12.7.1897, Samuel Papers, A/10/10.

²⁴ The original has been crossed out and reads: ‘composed of superior men to the first. And what is to be the standard of superiority?’

²⁵ A. reference to the Employer Liability Act (1880) and its extension by the Workmen's Compensation Act (1897), in which Joseph Chamberlain played leading roles.

²⁶ Referring to the 1895 elections, in which Fabians like Olivier failed to realize their policy of permeation and to become an effective political force.

²⁷ The third volume of Capital had in fact been substantially completed by the time the first volume was published in 1867.

²⁸ The possibility of publication of Circle minutes arose again only in 1907.

²⁹ Read ‘5th October’.

³⁰ The Gothenburg system was a Scandinavian experiment in handing over licensing powers to a non-political, non-profitable public company. Alternative systems related to forms of local option.

³¹ I.e., electing sixteen of their number for the duration of each parliament.

³² James Edwin Thorold Rogers (1823–1890). Economic historian, Drummond Professor of Political Economy at the University of Oxford. For the proposal see Rogers, J.E. Thorold, ‘The House of Lords’, Fortnightly Review, vol. xlii (1884), 257–270.Google Scholar

³³ John Morley (1838–1923). Liberal M.P. and politician, who agitated for reform of the House of Lords from the 1880s onwards.

³⁴ Read ‘its’.

³⁵ Presumably James Gwyther, friend of Ramsay MacDonald's.

³⁶ Presumably ‘Illegitimates’.

³⁷ Crossed out after the chairman's signature: ‘The Circle thought that the field covered was too wide’.

³⁸ In a by-election for the Elland division of Yorkshire.

³⁹ H. W. Pyddoke became a resident at Toynbee Hall in 1901, and was presumably the guest of J. Bullock, himself a resident and lecturer there.

⁴⁰ To become Colonial Secretary.

⁴¹ Samuel's paper replaced one announced in the programme by G.H. Ferris on ‘Imperialism in relation to Trade and Finance.’

⁴² 1900, the basis for the Commonwealth of Australia.

⁴³ For Clarke's talk in full, see Burrows, H. and Hobson, J.A., eds., William Clarke. A collection of his writings (1908), p. 159 ff.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Should be 1762.

⁴⁵ A reference to the Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.

⁴⁶ In Hercegovina, during a tour of the Balkans.

⁴⁷ Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776–1831). Historian of Rome and Prussian civil servant.

⁴⁸ Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903). German historian.

⁴⁹ Presumably Sir John Eliot (1592–1632). Writer and campaigner for parliamentary rights against Charles I.

⁵⁰ Should be 1739–40.

⁵¹ Should be 1751.

⁵² A more detailed account appeared in Harley, J.H., The New Social Democracy (London, 1911)Google Scholar, chapter II.

⁵³ Should read ‘1729’.

⁵⁴ 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773). Close to literary circles in Paris, including Voltaire. In 1753 predicted the French Revolution.

⁵⁵ Arthur Young (1741–1820). Farmer and writer, author of travelogue through France just prior to the Revolution.

⁵⁶ The Organic Articles unofficially supplemented the Concordat.

⁵⁷ Jules Ferry (1832–1893). French politician and premier. Attempted to expel the Jesuits from the schools.

⁵⁸ Georges Boulanger (1837–1891). French general and Royalist.

⁵⁹ Harold Cox (1859–1936). Economist and journalist. Secretary of the Cobden Club 1899–1904. Liberal M.P. 1906–9.

⁶⁰ Leon Bourgeois (1851–1925). French socialist; prime minister 1895–6.

⁶¹ Robertson shared with Hobson an adherence to unorthodox underconsumptionist views.

⁶² The marriage dowry.

⁶³ In which the German Socialist party committed itself to an internationalist Marxist line.

⁶⁴ August Bebel (1840–1913). Co-founder of the German Socialist party.

⁶⁵ Ferdinand Lassalle (1825–1864). German socialist.

⁶⁶ Georg von Vollmar (1850–1922). Leader of the Bavarian Social Democrats.

⁶⁷ Karl Kautsky (1854–1938). German Marxist theorist and politician.

⁶⁸ Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932). German evolutionary socialist and politician.

⁶⁹ In 1902 Mommsen published a letter in Die Nation (p. 163ff.) warning against the Kaiser's absolutist tendencies and expressing surprising sympathy with, and admiration for, the Social Democrats [cp. Wickert, L., Theodor Mommsen: Eine Biographic, vol. iv (Frankfurt a. M., 1980), pp. 79–81].Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Charles Alfred Elliott (1835–1911). Lieutenant-governor of Bengal 1890–95.

⁷¹ Possibly the Baluchis.

⁷² On 2nd November 1903 Robertson lost an action for libel he had brought against the proprietors and publishers of the Leeds and Yorkshire Mercury. An article had been published accusing him not only of being a rabid little Englander but of dealing with ‘matters unmentionable in polite society’ when editor of the Free Review, and he was pronounced unsuitable to represent Tynesiders as their prospective Liberal candidate. Cp. Daily News. 3.11.1903.

⁷³ Despite previous criticism of Hobson's Boer War Judenhetze and a subsequent toning down of his comments in 1900 (Cp. Mitchell, H., ‘Hobson Revisited’, Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. xxvi (1965), 397–416CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Porter, B., Critics of Empire (London, 1968), pp. 201–2)Google Scholar, he clearly had not abandoned his original views.

⁷⁴ On tariff reform.

⁷⁵ Arabi Pasha (c.1840–1911). Egyptian leader whose nationalist reforming movement against the Khedive led to the British conquest of Egypt in 1882.

⁷⁶ Goldwin Smith (1823–1910). Regius professor of modern history at Oxford, 1858–66. Moved to Canada, 1871, became a writer and journalist and advocate of unpopular causes.

⁷⁷ Richard John Seddon (1845–1906). Premier of New Zealand 1893–1906. State socialist, had just condemned Chinese labour.

⁷⁸ For similar views by McKillop see his review of Hobson, J.A., Imperialism: A Study (Fabian News, 02 1903)Google Scholar where, despite some differences of opinion, he stated prophetically: ‘Fifty years hence it will certainly be studied as the best exposition of the cult of anti-Imperialism’.

⁷⁹ The Imperial Federation (Defence) Committee was formed in 1894 by members of the defunct Imperial Federation League and was instrumental in encouraging the formation of the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1904.

⁸⁰ Enacted in 1902.

⁸¹ The Licensing Act (1904).

⁸² Labour Representation Committee.

⁸³ James Keir Hardie (1856–1915). Labour leader and socialist. Richard Bell (1859–1930). General secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Labour M.P. 1900–1910.

⁸⁴ Read ‘Branford’.

⁸⁵ Alexandre Millerand (1859–1943). French socialist, later prime minister and president.

⁸⁶ A decision by the Lords in 1901 to recognize trade unions as legal entities capable of being sued for damages over strike action.

⁸⁷ See Fabian Tract no. 116, Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: An Alternative Policv [by G. Bernard Shaw].

⁸⁸ Introduced by W.E. Gladstone to standardize railway legislation; the provision for state ownership was never taken up under the Act.

⁸⁹ With some corrections in Bullock's handwriting.

⁹⁰ ‘To What Type of Organisation does Society Correspond?’

⁹¹ The resolution, as printed in the programme, was: ‘That the formulation and the attainment of the individual end involves the prior formulation and attainment of the social end’.

⁹² (Fictitious) Roman consul who in 494 B.C. became renowned for appeasing the plebians through the parable of ‘the belly and the limbs’ an early organic analogy—and who features in Shakespeare's Coriolanus with that analogy.

⁹³ The programme listed Samuel's paper as ‘The State and the Family.’

⁹⁴ Although Gooch was also returned to Parliament, he did not take up the Rainbow Circle place to which he had been elected in February 1905 until re-elected in 1909.

⁹⁵ C.P. Trevelyan was also (re)elected M.P. in 1906, though he had resigned his Circle place in November 1901.

⁹⁶ The views in this talk were developed by Olivier in his book published later in the year (Olivier, S., White Capital and Coloured Labour [London, 1906]).Google Scholar

⁹⁷ Sec, e.g., Spencer, H., The Study of Sociology (London, 1907 edn.), pp. 192–5.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Charles Grey, 2nd Earl (1764–1845). Whig statesman and prime minister 1830–34.

⁹⁹ William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848). Whig statesman and prime minister 1834, 1835–41.

¹⁰⁰ Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850). Tory statesman, prime minister 1834, 1841–46.

¹⁰¹ The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.

¹⁰² Enacted in 1844, which attempted to regulate currency and credit, especially paper money.

¹⁰³ A new Corn Law, also reducing duties on 769 imported articles.

¹⁰⁴ George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784–1860). Statesman, foreign secretary, prime minister 1852–5.

¹⁰⁵ Of 1844, in connection with French attempts to establish a protectorate in Tahiti.

¹⁰⁶ François Guizot (1787–1874). French statesman and historian.

¹⁰⁷ On the North-Eastern boundary with Canada.

¹⁰⁸ Should be 1846. On the North-Western boundary with Canada.

¹⁰⁹ Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865). Statesman, foreign secretary, and prime minister 1855–8, 1859–65.

¹¹⁰ Palmerston signed a treaty with Russia in order to contain Egyptian expansion and weaken the latter's indebtedness to France.

¹¹¹ In which, during the American civil war in 1861, two confederate passengers were seized aboard a British mail-steamer. Palmerston secured their release through a display of military force.

¹¹² John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878). Whig statesman, reformer and prime minister 1846–52.

¹¹³ The Reform Act of 1832.

¹¹⁴ The Test Acts, preventing catholics and protestant nonconformists from holding public office, were repealed in 1828.

¹¹⁵ In 1862 Russell failed to prevent the sailing of the Alabama, a ship supplied to the American South that caused much damage to the North.

¹¹⁶ Russell protested against the arrest of British crewmen aboard the British ship Arrow, in Chinese waters in 1856.

¹¹⁷ George Standring, twice a guest of the Circle, was an active member of the Fabian Society.

¹¹⁸ Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–1881). Tory statesman and prime minister 1868, 1874–80.

¹¹⁹ Émile Faguet (1847–1916). French Academician, writer, literary critic and essayist.

¹²⁰ William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98). Liberal statesman, chancellor of the Exchequer, and prime minister 1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, 1892–4.

¹²¹ Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne Cecil, 3rd Marquis of Salisbury (1830–1903). Conservative statesman and prime minister 1885–6, 1886–92, 1895–1902.

¹²² Salisbury had refused to agree to arbitration over the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela, and the U.S.A. considered this to be an assault on the Monroe Doctrine.

¹²³ The British general, Kitchener, had dislodged a French flag planted on the upper Nile in 1898, in connection with claims in the Sudan.

¹²⁴ They were not published.

¹²⁵ The assertion that value depends principally on utility rather than on labour. Cp. Jevons, W.S., The Theory of Political Economy (1st. edn. London, 1871).Google Scholar

¹²⁶ Frank Lawson Dodd was an active member of the Fabian Society.

¹²⁷ Soon to be established under the Trade Boards Act (1909, which set minimum rates of wages.

¹²⁸ Summary Jurisdiction [Married Women] Act (1895).

¹²⁹ Enacted in 1882.

¹³⁰ Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881). American ethnologist. Ancient Society published 1877.

¹³¹ The endowment of motherhood was pursued in particular by the Fabians. See e.g. Fabian Tract 149, The Endowment of Motherhood (London, 1910).Google Scholar

¹³² Enacted in 1908.

¹³³ The Education Act.

¹³⁴ Sir Vincent Henry Penalver Caillard (1856–1930), chairman of Tariff Commission 1904, author of Imperial Fiscal Reform (London, 1903).Google Scholar

¹³⁵ G. Byng, industrialist, author of a book on Protection (London, 1903).Google Scholar

¹³⁶ In 1903.

¹³⁷ The Royal Commission on the Poor Laws (1905–9) published Majority and Minority Reports, the latter mainly prepared and promoted by Beatrice Webb, assisted by Sidney, through the Fabian Society.

¹³⁸ A Belgian voluntary insurance scheme by means of workmen's associations, with state subsidies.

¹³⁹ Winston Churchill had embarked in 1908 on a campaign to decasualize labour through labour exchanges [Labour Exchanges Act (1909)], and to assist the residual unemployed through state-created demand.

¹⁴⁰ A farm colony that retrained unemployed people for new occupations on the land.

¹⁴¹ London Government Act (1899).

¹⁴² The full talks given in this session were published by the Circle as Second Chambers in Practice (London, 1911)Google Scholar. Each chapter is preceded by a precis and followed by an outline of the discussion. These addenda reproduce the minutes almost verbatim.

¹⁴³ Incorporating delaying powers but involving the co-operation of lower and upper chambers, as described in Second Chambers in Practice, p. 95.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁴ Committee of Imperial Defence, formally established in 1904.

¹⁴⁵ Which began to meet periodically from 1887, initially comprising the colonial secretary and the prime ministers of the self-governing colonies, and from 1907 including a member of the Indian Council.

¹⁴⁶ Summarized at the end of the minutes of 14th June 1911.

¹⁴⁷ As Parliamentary secretary to the Board of Trade.

¹⁴⁸ Henri Louis Bergson (1859–1941). French philosopher.

¹⁴⁹ Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience (Paris, 1879)Google Scholar. Translated as Time and Free Will (London, 1910).Google Scholar

¹⁵⁰ Published in English, London, 1910.

¹⁵¹ Published in English, New York, 1911.

¹⁵² An error in enumeration—should be 164th.

¹⁵³ Gustave Hervé (1871–1944). French socialist, internationalist and pacifist.

¹⁵⁴ Olive Schreiner (1855–1920), South African writer and radical; Ellen Key (1849–1926), Swedish author and lecturer on the feminist movement and child welfare.

¹⁵⁵ Cicely Hamilton (1872–1952). Actress, playwright, feminist and suffragette.

¹⁵⁶ Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman (1860–1935). American feminist, socialist and social reformer.

¹⁵⁷ The original name on the programme was that of Gertrude Tuckwell, the President of the Women's Trade Union League.

¹⁵⁸ Up to 14,000 women went on strike for increased wages in the Bermondsey district of London in August 1911, organized by the National Federation of Women Workers. The Federation was represented among others by Herbert Burrows.

¹⁵⁹ The Truck Acts were a series of Acts from 1725 onwards to protect workers against substitution of goods, or truck, for wages. The latest of those was the Truck Act of 1896 protecting workers from harsh fines for infringements of rules or for damage.

¹⁶⁰ Francisco Ferrer: 1849–1909). Spanish free thinker and educationalist. Executed on spurious charges of having supported an Anarchist uprising, he became a cause célèbre for Rationalists such as Robertson. See Archer, W., The Life, Trial and Death of Francisco Ferrer (London, 1911).Google Scholar

¹⁶¹ Modern Schools were founded in Barcelona by the League of Free Thinkers to combat clericalism.

¹⁶² Romolo Murri (1870–1944). Former priest, Italian Christian Democrat politician.

¹⁶³ For an earlier version see Harley, J.H., The New Social Democracy (London, 1911), chapter V.Google Scholar

¹⁶⁴ See British Library of Political and Economic Science, Coll. Misc., 575/5.

¹⁶⁵ 11 apologies—Brereton transferred from ‘also absent’ list.

¹⁶⁶ Additional note for the first four names: ‘out of possible 5’.

¹⁶⁷ Of particular interest are the following: in Canada, the Arbitration Act of 1888 (Nova Scotia) and the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act (1907), known also as the Lemieux Act; in Australia, the Industrial Arbitration Act of New South Wales (1901) and the Law of Arbitration and Conciliation (1904); in New Zealand, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1894), discussed by Reeves in Meeting 30 and by Harley in Meeting 94.

¹⁶⁸ A reference to Ambrose Parsons, the secretary.

¹⁶⁹ Carl Zeiss (1816–1888). German optician, who organized his industry on the basis of workers' participation in profits.

¹⁷⁰ Act of 1598.

¹⁷¹ The Labour party had repeatedly attempted, through the introduction of Bills in 1907 and 1908 and amendments to the Address, to secure the right to work.

¹⁷² Hear the Other Side.

¹⁷³ Should be Turnor.

¹⁷⁴ The talk was published in May as ‘a paper read to a Discussion Circle.’ Cp. J.M. Robertson, ‘The Taxation of Land Values’, Contemporary Review, vol. cv (1914), 624–630.

¹⁷⁵ Should be Turner.

¹⁷⁶ Cp. Departmental Committee Report on Agricultural Training in England and Wales, 1908 (Cd. 4206), and Memos in 1909 (Cd. 4886) and in 1912–13 (Cd. 6039).

¹⁷⁷ Should be 1914.

¹⁷⁸ Friedrich Adam J. von Bernhardi (1849–1930). German general, author of militarist-nationalist books publicised by the British press, including Germany and the Next War (published in English, 1912)Google Scholar and Britain as Germany's Vassal (published in English, 1914).Google Scholar

¹⁷⁹ Presumably the Agadir crisis in Morocco between France and Germany.

¹⁸⁰ This is inaccurate. Unusually, the discussion does not reflect a plethora of views but a coherent polemic against the speaker, possibly indicating the reaction of the majority of those present.

¹⁸¹ Enacted in 1915.

¹⁸² Munitions of War Act (1914).

¹⁸³ A term popularized by Hilaire Belloc's book of that title.

¹⁸⁴ A miscount: in effect the 201st meeting (see meeting 163a above).

¹⁸⁵ J.A. Hobson, ‘Approaches to Peace’, Nation, 16.10.1915, in which Hobson proposed negotiations to encourage Germans to assume that the total destruction of Germany was not an allied war aim. The letter triggered off a lengthy correspondence and included letters by G.K. Chesterton (critical), C.R. Buxton (supportive) [both on 30.10.1915]; G.H. Ferris (supportive) [20.11.1915]; C.F.G. Masterman (critical), G. Lowes Dickinson (supportive) [both 27.11.1915]; and responses by Hobson (6.11.1915, 20.11.1915, 11.12.1915).

¹⁸⁶ Should be ‘meeting’.

¹⁸⁷ Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), Nowell Oxland, d. 1915, Julian Grenfell (1888–1915), Camille Violand (1892–1915), René Decluy (1892–1914).

¹⁸⁸ Karl Theodor Körner (1791–1813), German lyric patriotic poet.

¹⁸⁹ Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860), German historian, politician and patriotic poet.

¹⁹⁰ Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836–1908). Liberal politician, prime minister 1905–08.

¹⁹¹ Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870–1950). South African statesman and premier.

¹⁹² Stapley also played host to the mystical Christo-Theosophical society.

¹⁹³ For the full version of the paper see Herdman, J.O., ‘Martial Law’, Contemporary Review, vol. cx (1916), 364–72.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁴ In the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916 martial law was imposed, although not directly provided for by the Defence of the Realm Act of 1916.

¹⁹⁵ Thomas Lough (1850–1922). Liberal M.P. for West Islington 1892–1918.

¹⁹⁶ F.A. Acland (1861–1950). Canadian politician and journalist.

¹⁹⁷ A reference to the five propositions of the Balfour Commitiee (1916–17) on postwar trade and Imperial economic relations, debarring—among others—future trade with present enemy countries. Cp. Robertson, J.M., The New Tariffism (London, 1918), pp. 23–4.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁸ Brereton, Cloudesley, ‘Here is no Room for Tears’, Contemporary Review, vol. cxi (04 1917), 544.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁹ Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925). Novelist, interested in rural reform.

²⁰⁰ The original speaker on the programme was to have been Philip Snowden on Labour from the Workmen's point of view.

²⁰¹ An obvious indication of an expectedly passionate discussion of a provocative paper!

²⁰² The reference is to the March 1917 Kerenski revolution. Many British liberals hailed it as a triumph for liberalism and democracy.

²⁰³ Read ‘Delisle Burns’.

²⁰⁴ Sir Matthew Nathan (1862–1939). Governor of Natal, later of Queensland. Career in public service. Secretary to the Post Office 1909–11.

²⁰⁵ (Sir) Percy Nunn (1870–1944), educationalist. At the time he was vice-principal of the London Day Training College.

²⁰⁶ Count Alois Aehrenthal (1854–1912), Austrian foreign minister; and Alexander Petrovich Izvolski (1856–1919), Russian foreign minister.

²⁰⁷ Liman von Sanders (1855–1929). German general.

²⁰⁸ John Dunning (1731–1783). Barrister and politician. In 1780 carried a resolution in the House of Commons that ‘the influence of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.’

²⁰⁹ A reference to the changes in the nature of prime ministerial government introduced by Lloyd George after 1916.

²¹⁰ Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (1865–1922), journalist and newspaper proprietor. Founded the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, proprietor of The Times.

²¹¹ The civil servant Parsons obviously felt otherwise.

²¹² Curiously, it was not felt necessary to refer to the armistice only two days after it had come into effect.

²¹³ Of 1909, which gave Indians greater legislative and executive power.

²¹⁴ Of 1918, proposing constitutional reforms and precursor to the Government of India Act, 1919.

²¹⁵ Sir Harry Johnston (1858–1927). Explorer and ethicist. Unable to speak on ‘How can Tropical Africa best be developed?’

²¹⁶ Possibly a reference to part I of the Munitions of War Act (1915), according to which the government could refer disputes to binding arbitration.

²¹⁷ There existed no such Act. This was presumably a reference to the Conciliation Act of 1896.

²¹⁸ Though there had been frequent proposals on land valuation, no such Act was in existence at the time.

²¹⁹ The proposals of Alfred Warwick Gattie (1856–1925) for improving the handling of goods and transport were examined by a departmental committee of the Ministry of Transport in 1919–20.

²²⁰ A periodical founded in 1899 by Arthur Griffith. Renamed Sinn Fein in 1905.

²²¹ John Edward Redmond (1856–1918). Irish politician, home ruler and M.P.

²²² Edward Henry Carson (1854–1935). Q.C., Conservative M.P. Organized Ulster Volunteers against Home Rule.

²²³ George Douglas Howard Cole (1889–1958). Socialist, historian and economist.

²²⁴ Evelyn Baring, Earl Cromer (1841–1917). Agent and consul- general in Egypt, 1883–1907.

²²⁵ The massacre perpetrated at Amritsar by British troops in 1919.

²²⁶ Cp. Percy Alden's obituary of Stapley in Progress, no 53 (1920), 43–7.Google Scholar

²²⁷ Stopford William Wentworth Brooke (1859–1938). Liberal M.P. 1906–10, Unitarian minister and lecturer.

²²⁸ Is Germany Guilty? German White-Book concerning the Responsibility of the Authors of the War (English translation, Berlin, 1919).Google Scholar

²²⁹ A reference to The Decline of the West, which brought Spengler (1880–1936) fame and censure.

²³⁰ A collection of documents first published in Germany in 1919, and later translated into English under the title Outbreak of the World War. German Documents Collected by Karl Kautsky and edited by Max Montgelas and Walther Schucking (O.U.P., New York, 1924).Google Scholar

²³¹ Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938), Italian poet and journalist. He organized the seizure of Fiume in 1919, in connection with the dispute over the town between Italy and Yugoslavia.

²³² More accurately: ‘Nationalism, Federalism and Home Rule.’

²³³ This paper was never given. Parsons was relying on the printed programme when compiling the list.

²³⁴ Postponed to April 1905.

²³⁵ Postponed to April 1906.

²³⁶ Parsons left out Perris' paper on Foreign Policy and Finances in April 1915.

²³⁷ Matheson's second wife was Helen Chrouschoff, a lecturer on Russian history and a translator of Russian books; Ivan Chrouschoff was presumably a relation.

²³⁸ Ralph Hodgson (1871–1962), English poet. The poem appears in Eve and Other Poems (London, 1913).Google Scholar

²³⁹ Should be G.T. Reid.

²⁴⁰ Enacted in 1921.

²⁴¹ Excess Profits Duty, imposed on all businesses in 1915.

²⁴² Eleutherios Venizelos (1864–1936). Greek statesman and prime minister.

²⁴³ Joint standing industrial councils were proposed in 1917 by a subcommittee of the Committee on Reconstruction, chaired by the Liberal M.P. J. Whitley. The councils that were formed consisted of representatives of employers and of trade unions and submitted recommendations on issues such as terms of employment and the prevention of differences between the two sides of industry.

²⁴⁴ Alfred Harmsworth. See meeting 225.

²⁴⁵ The Conciliation Act of 1896.

²⁴⁶ Established on the basis of the Industrial Courts Act (1919).

²⁴⁷ The annual programme announced a talk by H. Golding for this meeting entitled ‘The Ethics of Insurance’. Golding never gave that address to the Rainbow Circle, but delivered what presumably was the same talk to the Pearl Office Guild, a discussion group of the Pearl Insurance Company (cp. The Pearl Gazette, vol. ii, no. 11 (09 1923Google Scholar). It was published as ‘The Social Value of Insurance’ in The Insurance Gem (09, 1923), 4–5.Google Scholar

²⁴⁸ Cp. the detailed published version of the talk: Crosse, F.W., ‘International Policy in the Far East’, Contemporary Review, vol. cxxiv (1923), 34–43.Google Scholar

²⁴⁹ Convened by the U.S.A. in 1921 in order to limit armaments, and included discussion of Pacific and Far Eastern issues.

²⁵⁰ Between the U.S.A., Great Britain, France and Japan, to consult and respect each other's rights in the Pacific.

²⁵¹ Drawn up in 1902, and imposing neutrality, under certain conditions, on either side in the case of war with a third party.

²⁵² Friedrich Bergius (1884–1949). Industrial chemist, Nobel prize winner, 1931.

²⁵³ An indication of its contents may be gleaned from Olivier, S., ‘Colour Prejudice’. Contemporary Review, vol. cxxiv (1923), 448–57.Google Scholar

²⁵⁴ Joseph-Arthur Comte de Gobineau (1816–1882). French philosopher who influenced race-thinking.

²⁵⁵ The American Relief Administration was active in Russia on famine relief between 1921 and 1923.

²⁵⁶ Note added by Parsons.

²⁵⁷ Alexander Stambo[u]liski (1879–1923), premier of Bulgaria 1921–23.

²⁵⁸ Dr Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932), Austrian Christian Social leader and Chancellor after world war one.

²⁵⁹ Copies of Parsons' accompanying letter as well as the letter to MacDonald exist in the files of the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust and read as follows:

18 Feb. 1924.

Rainbow Circle

Dear

By direction of the Circle I send you herewith a copy of a letter recently addressed to the Prime Minister, who has expressed his pleasure in accepting the invitation. Will you be so good as to note that the date fixed is Wednesday 27th February.*

Yrs: sincerely,

Ambrose Parsons

Hon. Sec.

* The meeting in fact took place a week later.

²⁶⁰ The National Savings Committee was formed in 1916 as part of the National Savings Movement, to encourage wise saving and spending, to undertake propaganda work on behalf of thrift and to advise on and approve financial details of schemes for the investment societies. It launched national savings certificates. T.L. Gilmour was on the committee from the outset. Cp. The National Savings Movement. Its Origins, Aims and Development (London, 1931).Google Scholar

²⁶¹ The reproduced newspaper cutting, from the Nation, 8.3.1924, is attached to the minutes.

²⁶² A blank page was left in the diary. Roskill's speech, however, may be found in the files of the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust and is hence reproduced.

²⁶³ The three prime ministers are, in sequence, Andrew Bonar Law (1858–1923), David Lloyd George (1863–1945) and Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947).

²⁶⁴ The Select Committee on a Betting Duty (1923, [139]).

²⁶⁵ Read ‘1848’.

²⁶⁶ Read ‘&’.