Welsh Journals

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memories and traditions collected from a large number of people in both Wales and England, and evidence from field and place names and from the drovers' account books. This is a fascinating historical exercise which has obviously involved a great deal of admirable detective work. It was made possible by the fact that stories of the drovers are still firmly implanted in local memory, that some of the inns, shoeing compounds and paddocks survive, as do also many of the old routes which in parts of both Wales and England remain as green tracks or lanes. Inevitably, in spite of all the evidence which has been collected in this book, many of the drovers themselves remain somewhat shadowy figures, for the vast majority have left no written evidence of their doings, but Dr. Colyer's careful research leaves us in no doubt as to the way in which the droving process was conducted, and of its vital role in the economic and cultural life of Wales. J. H. bettey Bristol THE ABOLITION OF WAR: THE 'PEACE MOVEMENT' IN BRITAIN, 1914-1919. By Keith Robbins. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1976. Pp. 255. £ 5.00 In June 1914, a decade of national peace congresses was marked by a three-day meeting in Liverpool. Delegates, eagerly anticipating the third Hague Peace Conference, berated armament manufacturers, congratulated themselves upon the growing strength and unity of pacifism, and were assured by Gordon Harvey, the Radical MP and chairman of the National Peace Council, that they had never before met amid happier auguries. It was his conviction that 'among the Great Powers there has never been a greater desire for friendly understanding than there is at present'. The July issue of The Arbitrator predicted confidently the Liberal Government- though it might disappoint in many things-would never commit Britain to a major war. Four weeks later Britain was fighting Germany with the almost unanimous approval and support of the British people and Parlia- ment. Yet, three days before the outbreak of hostilities, the Manchester Guardian in its most sober style had insisted that all that was required to maintain British neutrality was 'an open demonstration which can serve as a rallying point for public opinion'. Next day, in every major British town and city, rallies were held. The result was a fiasco. Beatrice Webb described in her diary the 'Monster Peace Rally' in Trafalgar Square that she and Sidney had witnessed. Labour, socialist, pacifist demonstrators gesticulating from the steps of the monuments to a mixed crowd of admirers, hooligan war- mongers and merely curious holiday-makers. It was an undignified and futile exhibition, this singing of the Red Flag and passing of well- worn radical resolutions in favour of universal peace. The patriotic press had good reason to gloat at the discomfort of 'those idealists who refuse to look reality in the face and prefer to be deceived and to deceive their followers'. Who in future, asked the editor of New Age,