by Viscount Stansgate, DSO, DFC (Past presidient of the Inter-Parliamentary Union) There can hardly be more than four or five Members of Parliament today who saw William Randall Cremer. Of these I am one.
In the early part of the present century Cremer fought some very fierce political battles at Haggerston; and we candidates in the East End of London - of whom I was one - watched his courageous conflicts with great admiration. In 1906 I was elected to Parliament and made his personal acquaintance. He was essentially a back bencher. He belonged to an age when people were dependent on their own efforts rather than upon large organized forces. His single-mindedness brought him so much fame that there is no harm in giving a photographic note of his personality. He was not an easy man to get on with. Although a member of the Carpenters' Union, he was a very determined anti-Socialist and remained to his dying day, I believe, a strong opponent to women's suffrage. But these opinions are only indicative of the self-dependent character of the man. It is, of course, quite impossible to narrate his many achievements in a few words; but Cremer represents a link with the movements for peace and social organization, and the shaking off of the political tyranny of the eighteenth century which characterized Europe between the day of his birth and the foundation of the International Arbitration League. With Continental international movements he was associated, and in the International itself finally found, I believe, that Bakounin was too strong meat. Mazzini and Garibaldi he knew well and he received them when they came to London; and when his peace league went to Paris in the days of the Second Republic, they were received by Victor Hugo himself. Indeed, they were addressed at one time by Aurelio Saffi, a triumvir of the Roman Republic. Cremer was not my only link with this circle because when Beales, whom I only knew by hearsay, retired, that grand old miner, Thomas Burt, took his place; and I knew Burt well. Another phase of Cremer's work was his determination to enlist the interest of the United States in the cause of arbitration. His visits to Washington were very successful and he was received warmly by the President. It may interest those who believe that all foreign policy should be based on what they call common sense and self-interest, to be reminded that one of the foundations of the present happy Anglo-American understanding was the highly unpopular stand which Cremer and his friends took at the time of the American Civil War, and particularly in the matter of the Alabama Claims. There are refreshing memories of those times, when the courage of individual men stemmed the tide of popular fashion. Notable examples of this occurred in the year I was born, when the Jingoes of the day were breaking Mr. Gladstone's windows and demanding war with Russia. This reminds me of an event which took place in Farringdon Street in 1878, and which I would like to recall to some of the "statesmen" of today -"stuffed shirts " as the Americans say - when a scratch meeting of the sort that today would be called "subversive" was summoned in the Memorial Hall as a protest against the war, it was much to its surprise visited and addressed by an unexpected guest - Mr. Gladstone. I was a witness of what most people would call the triumph of Cremer's movement for the foundation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. This Union is now world-wide and is holding conferences in every part of the globe, which should become almost the only international forum where men of different opinions can meet in an atmosphere of courtesy and respect. In 1906 this Union met in London. Lord Weirdale, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Sir John Brunner and others were the leaders. It was on this occasion, when the reactionary Government of the Tzar dissolved the Douma and recalled their delegates, that Campbell-Bannerman, the Prime Minister, exclaimed: "The Douma is dead. Long live the Douma!" I shall never forget that great banquet in Westminster Hall. The military bands playing the many national anthems, the flags of all nations decorated the high table, and great speeches were made. It was perhaps the first example of popular internationalism on a grand scale; and apart from the British orators, two of the greatest world speakers took part, Count Apponyi, the Hungarian statesman, and William Jennings Bryan, candidate for the American Presidency. Modestly seated among the ordinary members was Cremer, who - with hardly two pennies to rub together - but with indomitable faith and courage, had made this glorious demonstration possible. I wondered whether he looked back wistfully to his days of early struggle. From 'The Arbitrator' Vol 82 No. 3 Winter 1954-55 |
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