* * * Lord Grey of Fallodon in a letter
to the Times on the Trade Unions Bill argues that the Bill, while not making it easier than before to prevent a general strike, stirs up the very temper which will make an attempt at a general strike more likely. As he says, hundreds of thousands of men arc involved in a general strike and when masses act with one will there is in effect a state of civil war " in which injunctions and legal decisions are mere dust in the balance." He fully admits that trade union law is imperfect, but he thinks, as we do, that the right way of approach would have been by an impartial inquiry in which men of all shades of opinion would have been heard. He fancies that a General Election may be the only way out of " the mess," as he calls it, which the Bill has created, but in his opinion the first step in any ease should he to recognize that a mistake has been made. He is careful to add that though trade unionism is safe so long as it proceeds constitutionally any fresh attempt to coerce the nation would once more rally the whole community together in self-defence.
