New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-27
VENIZELOS ASKED
AID OF BRITISH
ASquith Considers Posi-
bility of Reducing Size
of Cabinet.
PEERS APPROVE IDEA
Ex-Chancellor Loreburn and
Lord Cromer Criticise Eng
lands Conduct Of War.

britain has landed only $4,000 men
at Salonica. instead Of the 10000
or 10000 with which she has been
credited, was only one Of many inn
portant pieces of information con-
tained in a speech made in the
House of Lords to-day by the Mar
ouis of Lansdowne, the Unionist
leader and member without port
folio. in the coalition Cabinet. Lord
Lansdowne, too. doubts the success
of the efforts now being made TO pre-
vent physical connection being estab-
llshed between Bulgaria and Aus
Hungary through Serbian ter
ritory.
Earl Loreburn, former Lord High
Chancellor. having asked questions
as TO the progress of the campaign
in the Balkans, Lord Lansdowne, In
a general review of the operations,
said:
~ must say with great regret-f
am afraid we must admit-that the
progress of the campaign in north
ern Serbia has been such as TO rem
DER it highly improbable that the
Serbian army will be able to with
stand for any great length Of time the
attacks to which it is exposed from
tpe Austro-German forces on the
north, aided as these are by the stab
in the back which Serbia is receiving
at the hands of Bulgaria.
Asks Governments Assurance.
Lord Loreburn asked whether the
dispatch of troops to Salonica had
been determined upon with the ap-
proval of the naval and military
advisers and whether the govern
ment could give assurance that full
provision had been made for the
communications Of this force and for
its supply Of men and material 20
the satisfaction of the naval and
military experts. Lord Loreburn
saio he understood the governments
desire that the matter should not be
debated at the present time, but
pointed out that there was a reason
for asking the question.
1--WE are disappointed in the Oar
danelles enterprise" Lord Loreburu
remarked, and he added that he diA
not know whether that enterprise
had commenced with or without the
advice Of the naval and military au-
thoritieS. One could not help asking,
he insisted, whether this new vent
ere would be repetition % the Oar.
danelles enterprise. The creates.
danger which the country could suf-
fer, the speaker added, was unpre-
paredness and indecision.
Lord Lsnsdowns explained that thsrs
were moments when II was not In the
public interest that questions relating
to the war should be freely discussed
in Parliament, as the effect on both the
Allies and their enemies had 20 bs
considered. He declared, however, that
he could assure Lord Lorebum that
neither In the present government nor
in any government Of which he had
been a member had !, been the prac-
tice or habit OF amateur strategists 10
impose their plans upon the profe..
sional advisers OF the government
Civilian Pressure on Kitchener.
With the present government, Lord
Lansdowne continued, il was unlikely
that anything OF the kind could occur.
Earl Kitchener, Secretary Of State for
War, was present at every Cabinet
meeting and IL was impossible to sup
pose tina. he would allow himself to be
detected from his course by the press
ure Of his civilian colleagues.
Apart from that, the speaker added.
the procedure by the committees and
the councils had given a far greater op-
portunity TO the military and naval
experts to assert themselves and make
their views known. The Cabinet as a
whole considered both naval, military
and political aspects of a case. but
whatever particular views were given
by the military and naval advisers the
ultimate responsibility for a decision
on them must rest on the government.
As to the sslonica expedition the mar
quis said:
IL cannot enter into the apprehen-
sions which possess Lord l.oreburn.
can quite understand. having before
him our commitment in the western
theatre of'the war, the position in
which We and ourselves on the Gal
lipoli peninsula and our inte teAsts IN
Egypt and the other Possessions OF the
empire, all OF which should be borne
in mind, IL is profoundly distastsful "a
him that sbs matter should be eompli,