The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-16
CHURCHILL RECEIVES OVATION FOLLOWING
 ELOQUENT SPEECH IN
 HOUSE OF COMMONS
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upon, or the subsequent firm support whereto he was entitled.
 In making his promised utterance Mir. Churchill dealt with episodes dur ing his tenure of his office as head of the admiralty, rather than with his resignation. He said his letter to Pre- mier Asquith gave fully and truthfully the reasons which led him to ask for release from the government. These reasons did not apply to any other member of the cabinet who was not in the war council
 Moreover, l alone have open to me an alternative form of service whereto no exception can be taken, wherewith l am perfectly content" he continued.
 Naval Battle Off Coast of Chile
 Turning to the naval battle off the Chilean coast last year in which a British squadron was defeated by the Germans, Mir. Churchill said he had been in full agreement with his expert ad- visers. The admiraltys disposition of warships were sound and were the best under the circumstances. Documentary evidence would make this clear, without detracting from the gallantry and de- votion of Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, who lost his life when the ship Goodhope went down.
 The suggestion that he had overruled his naval advisers and kept the old cruisers Hogue, Greasy and Aboukir at sea, thus causing their destruction by a German submarine last year, was characterized by Mir Churchill as un- true. He said it was for A. J. Balfour, the present lord of the admiralty, to determine whether the papers should be published or omitted. He himself had no desire to press for the publica- tion of papers which might prejudice officers now in the service.
 The Antwerp Expedition
 Regarding the Antwerp expedition, MT. Churchill said it was not arranged by him, but had been planned by Field Marshal Kitchener and the French goI ernment. He was not concerned with it or consulted until the arrange ments were advanced long way and until the troops were moving, or were under orders to move.
 "At midnight conference I learned that plans for sending relieving army to Antwerp, already far ad- vanced. were being considered in con- cert by Field Marshal Kitchener and the French government" Mir. Churchill continued. but that they had not yet reached the point where definite of- fers or promises could be made to the Belgian government and that the same afternoon the Belgian government had telegraphed their decision to evacuate the city with the field army and prac- tically abandon the defense. The Brit ish government were all extremely dis tressed by this decision, as it seemed everything was going to be thrown away for the sake of three or four days of continued resistance
 q offered to go to Antwerp to re- port on the situation and the offer was accepted I crossed immediately and the next day, after consultation with the Belgian government and British staff officers at Antwerp proposed telegraphically that the Bel gians should continue resistance and the British and French governments should say within three days whether or not they could send a relieving force, and it's dimensions. In the event they were not able to send a relieving force. Great Britain was in any case to send to Ghent and other points al the time of the retreat British troops to insure the safe retirement of the Belgians. Simultaneously Great Britain was to encourage the defense of Ant werp by sending naval guns and a naval brigade and taking other minor measures. These proposals were ac- cepted by both governments.
 Operations in Belgium
 q was informed of the dimensions of the army to be sent for communica- tions to the Belgians and was told to do everything possible to maintain the defense meanwhile. This I did without regard to the consequences in any dt- rection."
 MT Churchill argued that these op-