East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-06-23

crafty, until after the enterprise had
gotten too far along to be abandon
ed Churchill didn't figure for a /
minute that the Dardanelles could
be forced by ships alone, as some
folks charged, but he did figure onl
Greece coming In and with her army
assisting on the land This time ne
guessed wrong. The Venezelos cab |
met fell at the critical time and
Greece kept out The naval attack
failed, and a large expeditionary land
force had to be sent by the allies. |
Churchill continued to exercise his
control over matters Of purely naval
strategy, until Fisher couldn't stand
Il any longer He handed Premier
Asqulth his resignation-but with al
string tied to it, II Asquith would
fire Churchill Fisher would stay.
Just about this time the scandal lnl
the army which had been brewing
for several weeks, boiled over The
British public came as near to being
shocked as 1t ever does, when II
learned that a serious quarrel had
arisen between Field Marshal Sir
John French and his chief, Lord
Kitchener, over the question Of mu-
nitlons.
French had been bombarding the
war office ever since the war started
for an adequate supply OF high ex
plosive shells In nearly every dis
patch since Neuye Chapelle he had
been asking, begging, imploring, and
even demanding an Increased per-
centage of this kind Of ammunition.
He had plenty of shrapnel, but shrap
nel-which was a very effective wea-
pom in the Boer war--was about as
useful against the strongly concerted
trenches Of the Germans as water
from a sprlnkllng can. Kitchener
Kept sending Sir John shrapnel mi
huge quantities but ignored his plea
for increased percentage of high ex-
plosiyes although, as his friends as
sert, there were large stores OF the
latter available. One result OF this
front was the practical failure Of the
British in the recent combined Of
fenslye which they undertook with
the French. In one engagement the
British lost $4,000 men in killed,
wounded and captured as against the
French 2000--although the French
were operating over a larger 'front.'
owing TO the fact that the British ar
tillery fire had failed effectively toI
clear the ground for the infantry ad-
vance
Threatened revelations In this con-
nection precipitated the crisis The
conservatives, who had supported the
government from the start, although
they had no say in the conduct of
the war. decided at last that II was
time 10 act Bonar Law, their lead
err intimated to Asquith that he could
not prevent ventilation of the scandal
on the floor of the house. The liber-
ais cried "blackmail!' But Asquith,
forseeng that the active antagonism
of the opposition in these circum-
stances, would mean the disrug uoh
OF the already badly disorganized lib
eral ministry, took the only possible
course He invited the opposition to
join him in the formation Of eoali-
tin cabinet for the period Of the var
alone.
It is a tribute not only to Asquiths
craftsmanship but also to his remorS-
able hold over his followers that hn
was able to quickly bring his party
into line. The liberal membership
OF the house held a meeting of pro-
test Immediately after Asquith had
announced from the floor that a CO.
alition ministry was being arranged.
They began to rock the boat" but
Asquith. who appeared on the scene
Just in time quietly but firmly said;
Gentlemen, II you are not satisfied
you may have my resignation" That
was enough.