New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-07
Army and Empire Under
Deep Debt to Kitchener,
He Told Commons.
SPOKE IN DEFENCE
OF HEAD OF ARMY
Mistakes in Such a Vast Under
taking Inevitable, Said
the Premier.

London, June 6.-Premier Asquith's
speech defending Earl Kitchener from
criticisms rejecting unfavorably on the
conduct of the war was made in the
House of Commons last Wednesday.
Il come to the motion which has
been made to reduce the salary OF the
Secretary for War;" said the Premier.
Since il has been made / am bound TO
say-and I say it with the utmost sin
cerity and earnestness-that | think
the army, the country and the empire
are under debt which cannot be
measured in words for the services
Lord Kitchener has rendered since the
beginning of the war
This was not, Heaven knows. q task
which was sought by Lord Kitchener
for himself. He was on his way back
TO Egypt to resume the functions which
he has discharged there with such con-
spicuous value to the empire during so
many years. My telegram to him ask
ing him TO come to see me reached him
only as he was stepping upon the boat
at Dover. He returned. He told me in
the frsnkest possible terms of his In
disposition. except TO the call Of duty,
TO undertake the task which | pro-
posed, with the consent Of the sover-
eign, to lay upon him.
Duty His First Thought.
Like every good soldier. duty came
first with him. He subordinated every
thing to that. From that moment to
this there has not been one single day
in which Lord Kitchener has not la
bored with an sssiduity, zeal and pa
triotic self-devotion-I can say from
personal observation of daily contact
with him-which is beyond all praise
81 am not going TO say do not
know that | can say it Of any of my
colleagues. much as respect and value
them-that Lord Kitchener never has
made mistake. His was one of the
most arduous undertakings ever laid
upon a human being. I am sure there
Is no single critic here who is not
generously minded enough 10 say that
IL there has been a mistake it is Just
possible that he himself has made mis-
takes.
"The charges, such as they are,
which have been brought against Lord
Kitchener are charges not against him
only, but against the government of
which he is a member. have been,
more than any Of my colleagues, since
h IL, ,11 II. IL Il ...,4
Lord Kitchener in all he has done. and
accept and share full responsibility.
Machinery Was Inadequate.
There is no other man in this
country or in this empire who could
have summoned into existence in so
short a time, with so little friction,
with such satisfactory, surprising
and even bewildering results, the
enormous armies which now, at
home and abroad, are maintaining
the honor of the empire. | am certain
that in history it will be regarded as
one of the most remarkable achieve
ments of the kind that ever has been
accomplished, and | am bound TO say,
and | say it in all sincerity that for
that achievement Lord Kitchener per-
sonally is entitled to the credit.
my honorable friend dwelt not I'M
naturally on what he conceives 10 have
been errors in the early stages of the
war in the provision Of munitions and
in the failure of our recruiting ma
chinery. There is a good deal to be
said on the other side, but | will not
say IL now. More provision, some fair
minded critic may say, might possibly
have been shown. The machinery Of
recruiting, in particular. well enough
adapted as it was for raising a volun-
tary army on a small scale. was ma
chinery which got choked and encum
bered and to some extent broke down
when it was called upon to discharge
a task for which it never was intended
and for which in some respects 1t was
not fully adapted.
Events Defend Kitchener.
81 ask the committee TO look back
on the twenty-five months of war and
the strange and unforeseeable emer-
eencies. dangers and hazards which
those months, as they have rolled
alonR. brought into being with almost
Kaleidoscope variety and unexpected
ness. | ask them TO remember that we
started the war upon q military system
which had the consent Of all parties
In the state and which only provided
for the dispatch abroad Of 100000 men;
and TO realize what we are doing now,
both at home and in all theatres of
war.
"Fairminded and fair judging men
ought to view the whole Of this strange
and unprecedented scene with all its
episodes and possibilities, and | think
they will not be indisPosed, l will not
say 70 be indulgent and generous, but TO
be Just and fair in their appreciation
of the enormous service which has