The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-04

81 IA *
ESHdef.. Han Petticoat influence
In thA ARMY. the subject Of whispered
gossip Throughout England for months
pasIs has been pitilessly exposed and
appaars to have received it's death
blow in the report of the special court
of Hourly, issued last night. on a war
office scandal. ~ 49,
Aaatremendous sensation has been
caused by the report, not only by the
names of the high officers Of the army
whHsare specifically censured for their
cons8ection with the matter, but still
morN by it's disclosure Of the name OF
theGAaady in the case"
she is Mrs William CORVALLIS Corn
wSNBs- West, wife of the Lord Lieuten-
antsDf Denbighshire, one. of, the great
est Minded proprietors in England. or
herr Two daughters, one is the Duchess
Of Westminster, the other the Princess
of FaseA ssss aa * ~ 80
Il, Her only son. Capt George Corn
wallis West. after having married Lady
RaAdaiph Churchill. mother OF Col.
Wif{stbnN Churchill. formerly first lord
of Mefsadmiralty, and having been oil
vorcedsby her. is now the husband OF
Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the actress.
Among officers mentioned by name
insstlaeS report are Field Marshal Wis
cclint French, Gen. Sir John Cowans,
utfaxteFrnaster general OF FORCES ana
m1efnber sof the army council; Gen. W..
Hill Mackinnen, Brig. Gen.Owen sTnom-
as, col Wynne Edwards and Lieut..
CoI pelnelI dcliffe.
Z, The 5hg Eo ,afS the story as unfolded
in the offic3aI report is Lieut., Patrick
Barrett 81 me Royal Welsh Fusilhers.
Mr.. Cornwailis- West is Honorary Col
onel. Of the Fourth Battalion of this
regiment. sEs,
One Of the last official acts of the
lite Sir Arthur Basil Markham, M. P.
fer the Mansfield division, Of Noting
1Amshire, who died last August, was
to demand an inquiry for the vindiea-
ton of the character of Lieut.. Barrett.
He was supported in this by several
Fish members. as Lieut.. Barrett Is
Fish. Tf VI. i.
It appears from the record Of che
oburt Of inquiry that Lieut.. Barrett.
then sergeant fof the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers, was recommended for a
Commission by Col. Define dcliffe,
his commanding officer, in 1915, and
this recommendation was strongly
Supported by Col.4an Mrs. AcornwalzA
lsi-West among others.
Her Interest in Barrett.
A"Pr6bahlysslbe fores aathis timesafld
olfrtai rly 2later,,,a says theerecord. Mrs.
Gornwallis-West began to take more
than an ordinary interest in Mr.. Bar
rett, to which he consistently failed to
respond Eventually he wrote her
iii February last, letter of remon-
stfance,.awhichs she placed in the hands
of his Commanding off1cers.'''
Barrett, 1t appears from the rec
ord. was severely censured by his
commander. without having any OPP
portunity to justify himself, and
shortly afterward, through the influ-
ence exerted by Mrs. Cornwallis-We
he was transferred to another batta-
HAn Gen. Sir, John Cowans, it is
stated was Instrumental in arrang-
Ing this for Mrs. Cornwa1lis-West
Gsn. MacMnnon also taking part in
the affair.
sGoifg Oh to Investigate other re-
ports, Of undue influence welded by
that lady in army affairs, the court
found that, although the transfer of
Gen. Owen Thomas from command
of Welsh brigade to a less desirable
post was not, as had been reported,
due to her activities, this matter con-
stituted IAN unfortunate sequence of
events, In, which .'the ambiguous
wording Nof certain official letters
played a part.
A Womanfs Postscript
! The report shows however that
Col. Edwards wrote letter to Mrs |
Cornwallis-West reflecting upon Gen. |
Thomas with the apparent object of
exalting his own qualifications for
the post Of the same" that Mrs. West |
sent this letter to Gen. Cowans with /
. postscript which he forwarded to
Lieut.. Gen Sir. Pitcairn Campbell at |
the War Office with a letter of his |
ewn praising Edwards.
Regret is. expressed" the report |
also says, that letter sent by Lord |
French to the war Office was so am
biguously woFded as to be capable of |
miscOnstructiOn.a I'm any case, a por- |
tiOn of the letter was. in the nature Of /
an adverse report on Gen. Thomas
and should have been communicated Z!
to that officer at, the time. IT is also |
regarded as unfortunate that Lord
French should have concurred in the |
terms of the war Office letter Of July |
20 to Gen. Thomas, which letter must !
have confirmed that officers suspicion |
of sinister inf1uence.,ir1
As a result OF the Investigation,
Lieut.. Col- Define Radcliffe has been
removed from his command for his I
part in the Barrett affair; Gen.
Cowans has been officially censured, I
but not otherwise disciplined because
of hts long and otherwise excellent