New-York tribune., 1918-05-13

ana Lloyd George. to weaken the moral
position Of General Foch, 20 breed dis
War Office under Lord Miner and
Chief of Imperial Staff General Sir
Henry Wilson, to mislead and distort
opinion in America, where these arti
cles are reproduced; to strike at the
foundations of army discipline and
stable government, to weaken public
faith and cohesion in the hour of crisis.
We say that no man at this juncture
could have set his hand to worse work
and what we say we shall proceed to
prove.
'Everything else, even insult to italy
kowtowing to Austria, cheerful antci-
patton Of the Russian steam roller get
ting to Berlin in two months, was only
foolish by comparison with the later
unforgivable offences which 90 to de-
press the fighting front. to disorder the
and to strike at the very heart of their
common interests and their common
cause. This stage must be very care
fully followed
"All cool considerations of principle
and reason in this very large and ser
lous matter were swept away by
growing fury Of protest for or against
persons. Colonel Repington was fairly
stung by gadHy Rushing amuck and
abroad he lost all sense Of direction.
ne fought tooth and nail against the
Versailles Council. against every no.
ton of putting the British army under
french command. Last November he
went so far as to write that as against
Hindenburg and Ludendorff the Allies
never could secure unified command.
Again he wrote, still more culpably, NO
cept subordinate position in this war
Even if the field commanders did so.
their governments would not
Flatters Premier Clemenceau
eff that were true nothing could save
the Allies from defeat, and they would
deserve to be defeated. 1t was not
true. The Versailles Council was set
up and Its Importance increased.
"The thing now is to fatter Clemen-
ceau in order TO play him off against
Lloyd George, and by the same means,
If possible, to sidetrack General Foch,
the coming man. SO we presently get
this wonderful passage of military
sagacity in The Morning Post:
I hope that the entire conduct of
the war in France will be left to Cen
eral Petaln and Sir Douglas Haig,, sub
ject to Clemenceaus supervision.'
"Clemenceau, a civilian, who is to
be sort of political generalissmo,
now urges our fanatical stickler for
military control. Will it be believed
that Clemenceau, thus impudently ex-
plotted, held up to admiration by com
parlson with Lloyd George, was the
great statesman who chiefly insisted
on the extension of the British front
for which our Premier and War Board
are stupidity and falsely blamed, while
Clemenceau also was one of the most
urgent advocates of the unified COM
mand, against which Colonel Reping-
ton was fighting with feet and nails =?
What hotchpotch and farrago of child !
lsh folly and futility it all is! Of
course, what we have quoted was stiIn
meant as a means of keeping our Gej
eral Foch, and, of course, the tiAd
was too thin to bluff q baby.
"ln spite of all the maneuvres and
obJurgations t1at Colonel Repington
could contrive in both newspapers, so
queerly coupled through him, Sir
William Robertson went, and no man
mad ever more reason for a prayer to
be saved from his friends. Sir Henry
wilson. our unfortunate colohel's very
bette noir, became Chief of the In
perial Staff.
Lord Miner goes to the War Office to
introduce by far the ablest regime
which that institution has known in
the war, much to the advantage of the
Allies and country The colonels
whole house of cards has collapsed.
us 1T too much to ask that the Amer
lean newspapers shall cease to repro
duce as representative of British opin-
ION the hysterical, unworthy, discred-
tied stuff which every stable British
citizen repudiates? What would Amer
lea think Of our loyalty and sense if
any British newspaper were systemati-
cally to reproduce Fictitious attacks on
President Wilson and his colleagues?
The truth is accurately the opposite
Of what Colonel Repington suggests. A
unified command under General Foch is
achieved, thanks, above all, to the ef-
forts made by Lloyd George and Milner
at their full political risk, and thanks
to the example of the generous conces-
sion set by the British government, with
the hearty support of the United States.
"The st. Quentin disaster was
direct result of the fatal dualism which
sophists like Colonel Repington tried to
preserve. Apart from that the British
army has never fought more magnifi-
Gently than during the last seven
weeks, nor was it ever in greater
strength or in better heart"