New-York tribune., 1919-08-03
- IlkilR y
Asquith Has
ItOut With
French

" HE recent controversy be-
tween Lord French and Mr..
Asquith has revived all the
old bitterness and more than
the old bitterness of 1915 and 1916,
when the famous shells controversy
led first to the formation of the coali-
tion ministry under Mr.. Asquith,
then to the recall of Lord French
and the substitution of Sir Douglas
Haig as commander-in-chief of the
British armies, and finally to the fall
of the Asquith government and the
coming of Lloyd George to power
Lord French: IN his book "1914,"
says he started the first controversv.
and claims credit for overthrowing
the Asquith government. The last
chapter of his book is devoted to
shells, and in it he says: /
From the beginning of the battle of
the Aisne up to the close of the bat
tie of Loos, at the end Of 1915, the
scanty supply of munitions OF war par
alyzed all our power of initiative and,
at critical times, menaced our defence
with irretrievable disaster I exhaust
ed every effort, by urgent official de-
mands to the War Office and personal
appeals to Lord Kitchener and such
Cabinet Ministers as | came in contact
with. Nothing less than my deliberate
conclusion, after all these measures
had failed and nine months of war had
elapsed, that the empire itself was in
jeopardy, forced me to act in May
'915, as l did.
~ was conscious before taking this
step, which meant the overthrow of tho
government, that it also meant the end
& my career in France with all the
hopes anc ambitions that only a soldier
can understand"
Determines on Course
On May 9, when the battle of Fes-
tubert began, Lord French
tic measures to destroy the apathy OF
d government which had brought the
empire to the brink of disaster. A
friend was standing by my side on the
doubts and fears, and announced my
dete rminaton. He warned me that the
politicians would never forgive the &C
tion | proposed, and that it meant my
certain recall from the command in
France. But my decision was made,
and Immediately started for my head
quarters fully determined on my future
course of action.
Lord French gave instructions
that evidence should be furnished
to the military correspondent of
THE Times" who happened to be
then at headquarters, that the vital
need of high explosive shells had
been fatal bar to our army success
on that day
The credit for starting the second
controversy also belongs to Lord
French, for it was the publication
of his book that did it. When these
statements appeared over Lord
French's signature Mr.. Asquith felt
called upon to reply to them, and he
did so in public speeches. At New
castle he said:
II came here in April, 1915, when we
had had nearly nine months of the
war | made a speech then which has
been more unscrupulously and shame
lessly travested than perhaps any pub
lie uterance of our time. kept
silence about these misrepresentation,
which were made for political pur-
poses, while the war was going on, but
no such reserve is any longer neces-
sary. From the very first days of the
war the adequate supply of munitions
for our rapidly expanding forces-for
Lord Kitchener, remember, was deyel-
oping those great new armies with
winch his name will always be illustr-
ously associated-w the subject of
serious solicitude to the government. So
tar back as the month of September,
1914, when the war was not month old.
! appointed strong Cabinet committee,
presided over by Lord Kitchener, and
OF which, among others, the present
Prime Minister and Lord Haldane were
members, to deal with the matter in all
its aspects. That committee worked
hard and continuously from the first.
They gave orders wherever orders could
be given, and they succeeded also in
substantially enIarging both the field
and the machinery of supply That de-
velopment of new methods of warfare
on an unprecedented scale, far beyond
the forecast of any expert in this or
any other country, upon which ammu-
milton began to be expended in the
winter and spring of 1915, increased
the urgency of the situation, and that
necessity for adding any prospective
means of supply was actually felt both
by the commander in chief in the field
and by Lord Kitchener. | accordingly,
as head of the government, resolved on
taking an unusual step. and upon COM
ing down here myself to urge upon the
men of the Tyneside primarily, and
through them upon the community at
large, that an increase in the out-turn