The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-07
RepingtOn and Hamilton Diaries

to make the Turks do that, as the Bit
ter sequel showed.
Then he gives this view of his chief.
which was to change to a marked de-
gree before Sir Ian finished his cam
paign and was recalled: I'm pre-war
days, when we met in Egypt and at
Malta. X. made no bones about what he
wanted. He wanted TO be Viceroy of
India or Ambassador at Constantinople
remember very Well one conversa-
ton We had when asked him why he
wanted to hang on to great place, and
whether he had not done enough al
ready. He said he could not bear to
see India being mismanaged by MIN
compoops or our influence in Turkey
being chucked out of the window with
both hands. / answered him, l re-
member, by saying there were only two
things worth doing as Viceroy, ana
they would not take very long. One
was to put huge import duty on
aniline dyes and so bring back the
lovely vegetable dyes of old India. the
saffrons, lndigoes, madders, &C.; the
other was. to build black marble Tai
at Agra opposite the white and join
the two by a silver bridge expected
to get a rise, but actually ne took the
ideas quite seriously, and / am sure
made mental note of them. Anyway,
as Viceroy X. would have flung the
whole vast weight OF india into the
scale Of this war: he would have
poured army after army from east to
west. Under X. India could have
beaten Turkey single handed-aye.
with one arm tied behind her back.
With K. as Ambassador at CONSTANT
nople he would have prevented Turkey
coming into the war. There Is no
doubt of It. Neither Enver Pasha nor
| Talaat would have dared to enrage K,
and as for the idea of their deporting
| him, 1t is grotesque. They might have
shot him In the back: they could never
have faced him with a war declaration
in their hands. As an impressor of
| Orientals he is a nonesuch. So we put
him into the War Office, in the ways of
which he Is something of an amateur,
with big prestige and a big power of
drive. Yes, we remove the best ex-
perts from the War Office and pop in
X. like a powerful engine from which
we have removed all controls. regula-
! tors and safety valves. Yet see what
wonders he has worked"
But by June of 1915 what change
had come over Sir Ian's faith in his
chief. Hamilton had got to the pitch
when he wrote: II can't make out
what has come over X. OF X. In the
old days his prime force lay In his
faculty of focusing every iota of his
energy upon the pivotal project, re-
CARELESS $50 II used to appear OF the
other planks of the platform. No
man ever went the whole hog better.
He would turn the whole current of
his energy to help the man OF the
hour. The rest were bled white to
help him. But to-day, though he sees.
the power of believing in his own
vision and Of hanging on to 1t like a
bulldog seems paralyzed. He hesitates.
Ten short years ago II K. heart
had been set on Constantinople, why,
to Constantinople he would have gone.
Paris might have screamed; he would
not have swerved a hairs breadth
till he had gripped the Golden Horn"
He says. with touch OF passionate
regret for the man that was: THE
spirit of man is like precious stone:
the greater 1t Is the more room In II
for flaw" And again: with the
one exception of the battle OF Paarde-
berg. he never In his palmiest days
pretended to be q man Of action. But
now he has lost his faculty of forcing
others to act. He makes a squirt but
he can't stay the distance. He has
met Millerand, French and Joffre in
council. and allowed the searchlights
Of his genius to be snuffed out"
All the great forces of British
laundering and Of KS unfitness for
his task were working toward the re-
placing of Sir Ian at Gallipoli. The
end came on October 16, 1915, when
he was reused out of bed by a cable
from K. telling him to decipher the
next message himself The messenger
asked IL he (Sir LAM would like TO be
awakened when the second message
came. The diary reads: "As I knew
the contents as well as II had writ
ten II out myself, l said no. that IL
was to be brought to me in the morn
ing. When had given this order my
mind dwelt awhile over my sins.
Through my tired brain passed thought
pictures of philosophers waiting for
cups OF hemlock and various other
strange and half forgotten antique
images. Then I fell asleep"