The Washington herald., 1921-08-07

Having Settled the place OF the
commanders in the field, Capt.
Wright turns his attention to Sir
william Robertson. chief Of stan.
who was superseded by Sir Henry
Wilson; Gen. Maurice, who was
forced to retire, and Col. Repington.
the military expert of the Morning
Post. all of whom he accuses Of be-
ing in a conspiracy to defeat Lloyd
George. Appendix A is devoted to
this alleged conspiracy and the part
each Of the three played in injuring
the cause of the allies to further
their own ends.
Scattered through h6 pages Capt
Wright has placed several brief but
vivid sketches Of the allied leaders.
OF Gen Bliss, the American repre-
sentative on the executive war
board, he says: BLISS had the good
will. the industry, the sagacity, the
massive BULK and slow movement Of
an elephant. He would have been
the pillar Of this or any other coun-
ell. for he brought to the alliance
what IL needed most-rigid inlv
. partiality, even toward its own gov
ernment. Very well. let Bliss ar
bitrate,' Foch used to exclaim when
discussion got too heated, and
Bliss listened like q sage and ben
evoIent pachyderm. But once his
mind was made up he stuck his
heels in the ground and was i'm
movable. Even Foch dashed at him
in vain. There was something very
fine about his character, as there
was about all American leaders,
like Pershing and Sims. who came
to Versailles: they seemed deter
mined to make their disinterested-
ness cancel their inexperience."
There Is nothing but praise for
Marshal Foch. who "shone in debate
as much as he did in action" Tn
the simplicity of his ways-hs had
not even an A. d. c.. and he used
to arrive alone. his papers under
his arm. with an absence of cere-
mony astonishing to any one accus-
toned to the pomp that surrounds
even a brigadier-in the roughness
of his ways a strong contrast to the
gentlemanly Englishmen and grand
manner of the Italians; in his ex-
treme piety; in all these he was
like a rustic French cure. redolent
Of the soil. the true soil OF France.
the soil OF peasants and soldiers
very different from the glittering
foam Of Paris. In sheer intellect he
lowered above every one at the su-
preme war council as much as Mr..
Lloyd George did in courage" Field
Marshal Haig is described as "an
elderly cavalryman on a very low
plane Of intelligence" "Clemen-
ceau was the most amiable of old
men, and. IL a tiger. as he was
called. only a stuffed nursery tiger.
more endearing than formidable" !"
Although the British premier Is the
hero of the piece. the author pays
him a somewhat doubtful compli-
ment when he writes: Tn spite Of
his oblique and subterranean meth
DDS. his inveterate taste for low
and INSCRIPTIONS men, OF the dis
trust felt for him by his favorites
even at the height of their favor,
of his superficial, slipshod and hasty
mind. his discrimination OF charac-
ter (the determination to win the
war; made him. without assumption
on his part, the leader of the alli-
ance."
+ As an argument the book Is not
convincing. It Is poorly CONSTRUCT
|ed. and gives no evidence Of being
an honest attempt to Judge fairly
and Judiciously. One cannot escape
the feeling that Capt Wright was
following in the footsteps of Mar
got Asquith, Col. Repington and the
ndan with a Duster and finding him
self on q well beaten path. felt i'm
PEELED to 60 them one better in the
Way OF sensational revelation of
kcandal in high places.