Evening star., 1940-03-03
By MarQnis ". Childs.

WlNSION CHURCHILL,
First lord OF the admiralty.
A. P. Photo.
would engage in elaborate warfare, and
often they had the advice OF their
fathers distinguished military friends.
Lord Randolph decided that since his
son apparently had no intellectual bent,
he had better be soldier. Out of Har-
row the young man went to Sandhurst
Military College, where he took two
years of intensive training, including
schooling in horsemanship that was the
base for Mr.. Churchill's later great
prowess at polo.
In school he had had one outstanding
gift-the ability to memorize almost at
sight. At Harrow he said a thousand
lines of Macaulay's Lays of Ancient
Rome" for the headnaster without a
single mistake. Stationed as a young
lieutenant at, Bangslore in India. hs
began to read history, responding to ein-
tellectual curiosity that developed very
late. He devoured all of Macaulay and
all of Gibbon ahd on these two masters.
AAS oAAAASN AtAo o"i1 plooC Sty ~ ID q
style trenchant and soldierly, yet ca
denced and often full of thunderous
music, style as distinguished as any
in our time.
Tries War Reporting.
Discovering that he could write, he
turned war correspondent and by his
brilliant reporting of an Indian border
war won his first reputation. Back in
Bangalore, he wrote his first, and only,
novel in two months. In the Sudan
campaign he was a supernumerary lieu
tenant in the 2lst Lancers as we'll as
war correspondent. Mr.. Churchill was
in the thick of a cavalry charge and
saw men fall all around him at Omdur-
man. During the Boer War he had the
same dual role. He was taken prisoner
by the Beers, escaped after month of
intolerable boredom and wrote brilliant
dispatches from the front.
BY writing and lecturing, apart from
the salary attached to government posts
he has held, Mr. Churchill has supported
himself and his family in the style to
which an English gentleman is accus-
toned.
If certain of his fathers friends helped
to induct him into the army, other
family connections saw to it that he
got a good start in politics. He has
been in the House of Commons con-
tinuously since 1900, first as Conserva-
tive, then as a Liberal and again as
Conservative. He began his career in
the government as undersecretary of
colonies, became president of the Board
of Trade, then home secretary and final
ly in 1911 first lord of the admiralty.
Clashed With Sea Lord.
AS civilian head of the navy and an
important member of the War Council
in 1914, Mr.. Churchill began actively to
direct the great British fleet. And i'm
mediately he clashed head on with Lord
Fisher, first sea lord, representative of
the intrenched power of the officer class
They bickered all during the first
months of that war and particularly
over Mr.. Churchill's plan to take the
Straits of the Dardanelles.
Lord Fisher was set in sullen opposi-
ton to this plan. Delay and confusion
marked it's execution. The navy held
back It was soon apparent that the
landing at Gallipoi was a disastrous
failure Mr.. Churchill was forced out
of the admiralty with crushing sense
of defeat. He was relegated to the un-
important Office of chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster and finally on his
pleading was permitted to join his old
regiment for active service in France.
Mr.. Churchills farewell to the House
of Commons was notable triumph, per-
haps the most brilliant speech Of his
career. Even in the face of Gallipol
he stuck to his theory that a decisive
victory could be had only in the East
a theory that appears especially signifi-
cant in the light of present British
French activity in assembling an army
near the Dardanelles. a.
He had been at the front for month
when the troops were withdrawn from
Gallipoi. Divided counsels, half
hearted measures, grudged resources,
makesnift plans" had resulted in the
loss of $4,000 British lives. Through part
of 1915 and 1915 MIR. Churchill served
with the rank of lieutenant colonel in
command Of the 9Th Royal Scots Fu-
siliers winning medals for heroism In
action.
Inevitably he was recalled to WHITE