lack of sense of proportion prevalent amongst some of those included
in G.H.Q. This chapter deals only with early days; but it may perhaps
be mentioned here that there was a disposition to deride and decry the
New Army at St. Omer almost up to the date, May 1915, when the first
three of its divisions, the Ninth, Twelfth and Fourteenth, made their
appearance in the war zone.

Watching the progress of events from behind the scenes, one could not
but think that in respect to the occasional _tracasseries_ between the
War Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the British troops in
France and Flanders, there were faults on both sides. The wording of
some of the telegraphic messages passing between Lord K. and Sir J.
French did not strike one as altogether felicitous, and, if messages
from G.H.Q. were provocative, the replies were not always calculated
to pour oil on troubled waters. The truth is, that when a pair of
people both of whom require "handling" become associated under
conditions of anxiety and stress that are bound to be trying to the
temper and jarring on the nerves, it's a horse to a hen they won't
make much of a fist of handling each other. The Secretary of State's
action in sending Sir H. Smith-Dorrien to command the Second Corps at
the very outset of the campaign after General Grierson's tragic death,
struck me at the time as a mistake. Sir J. French had asked for
General Plumer who was available, and his wishes might well have been
acceded to. Owing to circumstances of a quite special character the
selection was not in any case an altogether happy one, as the
relations between the new commander of the Second Corps and the chief
of the B.E.F. had not always been too cordial in the past. Having been
away from home so much, Lord K. may not have been aware of this; but I
imagine that if he had consulted the Military Members of the Army
Council they would have mentioned it, as it was almost a matter of
common knowledge in the Service.

On that unpleasant controversy with regard to the rights and the
wrongs of what occurred when the War Minister paid his sudden visit to
Paris during the retreat from Mons, of which so much has been heard, I
can throw no light whatever. At a later date "Fitz" (Colonel O.
Fitzgerald, Lord K.'s constant companion) and I were in pretty close
touch, and he used to keep me informed of what his chief had in his
mind; but I hardly knew him to speak to during the early weeks. In
respect