se of the Great
War.

Passing reference has already been made to Sir Archie Murray's
assumption of the position of C.I.G.S. in October 1915, when he
replaced the late Sir James Wolfe-Murray. Shrewd, indefatigable, of
very varied experience, an excellent administrator and a man of such
charming personality that he could always get the very best out of
his subordinates, Sir James would have admirably filled any high,
non-technical appointment within the War Office during the early part
of the contest, other than that which he was suddenly called upon to
take up on the death of Sir C. Douglas. Absolutely disinterested, his
energies wholly devoted to the service of the State, compelling the
respect, indeed the affection, of all of us who were under him in
those troublous times, a more considerate chief, nor one whose opinion
when you put a point to him you could accept with more implicit
confidence, it would have been impossible to find. But for occupying
the headship of the General Staff under the existing circumstances he
lacked certain desirable qualifications. Although well acquainted with
the principles that should govern the general conduct of war and no
mean judge of such questions, he was not disposed by instinct to
interest himself in the broader aspects of strategy and of military
policy. His bent was rather to concern himself with the details.
Somewhat cautious, nay diffident, by nature, he moreover shrank from
pressing his views, worthy of all respect as they were, on others, and
he was always guarded in expressing them even when invited to do so.

Dealing with a Secretary of State of Lord Kitchener's temperament,
reticence of this kind did not work. Lord K. liked you to say what you
thought without hesitation, and, once he knew you, he never resented
your giving an opinion even uninvited if you did so tactfully. As for
the personnel who constitute War Councils and their like, it is not
the habit of the politician to hide his light under a bushel, nor to
recoil from laying down the law about any matter with which he has a
bowing acquaintance. That an expert should sit mute when his own
subject is in debate, surprises your statesman profoundly. That the
expert should not be brimming over with a didactic and confident flow
of words when he has been invited to promulgate his views, confounds
your statesman altogether. General Wolfe-Murray never seemed to
succeed in getting on quite the proper terms either with hi