t ought to be followed in connection with the Dardanelles
and Serbia, it is hard to say. That there was considerable risk of
Serbia being assailed in force by the Central Powers before long was
manifest. On the other hand, there we were, up to the neck in the
Dardanelles venture, and strong reinforcements were at this time
belatedly on their way out to Sir I. Hamilton from home. The position
was a decidedly awkward one. To despatch further contingents to this
part of the world, over and above those already on the way or under
orders, was virtually out of the question, unless the Near East was to
be accepted as the Entente's main theatre of war--which way madness
lay. To divert the Dardanelles reinforcements to Salonika destroyed
such hopes as remained of the Gallipoli campaign proving a success
after all. Human nature being what it is, there would have been a sore
temptation to adopt the attitude of "wait and see" which might perhaps
have commended itself to Mr. Asquith, to let things take their course,
to be governed by how Sir I. Hamilton's contemplated offensive panned
out, and to trust to a decision in that quarter taking place before
isolated Serbia should actually be imperilled. But in those days the
General Staff never was asked to give a considered opinion. At the
Dardanelles Committee which had all these matters in hand, one seldom,
if ever, was given an opportunity of expressing views on the broader
aspects of any question. The methods in vogue on the part of that body
are indeed well illustrated by the following incident.

One evening in August, about 7 P.M., just when I was getting to the
end of my work for the day, Colonel Swinton, who for many months past
had been acting as "Eye-Witness" with Sir J. French's forces, turned
up unexpectedly in my room. My pleasure at meeting an old friend,
recently from the hub of things in France and whom I had not seen for
a long time, gave place to resentment when he explained what he had
come for. It appeared that he had a short time previously arrived in
the United Kingdom to act temporarily as Secretary of the Committee of
Imperial Defence (which practically meant the Dardanelles Committee at
the moment), and he had been called upon, right off the reel, to
prepare a memorandum on the Dardanelles situation, which was to be
ready next morning. Knowing comparatively little about the
Dardanelles, he had come to consult me. In the first instance I
absolutely declined to obl