t mildly
excited at the spectacle. That aphorism, "familiarity breeds
contempt," does put the point a little crudely; but the fact remains
that when you are brought into contact with people of this kind, about
whom there is such a lot of talk in the newspapers, they turn out to
be very much like everybody else. Needless to say, they will give
tongue to any extent, but, apart from that, they may even be something
of a disappointment to those who anticipate great things of them.
Still, it is only right to acknowledge that the majority of Ministers
met with during the Great War were sensible enough in respect to
military matters. The amateur strategist was fortunately the exception
in these circles, and not the rule. Most of them picked up the
fundamental facts in connection with any situation that presented
itself quite readily; they grasped elementary principles when these
were explained to them and they were able to keep those principles in
mind. But there were goats as well as sheep. You might just as well
have started dancing jigs to a milestone as have tried to get into the
heads of one or two of them the elementary fact that the conduct of
war cannot be decided on small-scale maps but is a matter of stolid
and unemotional calculation, that imagination is a deadly peril when
unaccompanied by knowledge, and that army corps and divisions cannot
be switched about ashore or afloat as though they were taxi-cabs or
hydroplanes.

Mr. Henderson shaped well when military matters were in debate; he
looked portentous and he held his tongue. Then there was Sir E. Carson
who, during the few weeks that he figured on the Dardanelles Committee,
was an undeniable asset. His interjections of "Mr. Asquith, we really
must make up our minds," uttered with an accent not unfamiliar to one
who had passed youthful days in the vicinity of Dublin, and
accompanied by a moody stare such as his victim in the witness-box
must find rather disconcerting when under cross-examination at the
hands of the famous K.C., had no great effect perhaps. But the motive
was unexceptionable. He and Mr. Bonar Law used to sit together and to
press for decisions, and it was unfortunate that Sir Edward resigned
when he did. Mr. Bonar Law was within an ace of resigning likewise
very shortly afterwards. He invited me to go over to the Colonial
Office to see him and to talk over matters, and I expressed an earnest
hope that he would stick to the ship. An artist in lett