e. The pause, however, provided an
opportunity for motoring down to St. Omer and spending a couple of
days in the war zone--my first visit to the Front. Two points
especially struck me on this trip. One was the wonderful way that the
women and children of France (for scarcely an adult male was to be
seen about in the rural districts) were keeping their end up in the
fields. The other was the smart and soldier-like bearing of the
rank-and-file amongst our troops, in striking contrast to the
go-as-you-please methods which prevailed in South Africa, and to
which, indirectly, some of the "regrettable incidents" which occurred
on the veldt were traceable. It gave one confidence. Sir J. French and
some of G.H.Q. were at advanced headquarters at Hazebrouck as
offensive operations were impending, and Sir John, on the afternoon
that I saw him, was greatly pleased at a most successful retirement of
our line in a portion of the Ypres salient which General Plumer had
brought off on the previous night. On getting back to Paris it
transpired that the naval trouble was not yet settled.

One morning, sitting with Admiral Gamble who was over to help Sir H.
Jackson, in the long alley-way of the Ritz where one enjoys early
breakfast if that meal be not partaken of in private apartments,
Commodore Bartolome, the First Lord's "Personal Naval Assistant," was
of a sudden descried in the offing and beating up for the Bureau.
"Good God!" exclaimed the Admiral, horror-stricken. "Winston's come!"
He had, so we learnt from Bartolome; but what he had come for nobody
could make out. Telegraphic communication exists between Paris and
London, and Sir H. Jackson was in constant touch with our Admiralty.
However, to whatever cause the visit was to be attributed, there was
Mr. Churchill as large as life and most anxious to get busy; and I
personally was glad to see him, because he told me all about what had
been going on in the Gallipoli Peninsula since the landing of a few
days before. One did not gather that the French were any more
delighted at his jack-in-the-box arrival, and at his interventions in
the Conference discussions, than were our naval representatives who
had been officially accredited for the purpose. A satisfactory
agreement was, however, at last arrived at over the Adriatic, the
conventions were signed with due pomp and circumstance, and our party
returned to England. While in Paris I had paid one or two visits to
General Graziani, who