d to be no disposition on his part to acquiesce in my plans.

This attitude on the part of the French was evidently well known in
London, for, on December 13th, I received a letter from Winston
Churchill in which he said: "Of course, we are disappointed here with
the turn events have taken, but we shall do our best to help the
French."

This meant that Joffre had rejected my scheme, but had substituted the
idea of another kind of attack, to be made chiefly by the French, with
fewer troops, in a different direction and with quite another
objective. I will return to this presently, for such an operation
actually took place and proved to be a very feeble substitute for what
I had intended.

Yielding thus to French representations, our Government began to
weaken. Churchill adhered to his views throughout, but was not
supported.

The terms of Sir Edward Grey's communication of December 9th were
unanswerable. Everything which subsequently happened in the course of
the war has proved it. The possession by the Germans of that strip of
Belgian coast-line has been the sharpest of all thorns with
which they have succeeded in pricking us. It has been one of the main
causes of the prolongation of the war. Their vigorous and successful
defence against all our attacks in the autumn of 1917 showed the value
which they attached to the retention of this coast-line.

Lord Kitchener addressed a Memorandum to me in January, 1915, from
which I quote _in extenso_:

"The questions raised in your recent Memorandum of January 3rd,
1915"--he wrote--"and in your appreciation of the situation in the
various theatres of war, were considered by a War Council presided
over by the Prime Minister, on Thursday, January 7th, and Friday,
January 8th.

"The principal questions discussed were--

1. The proposed advance to Zeebrugge.
2. The organisation of the New Armies.
3. The possibility of employing British Forces in a different
theatre to that in which they are now used.

"With regard to the proposed advance to Zeebrugge, the First Lord's
telegram, No. 2623, sent to you on January 2nd, explained the
difficulties imposed on the Admiralty by the development of Zeebrugge
as a base for submarines, and the War Council realised that one of
your principal motives in suggesting an offensive to effect the
capture of Ostend and Zeebrugge was to ease the naval position.

"On a general review, however, of the whole situation, naval and
mi