conduct of the War, and to have a more active share in it. Kitchener's fine presence, his European reputation, his command of the French language, and his proved sympathy with France, made him an admirable negotiator. He was instrumental in smoothing over many of the early difficulties of the alliance, notably at the end of August 1914, when the enforced retreat of the British army after the battle of Le Cateau caused grave anxiety both to the French government and to the French commander-in-chief. But these qualities had not much influence with his colleagues in the Cabinet, where his natural reticence, his lack of experience of work in committee, and his inability to throw his ideas into the common stock, raised suspicions, usually groundless, but hard to meet. Nor was his administration of the War Office happy. He did not understand the methods of a government department, and most of the soldiers who were familiar with them had gone to France with the Expeditionary Force. This led to his taking too much work upon himself, and he became at one and the same time the adviser of the Cabinet on strategy and the organizer of an immense expansion of the British army. His methods often lacked system, and not infrequently produced friction; while, for lack of competent advice and of time for due consideration, his conduct of the strategy of the War was more than once open to criticism, though he was often right when others were wrong. Just as he foresaw the length of the War, so he foresaw also that the Germans would march through Belgium north of the Meuse in great strength, and soon after he entered the War Office he pointed out that the British army at Mons would be in an exposed and dangerous position. He deferred, however, to the opinion of the French and British soldiers who had prepared the plans of campaign. But, when the plans for attacking the Dardanelles were under discussion, he allowed himself to be influenced by those who believed that the navy could force the Straits unaided, and he was dragged into the military operations in circumstances which greatly prejudiced their success. Throughout this unfortunate campaign he was torn in divergent directions, on the one hand by his desire with limited means to sustain the British armies in France, and on the other by the need of prosecuting with vigour the attack upon the Straits. Thus there were at times hesitation and doubt when there should have been vigour and decision. When the failure of the Dardanelles campaign was evident, the government, some members of which were not reluctant to be relieved of his presence, sent him to the Near East to report on the possibility and advisability of evacuation. Reluctantly he came to the conclusion that the only course was to abandon the enterprise, and he returned to England at the end of November 1915 to advise the Cabinet to that effect. On his arrival he tendered to the prime minister his resignation, which was at once refused. He was now fully conscious of the defects in the administrative machinery at the War Office; and at the end of the year he brought Major-General Sir William Robertson from France to be chief of the Imperial General Staff, gave him greater powers than former chiefs of the staff had possessed, and authorized him to reorganize the general staff at head-quarters. Thenceforward there was little creaking of the wheels of military administration, though it was many months before the effect of the change could be seen, and Kitchener himself did not live to see it. On the morning of 5 June 1916 he sailed from Scapa Flow in H.M.S. Hampshire to visit Russia. The Russian government had long been anxious for his presence and advice; the British government hoped through his influence to revive the waning enthusiasm of the Russian armies, and to establish some method of co-operation between the Allied armies of Eastern and Western Europe. The circumstances of the loss of the Hampshire are not absolutely clear, but it appears that the cruiser, when off the Orkneys in bad weather, struck a mine and went down with the loss of all on board save a few of the crew [The Loss of H.M.S. ‘Hampshire’. Official Narrative, 1926.].
The news of Kitchener's death was received with universal mourning and was treated as a public calamity of the first magnitude; a memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral, where a chapel, in the north-west tower, is dedicated to his memory. Though his countrymen felt deeply the extent of their loss, the great work with which Kitchener's name will always be associated was in a measure completed. At his call and under his inspiration, more than 3,000,000 men had voluntarily joined the colours and had been organized into armies, an achievement without parallel in history. On the very day on which he left for Russia the last of the divisions to which his name was given by the public also sailed from
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