BRITAIN'S WAR LORD

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2549, 25 August 1915, Page 5

BRITAIN'S WAR LORD

KITCHENER & HIS METHODS " K " AND THE CROWD One of the sights of the English "Rose Day"—tho English equivalent of HospitalSaturda-y in,Australia —\vas an encounter between Lord Kitchener and a bevy of young ladies who were collecfing for Queen Alexandra's special oharity. Tho girls, gracefully attired in tha white frocks w'hidli all collectors wear on. Rose Day, took their stand outside the War Office in Westminster, where Lord Kitchener's motor-car was waiting. Presently Lord Kitchener appeared from tho War Office —a grim, uncompromising figuro. He strode to 'has motor-car, while the girls looked at him as a "woman hater.'.' One of them, bolder than, the rest, stepped forward with her box of roses and waylaid linn. Lord Kitchener purchased a rose, and then found he had no money. He retraced ! his steps to the War Office, came out again, and paid for his rose. Lord Kitchener celebrated his. 65tli birthday the day after Rose and even those-London journals whoso tendencies, before the war, were distinctly pacific, published columns in honour of tho British Secretary _ for War. Tho London ''Daily Chronicle" referred to him as "the jaws of tlio British bulldog," and gave copious extracts concerning him from a book which has just been written by a member of thoir staff, Mr. Harold Begbie, under the title of "Kitchener; Organiser of Victory." Other papers gave equal prominence in their columns to Lord Kitchener's birthday; one journal, which caters almost exclusively for lady readers, made' the novel suggestion to its readers that they should send birthday gifts to him.- Whether the suggestion was carried'out, and w'hat Lord Kitchenor. thought of tho gifts when lie received them, is not kno.wn. One can hardly imagine even the most enthiyiastic feminine collector of autographs sending her autograph book- to Lord Kitchener with a request that he should commemorate his ' birthday by inscribing Ilia name in its scented pages with a verse from his favourite poet. . •• The common opinion about Lord Kitchener is - that lie is 'an intellectual machine without human, feelings. Such, however, is by no means the testimony of those who know 'him intimately. Their evidence'' goes to show that Kitchener, in spite of his grimness and solitariness, has a very human side to him —at times. In this connection, the following story is related in Mr, Begbie's book: — . ■ _ . Among his relations were two dear, diminutive old Scotch ladies, who lived in Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, by name the Misses Hutchinson, and Kitchener was no dearer to these charming spinsters than they to him. Ho wrote to them brightly and boyishly by almost every mail, and whenever lie returned to London, the house in Phillimore Gardens was not only his regular .headquarters, but the first £.oal at which ho aimed. Before he wont to Egypt for his advance to Khartoum they presented liinr with a swagge-.- gold-headed cane, and when the advance was accomplished, and the photographer arrived' to made a picture of the general and his staff, Kitchener seated himself in tho centre of t'lie group with this stick held so ostentatiously that the old ladies in Kensington could not fail to recpgnisa it when the photograph appeared in the illustrated papers. That, 1 think, is a charming touch in the man of blood and iron." And the writer goes on to tell how the victor of Khartoum sent them roses from''Gordon's grave; how on his return to London he hastened to visit them, and asked for ''a jolly tea like the teas of old days—bread and jam and no people"; and how they would sit, "one on either side of him, studying his bronzed face with their small, smiling, shrewd eyes, teasing him, chaffing him, adoring him, and giving him ' sound advice." . "But that is one' sido of tho picture. "Lord Kitchener at home, laughing and jesting with his maiden, cunts, is one man"; "Kitchener of Khartoum" on active service is another. Most of the stories told about l-.iin relaite to that side of him. He exacts a perfect service, and is said never to forgire a mistake, becauso he knows how much depends in war on not making mistakes. Tlio following anecdote strikingly illustrates that rougher and harsher sido of his character which is widely known by popular repute. During the war in South Africa it was necessary on a certain occasion for Lord Kitchener to make a quick and highly perilous jour-, nay by train. A daring and high-spirit-ed youngster volunteered to drive the engine. Tlio journey was accomplished. The volunteer driver, delighted that he had 1 got the great general safely through most dangerous -country, said to* Kitchener, as tho Chief of the Staff passed him standing beside .his sweating engine: "We weren't vbry long, sir, wero we?" To which'K of K. replied, scarcely looking at him, "You'll have to be quicker going back." Perhaps the most striking testimony to the human side of Kitchener's temperament is to be found in the revolution he has effected in the British War Office since lie took charge. On. August 3, 1914. he sat down in the Minister's room at the War Office, and coolly planned immense new armies that could not possibly be ready for many months to come. Thoso new armies are now in existence, but before they could be formed it was first necessary to revolutionist) the. War Office itself. Kitchener performed that initial' task admirably, and thereby gave the world proof that ho posessed the qualities of justice, fairness, and kindness in dealing with his subordinates, otherwise he could never have dono .what lie has accomplished. Officials are 11 ° v [ ' passionately loyal followers of the example set ill work and self-sacrifice ■ oy Kitchener himself. - Lord Kitchener', has never been a popular figure in England, and he never will be: No other man m the present war is so utterly trusted by the peoplo of Great Britain, but ho lacks tho qualities which make for popularity. He is too grim, silent, and aloof. It is interesting to watch the attitude, of a London crowd to the outstanding men of this war. Mr. Lloyd George, who beforo the war was one of she most criticised men in the world, has becorje ono of tho most popular- An untning worker, he is apparently the one Cabinet Minister who refuses to allow his responsibilities to depress lnm. Almost any day—at certain tiines-rho_ can bo se.en walking briskly towards his Downing Street office .with a happy, conndent smile on his face. A crowd quickly gathers to cheer the little Welshman, and Mr." Lloyd George always responds wit-li friimdly salutations, When Lord Kitchener's motor-car rolls up for him outside Whitehall, a crowd also gathers, but there is a difference. An obsequious janitor 'flings open tho \\ar Office door, and Lord Kitchener descends to his car, looking neither to the right or the left. The crowd _ insensibly shrinks away from the grim figure. Sometimes a bold spirit endeavours to raise a cheer, but the response is rarely satisfactory. In an age of notoriety huntcrSj Lord Kitchener does not advertise himself. It is impossible to imagine him smirking in front of one of tho cameras of London's illustrated halfpenny press. Ho does not grant interviews. When he makes his rare appearanco in Parliament he invariably reads . his brief, matter-of-fact -statement from typewritten sheets, and departs from -the halls of talking as speedily as _ possible. There are few. Kitclicner stories; even

this war has not added appreciably to their numbor. Readers may, remember that one of Kitchener's first acts when lie went to the War Office was to ask a startled attendant whether there was a Led there. "No, my Lord," responded the man. "Then get one," replied the r.ew War Secretary. That bed is still in the War Office, and Lord Kitchener frequently sleeps in it. His subordinates at the War Office work eagerly and well; they know that "K" .(as they invariably describe him) is the hardest and longest 'worker of them all. His working hours are from 9 a.m. .till a late hour of the night. He lunches there, and often dines there. Not seldom 'his few hours of sleep are snatched on the simple, soldierly bed that occupies a corner of his room. He is probably the first Minister at the War Office who lias not "dined out" sinco he received his portfolio; he is certainly the only Cabinet Minister who reads the morning papers only during the few minutes before he goes to bed. His sole departure from the Spartan habits of eating and drinking and sleeping, learnt on his-earliest cam-, paigns, takes the form of an occasional cigar after lunch or dinner; in the matter of drinks his personal'example is only too well known. Always and above ail in his private,' as in his public, life conies the supreme necessity of the work of war, the urgency of organising for the ultimate victory. The family motto of the Kitcheners is one word—'.'Thorough"—and to-day, after 45 years in the service of the British Empire, there is no better . word to describe him and his work.. His whole heart and intellect are devoted to tho task of organising the British Eriipirs to win this war. "Kitchener has never said the war would last ten months, or ten days, or ten years," one who knows him remarked recently. "He has simply said—and it is typical of him—'We are going to beat tho Germans.' "