MR. ASQUITH'S REPLY

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 131, 5 June 1919, Page 7

MR. ASQUITH'S REPLY

"FLAGRANT BREACH OF

TRADITION"

FRENCH'S CHARGES.DENIED.

; I . LONDON, 3rd June. Mr. Asquith, speaking at a complimentary luncheon, replied to statements in Lord French's book. Mr. Asquith complained that Lord French had been given access to official and confidential document, to build up a case against men^ whose, lips were closed, some by .death, others'by official restraint, lt was a flagrant breach of the best traditions of the Publiq Service. None knew better than.Lord French that his charge against the Liberal Government, of callousness in failing, to supply sufiicieiit guns and shells, was without foundation Document, which would be published shortly would prove that Lord French's account of Lord Kitchener's visit to Paris in September, 1914, was a travesty on the real facts.

Lord French's intended movements of tho Army prior to Lord Kitchener's visit had filled the Cabinet with consternation, as they would have left the French in the lurch at, a moment of extitme need. The French Government shared this alarm. Between September, 1914 and March, 1915, the forces in the field had been increased by four times and the supply of munitions by nineteen times.. The manufacturers had promised a much larger output'of munitions than was actually supplied. Mr. Asquith concluded by reacting a. private letter written by Lord French in May, 1915, in which ho said: "In the whole history of war, no Com-mander-in-Chief has been helved in a difficult task by the head of the Government as I have been supported and strengthened by your unfailing sympathy and encouragement." Mr Asquith flatly denied ' Lord' French's assertion tint he had advocated ' high explosives instead of shrapnel before the war. Mr. Asquith quoted from a document showing that Headquarters had asked the' Government in November, 1914, to reduce the percentage of high explosives from 50 to 25 per cent. Be also quoted Lord Kitchener's letter, written on the eve of the famous Newcastle speech, in which he said that Lord I'rench had told him that with the present supply of ammunition he ■ would have as muclvas the troops were able to use for the next attack. * Mr. ■ Asquith accepted the full responsibility for Lord French's recall, which had no more to do with shells than with the. eclipso of the moon. '