THE REAL LORD KITCHENER

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 207, 8 September 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE REAL LORD KITCHENER

ANECDOTES TOLD BY LORD FRENCH AND LORD DERBY. ft REFUSAL 10 TAKE COMMAND

Field-Marshal/Lord. French paid a -remarkable tribute to Lord Kitchener yesterday in a maiden speech in the ♦ House el' Lords, adding fresh and incresting touches to the new picture .which is shaping of the dear War Minister. a 1 ,<mi anxious," he said, " to place on record that no effort ever spared by Lord Kitchener to supply a'.l my demands. I know well the difficulties which lav in his way. He faced tluem -with characteristic determination, and •the evidence of the debt which the nation owes him is to be found in the magnificent armies which are now defending our interests all over the i world. It would be idle to pnetend that in the past two years I have always -.seen eye to eye with him, but such divergence of opinion as declined :n no way interfered with the national interests, nor did it ever shake my confidence in Lord Kitchener's will power and ability to meet the heavy demands I had to make on him. ' ■"For nearly three years in the Soutii African war'l was closely assocated with him and enjoyed his intimate friendship. He inspired us all w:th the utmost confidence: we relied implicitly on Uim to lead us to v : ctory; we knew •we were assured of his utmost help v»nd support in trouble and difficult.?, and that he would give us the fullest .measure of credit in success.

*'* " I became so impressed by his rgreat qualities that when, at the outbreak of the present war, 1 had reason to believe that I had been se- , letted for the chief command in tin ield. I went to him very early one -morning, and urged hm to see the Prime Minister and endeavour to arrange that he himself should take the gjlate, and that I should accompany him as his chief of staff. Although -at that moment he had np idea: o» tak : ng over the position of Secretary .of State for War I could not prevail on him to do this. "The nation has indeed suffered a •trievous loss, and the finest monument -thev can erect to this great man s memory'is to clothe themselves in the spirit of determination and concentration 01 •effort which characterised hs long and •valuable public career." "MY BEST FRIEND."^ Lord Derby referred to Lord Kitchener as "the best friend I ever iiad." i . j "He was supposed to bo hard, ausAere, stern by the general public," sail Lord Derby. "I never knew a worse -estimate of a man's character than that. He was shy—more shy than people imagined—and always diffident -about himself. One little incident 1 should like to recall. "It must have been about htteei -months ago that I saw h : m in his room at the War Office. He said, 'I wish yo-i could tell me what I am doing wrong? When I expressed my surprise, he add.ad, 'I feel that there is something more I ought to do for the country. 1 am •doing all I can, and yet I feel that 1 mm still leaving much undone.' "He was a man who inspired the greatest possible affection among his friends. I hope I shall be forgiven if i refer to one particular friendship whioi stands out in Lord Kitchener's lite—the friendship of Colonel Fitzgerald, his .private secretary. If (ever a man gave lip the whole of his life to the servije of another, Colonel Fitzgerald was the man; he gave up his life to Lord &i> oheuer. *, r . , " When I look back on my friendship with Lord Kitchener, two day« come back to my memory. Those wera two davs in the last week of hs lite. Less than a week before he died 1 had •Jieen dning with him alone, and attar -dinner he talked, not of the war, but of ill those matters which interested him so much in what I may call Irs private fife—about Broome, the place that lie was so devoted to, of his china, of Ins life after the war, and of! his tr:p to Russia, which he was looking forward to with the keenness of a schoolboy goring for a holiday.

MEETING WITH M.P.s. •'Three clays later came that meeting -with the members of the House of Commons, at which I was present. 1 candidly confess that I did have some doubt as to how far he, a non-parlia-mentarian, would be able to deal with the questions which all of us who have •been conversant with election matte es know to a certain extent how to deal •with. But 1 need not have doubted. I might have known him better. When he left the room he left behind him a feeling with regard to himself among members of Parliament wjnch anybody <m any position might be proud to pos- ~ "Lord Kitchener said good-bye to the nation at 0 moment when he left the whole machinery of. the great armies •that he created in running order, it was realiy as if Providence :n its wisdom had' given him the rest which ne would" never have given himself. Lord Lansdowne added an eloquent

■tribute. . , ~ " >mo master of our language will one dav describe aproprately the departing of the gallant field-marshal, amid the gloom and fury of the northern tempest, on an errand which was to he his last," he said. *'AH that we ran venture to conjecture, and we do m with confidence, is that he met his end hra,vely when it came. Truly it rvas a great and dignified exit from the stage on which he had played so important a part during the long years of his life."