Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Page 7

a huge
import duty on aniline dyes and so bring back the lovely vegetable dyes
of old India, the saffrons, indigoes, madders, etc.; the other was to build
a black marble Taj at Agra opposite the white and join the two by a
silver bridge. I expected to get a rise, but actually he took the ideas
quite seriously and I am sure made a mental note of them. Anyway, as
Viceroy, K. would have flung the whole vast weight of India into the
scale of this war; he would have poured Army after Army from East to
West. Under K. India could have beaten Turkey single-handed; aye,
and with one arm tied behind her back. With K. as Ambassador at
Constantinople he would have prevented Turkey coming into the war.
There is no doubt of it. Neither Enver Pasha nor Talaat would have
dared to enrage K., and as for the idea of their deporting him, it is
grotesque. They might have shot him in the back; they could never
have faced him with a war declaration in their hands. As an impresser
of Orientals he is a nonesuch. So we put him into the War Office in the
ways of which he is something of an amateur, with a big prestige and a
big power of drive. Yes, we remove the best experts from the War
Office and pop in K. like a powerful engine from which we have
removed all controls, regulators and safety valves. Yet see what
wonders he has worked!

Still, he remains, in the War Office sense, an amateur. The Staff left by
French at the W.O. may not have been von Moltke's, but they were K.'s
only Councillors. An old War Office hand would have used them. But
in no case, even had they been the best, could K. have had truck or
parley with any system of decentralization of work--of
semi-independent specialists each running a show of his own. As late
(so-called) Chief of Staff to Lord K. in South Africa, I could have told
them that whatever work K. fancies at the moment he must swipe at it,
that very moment, off his own bat. The one-man show carried on
royally in South Africa and all the narrow squeaks we had have been
completely swallowed up in the final success; but how will his
no-system system work now? Perhaps he may pull it through; anyway
he is starting with a beautifully cleaned slate. He has surpassed himself,
in fact, for I confess even with past experience to guide me, I did not
imagine our machinery could have been so thoroughly smashed in so
short a time. Ten long years of General Staff; Lyttelton, Nicholson,
French, Douglas; where are your well-thought-out schemes for an
amphibious attack on Constantinople? Not a sign! Braithwaite set to
work in the Intelligence Branch at once. But beyond the ordinary text
books those pigeon holes were drawn blank. The Dardanelles and
Bosphorus might be in the moon for all the military information I have
got to go upon. One text book and one book of travellers' tales don't
take long to master and I have not been so free from work or
preoccupation since the war started. There is no use trying to make
plans unless there is some sort of material, political, naval, military or
geographical to work upon.
Winston had been in a fever to get us off and had ordered a special train
for that very afternoon. My new Staff were doubtful if they could get
fixed up so quickly and K. settled the matter by saying there was no
need to hustle. For myself, I was very keen to get away. The best plan
to save slips between cup and lip is to swallow the liquor. But K.
thought it wisest to wait, so I 'phoned over to Eddie to let Winston
know we should not want his train that day.
Next morning, the 13th, I handed over the Central Force Command to
Rundle and then, at 10.30 went in with Braithwaite to say good-bye. K.

was standing by his desk splashing about with his pen at three different
drafts of instructions. One of them had been drafted by Fitz--I suppose
under somebody's guidance; the other was by young Buckley; the third
K. was working on himself. Braithwaite, Fitz and I were in the room;
no one else except Callwell who popped in and out. The instructions
went over most of the ground of yesterday's debate and were too vague.
When I asked the crucial question:--the enemy's strength? K. thought I
had better be prepared for 40,000. How many guns? No one knows.
Who was in command? Djavad Pasha, it is believed. But, K. says, I
may take it that the Kilid Bahr Plateau has