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Lloyd George
Incurs
Generals
Contempt
(From a Special Correspondent.)
LONDON (by air mail).
A bitter attack on General Sir
James Edmonds, official historian of
the war, figured in a message from
, Mr. Lloyd George, read at the re
union dinner of the Fifty Army in
London.
General Edmonds was the centre of
a strong controversy aroused in Aus
tralia and New Zealand 10 years ago,
wh'en the official British history of the
Dardanelles campaign was reported to
have described the Anzacs as a 'dis-
organised rabble' at Gallipoli. Indig
nation died down, however, when Gen
eral Edmonds issued a denial that any
such phrase was used in the book.
Mr. Lloyd George's attack on him
was contained in a message to Gene
ral Gough, which read:
'General Edmonds, in an illcon
ditioned article written recently, says
that General Gough's removal from
his command was due to Lord Milner
and Sir Henry Wilson.
'On the other hand, Lord Haig says
in his official despatch that he re
moved General Gough because he
thought he was tired.
'In this matter Lord Haig ought
to know better, for General Ed
monds was never near enough to
the fighting in France to know
what was going on.
'He felt, no doubt, for quite ade
quate reasons over which he had no
control, that he was better adapted to
writing than to fighting.'
When General Edmonds ? was asked
if he would like to reply to Mr. Lloyd
George's criticism of him he said:
'No, certainly not. I don't want any
thing to do with Lloyd George. Who
cares what he says? Nobody pays any
attention any more to what he says.'
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