Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

58 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

and this put the finishing touch to French and British impatience. The ordinary man, whose resolution was now fortified by genuine anger, began to look askance at his Government. The British losses alone, as announced up to gth October, were Oct close on half a million, or five times the © 9° strength of our original Expeditionary Force. On the Western front they amounted to 365,000, of whom over 67,000 were dead. Thirteen months of incessant fighting had shown a glorious record for our men, but could the same thing be said of our leaders ? All our actions had been like Albuera and Inkerman, soldiers’ battles ; people were beginning to suggest that Vittoria and Salamanca were better examples to follow, and that a generals’ battle would be a welcome change. For the first time criticism of our leadership in the field began to be heard in responsible mouths, while the Government in general suffered considerable discredit for the calamitous results of their Balkan policy.

A whipping-boy was discovered in the Censorship. Upon the Censorship we visited for a little the irritation and doubt which had been engendered in the popular mind by the obvious difficulties into which we had blundered. That institution from the beginning had had few friends, and it had not been conducted with much consistency or reason. It had sanctioned the publication of news which seriously hampered our diplomacy, such as the offer of Cyprus to Greece, or exasperated our Allies, like the South Wales strike ; while it repressed for weeks all information about the work of our battalions—information necessary both to encourage