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

THE POLITICAL SITUATION. 59

recruiting at home and to give our troops in the field the confidence that their work was not neglected. Such reticence was in no way imposed by military requirements, and it led only to a crop of wild rumours and the loss of that national quickening which would have been gained by a full story issued while the interest was still keen. This secrecy was not the work of the much-criticized Press Bureau, which acted mainly as a post office, but of the military authorities themselves, who were inclined to forget what was needed by a country whose armies were still volunteers. A consequence was that for some time after Loos, till Sir John French’s dispatch appeared, the land was full of gossip about the failure of the new divisions, gossip which did cruel wrong to some of the most gallant troops on the British front.

Ministers, too, showed a disposition to shelter themselves behind the Censorship, and claim immunity from criticism. The speeches of Lord Curzon, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Buckmaster in a debate in the House of Lords a month later seemed to demand for the actions of the Government a protection from hostile comment which was manifestly inconsistent with our constitutional practice. Britain was not a bureaucracy. Her Ministers were not experts but amateurs, who had won their positions as exponents of popular opinion, and held them on the condition that the people could scrutinize their work and, if necessary, ask for their dismissal. Such a system was meaningless unless popular opinion had a chance of making itself felt. Stupid attacks upon Ministers were highly objectionable, but even stupid attacks were better than compulsory silence. Our