ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS 319
A Great Man Betrayed by His Country
T ALWAYS thought our people were at least as capable as those of any
1 other nation. But I liked to study what other nations had accom-
plished. I had gone to Germany too often, and had read her litera-
ture too much, not to give ground to narrow-minded people to say
that Germany was my spiritual home.
Anyhow, in August 1914, a formidable section of the public here
had turned against me. I did not think that this was good for the
Government, and in the autumn of 1914 I felt bound to go to the
Prime Minister and to say that, as the attacks on me must obviously
affect the general position, it would probably be better that I should
~nbt remain in office. He laughed at the idea of this, but I took a
more serous view of it,
I was never depressed by even the most violent abuse. I was
well content to endure, for if the Army came home victorious I
believed that it would return with witnesses in my defence whose
testimony would be irresistible. So it proved in the end.
But before the war ended in our victory I had, of course, a
disagreeable time. I was threatened with assault in the street, and
I was on occasions in some danger of being shot at. But on the
other hand I had a multitude of loyal and devoted friends whose
hopes had through years rested on my efforts. ... My special
adherents in the Army, and outside it, were firm as rocks.
After the victory in France came, and the British troops had
returned to London, with the victorious Commander-in-Chief,
Douglas Haig, riding with the King at their head, all London was hi
a state of rejoicing. I was left alone, solitary in my study at Queen
Anne's Gate. It was after dark that evening when my servant came
upstairs to me and said that there was an officer who wanted to see
me, but who would not give his name. The door was opened, and
who should enter but a friend who was indeed intimately known
to me, Field-Marshal Douglas Haig, come from a triumphant ride
with his Sovereign along the Mall.
" I am not going to remain," he exclaimed ; *6 my purpose is to
leave with you a book in which I have written something." With
that he insisted on going away. The book was a volume containing
Ms Despatches, and on the page at the beginning he had written these
affectionate words:
To Viscount Haldane of Cloan, the greatest Secretary of $Me far
War England has ever had. In grateful remembrance of Ms suceetsfid
efforts in organising the Military Forces for a war on fa Continent,
notwithstanding much opposition from the Army Council and the half-
hearted support of his Parliamentary friends.—Haig* FM.
A page from the Autobiography of Lord Haldane