y successful efforts made by the
Commander-in-Chief in India to expand the local forces during the last
two years of the conflict, there is a matter which may be mentioned
here. That the victorious campaigns in Palestine and in Mesopotamia in
1917 and 1918 were in no small degree attributable, indirectly, to
what General Monro had accomplished by energy and administrative
capacity, is well known to all who were behind the scenes, and has
been cordially acknowledged by Lord Allenby and Sir W. Marshall.
Especially was this the case in Palestine in 1918, when brand-new
native Indian regiments took the place of British troops belatedly
summoned to the Western Front after our line had been broken at St.
Quentin. Nevertheless, a Downing Street intrigue was set on foot about
the end of April 1918 to substitute Sir W. Robertson for the commander
of the forces in India who had accomplished so much since taking over
charge.

Not that there was any desire to remove Sir C. Monro. The object of
the shuffle was simply to get Sir W. Robertson out of the country, in
view of the manner in which his warnings in connection with
strengthening our forces in France had been disregarded and of his
having proved to be right. Sir William would no doubt have made an
excellent Commander-in-Chief in India; but if ever there was an
example of ill-contrived swapping of horses while crossing a stream,
this precious plot would have provided the example had it been carried
into execution. There would have been a three months' interregnum
while the new chief was on his way out and was picking up the strings
after getting out--this in the middle of the final year of the war!
The best-laid plans of politicians, however, gang aft a-gley. Sir C.
Monro had stipulated, when reluctantly agreeing to give up command of
his army on the Western Front in the autumn of 1916 and to proceed to
Bombay, that this Indian appointment was to be a permanent one, and
not a temporary one such as all other appointments came to be during
the war. He did not feel disposed to fall in with the Downing Street
project when this was broached. Is it to be wondered at that military
men regard some of the personnel that is found in Government circles
with profound suspicion?

CHAPTER X

THE MUNITIONS QUESTION

Mr. Asquith's Newcastle speech -- The mischief that it did -- The
time that must elapse before any great expansion in output of
munitions can begin to m