HISTORIANS WANTED

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 126, 23 November 1918, Page 6

HISTORIANS WANTED

The Minister for Defence in his wisdom has decided that there shall be three war-historians, one for for Gallipoli, ont> for Palestine, and one for France; each of whom must have been a soldier in his own political field. We-doubt whether many of the world's successful warhistorians could have passed such a test, but we are not disposed to cavil at it, sine« a 6oldier is admittedly—other things being equal—the man for the job; and there i« still a possibility that the Government, contrary to precedent, may be able to make its selection-witn an equal regard for all the requirements'*" of the situation. On that point, judgment must necessarily be reserved. In the matter of the editorship, it is semiofficially' intimated that possibly "an editor will be appointed to deal finally with the three volumes." An -editor who is brought in as an afterthought or appendix will find* little to -do save to endorse, and to become blameable for, what has already been done. An editor is a planner and constructor, not a mere auditor; and a person introduced after policy and plan ha"c been settled would be merely a sort of piece-work subeditor. We hope that this is not the Government's intention. Theye is an excellent story to be told in the projected history, jp£<wided that it is not interfered with .bypolitics and officialdom. In any ca.se the story will be written, since neither politics nor officialdom can kill individual inspiration. But it is preferable that the true historian of our share in the war—the historian whose history ■will endure—should also prove to be one whom the Government will name and recompense. • i