THE DARDANELLES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES

A SOLDIER AND A DIPLOMAT

SIR CHARLES 'HARINGTON'S STORY

GALLIFOLI GRAVES SAFE.

(HlOlt ODfi OWN CORBtSPOSBEST.)' ,LONBON, 24th November.; A very large number of the members of the Royal Colonial Institute met at luncheon this week to do honour to Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Harjngton, late Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Constantinople. Viscount Curzon was present to second the toast of "Our Guest," and he paid a notable tribute, to Sir Charles for his "remarkable qualities of diplomacy." But for his wise and cautious action, he said, this country might have been plunged into irretrievable disaster. Sir Charles M'Leod (chairman of the council) presided, afnd others -present were Sir James Allen and Miss Eona Allen, Sir Campbell Stuart, Sir Percy Cox, Sir Travels Clarke, Sir Alfred Mond, Sir Joseph Cook, Sir Robert Whigham (Ad-jutant-General to the Forces), Sir Frederick Dutton, and Mr. .N. R. ,W. Thomas. The chairman, in proposing the health of Sir Charles Harington, said in August, 1922, when the Kemalists, flushed with recent successes, threatened our position at Chanak, it was nothing short of a miracle that Sir Charles was able to avert _a crisis. (Cheers.) That he did so without the support which he naturally relied upon from our Allies showed what stuff he was made of, and demonstrated his unique capabilities as a distinguished diplomat. To him, in a very great measure, tins country owed it that we had not loeen at war with' Turkey on several occasions during the past few years. Every mari and woman in the British Empire wa's ! proud of him to-day. Marquess Curzou" entertained feelings of unmixed esteem,'admiration, and regard for/.heir guest. During the somewhat gloomy months Ife spent at Lausanne he was always encouraged and solaced by the knowledge that there was a man al Constantinople upon whom he could rely .to sustain his part in the common task in which they were involved. That task was a difficult and delicate one, and tlie fact that by common consent Sir Charles Harington was elevated to the ,positio,n of Cominander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces Was in itself the greatest tribute to h'i s gifts of tact and conciliation. He maintained week by week the most friendly relations with colleagues, the instructions received by whom were often diametrically opposite to those he (Lord Cu* zon) was sending him: It was a situation in which a false move might have plunged this country into war. His qualities of diplomacy were, • indeed, remarkable, because while he was Com-mander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces he' had to deal at the same time ,day by day, .in circumstances which required the utmost gifts of diplomatic skill, with the High Commissioners''of Constantinople, the representatives of the Turkish Government, and with those Turkish, officers and officials whom he met. DIPLOMAT OF THE FIRST ORDER, "1 can assure you that my task at Lausanne was rendered infinitely easier b> the part played at Mudania by Sir Charles, Harington, and by the consciousness that there was someone at Constantinople' who had the confidence of all the Turkish officials with whom I was called upon to deal." It was popularly supposed that a soldier could not be a successful; diplomat. He thought the reverse' of that was true. He shuddered at the idea, of a1 diplomat turning soljdier, and still more he shuddered^—not without some reminiscences of the past—at the position Wjhere a' politician tried to "make himself a general. (Laughter.) Sir Charles took .to diplomacy like a duck to water, and at the moment of crisis showed himself to be a diplomat of the first order. . But for his wise and cautious action this coutry might have .been plunged into ■irretrievable disaster. . . Lord Curzon proceeded to pay a tribute- to the fortitode and patience of the men 'under Sir Charles Harington's command. "In the glorious pages of the British Army," he said, "I know (i no factor more honourable and more significant than the conduct of the British troops in Constantinople in the last, few years. Sir Charles," he added, "was a man for whom they anticipated, and had a right to demand, a distinguished -place in the future." KEEPING HIS HEAD AND TEMPEJi. Sir Charles Harington, in reply,>"described himself as one of those who believed that serving soldiers must never make speeches or write books. Ha had seen in the paper the other day tiiat he waa an equally good speaker and soldier. He could think of no more crushing blow. He claimed nothing .whatever for the little he had done, except that he had tried to keep his head and his temper, and he was paid to do both those things. He had been depicted at times as an officer who had rushed into politics, who had mixed himself in business which was not his own. and who had made wars in order to end them, who had been pro-Greek at one moment and pro-Turk at another. All those things were totally untrue. He went out-as a British soldier, and he had returned as a British soldier. The only way to gain the respect of the people amongst those various nations was to be exactly the same to every one, and they had proved themselves absolutely neutral. He felt sure Lord Curzon would bear him out when he said he had never given one opinion on policy in his life. He knew nothing about it; it was not his job. His Eole job was to keep law and order amongst those many nations. All the stuff that was talked about disobeving orders, and that sort of thing, to" his mind was pure rubbish. The soldier was merely the servant of the Government, and ha knew'he had the confiderlce of those at Home., AN UNPUBLISHED SPEECH, Referring to Chanak and the Mudania Conference, Sir Charles said it was a near thing, but there were three factors in the probleml The greatest factor was Lord Curzon himself in Paris; the next was the splendid body of reinforcements sent to him; and the other was the friendship he formed, after the fifth day at Mudania with General Ismet Pasha. It was quite safe to say that, difficult as Ismet Pasha was, deaf as he was, and deafer than lib really was—(laughter)— they made great friends. Ismet Pasha had never gone back on him in any single thing he had asked him from that day to this. So near did he think we were to trouble, that he went up to Constantinople in order to make arrangements lor the coming war, and, on the

actual way down he -wrote a speech which he was going to deliver when the Turks had broken off the conference, so certain was he that they would not agree. He still had that speech. During all that time in Constantinople no ons had ever more loyal support than he had from the French and Italian commanders—Generals Charpy and Mombelli. The evacuation was a clean business, but it could never have been carried out as it was but for the great Help they received from the Home authorities. The last thing he received after embarking was a private letter from' General Ismet Pasha, telling him that what they really wanted' was the friendship of England. He was perfectly confident, that the best British—the good; honest British traders in , Constsntiri; ' ople—would be perfectly all* right. j There were some few bad British men, who would be better out of' the' ■way." He would say in future to Government servants and to the British who .went there that if they could gain the respect of the Turks business would be all right. GALLIPOLI GRAVES SAFE. Sir Charles went on to pay a trfoute to the humanity of our fighting service, and the great work they did for the refugees. The way they turned to the work of looking after the women and babies was very wonderful. It was necessary to stop the soldiers giving' up" so much of their food, as they.."were" riotgetting enough, for, themselves. That work was done oil the threshhold %t where Florence Nightingale- did her great work. The three services work-, ed together like brothers. They were all one family, and the co-operation'would have far-reaching effects in our services in the future. Finally, the speaker referred 'to "Sir James Allen's trip to Gallipoli." He was able to assure Sir James, he said,'and his audience generally that all the graves and cemeteries left behind in Qallipoh were beautiful, and would bewell cared for. It was his firm opinion they would never be in -any danger from" the lurk.