The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY. JUNE 18, 1931 SIR JOHN FRENCH, EARL OF YPRES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 142, 18 June 1931, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY. JUNE 18, 1931 SIR JOHN FRENCH, EARL OF YPRES

’yilOSE who undertake to pubish biographies ol.’ prominent personages should first ask themselves whether they are competent to fulfil the task. The writer of a biography should be in a position of sympathetic detachment. lie should be sympathetic towards his subject, in order to appreciate the qualities of the man of whom he writes on the ground that a. man is better judged by his friends than by his enemies. But this does not mean that nearness in association, or in affection, is the only qualification. Detachment, in the sense that one can stand off the subject in its relationship to others is just as essential, ft is this quality which is evidently lacking in Major the Hon. Gerald French in his biography of his late father the Earl of Ypres. The Times’ review of this book is not pleasant reading. It runs thus: ‘‘For 1915 very long extracts from a very dull diary are quoted. It gives very little clue to the operations or to the working's of the diarist’s mind. Some of the entries show that he had hardly a full comprehension of the situation. One made during the second battle of Ypres requires notice. It describes Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s attitude as “pessimistic’’ and “a certain letter he wrote to the C.G.S. as ‘full of contradictions and altogether bewildering.’ The letter is printed in full in the Official History of the War, and those who care to look it up will see that it is a plain logical statement. It was not the fault of the writer of the letter that the Commander-in-Chief was bewildered. The attempts in the book to belittle not only the General in question, but Lord Kitchener, Lord Haig and others can only be excused on the ground of filial affection.’’ This is, indeed, sorry reading. It reduces General French's mana much lower than even the facts warrant. The world remembers the Earl of Ypres with kindliness. His brilliant work as a leader of cavalry still stands green in men’s minds, his courage, his courtesy and his consideration for his troops proclaimed the man he was. But when he went to the Western Front lie was no longer a man in middle life, he was long past his meridian. The task was of a complexity and such overwhelming responsibility that it was unfair to place so great a .strain on ageing shoulders. That he was relieved of so onerous a responsibility was no disgrace to him, but to make this great crisis of his life the occasion for other than fitting memories is a disservice to the Earl of Ypres himself. Biographers should remember that other people possess pens and material too, and it is hardly possible to proclaim a false, estimate of any of the recent actors upon the stage of the world without the falsity being revealed. Those who desire to pay public tribute to their revered relatives might well entrust the work of erecting a literary monument to Jess partial, but on that account, more capable hands.