I shall now come to the circumstances which have led to the present
military position. It is very difficult at this time to present a clear,
connected, and reliable narrative of what happened. There has been a
great battle on a front of fifty miles--the greatest battle ever fought
in the history of the world. Enormous forces have been engaged; there
was a considerable retirement on the part of the British forces, and
under these conditions it is not always easy for some time to ascertain
what actually happened.
The House will recollect the difficulty we experienced with regard to
Cambrai. It was difficult to piece together the story of the event for
some time, and Cambrai was a very trivial event compared with this
gigantic battle.
The Generals and their staffs are, naturally, engaged and have to
concentrate their attention upon the operations of the enemy, and until
the strain relaxes it would be very difficult to institute the necessary
inquiries to find out exactly what happened, and to furnish an adequate
explanation of the battle.
However, there are two or three facts which stand out, and in stating
them I should like to call attention to two things which I think above
all must be avoided. The first is that nothing should be said which
could give information to the enemy; nothing should be said which would
give encouragement to the enemy, and nothing should be said which would
give discouragement to our own troops, who are fighting so gallantly at
this very hour. And the second question is that all recrimination at
this hour must be shut out.