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The Cabinet Minister and Administration: A. J. Balfour and Sir Edward Carson at the Admiralty, 1915–171
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
When the Asquith Coalition Government took office in May, 1915, the new First Lord of the Admiralty was Mr. Arthur James Balfour. His appointment to that particular position at that time was due to a number of influences, among which political exigency was by no means the least important. In the Cabinet reconstruction, Asquith had insisted that Grey at the Foreign Office and Kitchener at the War Office were not to be changed, and these reservations materially lessened the higher Cabinet posts which were available for prominent Conservatives. As a result of this delicate weighing of leaders and offices, Balfour became the most obvious choice for the Admiralty, a position for which he was well qualified on at least two other grounds. He not only held a seat in the Commons, but his experience as an unofficial consultant and member of the War Council during the previous seven months had given him a more comprehensive knowledge of the problems of the fighting services than any of his Conservative colleagues. The suitability of his appointment, moreover, was endorsed by his predecessor, Mr. Churchill, who suggested that inasmuch as Balfour had recently been in unusually close touch with events at the Admiralty, he could take over its duties with very little break in the continuity of the administration.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 1943 , pp. 1 - 38
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1943
Footnotes
1
This article continues the history of the First Lords of the Admiralty which was begun by “The Cabinet Minister and Administration: Winston S. Churchill at the Admiralty, 1911-15” in the Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. VI, Aug., 1940, pp. 325-58.
References
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26 Sir J. J. Thompson, Sir Charles Parsons, Sir George Beilby, and many other associates of similar achievements.
27 The three First Lords were Mr. Balfour, Sir Edward Carson, and Sir Eric Geddes.
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36 The communiqué on the battle of Jutland ran as follows: “On the afternoon of Wednesday May 31st a naval engagement took place off the coast of Jutland. The British ships on which the brunt of the fighting fell were the Battle Cruiser Fleet, and some cruisers and light cruisers supported by four fast battleships. Among those the losses were heavy. The German Battle Fleet, aided by low visibility, avoided prolonged action with our main forces, and soon after these appeared on the scene, the enemy returned to port, though not before receiving severe damage from our battleships. The Battle Cruisers, Queen Mary, Indefatigable, Invincible, and the Cruisers Defence and Black Prince were sunk. The Warrior was disabled, and after being towed for some time had to be abandoned by her crew. It is also known that the destroyers Tipperary, Turbulent, Fortune, Sparrowhawk and Ardent were lost, and six others are not yet accounted for. No British battleships or light cruisers were sunk. The enemy's losses were serious. At least one battle cruiser was destroyed, and one severely damaged; one battleship reported sunk by our destroyers during a night attack, two light cruisers were disabled and probably sunk. The exact number of enemy destroyers disposed of during the action cannot be ascertained with any certainty, but it must have been large” ( Dugdale, , Arthur James Balfour, vol. II, pp. 160–1).Google Scholar
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38 Churchill, Winston S., Great Contemporaries (London, 1937), p. 251.Google Scholar “For a long time,” Churchill writes, “this was accounted to him as a virtue. But the newspapers won in the end. … At length he was scolded for not keeping in touch with public opinion; in the end he had to read the newspapers; but he read them as little as he could.”
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52 Ibid., vol. I, pp. 497-513, 519; vol. II, pp. 980-3, 1017-21. Mr. Lloyd George has stated that he intended to place Sir Edward Carson in the War Cabinet, but Conservative opposition induced him to drop it for the time (ibid., vol. III, p. 1077).
53 Ibid., vol. II, p. 1020.
54 Colvin, I., The Life of Lord Carson (New York, 1937), vol. III, p. 217.Google Scholar
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56 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 218-21; Jellicoe, , The Crisis of the Naval War, p. 7.Google Scholar
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60 The desire to maintain the prestige of the Admiralty and, to a somewhat lesser degree, that of the political leaders concerned make the various accounts of this struggle not entirely unbiased. The versions given by Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Lloyd George, however, seem to be substantially correct. They are almost identical; and while Mr. Lloyd George is clearly pleading his own case, the same accusation cannot be brought against Mr. Churchill who for some time sided with the Admiralty on the convoy question [cf. The World Crisis, vol. IV, p. 365].Google Scholar These accounts are also confirmed in many vital respects by other authorities. Lord Jellicoe's interpretation is not likely to win many converts; for the evidence is overwhelmingly against him, and his attempt in The Submarine Peril (London, 1934)Google Scholar to fill the awkward gaps which appeared in an earlier account is unconvincing and still leaves many facts unnoticed and unexplained. The three-volume biography of Lord Carson is not an impressive work on any count, save size, and its obvious hero-worship does not give the best approach to controversial material. The Official History of the War (Naval Operations) despite its caution, poor presentation, and tendency to give the Admiralty and Earl Jellicoe the benefit of many doubts, tells a revealing story, which substantiates virtually everything stated by Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill. The latter, who knows his Admiralty and the way of a department with an official historian, comments; “The book is not an inspiring book … it is the composite work of different hands. The able historian has evidently had to submit his chapters to authorities and departments; and important personages in the story have clearly applied their pruning knives and ink-erasers with no timid hand. The result is a sort of official amalgam which seems to be neither a plain, fearless narrative nor a fair and searching analytical examination of the great disputes. … No part of the Official History is written with more circumspection than the account of the conflict between the War Cabinet and the Admiralty upon the adoption of the convoy system. A layman might read these pages attentively and remain quite unconscious of its intensity, or indeed of what actually happened. All the main essential facts are stated, but they are stated with such a studied absence of emphasis, and often in so inverted a sequence, that the conclusion to which they remorselessly point is hidden. It is only when we decipher the cryptogram by the key of chronology that the truth—to many the unwelcome truth—emerges” ( Thoughts and Adventures, London, 1932, pp. 123, 132–3).Google Scholar
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65 Ibid., vol. V, p. 5.
66 Ibid., vol. IV, pp. 325-33.
67 Twenty-five German submarines, mostly of the small type, were destroyed within the year from all causes (ibid., vol. IV, p. 351 n.).
68 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, pp. 1133–4Google Scholar; Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. IV, p. 337.Google Scholar
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74 Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. IV, p. 234 Google Scholar; Churchill, , The World Crisis, vol. IV, p. 364 Google Scholar; Churchill, , Thoughts and Adventures, p. 134 Google Scholar; George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, pp. 1143, 1173–5.Google Scholar
75 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 1150-1.
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77 Ibid., vol. III, p. 252.
78 Colonel (now Lord) Hankey's part in securing the convoys was very great indeed; for he supplied the Cabinet Ministers with most of their ammunition and continually pressed for the adoption of the convoy system. See Lord Riddell's War Diary (London, 1933), p. 351 Google Scholar; Churchill, , Thoughts and Adventures, p. 131.Google Scholar
79 Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. V, pp. 10–15 Google Scholar; George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. II, pp. 1151–4.Google Scholar Material for this memorandum was apparently obtained in part from junior officers of the Admiralty staff ( Churchill, , Thoughts and Adventures, p. 134).Google Scholar
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82 Ibid., vol. Ill, pp. 1145, 1157-8. Mr. Lloyd George states that the meeting was held without notifying the Shipping Controller, and suggests that these captains were to some degree, at least, a picked and not a representative group, and that Admiral Jellicoe probably overstressed the difficulties of sailing in convoy. There is apparently little confirmation elsewhere of these two latter suggestions; indeed, Admiral Sims states that all the merchant masters that had any contact with the naval officers were openly hostile to convoys ( Sims, W. S., The Victory at Sea, London, 1920, p. 90).Google Scholar But Admiral Jellicoe does suggest that ships in a convoy “should be handled in a manner that approached the handling of battleships in a squadron” ( Jellicoe, , The Crisis of the Naval War, pp. 105–6).Google Scholar
83 Jellicoe, , The Crisis of the Naval War, pp. 109–10, 119–21Google Scholar; Jellicoe, , The Submarine Peril, p. 123 Google Scholar; Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. IV, pp. 382–3Google Scholar; ibid., vol. V, pp. 15, 27-9; Fayle, , Seaborne Trade, vol. III, pp. 99–100, 149 Google Scholar; George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, pp. 1155–8.Google Scholar
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85 Ibid., vol. V, p. 15.
86 Earl Jellicoe later denied that Admiral Beatty's comments constituted an approval of a general convoy system, and stated that they applied only to the Scandinavian trade ( Jellicoe, , The Submarine Peril, p. 104n).Google Scholar This is not the interpretation of the Official History nor of Mr. Lloyd George (see George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, p. 1158 Google Scholar; Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. IV, pp. 382–3).Google Scholar
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88 Ibid., vol. IV, pp. 382-3.
89 Sims, , The Victory at Sea, p. 7.Google Scholar Admiral Jellicoe later denied that he had told Admiral Sims that there was absolutely no solution for the submarine problem. “What I did say was that the counter measures being devised could not be immediately successful as time was required for their production” (The Submarine Peril, pp. 70–1).Google Scholar Admiral Sims, however, had recorded two things: Jellicoe's exact words, and the general impression he had made on his hearer. Admiral Jellicoe repudiated the first; but his denial scarcely affects the truth of the second, which was no less important. Moreover, Admiral Sims' account is confirmed by a letter from General Robertson to Sir Douglas Haig, dated April 28: “The situation at sea is very serious indeed. It has never been so bad as at present, and Jellicoe almost daily announces it to be hopeless” ( Cooper, Duff, Haig, Toronto, 1926, vol. II, p. 101 Google Scholar; cf. also p. 123).
90 See, for example, the confusing statement of SirCarson, Edward to the House of Commons, British House of Commons Debates, 02 21, 1917, pp. 1361–3.Google Scholar
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99 Ibid., vol. IV, p. 380.
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110 Admiral Jellicoe in later years added this postcript to his story: “It has frequently been erroneously stated that the Admiralty decision in this matter was the result of pressure brought to bear on the Admiralty from the War Cabinet and civilian quarters. Possibly this idea has arisen from the proceedings of the War Cabinet on April 25, but it is quite incorrect. The views of experienced naval officers on a technical question involving the gravest responsibility could not possibly be affected by outside opinion, however high the quarter from which that opinion emanated” (The Submarine Peril, pp. 130-1). Great and strange, indeed, are the coincidences in this capricious world!
111 Fayle, , Seaborne Trade, vol. III, pp. 137, 187–8, 465.Google Scholar
112 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 133-7.
113 Ibid., vol. III, p. 133.
114 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 132-6; infra, pp. 36-7.
115 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 132-4.
116 Supra, p. 18.
117 Supra, p. 23.
118 Colvin, , The Life of Lord Carson, vol. III, pp. 251–64.Google Scholar
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123 Ibid., vol. III, p. 1180.
124 Aikin, Charles, “The British Bureaucracy and the Origins of Parliamentary Policy” (American Political Science Review, vol. XXXIII, 02, 1939, p. 39).Google Scholar
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127 Dugdale, , Arthur James Balfour, vol. II, p. 147.Google Scholar
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129 Cf. Dawson, , “Winston S. Churchill at the Admiralty, 1911-15,” pp. 325–9.Google Scholar
130 Sir Henry Wilson's diary will furnish innumerable illustrations; the pages are as smug and outspoken as they are revealing ( SirCallwell, C. E., Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, London, 1927).Google Scholar
131 The emergence of so extreme an iconoclast and individualist as Lord Fisher as head of the navy is not without its significance.
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134 Ibid., vol. III, pp. 1170-1.
135 Ibid., vol. III, p. 1171.
136 Ibid., vol. III, p. 1172. For early examples, see Edwards, J. H., David Lloyd George (New York, 1929), vol. I, pp. 290–1, 304–5.Google Scholar
137 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. I, pp. 150–61, 199–212 Google Scholar; vol. II, pp. 550-7; vol. Ill, pp. 1173-4. Cf. supra, p. 18n.
138 Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. IV, p. 382.Google Scholar Admiral Sims later stated he had believed in convoys from the beginning (The Victory at Sea, p. 93).
139 ln the dispute over convoys the Ministers knew what they wanted to do, and they pressed their case against official opposition with whatever expert assistance they could muster. Mr. Lloyd George did the same thing later in the war when he asked the opinion of Lord French and Sir Henry Wilson in order to strengthen his argument against Sir Douglas Haig and Sir William Robertson ( George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. IV, London, 1934, p. 2367).Google Scholar The more difficult situation, which is not discussed here, is where the experts are evenly divided on a question, and the Minister must somehow decide between them.
140 Jellicoe, , The Submarine Peril, p. 36n.Google Scholar; Colvin, . The Life of Lord Carson, vol. III, p. 262.Google Scholar
141 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, p. 1172.Google Scholar
142 Supra, p. 22.
143 Newbolt, , Naval Operations, vol. V, p. 10.Google Scholar
144 American help undoubtedly enabled a much more extensive convoy system to be established. There seems, however, to be no doubt but that a very large part of the sailings could have been protected by the British forces without any American assistance of any kind. In the elaborate convoy service that was eventually set up the United States Navy apparently furnished over twenty-five per cent of the escorting ships. See Churchill, , The World Crisis, vol. IV, p. 367 Google Scholar, and Sims, , The Victory at Sea, pp. 94–5.Google Scholar
145 Cf. Mr. Balfour's statement of this point ( Dugdale, , Arthur James Balfour, vol. II, pp. 237–8).Google Scholar
146 Churchill, , The World Crisis, vol. III, pp. 113–14.Google Scholar Cf. ibid., vol. I, pp. 482-3; vol. II, pp. 118-19, 313-14.
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148 Admiral Jellicoe, for example, quotes with approval Admiral Sims as saying: “We must keep in mind that at no time until the Armistice was signed was any escort force strong enough to ensure entire safety” ( Jellicoe, , The Submarine Peril, p. 116).Google Scholar How generous a margin “entire safety” would demand, would appear to be a difficult if not insoluble problem.
149 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, p. 1166.Google Scholar
150 Ibid., vol. III, p. 1167.
151 The quotation is not from Lord Jellicoe, but from the Official History, ( Fayle, , Seaborne Trade, vol. III, p. 132).Google Scholar
152 Ibid., vol. III, p. 137.
153 The destroyer force had been built up to this figure by the early spring of 1917 “although, of course, it fell far short of requirements in earlier months” ( Jellicoe, , The Crisis of the Naval War, p. 114).Google Scholar
154 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, pp. 1167–8.Google Scholar
155 It broke up, however, over a difference of opinion between the First Lord and the First Sea Lord (cf. Dawson, , “Winston S. Churchill at the Admiralty,” pp. 344–56).Google Scholar
156 George, Lloyd, War Memoirs, vol. III, p. 1169.Google Scholar