Note 15 — Chapter II · THE INCEPTION
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“I suppose that upon no man in our history has a heavier burden fallen than fell upon him, and nothing in connection with this Report—it may be no imputation upon anybody connected with the Report itself—has filled me with more indignation and disgust than that the publication of the criticisms made in it of Lord Kitchener’s conduct and capacity should have been taken advantage of by those who only two years ago were in a posture of almost slavish adulation to belittle his character, and, so far as they can, to defile his memory. Lord Kitchener’s memory is in no danger. It lives, and will live, in the gratitude and admiration of the British people and of the whole Empire.”—Mr. Asquith, Speech in the House of Commons, March 20, 1917 (Hansard, 1748).