In the House of Lords, during the debate on the
Address, Lord Curzon took occasion to declare that at the Versailles Conference " both Sir Douglas Haig and Sir William Robertson were present at all the meetings of the Council and took part in the deliberations." The official statement published on the 4th inst. had said that the two Generals, with General Foch, General Main, and others, were " present for the greater part of the purely military discussions," but its careful differentiation between the military representatives on the Council on the one hand and the Chiefs of the General Staffs and the Commanders-in-Chidl on the other -is apparently contradicted by Lord Curzon's speech. He was more explicit than the Prime Minister in regard to the Council's new powers. He said that, as there must be greater concentration of effort and more unity of action so as to use the Allied forces to the fullest extent, the military representatives at Versailles would be invested with greater powers as time went on. They would not always have time to consult their Governments before acting. Versailles would, that is, give orders without r eference to Whitehall.
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