The Times of Wednesday published a long letter from Mr.
Aehmead-Bartlett criticizing Mr. Churchill's recent apologia for the Dardanelles adventure. Mr. Ashmead- Bartlett, whether he be right or wrong, states his case with remarkable ability. He asserts that the attempt to force the Dardanelles by ships alone was undertaken without know- ledge as to what new guns the Turks had, whether stationary or mobile; bow far German gunners bad replaced Turks; and what minefields and land torpedo-tubes there were. Nor was there a policy as to what should be done if the ships succeeded in reaching Constantinople. Suppose Constanti- nople had declined to surrender at once. What then? The Narrows would still lie behind the ships. When the opera.. timid were begun it was found (1) that naval guns, however large, with a flat trajectory, had little effect on fortifications— Liege and Namur were, of course, blown to pieces by the dropping shots of howitzers—and (2) that the minefields could not be swept as they were too close under the Turkish guns.
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