ABSTRACT
Kitchener's party left London on June 4th. Fitzgerald, Kitchener's wise counsellor and friend, whom he saw the day before their departure, was less enthusiastic than usual, but he was perhaps anxious about Kitchener's position in London during his absence. After the appointment of Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff Kitchener's position necessarily diminished in importance. Neither Kitchener nor Robertson believed theoretically in the system under which the Chief of the Imperial General Staff with these powers had above him a soldier as Secretary of State. The circumstances in which Kitchener came to start on this ill-starred voyage can be narrated very shortly. Credits granted in the previous September had become exhausted, yet huge demands were being received for further supplies, both from this country and America. After the appointment of Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff Kitchener's position necessarily diminished in importance.
