Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/44/1 - May - June 1916 - Part 5

64                   41

about looking at the shells
bursting round aeroplanes in
the blue sky making it mottled
with a hundred little fleecy
shrapnel clouds - & waited
for about an hour & a half -
before there was a rustle of
gravel up the dark drive &
Billy Hughes & Fisher drove up
with an Aide de Camp of Gen. 
Haig's.
The first thing Billy did on
alighting was to jump onto me
for not having written to him &
not visiting him when I was in 
London. Goodness knows I was
rushed enough, but I ought to
have done it - & he is clearly 
hurt - much more than I
thought he wd have been.
Fisher said to me straight
away: “Well, have you got it?"

64                    42

I sd "What?" " Your thing - 
your camera - they said they'd
write along & tell you headquarters
here to let you have your 
camera." I said I had had
no letter. "Well its disgusting!"
said Fisher "disgusting! Theyre
jut fooling us - Its disgusting
tt they cant treat us / same
way as Canada." He's a 
real straight good friend - 
is Fisher - & a sincere friend
of mine now. But he is too
hot headed & - it makes him
tackle his objectives in the wrong 
way. He becomes indignant
at the first obstacle & gets peoples
backs up. He feels strongly, too,
that he has not / power wh
he had as a Prime Minister; that
Hughes is the power - & people will
not act for the High Commissioner.

^x I shd have sd "truer to his convictns."
He ws not stronger in them than Hughes.

64                    43
It is typical of England that
Reid, who was always a humbug
but a rather wise one, had
far more influence - & still has
more - than Fisher who is straight
& sincere, & really far the more 
sincere Australian of / two.
Fisher is a man of strong morals,
more scrupulous than Hughes,
and stronger in his convictions ^X;
[*^x I shd have sd "truer to his convictions". 
He was not stronger in them than Hughes.*]
Reid has little in the way of
morals  - a man who never
had a friend because he was
always a selfish man; a
man who had a terrible
handicap in his wife - poor
old chap; that enough to
make any man unstable
- but as unstable ^{^}a man as
ever there was - Fisher is a 
clean wholesome gentleman, for
all his miner's birth.

64                     44
And then there comes this
little genius Hughes; a man
of stronger morals than Reid, &
less than Fisher; a statesman
of some foresight, I think;
perhaps a man of one idea.
Anyway his one idea now is
to beat Germany - hip & thigh; 
to fight her & organise agst
her not for now / present, merely,
but for / trade rivalry tt
will follow / war. He has
no idea of compromise - wh
I am sure British statesmen
have in / back of their heads
(Asquith of course is also like
most o / others obsessed
w / conviction tt he
knows what is good for
/ people better than / people
themselves - They do not
take / people into their confidence.

64                    45

They are / higher
direction who have their own
ideas abt / present & future,
& give to / people only what
they think / people can stand;
not my idea o /  way / British
race ought to be handled, but
/ way of the snobbery of
statesmanship - wh is / class
to wh Asquith belongs). Hughes
has been fighting. This party
(wh pretends to fight Germany
to / end o with no reservations - but
does make reservations 
really) - tooth & nail.
He is up agst / Govt (I suppose
it is for tt same reason
tt they have cut out my
article pras telling Britain
what is / true outlook -tt /
next great offensive may
not succeed & she must

46
It seems to me that I take away a
lot of people's characters in this diary,
- & leave my own. God knows it's
weak enough - jealous, self-centred,
only moderately clean - & that
sometimes I think, xx ^{^}that if it is clean, this is more because
it fears public opinion than for
any love of healthiness. However,
as far as Reid goes, I think I have
somewhere else written all that was
to be said on both for & against him.
He did a great work for Australia
when first he went to Britain &
established the High Commissionership
very high; in spite of all his defects
he was a wise man - in public pr I do not think he
made one unwise speech in all the
thousands he made in Britain. But in

64                          47
[*character he was a poor thing beside a man like Fisher.*]
organise, organise,
organise if she wants to 
avoid an unsatisfactory
peace.) I asked those who
were with Hughes if he 
really ws up agst / British
Govt - & they sd tt he was,
almost openly. The irreconcilable; 
they - reconcilable,
tho' / people dont know it. That
is to say - he is prepared to
cut thro' vested interests
in order to win / war;
they are not - they are not
ready to disturb / order of
things tt at present exists.
Little Hughes ws looking
rather white & worn - 14
speeches in / Midlands in
4 days. Murdoch is one
of those who want him to 
resign his Australian office

64                       48

& enter / British Parliament.
He has / ear of / British
people at / moment
more than any other man.
But he wont do it - &
he's right. He's going back
on the 20^th of this month
& may not even attend /
Paris commercial conference.
He was dressed in
grey tweeds, with new brown
riding gaiters & a grey felt
hat. Fisher was in a white 
or cream alpaca coat - not
at all / ordinary wear for 
a high official. He is
whiter but he stands straight,
and looks / straight fine man 
he is. They went inside
- Hughes had a cup of tea,
instead of the wine tt had been
got ready for him; & then

64                      49

off they went & we after
them to inspect some troops.
The motors hummed down
a mile & a half of dusty
lanes - between / hedges.
Then we alighted & in between
some farm buildings to
a ^{^}large green field in wh
was drawn up a brigade.
It was the first
Australian Infantry Bde -
the same tt took Lone Pine;
& by Heavens but they
looked splendid - I have
never seen them look better -
strapping straight bronzed
men with their officers standing
in front of them - men who
went thro Lone Pine, Little Howell
Price ws there (why do I
call him little - only because
he was / junior subaltern

64                      50

when they left Kensington)
in front of the 3rd - as their
Colonel. Their drill was
as good as you cd wish
to see -
Hughes inspected them &
then saw a waggon under
an apple tree from wh
he was clearly meant to
address them. As I 
came up he was saying in a
^{^}most audible aside to Shepherd "Well Im
not going to say anything"
- but they calmed him
down - Birdie did it very
prettily as if he was talking
to a tired little woman -
Birdie got up on / waggon
himself first, & told /
men tt Hughes was tired after
his great efforts, and ill,
and cd only say a few words;

64                        51

& then Hughes spoke.
He sd: Gen. Birdwood, Gen. Smythe,
officers & men of / First Brigade -
I wd be very glad if opportunity offered
for me to speak to you at greater length
than I can today. But I thought tt you
wd not mind if I sd just a few
word or two to you by way of greeting
on behalf of Australia, & told you
how very much Australia has appreciated
& appreciates what you have done,
what you are doing, & what
you are going to do. I think
no man who calls himself an
Australian & stands on this -
whatever it is here, that I am
standing on - & looks round &
sees the members of this expeditionary 
force, must feel himself
proud to be a fellow countryman
of theirs. I know I do. And though
I don't wish to boost you up