Also I still maintain that Smith-Dorrien and Plumer should be the 2nd and 3rd Military Members, and perhaps one young distinguished Indian Officer as 4th Military Lord. Haig, Inspector-General of Cavalry in India, should be brought home as the principal Director under _2nd Military Lord_. We must have youth and enthusiasm, because it is only by the agency of young and enthusiastic believers in the immense revolution which must be carried out, that our scheme can bear fruit. The first thing of all is that every one of the “old gang” must be cleared out! “lock, stock, and gunbarrel, bob and sinker!” The next is that every one of the new men _must be successful men_, and must be young and enthusiastic and cordial supporters of the new policy--over every fellow’s door at the War Office under the new régime has got to be written in large letters:-- “No looking back. Remember Lot’s wife!” * * * * * 1904. (No date.) The next pressing and important matter we have to deal with is _to get the right men as Members of the new Army Council_. Either you or Clarke have made a splendid observation that a rotten system may be run effectively by good men but duffers would spoil the work of the Angel Gabriel!... _If we don’t get in men who will enthusiastically adopt our scheme and work with us_, LET US THROW UP AT ONCE! as we shall only have an awful fiasco and I (for one) don’t want to go down with my grey hairs to the grave sorrowing and discredited! Therefore I suggest to you that we should agree on our men and _run them at once!_ Like fighting the French Fleet! it’s half the battle gained to take the offensive, propose our men, give their advantages and ask them (our enemies) what they have to say against them and suggest every beastly thing we can against any likely competitors--Selection by Disparagement! I put forward names in enclosed paper simply as a basis. 1st Military Member--_Sir John French_, because he never failed in Africa (the grave of Military Reputations). He is _young_ and _energetic_, has commanded the 1st Army Corps so far with conspicuous success and has the _splendid gift_ of choosing the right men to work with him (_vide_ his Staff in S. Africa, the best Staff out there) and as 1st Military Lord it would be his special function to prepare the Army in the Field for fighting, and who therefore better to command it when war breaks out, as his functions then at the War Office would disappear and be transferred to the Commander-in-Chief at the seat of war--Further, he is an enthusiastic and out-and-out believer in joint Naval and Military operations as the proper species of manœuvres for this Nation. In this belief he is almost solitary amongst all the Generals, who all want to play at the German Army. “_Plump for French and Efficiency!” Any vote given against French is a vote given for Kelly-Kenny instead!_