It only remains to be said that news was received
on Friday morning that Lord Methuen had been released and sent into Klerksdorp, and that his wound was doing well. We have expressed elsewhere the pride and admiration which the whole country feels for Lord Methuen's character as a man and as a soldier. It has been said, indeed, that at this moment Lord Methuen is the most popular man in England. Certainly he is the man for whom the country just now feels most warmly. His misfortunes only make his great and ungrudging services to his country shine the brighter. We have made certain general criticisms on the system of fighting to which Lord Methuen owed his disaster, but that does not affect, our judgment of his high character. We may add that though the Press, owing partly to the fact that Lord Methuen was RO well known, and was so heroic a figure because of his devotion to the task he had been given to perform, gave rather too much prominence to the disaster, and exaggerated its importance, the reception of the news was, on the whole, most creditable to the British people. They only set their teeth the harder.
