The letters published in our correspondence columns show that Mr.
Churchill to a very considerable extent misled us in regard to the question of servants at the front, and we apologize both to them and to their officers.. We ought, of course, to have been on our guard, but as his statement was so positive, and as he had only just come from the trenches and from the command of an infantry unit, it seemed unjust to refuse to accept the statement merely because it was made by the Member for Dundee. It is another proof that it is far more important te consider the personal equation than the details. There is a story of Gladstone jumping to his feet in the House of Commons and vehemently denying a positive statement made by Bothell (later Lord Westbury) upon a very technical point of law which came in conveniently for Bethell's argument. It turned out that Mr. Gladstone's denial was correct "How completely you smashed Bethell I " said an admirer ; "but how did you know he was in error 7" "I didn't," replied Mr. Gladstone, "but I knew my man!" We knew our man, and therefore we have no excuse for having been misled by him. But though we were misled by Mr. Churchill as to the servants of officers in the trenches, we maintain that there are still too many inactive or sterilized soldiers at the front, and that careful combing out would probably raise a new division.
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