The accounts of the surrender are still very meagre, but
the report of the correspondent of the Star, who visited the field, te.ems to show that about twenty officers and men were killed outright, about one hundred wounded, and something under nine hundred were sent as prisoners to Pretoria. In all our fighting force was diminished by about one thousand men. As we have said elsewhere, the reverse at Nicholson's Nek must not be regarded from the military point of view as a disaster of the first magnitude. It is to be deeply deplored on account of the suffering, moral far more than physical, en- dured by the brave men who were obliged to surrender, but it cannot affect the main course of the war. We have dealt elsewhere with some of the military questions raised by the disaster, but will only say here that Sir George White has shown both moral fortitude and magnanimity, and that his conduct must not be judged till we know all the facts. It remains to be said that the country at large, our public men of all shades of opinion, from Lord Rosebery to Lord
Selborne, and the whole Press have taken the reverse in the best possible spirit. There has been fair criticism, but there has been neither hysteria nor recrimination. In truth, our people never show better than at the moment of a public disaster.
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