The "Khaki" election of the previous autumn, at which the Government had appealed to the country to decide the issue of fighting the war to a finish, had resulted in the return of the Unionists by a majority of 134, but did not abate the activities of the "Stop the War" party. They were stimulated to further and more vehement protests by the policy of the Concentration Camps, and the loss of life through epidemics caused by the compulsory herding together of those who were interned. Between the denunciations of British "brutalities" by the German Press and the talk of "hecatombs of slaughtered babes" by British Liberals--between "candid friends" and hostile critics--there was not much to choose. _Punch_ invoked the shade of Bismarck to rebuke the excesses of the German journalists; he ridiculed Miss Emily Hobhouse's descriptions of Concentration Camp horrors by giving a list of the luxuries which were not provided there--hairpins, curling-tongs, etc.--and in a cartoon at the close of the year represented the "Stop the War" group as making such a noise that Peace's voice could not be heard. Cleavage was shown in the ranks of the Opposition, and _Punch_ did not fail to emphasize the divergences between Mr. Asquith and the Imperialist Liberals on the one side, and "C.-B." and Sir William Harcourt on the other. General Baden-Powell arrived in England in July, and _Punch's_ greeting aptly describes his mood and that of the man in the street:-- Time has flown; but not forgotten is the tale of Mafeking! Who that lived that Day in London could forget its echoing ring? How the Town broke into bunting, Piccadilly to Mile End! How each man for joy saluted every other man as friend! How we crowded to the city in an orgy of delight, Tumbled out of bed for gladness, waving Union Jacks all night! Even if we overdid it after deadening suspense, Better this than anti-British Queen's Hall windbags' insolence! Though we later coined a playful word, our soberer sense to show, I would rather "maffick" daily than abet a treacherous foe! In the controversies that arose over the treatment of various British generals, I may note that _Punch_ supported the motion for an inquiry into the circumstances under which General Colvile was deprived of his command, which was negatived in the House by 262 votes to 248. Over the still more thorny question of General Buller's conduct of the Natal campaign he preserved an impartial attitude, while implying that the general would not exploit his grievance for political purposes. Early in the war _Punch_ paid a rather left-handed compliment to the war correspondents; they are represented as welcoming war because it brought them remunerative employment. In the autumn of 1901 we find him pressing their claims for war medals, and observing that the Press had been shut out but not shut up.