NEWS OF THE WEEK.
DURING the early part of the week there was little apparent progress in the theatre of war. The players were getting ready for the parts assigned to them. On Thursday, however, a change came over the scene, and the Germans began their great westward movement into Belgium. This led to the Belgian Field Army, no doubt under orders from the French Generalissimo, General Joffre, falling back on their great defensive position at Antwerp. Antwerp is one of the strongest fortresses in the world. To carry it by siege would take as long as it did to carry Port Arthur, and yet the space enclosed by the works is so great that one hundred and twenty thousand men could, if pressed by superior numbers, temporarily retire in security behind its defences. There is no fear, that is, of the Belgians, placed as they are, being surrounded and destroyed. This retirement, however, has left the way open to Brussels. The Germans camped outside it on Thursday, and as we write on Friday the news arrives of its occupation. That will no doubt be considered in Berlin as a feather in the German Emperor's helmet. Strategically, however, the occupation will have little or no value, and may well prove a source of weakness.
