27 MAY 1916, Page 2

Whatever may happen now—for ourselves, we believe that what will

happen will be the maintenance of the French line practically intact—the French at Verdun have fulfilled the duty set before them. If by losing another hundred thousand men, expending another five to six million shells, and wearing out another thousand guns, the Germans were to drive in the Verdun line, they could never bring back their lost legions or their wasted material. No doubt all that waste, human and material, would have been worth while if it had brought the German Army to the gates of Paris ; but no one can possibly say that this would now result from the taking of Verdun. The Germans, if they get through at Verdun, will only find themselves face to face with fresh lines, and lines better devised to stand assault.