NEWS OF THE WEEK.
HE week has been a good one for the Allies. We have 1. described in detail elsewhere the battle in the North Sea and the splendid work done by our Navy. Patience and a refusal to do stupid things and rash things merely for the sake of "doing something" have had their reward. Here we will only note two points. The first is that Sir David Beatty showed greater gallantry and deserved better of his country- men for knowing when to stop even than for launching his glorious thunderbolt upon the enemy. Nothing intoxicates like success. Yet Admiral Beatty knew how to atop in the ardour of the chase and give up what is the dearest wish of a sailor, the annihilation of the enemy, rather than risk his ships unduly in a minefield where a regrettable incident might have seriously impaired our naval position. Both we and the Germans are playing the game of attrition. We can afford to play it slowly. They cannot. Therefore it would be mad- ness for us not to temper gallantry with patience. They can only hope to achieve their object by letting mine. and sub- marines play the part of battleships and battle-cruisers. If we refuse to engage under these conditions, the Germans must do one of two things—either stop playing and turn their battleships into museums, or else in the end come out and fight us in the open.
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