14 NOVEMBER 1914, Page 3

The King has sent a message characteristically full of feeling

to Sir John French. It was not called forth by any particular achievement, but by the King's deep sense of the almost superhuman endurance required by the troops in day after day of fighting which might be described as a monotony of peril and violence. The message said : "The splendid pluck, spirit, and endurance shown by my troops in the desperate fighting which has continued for so many days against vastly superior forces fills me with admiration. I am confident in the final result of their noble efforts under your able command."