NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE week has seen a great battle and a great victory, one on so large a scale that, did not the intricacies of trench warfare perplex the mind and distract the judgment, it would be regarded as one of the greatest in our military annals. As has been wittily and wisely said, we storm Badajoz at the rate of about once a week, and naturally therefore do not think much about it. That is, incle,ed, short of the truth, because our Badajozes are on a scale ten times greater than the original. We have dealt elsewhere with some aspects, both heroic and prosaic, of the great action. Here we may give some of the details. The battle, which is still going on, began on Monday, and was continued with increasing vigour on Tuesday and Wednesday. The two points at which resistance was greatest were Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt-sur-Ancre, which we gather were both taken on Tuesday. When on Wednesday night an estimate was made of the prisoners taken by us the number was found to be close on six thousand, and we do not doubt that as we write it will have been found to have increased to well over that figure.

Happily our own losses, considering the results achieved and the vast numbers of men engaged, have not been high. The troops, as Sir Douglas Haig admits, and he is no praiser for the sake of praising, have shown "conspicuous skill, dash, and fortitude." The battle, however, was not won without a very hard struggle. Not only did the enemy resist fiercely, as they generally do till the moment of surrender comes, but the condition of the ground greatly increased the difficulty of the attack. We wonder whether the ordinary man has any true conception of what the difficulties really are. Perhaps he may gain some idea by thinking of a building site with a thin layer of marl on the top and soft chalk below which has been soaked with rain and then cut up by heavily loaded contractors' carts. That makes a pretty good Slough of Despond, but the Slough of Despond produced by the tramplings of men and horses, motor-lorries, "caterpillars," and in some cases even tanks, is quite a hundred per cent. worse.

Not even mud, however, can stop a British battalion when it is once under way. Indeed we are not sure that the appalling physical conditions do not act as a kind of stimulant to our soldiers. That miles gloriosus, Todger Jones, V.C., has laid it down that if you are going to be shot you had better be shot fighting Germans than sweating with a spade and pickaxe. The Army as a whole thinks it far preferable to romp into a German underground labyrinth and be peppered in the hunt for prisoners than to sit still in the mud waiting for the rain to stop. When our soldiers are fed up with physical conditions almost beyond endurance the remedy that seems to be most natural to them is to get a bit of a move on."

And now a word as to the country in which the week's victory has been gained. In July we battered in vain against Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt. Though we did not know it at the time, we were up against two of the greatest fortresses in the modem world—underground places of arms in which the works of primitive man, of the soldiers and civilians of the Middle Ages, and of the Germans since the Marne have combined in high cabal to make what is more like a mining centre than a citadel. To these fortresses and the strongholds round them we paid a salute that cost us dear and pasted on, pushing always eastward, till we had almost reached Bapatme. Then when our gallant French Allies, pushing east also, had secured our rear from any interference, we last week turned our attention to the north and mopped up the strong places which were standing up like rocks in a tideway.

That process is probably not yet complete—but here we are entering upon delicate ground. All that is necessary for an understanding of the present situation is to know that we have been picking up pieces and making good on a great scale. As we have said elsewhere, there is nothing accidental about this. The latest success has been in the programme all along, we had almost said in the time-table. When Sir Douglas was ready he asked the Generals in command in this portion of the field to pass him Beaumont and Beaucourt and they passed them to him. That is the long and the short of the matter.

The Rumanian news in Thursday's papers has created some misgiving here, but in our opinion without due cause. What appears to have happened is that our Allies have been compelled to fall back in the Carpathians in the country of the Red Tower imp the Vulcan Passes. It is added that General Falkenhayn has taken in all some four thousand five hundred prisoners in these operations. Lastly, the Germans are said to have had reinforcements. In the other parts of the line the Rumanians seem to be well holding their own. In the Dobrudja there appears to be little doubt that things have gone on the whole favourably to the Rumanians. Our enemies have been unable to cross the Danube, and, it is said, have had to fall back before the Russo-Rumanian advance.

Of Russian military news there is not very much; but we note with the utmost satisfaction that when the Imperial Duma met on Tuesday the Duma Bloc, though somewhat weakened by the withdrawal of the Progressists, passed a strong declaration in favour of prosecuting the war with the utmost vigour, and asking that the present Government should give place to men united by a single mind and ready to act with the support of the majority of the Duma. The Bloc declaration goes on to insist on Russia's determination to organize victory and not to entertain any thought of a premature peace. It also pays tribute to the efforts of Russia's Allies, and especially Great Britain. Finally, the declaration deals strongly with the question of Poland. There can be no doubt that the foundation of the Polish Kingdom has united Russians of all classes and all opinions. No better day's work was ever done for the Grand Alliance and the good cause than when those noble champions of small nationalities, the German Emperor and the Emperor of Austria, set up their Polish puppet.

We publish in our correspondence columns an interesting letter, analysing the figures of the Presidential election. Here we can only say that the final result was the return of Mr. Wilson by a large majority not only in the Electoral C,ollcge but in the Union as a whole._ The conspicuous fact of the election, be the caws.) what it may, is the immense progress made by the Democratic Party. For the first time since the Civil War it has achieved a popular victory, and shown that it can command the votes of a majority of the electors even when the Republican Party is not split. If that is not an accidental but a stable event, it is one of the very first importance. Between Britain and America finesse and polite bows and smirks may be the right policy for those who are foolish enough, and as we should say also ignorant enough, to treat America as a foreign country. For us, who can never regard the other half of the English-speaking race as anything but bloodbrothers, to treat, them except with complete sincerity, whether it may be disagreeable to them or not would be to lose self-respect. We say frankly that in our opinion America as a nation does not gain but loses by President Wilson's re-election. If we had possessed voting power in America we should certainly have cast our vote against him.

As far as this country is concerned, however, we have no cause tocomplain of the election. In truth it can matter very little here which candidate gained the day. Neither is going to attack this country or to champion the cause of our enemies. As matter of fact President Wilson is more likely to be easier to deal with than a new occupant of the White House, for at say rate he has learnt that, though we must refrain from nothing which will make for the proper prosecution of the war, we shall do everything we can to prevent unnecessary inconvenience to America. In all human probability President Wilson's European policy will be carried on on the principles which have hitherto controlled it. As regards Mexico we are almost bound to expect some action. It is to internal politics, however, that we must look for interesting developments. It is when a President enters on a second term— when he has no third term to look forward to—that he feels he has a free hand.

The most important day in Parliament this week was Wednesday, when the appointment of a Grand Victualler to the Nation was announced; but with this matter we have dealt at length elsewhere. We must note however that in the House of Lords there was an important debate on naval policy, during which Lord Beresford pleaded for activity in language which even we, activists as we are, must regard as a little overstrained. "We must attack, attack, attack, and attack. We take too much care of our Fleet. Give it a free hand." Lord Crewe made an official reply, but that we think does not in the least prove the Government to he unaware that the time is drawing near when the public, the Navy, and the Cabinet themselves will by a happy combination favour the hoisting of the sea signal, "Engage the enemy more closely ! "

We note with great satisfaction that in the Lords on Wednesday the Archbishop of Canterbury raised the question of German civilian prisoners :—

" He asked for information as to the progress of negotiations and of practical action with regard to the exchange of civilians interned in the British and the German Empires. He said it was difficult to know who accepted responsibility in regard to this vitally important matter, and the House and the country would welcome authoritative information as to the present position of affairs. The long delay in effecting exchanges had deplorable effects upon the elderly civilians who were interned. There was a steadily increasing number of people anxious to learn whether there was any insuperable objection to a bolder and more thoroughgoing policy—bolder, he meant, than the repatriation of men over forty-five years. of age."

We are most heartily with the Archbishop on this point. There could not be one which could be more appropriately taken up by the ecclesiastical head of the National Church.

On Thursday week the German Chancellor replied to Lord Grey of Falloden's recent speech on the origins of the war. The first part of the reply was an argument to the effect that Russia and Britain caused the war because they did not remain inactive after the infamous ultimatum of Austria to Serbia. "The act which made war inevitable was the Russian general mobilization ordered on the night of July 30th-31st, 1914. Russia, England, France, and the entire world knew that this step must make further waiting impossible for rue" The German excuse in fact is that Russia mobilized before Germany and Austria. But then there is Sir Edward Grey's reassertion of the well-known fact that Russia did not mobilize till a report had been telegraphed to her that the German Army Was being mobilized. As to that, the Chancellor said that though an extra edition of the Lokalanzeiger did announce a German mobilization on July 30th, the announcement was false and was contradicted and that the contradiction was telegraphed to Petrograd. The Chancellor's explanation of this unfortunate " mistake " was so halting that there can be little doubt that the" mistake " wr s made for a purpose. As Lord Grey of Falloden said, it was a repetition of Bismarck's falsification of the Ems telegram which precipitated the FrancoGerman War. Nor is it true that Russia mobilized before Austria. The partial Austrian mobilization had continued for some days before Russia moved.

But in any case the clumsily engineered " mistake " was a mere incident in German policy. Lord Grey of Falloden, while using it as an illustration, never based his explanation of the origins of the war upon it. Germany knew perfectlywell that Russia could not possibly look on and see Serbian freedom annihilated. Germany has often admitted this. Russia had always made her sense of duty upon this point perfectly clear. And when Germany and Austria refused to amend their policy against Serbia it was certain that Britain must come to the assistance of Russia and 'France. Of that certainty Germany had also long been expressly warned. Yet the Chancellor's argument amounts to this : that when Germany resorted to a policy which she knew meant war, Britain, Russia, and France ought instantly to have yielded. As they did not yield to an outrageous act of oppression they caused the war !

One other point most be dealt with. The, Chancellor reasserted that Germany tried to bring Austria-and Russia.togetherat the last moment. She informed Austria that "the refusal to exchange views with St. Petersburg would be a grave mistake, and as an ally we must refuse to be drawn into a world conflagration through the failure to respect our advice." That is verbally quite admirable. If the words had represented Germany's true intention there would have been, and could have been, no war. But the Chancellor omitted to add that when Russia and Austria actually wereexchanging views at the eleventh hour, and the Entente Ambas. sadors were forming high hopes bf their issue, Germany suddenly broke them off by discharging an ultimatum. No doubt the war party—the probable authors of the Lokalanzeiger trick—insisted that there must not be another minute's delay in making war or the time-table for the march on Paris rid Belgium woulkt be thrown out of gear.

The deportation of Belgians from their homes to perform forced labour in the German service seems the more horrible the more one hears of this outrage on law and humanity. Correspondents at Amsterdam say that about twenty-five thousand men have been deported from Antwerp alone. Many have tried to flee, but only fifteen have reached Holland. Some have perished on the electric wires which guard the border. It-is reported that at several places there haire been fights with the Germans and that Belgians have been killed for resisting. The procedure seems to be much the same everywhere. The Belgians between the ages of seventeen or eighteen and thirty-five are ordered to be at a certain spot at a certain time, and then they are deported to the scene of their labours in goods trucks. Many are believed to be employed in making new railways on the Western front. The first accounts said that only unemployed men were taken. But now it is learned that men are snatched from every kind of occupation and that even some of the clergy are being deported.

Cardinal Mercier, with his usual courage, has published an open letter of protest against these deportations. In the course of it he says :—

" The naked traih is this : Every workman taken from Belgium means one soldier more for the German Army. He is intended to take the place of a German workman, out of whom a soldier is to be made. So that the situation which we now expose to the civilized world comes to this. Four hundred thousand workmen have fallen victims to unemployment against their will, and, for the most part, as the result of the German regime of occupation. Troops of soldiers force their way into-these-poor homes, tear the young men from their parents, husband from his wife, father from his children. They guard with bayonets the doors through which wives and mothers desire to run and bid a last farewell to those taken from them. Soldiers separate the prisoners into groups of forty or fifty, and load them by force into goods trucks."

Belgium is in a new agony. She knows now the value of the promise given by the invading Germans when they pledged themselves to protect the liberty of the people who remained at home;

At the Lord Mayor's banquet on Thursday week Mr. Asquith made in admirable speech, both in farm and temper exactly what all Englishmen would have wished it to be. After a brief survey of the Allies' progress in the field he turned to Greece, and said that he must speak of the situation there with hope rather than with confidence. Our feelings towards Greece had always' been those of sincere friendship, and all the steps we had been compelled to take were taken simply to prevent Athens from continuing to be a focus of German intrigue. He then expressed his hearty sympathy with M. Venizelos. "He has assured Us that his organization has no anti-dynastic purpose." The aim of the British Government, therefore, was to return to the relation in which they stood towards Greece when M. Venizelos was Prime Minister and invited the Allies to Salonika. That was M. Venizelos's own desire. "May Greece," exclaimed Mr. Asquith, "rekindle her lamp and show herself worthy of her immortal past ! "

Mr. Asgnith then passed to the characteristic attempt of-Germany to persuade neutrals to believe that the Allies wish. to build an impenetrable stone wall against their trade after the war. "It is childish fiction, foi if it were true it would mean that ive are one and all bent on economic suicide.... Nothing will be more essential to the :Allies than to Maintain the best industrial relations with the neutral Powers:" The next point in Mr. Asquith's review was the effort of Germany to divide the Allies and induce one or more of thorn to make a separate peace. In Britain it was sometimes 6uggested that Germany was already prepared to restore Belgium, and that we were 'being dragged on in the war in order to secure the special ambitions of France, Russia, or Italy.

But this was quite untrue, and nopro-German suggestion of peace had ever mentioned the restoration of Serbia, to which all the Allies were equally and unreservedly pledged. While Britain was represented, for the benefit of Englishmen, as being dragged in the wake other Allies, the Russian people were informed that Britain alone wished to continue the war in order to make money out of it ! Finally Mr. Aaquith said that the struggle would yet tax all our resources and our whole stock of patience and resolve, but that the peace could be of only one kind—a peace to ensure the security of the weak and a free future for the world.

The German newspapers are full of details of the levee of the whole German people for war-work. All healthy men and women between the ages of sixteen and sixty will be required to do their allotted share in the war-service of the nation. Manifestoes have been issued warning women not to allow questions of rank and position to binder them from doing whatever may he required of them. "The Office for War" is the name of the great central organization from which this levee of the people will be directed, and it is preeided over by General von Groner. Hotels are being taken over in Berlin as subsidiary offices. Of course the German people enter into the spirit of this scheme, as they believe above all in organization and think that it will yet win them the victory. So General von Groner's huge octopus with its tentacles reaching into every cranny of the country begins to suck up the remaining energy of Germany-with the unanimous consent of those who are about to be bled white.

We learn from the 2'imes of last Saturday that the tenant system of Army canteens is to be abolished, and that in future there will be an official organization which will take over the whole business not only at home but at military stations in various parts of the Empire. Under the tenant system the Army Canteen Committee had merely a controlling influence over the various contractors who ran the canteen& There was competitive buying among the contractors, and they had no real incentive to make the canteens pleasant places as their tenure was naturally insecure. The new organization will manage the whole business from top to bottom. Since the turnover of the business has reached £15,000,000 a year it will require good management, but we have always advocated the principle now to be put into practice. It aims at the greatest possible comfort of the men.

The Portuguese Prime Minister announced in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday week that -contingents of the Portuguese Army were about to depart to fight on the "European battlefields." We look forward with keen interest to their appearance. The deeds of the Anglo-Portugueee force under Marshal Beresford in the Peninsular War are a treasured memory in English history. It was Napoleon then ; it is the Kaiser now; but we are sure that the Portuguese contribution to the overwhelming of despotism will be just as happy after more than a hundred years.

The representatives of the Allies in Greece have extracted from King Constantine a pledge that the officers and men who have been imprisoned for attempting to join the National Army shall all be released, and shall be free to take service under M. Venizelos. The only condition is that they shall resign their commissions in the King's Army. The only thing that remains is to see that the King keeps his word.

The Times of last Saturday published some correspondence between Lord Northcliffe and Mr. McKenna and Sir William Pleader (whohas hitherto acted as auditor of the Times and other of Lard Northcliffe's papers) about the winding up of enemy banks in England. Sir William Pleader is responsible under the Governnient for the winding up. The point of the letters is that as Lord Noitheliffe is dissatisfied with the delay—regarded by him as unneeessary—in the conduct of Sir William -Plender's task, he demands an explanation ; and, not receiving one (since Sir William Pleader prefers not to hand over official facts in response to a highly unoffieial demand), he apparently brings to an end Sir William Pleaders connexion with the Northcliffe enterprises. This comedy must be read to be appreciated. Sir William Pleader's dignified answer to the challenge to Mend and deliver is described in "most unsatisfactory." But the gems of the correspondence occur when Lord Northcliffe in a complimentary passage describes Sir William Pleader as one of his "personal watchdogs," and when he proposes (in his-letter to Mr. McKenna) that the% neglected duties of Sir William Pleader should be transferred to himself.

We note that Sir Sam Hughes, Canadian Minister Of War, has resigned. it is not for us to express any opinion as to his politioal actions, but there can be no doubt that as far as the war is concerned he did a great deal to stir public feeling in Canada and make her people recognize the true nature of the struggle. Owing to his good work here, we cannot help deeply regretting the words attributed to him in a Press interview published just before his resignation. In this statement he apparently suggested that English officers bad " scrapped " the Canadian equipment—meaning no doubt the Ross rifle—out of jealousy, which is of course absurd. He also appears to have said that he insisted upon Canadian soldiers being treated exclusively in Canadian hospitals because of the inexperience of British surgeons, which is even more ridiculous.

Upon this last point we desire to say something more. We most sincerely trust that the segregation order, against which Lady Drummond has so powerfully and patriotically protested, will now be withdrawn. Instead of the Canadian soldiers disliking being placed in English hospitals, they were particularly pleased while undergoing their cures to be enabled to see parts of England and phases of English life which they would otherwise not have seen. A Canadian soldier, who only a fortnight or so ago was removed under the segregation order from an auxiliary military hospital established in an English country house, told the Commandant that he felt as if he was being taken away from home. Another Canadian in the same hospital, when the order was communicated to him, literally broke down and cried with vexation and annoyance.

No one here of course has the slightest desire to prevent the establishment of Canadian hospitals. On the contrary, knowing as we do the skill of Canadian surgeons and the devotion of Canadian nurses, we are one and all most anxious that as many Canadian hospitals as possible should be set up in our midst. Further, we are all most anxious that contingents of English wounded soldiers should be sent to these hospitals, not only that they may get good treatment, but that the great Imperial benefit may be secured which must accrue it a large number of Englishmen get to know about Canada and make Canadian friends at first hand. Personally we should like to see Canadian hospitals with fifty per cent, of their own people and fifty per cent. of British patients, and we should like to have considerable drafts of Canadian patients scattered about the various English hospitals. We want interchange of patients. Weeincerely trust that the Canadian Government will bee their way to act on this principle. We do not believe that any large number of Sir Sam Hughes's countrymen share his views on the points with which we have dealt.

A correspondent sends as a very apt quotation from Chaucer which shows how that great poet anticipated the noble and .moving lines on "German Prisoners" which we had the honour to ,print two weeks ago from the pen of Sergeant Lee. It will be remembered that the Spectator poet, speaking of the prisoners, describes

"How from tired eyes looked spirits broken down," and "How each face showed the pale flag of defeat, And doubt, despair, and disillusionment."

Here is Chaucer's anticipation :—

"Have ye not seen sometime a pith!, face, Among a press, of him that bath been led Towird his death, where as he getteth no grace, And such a colour in his face bath had, Men mighten know him that was so bested, Among& all the faces in that rout.

So stunt Custance, and looked her about."

Although we have dealt with the appointment of a Food Controller elee'where, we wish to say here that in a very special degree the success of the scheme will depend upon the personality of the Controller. For a post of such vital importance we need one of our ablest statesmen. In our opinion his special characteristic should be the power, if any great strain comes, to persuade, sway, and control the people at large. He may have to ask them to make the greatest and most arduous sacrifices, and for this task beldam, will-power, eloquence, and a magnetic spirit of optiiniam may be requiled. No man can be counted too big for such a task.