That means a very great deal from Lord Kitchener. Speak-
ing as Secretary of State for War, he was naturally anxious not to talk in terms of vague and oily optimism—like, shall we say P a censored newspaper. We may feel pretty sure that he would not have used the word " defeat " unless he bad felt well assured that the Russians had done a great deal more than their General Staff yet admit. What is the cause of that reticence we cannot say. Possibly they wish to make one clear announcement and not let the good news leak out in advance. Again, it is possible that the Germans, as is perhaps indicated in their official despatches—these claim forty thousand prisoners !—have had some very considerable local successes, and the War Office in Petrograd do not want to acknowledge these till they are able to show them in their true perspective by announcing simultaneously the full volume of their own good news.
