NEWS OF THE WEEK.
7 HE frantic battle which is now being fought means that 1. the Germans have staked their all upon a decision. The numbers of men which they have been throwing into the struggle, and their prodigal expenditure of life and ammunition and of human energy, mean that they have played for a rapid success. They meant to overwhelm us. They meant to wrench the British Army away from the French Army and envelop and destroy the main part of our troops in France. These things being so, it follows that the danger to the Allies becomes less with every passing day as the advance slows down. The danger is still very great ; it would be foolish to underrate it ; but we hope and believe that the worst moments were passed on Friday week when the avalanche of German soldiers pressed its way through our line at the junction of the British and French Armies. Our defences were destroyed there, and our losses in men and material have been heavy, but the British line itself has never been broken. If the historian of the Peninsular War were to live again, he would have to strain his power of eulogy to do even the barest justice to the strength and majesty with which the British soldier fights.
