NEWS OF TIIE WEEK.
THERE is no great change to be chronicled in the western theatre of the war. The Germans still stick with splendid courage and tenacity to their trenches, but the counter-attacks by which they are defending themselves have none of them succeeded. It is true that they have inflicted great losses upon us and our allies, but their own losses are probably greater still. We have not succeeded as yet in turning their right flank, but all the same the left wing of the Allies has made a considerable advance to the north. As we move forward the Germans have to make similar movements to avoid envelopment, and thus the two armies are still keeping opposite to each other, till we may say with Macbeth: "What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom !" This attenuation cannot, of course, be indefinite. The new movements to the north require constant reinforce- ments by both aides, and, as neither side has a Fortunatua's purse in the way of soldiers, the reinforcements have got to be produced by taking them from somewhere else. Thus, speaking generally, it is becoming a question of numbers. Here, though it is not safe to boast, the advantage would appear to be with the Allies, for they have no peremptory call from a distance as the Germans have. It would seem probable, therefore, that the Germans must be weakening their line somewhere in order to reinforce their right wing. This lays them open to the danger of the French discovering their weak spot and piercing the German position.
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