PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2353, 8 January 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Great encouragement will be drawn fr.om Lord Kitchener's review of the ebb and flow of the war during the last few weeks. Confidence, of course, 'is the ruling spirit throughout the British Empire, biit it will derive new life from the deliberate assurance of the War Minister that matters are going well with the Allies alike in the main and subsidiary; theatres of , war. Lord Kitchener is not given to extravagant estimates of imaginary gains. His reputation is that of a, man who declares himself confident only when he has solid ground for confidence, and it is in that light that his review of the position will bo accepted throughout the Empire.

Naturally enough Lord Kitchener made no attempt to minimise the magnitude of the task in hand, and there is no hint in his speech of any attempt to set a period to the further duration of the war. On the contrary, his remark that the Germans have left sufficient strength to hold the trenches in the West is a plain admission that . no great advance by the AHies in that theatre. is to ,be looked for '.until they have materially augmented their present forces. The burden of the' War Minister's speech is, however, that the Allies are everywhere more than holding their own, and that at the same time they are daily increasing their resources, in men and material, to enable them to prosecute the war triumphantly; Coming from Lord Kitchener such 'a statement means a very great deal. He did not refer to any'difficulty in securing rccruits ir. sufficient num.. bers. His references to this subject appear to have been optimistic' in tone, ' and while it would be quite wrong to draw from this any warrant for slackened exertion or activity it must be held both encouraging and gratifying that the War Minister was able to point to an increased tide of recruiting. Dealing vfith -the broad aspect of the position he stated that Germany's gre it advantages in numerical superiority and extensive, war .preparations were certainly diminishing. At the same time if Lord Curzon is correct in his opinion that considerably more than two million .British soldiers will be required, at the front, and possibly nearer three millions, the British nation still has a very heavy, task ahead of it.

The contention of the London Times that a careful analysis of the daily official reports of the progress of the Allies, will show that the Western campaign is by no means a stationary affair bears examination. It is true that the progress made is very slow,' but it is none the less appreciable. Almost every day slight gains are recorded at some points on the line, sometimes gains of only a few hundrei yards or even less. To-day, for instance, we are told that the Allies progressed ope yards north-west of Reims and that the. French captured trenches, in the La Grurie wood in These are typical of dozens of similar message's. 'The broad position seems to be that tho Allies are very slowly, but surely, nibbling their way forward into the German lines. No attempt is made to conceal the fact that the Germans have sometimes captured . trenches, but in a very large number of: instances the Allies, on being defeated, in this way, have returned reinforced and recaptured the lost ground. Upon the whole the Allies are advancing. It will be noted that Lord Kitchener, in his speech in the House of Lords, mentioned noteworthy progress eastward of Reims and in Southern Alsace. Bearing in mind the nature of the fighting, with one line of fortified itrenches opposed to another, • such [gains 'are not to bo slightly .regarded. Small in themselves they indicate that the Germans are experiencing increasing difficulty in holding the territory, which they have invaded and that the strength of their resistance is being gradually worn down.

It is noteworthy that ; Lord Kitchener's speech eeema to show that only a amall portion of the new British Army has yet made its appearance in the fighting line. He mentions that Sir John French's Army has been reinforced by Territorial regiments, a new division, and the Canadian regiment, but leaves it to be supposed that the bulk of tho new Army still remains in reserve. No doubt when these troops join their comrades at the front the character of the operations will be radically altered.

Still persisting in their attempts to reach the coast of France, the Germans are now reported [to bo concentrating heavy reinforcements at Oourtrai, 18 miles east of Ypres, with a view to attempting to pierce the Allied line north-west (or more probably north) of the latter place. On past experience such attempts are unlikely to succced. Since.-their invasion of France was definitely stemmed, the Germans have never once suecccded in driving back the' Allies on the Western. line■ to an* appreciable extent, _ and while thc t v are ■ bringing tip reinfor.cemqaU. the Allies are aoius the. same.

Bomb intercnting speculations are afoot regarding the gcnoral progress of _ tlio Kuntern campaign. The opinion oxprajßod by The Times that W/iriiaw lo li/ifo /uul likely to remain no in |)ri)l){ilily wftll-grounded. As IJio military cnrrofljiondcnt of that journal points out, tho Austro-Ger-nmri form (mvo lost n third of their <>,{(<•,al.jyo without accomplishing finylJiing cxcept to postpone l.liit llneiifftii advance, ana are not now no fur advanced into Poland as fcb'iy y/oro at the end of October. _ MciifHimo tlw Auntriana in Galieift liftVft licoij crushed and | driven back aI; ovory point. Tho Gorman arniien in Poland have rej contly been rcinforccd, but a renowed attempt on Waniaw scorns to offer thom no bettor prospect than that of further hwivy lokmb. If the attempt succeeded they would bo able to. seriously intericro with tho Russian communications, but meantime their own communications are threatened by tho projected advance of the Russians from the Lower Vistula. ».##*' A message from a Hungarian correspondent of The Times assorts that there is no disaffection in Hungary and no desire for British sympathy, but a universal keenness in the war,.and a sincere loyalty to Austria. On the face of it this picture .of- perfect contentment iB wildly improbable, and is not at all tho state of affairs that-might reasonably be expected to exist in a country which, if not already invaded, is likely to be at any time. The story directly contradicts a number of roports from reliable sources telling of panic and unrest throughout Hungary. * * * * The situation in Poland does not appear to have undergone any material change, but the fact that the Russians navo captured a village in the neighbourhood of Mlawa shotvp that they are still actively pursuing their campaign on the East Prussian frontier. Details are still lacking regarding the reported invasion of Hungary, but the brief statement in a Petrograd message that the offensive in Bukovina continues suggests that the Russians have not yet penetrated the Carpathians in that region. **° * * Additional particulars concerning the battle of Sarikamysh (in TransCaucasia) show that the Turks met with an even greater disaster, than was at first reported. It appears that two Turkish Army Corps were engaged and that both of them were practically annihilated. Evidently, though it terminated so disastrously, their dash across the mountains was a very daring enterprise. Traversing the difficult mountain country, much of it deep in snow, almost unencumbered by supply convoys or field artillery, they apparently took the Russians at Sarikamysh by surprise, for it is recorded that the defenders" of the plaoe were at first outnumbered ten to one, and were attacked simultaneously in the front and both flanks. In the end, however, the Turks paid dearly for their rashness. Arrested in the first instance. by the fire of the .defending artillery, their rout was completed by the arrival of Russian reinforcements. .No further accounts are given of the Turkish forces at Ardahau and other places in the north of the territory of Ears, but judging by the fashion in which the Russians dealt with the invaders at Sarikamysh their condition must be precarious. '

It is' not- surprising that the' arrest of Cardinal Mercier has created a sensation throughout Europe. He offended the German authorities in Belgium by declaring that the Belgians owed allegiance •to King Albert only. The Roman Catholic Church is very powerful in Germany, and it is stated that the matter has caused consternation among that. section of tho population by whom the Cardinal's arrest is regarded as "an unpardonable blunder." Cardinal Mercier is intensely patriotic and is. thoroughly convinced that Belgium acted rightly in resisting German aggression. He recently expressed gratification that "it has been a Catholic Government which has assumed the attitude for which Belgium is suffering at this moment." In conversation with an interviewer the Cardina l stated that he had met people in Rome who had said: "Why were you not content to fire a few shots ■pro forma against the German Army 1 Yon would have saved the honour of your country and escaped the misfortunes which you are now suffering." But he treated such suggestions with the scorn they deserved. "This language is to me. deeply insulting,'* he said. "What! You would have us play a comedy 1 Never! When it is a question of the independence of a country compromise is impossible." The Cardinal refused to believe that a valiant nation like Belgium, which has fought like a lion for national independence, will be finally crushed.

Cardinal Meroier stands in the front rank of European ecclesiastics and is also a _ extinguished scholar. He is Archbishop of Mechlin and Primate of Belgium, and is also President of the Royal Academy of Belgium and Director of the Class of Letters and of Moral and Political Sciences at the University of Louvain. He was deeply shocked at the destruction of the University by the Germans, and described the ruthless deed as an "outrage on civilisation." In an address recently delivered before the Royal Academy of Belgium he paid a graceful tribute to King ■ Albert, whom he still dares to regard as the lawful ruler of his country. He said: "Who of us but still hears resounding in his ears and in his heart the noble words uttered on the day when he took possession of the Throne by His Majesty Albert, Kino of the Belgians : 'Only the intellectual and moral forces of a nation fertilise its prosperity'l" Tho lecture which was subsequently published in the Constriictive Quarterly showed the French sympathies of the Cardinal in an' unmistakable manner. In dealing with the main currents of modern thought nearly all his quotations were taken from French writers, such as Henri Poincare, Le Roy, Olle-Laprune, Bergson, Maurice Blondel, and Joseph Wilbois. Cardinal Mercier has visited England since .the outbreak of the war and was accorded a very sympathetic reception. * * ¥ * SoiiEwnAT belatedly the Germans are claiming that the battleship Formidable, recently destroyed in the Channel, was torpedoed by one of their submarines. As not infrequently happens in such cases the plausibility of the story is diminished by over-elaboration. It is asserted that the hypothetical German submarine whs pursued by British destroyers, but escaped undamaged. This throws doubt upon the whole story, for iwhon tho disaster to the Formidable

occurred it was mentioned in the British reports that uncertainty existed, as to whether the warship had fallen victim to a mine or' had been torpedoed by a_ German submarine. Had a submarine been in evidence and been pursued no such doubt could have arisen