Over the week-end, the feeling has been one of keen suspense - a feeling which the news, or the absence of news, has increased rather than diminished.
But clearly, events are now moving rapidly on all the frontiers within the European war zone.
Yesterday, as no satisfactory reply had been received to her ultimatum, Japan declared war on Germany. An immediate attack on Kiao-Chau is expected to follow.
The Official Press Bureau issues a very timely warning against attaching too much importance to mere incidents, which cannot in any sense be styled "victories." The Germans, we are told, have by steady pressure compelled the Belgian Army to retire on Antwerp; but the fact remains that at the end of three weeks the enemy has not attempted to deliver the attack which a week before might have interfered with the concentration of the French Armies.
It is reported that Namur is partially invested, and that an artillery attack has begun. An official bulletin from Paris, in alluding to the partial investment of Namur, adds that "the westerly movement of the German columns continues on both banks of the Meuse outside the range of the Namur guns."
It is added that the situation was, at midday on Saturday, "in a military sense satisfactory."
All the evidence suggests that we shall not have long to wait for more definite and decisive news.
The German troops are encamped in the suburbs around Brussels, and are not quartered in the City itself. The troops of occupation are fresh troops brought up by railway to Tirlemont, and thence by motor-car.
The majority of the German troops are moving southwards, and Antwerp for the moment is neglected. The advance guards are now said to extend over the whole of East Flanders.
It is stated unofficially that the American Minister has taken the City of Brussels under his protection. Our Washington correspondent reports that Germany's action in levvying a fine on Brussels has aroused the deepest indignation in Amerca.
The definte allegation is made that the Germans shot the Burgomaster of Aerschot and a party of inhabitants who were with him.
An urgent appeal is issued to the people of this country for assistance in relieving the distress that exists in Belgium as a consequence of the German invasion. Subscriptions to the Belgian Relief Fund should be sent to the Belgian ligation.
Paris publishes an official announcement that in the recent naval encounter in the Adriatic the Austrian battleship Zrinyi was sunk by an explosion caused by a French shell. From both the Servian and the Russia capitals come announcements of a decisive defeat of a large Austrian Army operating against Servia. It is claimed that the Austrians, after a four days' battle, were driven back to the Drina with very heavy losses. It is not clear whether this report refers to a continuation of the action at Shabatz last week or to a different action.
According to Russian accounts the advance of Russian troops over the East Prussian frontier continues; and it is said that, after a battle, the important town of Insterburg has been occupied. If so it marks an advance of twenty miles beyond Gumbinnen and towards Königsberg.
On the other side have to be placed the reports of the German war news, which refer to successes against Russian troops on both the East Prussian and the Galician frontiers.
The Germans also claim a very decisive victory over the French in Lorraine - a victory in which 10,000 prisoners and 50 guns were captured. This event has been made the occasion of great popular celebration throughout, Germany.
That the German troops had a considerable, success in Lorraine is not disputed, thongh the extent of it, as described by the Germans, is Paris officially declared to be ridiculously exaggerated. The French advance was driven back with loss - but not with loss heavier than that inflicted on the Germans in Alsace during the recapture of Muelhausen.
A full account is now given of the recent operations in Alsace, where the French achieved a brilliant success and drove the Germans back to the Rhine. The veteran General Pau, who directed the movement, is the hero of the hour in Paris.
The fighting for the crests of the Vosges was very severe, but the French are now "securely established" from Ballon to Dunon.
Two Danish steamers have been sunk after striking mines laid by the Germans at a point 35 miles from land and on the main trade route.
The Admiralty have renewed their warning to neutrals of the danger of traversing the North Sea on account of the Germans' persistence in scattering mines indiscriminately upon the ordinary trade routes. It is pointed out that these mines do not conform to the conditions of The Hague Convention.
The War Session of the Canadian Parliament was prorogued on Saturday, when the war appropriation of ten millions was voted without question, in a scene that our Correspondent describes as "profoundly moving."
Information has been received that a Liverpool steamship has been captured and sunk by a German cruiser 160 miles east of Pernambuco, and that another British vessel has sunk in the Indian Ocean.
The Prince of Wales's National Relief Fund on Saturday had reached a total of £1,515,000.