Natural anxiety, occasioned by the news of fall of Namur and by the incomplete reports of day's heavy fighting, will be not a little relieved by the news published to-day, which shows the Allies have successfully withdrawn from advanced positions which they occupied in Belgium, and have taken up the defensive positions on the French frontier which had originally been designed for them.
There is ample evidence that the shock of what seemed bad news has had a bracing effect on the public mind, and, far from causing dismay, has simply brought home a sense of the effort which the nation is called upon to make in order that its cause may ultimatly prevail.
An excellent impression must be produced by the speech which Lord Kitchener delivered in the House of Lords yesterday - his maiden speech, not only as War Minister but as a Peer. After explaining the conditions on which he assumed his present post, Lord Kitchener declared that this war would undoubtedly strain the resources of our Empire and entail considerable sacrifices on our people. Our troops had, he said, already been in contact with a superior force of the enemy for 36 hours, in the neighbourhood of Mons in Belgium, and had "maintained the traditions of British soldiers and behaved with the utmost gallantry" during movements "which demand the greatest steadiness in the soldiers and skill in their commanders."
Sir John French had telegraphed: "In spite of hard marching and fighting, the British force is in the best of spirits." Lord Kitchener had replied: "Congratulate troops on their splendid work. We are all proud of them."
The Secretary for War also referred to the smoothness of the mobilisation and the transport of the Expeditionary Force across the Channel, and asserted that "not only the moral but the material support which our troops were rendering to our Allies must prove to be a factor of high military significance." While other countries had brought their full resources into the field, we had still a vast reserve to draw upon. Over 70 battalions of Territorials, he said, had volunteered for service abroad, and the 100,000 revruits for the new army had been practically secured.
In the the House of Commons the Prime Minister read a despatch from Sir John French announcing that the withdrawal of the troops to a new position had been successfully accomplished without considerable loss, though the troops were, "pressed hard by the enemy, who were, however shaken off."
The casualties are provisionally estimated at something ovèr 2000 - a testimony to the severity of the fighting. The names of killed and wounded were not available last night.
The statement of the Official Press Bureau amplifies those, made in Parliament about the fighting. It mentions that the British forces were opposed by two German Army Corps and two cavalry divisions, that the enemy suffered very heavily, and that the position now occupied is well protected. It explains that the withdrawal from the advanced position was ordered by the French Commander-in-Chief, in of the considerable forces which the Germans had massed. Two French divisions suffered severely, but the main body was not touched. The spirit of the troops is reported to be excellent.
Both the French and the British official reports record that the losses inflicted on the Prussian Guard were heavy.
Another official French report on the general situation in Lorraine mentions that on Monday a counter attack, four times resumed, was delivered against the Germans who suffered, heavily.
Regret is expressed that, owing to difficulties of execution which could not be foreseen, the original plan of attack has not attained its end; but the defensive situation remains intact. German cavalry, operating on the extreme right, has penetrated into French territory at Roubaix and Turcoing.
It appears, therefore, from the official reports, that as the result of the fighting, which began on Sunday, the Allied Armies have in the retirement which was rendered necessary by the fall of Namur, successfully withdrawn to the new defensive positions prepared for them.
As to the fall of Namur, by the way, an undated German official dispatch received in Copenhagen reports that only five of the forts and the town have been captured, though the fall of the four other forts is imminent.
The Belgian Minister in London has issued a long and circumstantial statement of atrocities committed by the German troops in Belgium. The Belgian Government "protest before the civilised world against the fearful and atrocious crimes committed wilfully and deliberately by the invading hosts against helpless non-combatants, old men, women, and children.''
Servian reports bring even graver charges against the Austrian troops in the course of their retirement from Servian territory. They also announce that Servia is now clear of the enemy, and that Shabatz has been reoccupied.
It is officially reported that a Zeppelin airship passed over Antwerp on Monday night and dropped six shrapnel bombs, doing much damage to property and killing several persons.
It is stated in the Italian papers that Austria is, in spite of denials, mobilising on the Italian frontier and that 70,000 troops are concentrated
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