Feb 11. The statement contained in a relay from Delhi! no withd awol from Kut is contemplated'? must have surprise to many rea¢ It is indeed satisfactory enough to know that this most important point is to be held: but inasmuch as none of the public had imagined its being abandoned, it is a trifle disquieting to learn, by inference, that there was any question of abandonment.
Since General Townshend's withdrawal from Ctesiphon to Kut-al-Amara, and after the first few days of anxiety following that event, when it was plain that the Turks were trying hard to encircle him, there has been no news calculated to cause great uneasi-The withdrawal from Ctesiphon was a bitter disappointment, to no one less, it goes without saying, than to General Townshend, who found himself suddenly deserted by some thousands of well-armed Arabs hitherto supposedly friendly. But as it has never been quite clear, on military grounds, why General Towns-hend need ever have been push. ed on beyond Kut, the public became reconciled to the fait accompli. The retreat was bril-hantly executed, the position at Kut was strong and the danger of General Towushend's being surrounded appeared to have been successfully overcome. Delay in the arrival of reliefs there might be, on January 19 we were told that the weather had been atrocious, preventing all operations. But there was no appar-lent doubt about the reliefs ar-in due and good time. On General Townshend reported that the enemy had retired a mile from our trenches jand on January came the news that al Sir Perey Lake, Chief of the General Stait in India, to whom, on the invaliding home of Sir John Ni \the command of the whole ope tions had devolved, had—joined General Aylmer, v.c.. comma ing the relief columns marching; on Kut.
The whole situation is one on which the Government might de far less niggardly of informa ti than it has shown itself, esp ly in view of this latest, somewhat disquieting, communique The Mesopotamian campaign one of the first importance and interest to Great Britain both actually and with a view to days
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.