The telegrams published yesterday morning containing unconfirmed reports that the Allies were succeeding in evacuating their forces in Flanders by sea, and that a very large number, estimated variously at from 300,000 to 500,000 had already been extricated, seemed almost too good to be true, but the cables which came io hand during yesterday indicated that the Allied command was succeeding in extricating their forces, though how successful they have been will probably not be known for some days to come. What is certain is that the German attempt to divide the French and British forces into two pockets and entrap them there has failed. Fighting a stubborn rearguard action ihey escaped from the obvious trap laid for them, and both British and French soldiers are being transported across the Channel to sou-them English ports whence endless lines of troop-trains are taking them northwards for a period of recuperation before they are returned to France to reinforce the armies behind the Somme and the Aisne, There is no great harm in conceding the German victory. That has been gained at terrific losses, so great that it will prove in the long run more expensive than even the callous German high command with its utter disregard for human life originally contemplated. With the surrender of the Belgions, and the rapid advance of German forces under General von Reichenau northwards from Abbeville along the French coast of the Channel, it was feared at one time that the enemy would succeed in cutting off, all avenues of retreat. The Germans themselves were confidently boasting of the encirclement and future destruction of the Allied forces, and indeed at one time it looked as though they would be justified in the event, But the landing last week of British forces at Calais resulted in the defence of that port, long after the Germans had claimed to have captured it, and prevented the speedy advance to Dunkirk' upon which the German command were counting. Then further north the French beat the Germans in the race to Nieuport and getting there first opened the flood gates of the River Yser with the result that the sea rushed in, protected the Allied left flank, and made the defence of Dunkirk somewhat easier. Then, fighting a stiff rearguard action to afford time for the evacuation of the larger portion of the Allied forces, British and French troops are slowly falling back upon the port. It is inevitable that a portion of the Allied forces must fall into the enemy hands. It is impossible to evacuate them to the last man. A number, and perhaps, a substantial number will have to be sacrificed to ensure the safety of the majority, but the Allied command may be depended upon to see that as few as possible shall be lost, Thus during the past three weeks the world has seen what is probably the greatest battle in the whole of the world's history. It has witnessed a struggle in which the Allied soldiers have covered themselves with immortal glory, and their leaders proved themselves to be the men in whom the Allies can safely trust. There can be no glozing over the fact that the Allies have sustained a particularly severe reverse but the fact that they are able to extricate a large proportion of their men to a very great extent offsets it. The performance of the Allied troops in Flanders, fighting without cease against numerical superiority, justifies the completest confidence that their brothers-in-arms along the water line, including the Somme and the Aisne, from Abbeville to Sedan, will be able to withstand future German onslaughts, when they have licked the grievous wounds inflicted upon them and have gathered themselves together for another attack. There is much that is heartening in the news which has come to hand, and a great deal to be devoutly thankful foi The greater part of the Allied forces in Flanders have escaped the trap which was laid for them. They will in due course be back in the field again, all the more valuable because of the enormous experience they have gained in their weeks of suffering.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.