T HE news from the Western front and Mesopotamia is altogether
good. The reasons for the German retreat on the Ancre are no longer in doubt. The enemy goes back not because he wishes but because he has to go. As for the capture of Baghdad, it opens up endless possibilities. Successful war does not consist, we know, in the taking of cities if the enemy be not broken. Napoleon warned his pupils against this " empty honour." But in Mesopo- tamia the greatest city that has yet fallen to the Allies so far in the war has been taken and the enemy has been broken at the same time. The Russians in Persia are still some distance away, but they are nevertheless hunting the Turks out of Persia. The terminus of the German Baghdad Railway has suddenly been taken over by a rival company, and the whole scheme of Mittel-Europa totters. But we shall say no more here about the military situation, as we have written on the whole subject in a leading article.
