Naturally this victory is claimed by both sides. The Marshal,
in a despatch of the 17th inst., dated " head-quarters," but con- taining no hint where head-quarters may be, claims it because " we have everywhere maintained our position " and " have in- flicted considerable losses ;" while King William, in a telegram dated Pont-a -Mousson, 11 a.m., 18th August, also claims it be- cause " the objects of the battle have been completely attained" and "the enemy driven back to Metz." So completely indeed is victory believed iu in Berlin, that the rule of secrecy hitherto so strictly enforced has been set aside, and the Times' correspondent permitted to telegraph to London that the Crown Prince is free to proceed to the west and attack Chalons, Marshal Bazaine having been " brought to bay " in Metz. Upon the showing both of Marshal and King, it is certain that the French retreat upon Verdun has been arrested, and that the army is either in Met; in which case the Marshal may be forced by failing supplies to surrender for want of food ; or is immediately outside it, in which case he must fight his way through hosts immensely larger than his own, not only to Verdun, but to Chalons, seventy miles away. The losses in such a retreat, even if it could be made at all, would be frightful, and by the latest telegram retreat was impos- sible. Bazaine on Thursday, by German account, was driven into Metz.
