ir several allies, have been, if not equally
disastrous, at least void of any tangible success.

"Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of the
Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;
Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinople
is therefore most seriously threatened.

"By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has been
rolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is still
untouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our own
waters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have won
victories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,
and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept the
Dardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.

"Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italian
squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by Admiral
Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warning
delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whose
mysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the Prime
Minister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strength
of the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.

"Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channel
fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy's
flag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shores
of our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for more
than seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far to
compensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which have
befallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the
satisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determined
assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back from
the impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.

"It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,
that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of the
aerial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,
have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even one
of these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.
Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that these
machines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors