The Spectator at war: Push on to Paris?

The Spectator, 5 September 1914:

SEDAN Day has passed, but there has been no second Sedan, as the Germans so fondly hoped. Indeed, as far as one can yet learn, the day passed without any memorable action, for it would be absurd to count as memorable the pleasant little capture of ten German guns by the British cavalry near Compiegne. Granted reliance on Fabian tactics for the present—and we fully recognize that these are the right tactics to adopt in existing circumstances— we are well satisfied with the situation. The Germans, no doubt, are pressing on while we write, for their outposts were reported on Thursday to be only some forty miles from the outer circle of the Paris defences, and in all probability before these pages are in our readers’ hands they will have actually reached those defences and have exchanged shots with the girdle of star forts. As a consequence of this rush forward the Allied troops in the western theatre of the war have had to fall back continuously, so continuously, indeed, that our line is now facing almost west.