Never had such a thoroughly prepared and spirited offensive undergone such a complete failure. A WAR OF SIEGE. _Meanwhile, from the banks of the Lys to the ridges of the Vosges a war of siege was ceaselessly raging. The Bulletin des Armees says:_ It is hardly necessary to emphasize the meritorious behavior of our troops in waging this war inch by inch, never yielding, progressing often in spite of the added difficulty of transporting important French and English contingents to the north. In close conjunction with the armies of the north the armies of Gen. Maudhuy and Gen. de Castelnau held without flinching in the slightest the line between the Lys and Noyon, from the middle of October till the end of November. Their progress has been continuous since the end of October; our positions in Arras and La Bassee have been strengthened, Quesnoy-en-Santerre has been captured, and in all the encounters with the enemy our artillery and infantry have constantly made gains. Between the Oise and the Argonne the armies of Maunoury, d'Esperay, and Langle de Cary were confronted with very strong positions, viz., the heights of the Aisne, of Berru, Nogent-l'Abbesse, Moronvilliers, and the wooded hills of Western Argonne. In September they had to resist a very violent general attack. This attack was a failure, especially east of Rheims, (Sept. 26.) The Emperor had witnessed this check of his troops just as a week later he was to witness the failure at Ypres. Our armies, that is to say, Sarrail's and Dubail's, fulfilled with method and success the task intrusted to them, viz., to protect our right flank against attacks on the line from Metz to Thionville; to retain in front of them the greatest possible number of German army corps; to free as far as practicable, the national territory that had been invaded, especially in the Woevre region and around Verdun. In a first period (Sept. 13-29) the enemy had the upper hand, fortified themselves in St. Mihiel, reached the Hauts-de-Meuse, and threatened Verdun. In the second period (Oct. 1 to Nov. 30) we regained the advantage. We cleared the vicinity of Verdun. We advanced east of Nancy, which is now quite safe from German shells, to the north of Luneville, and to the northeast and east of Saint-Die. In November we had recovered almost in its integrity the invaded territory between Belfort and the Moselle. _In brief, the situation on Dec. 1 was as follows:_ In number of men, the French Army is equal to what it was on Aug. 2, as all the gaps have been filled up. The quality of the troops is infinitely better. Our men now fight like veterans. All are deeply convinced of their superiority and have absolute faith in the final victory. Several necessary changes were made among the commanding officers, and in the last three months none of those mistakes was committed that had been observed and punished in August.