NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Bolsheviks have been foiled in their attempt to capture Warsaw before they began negotiating with the Poles for an armistice. The Polish forces opened a counter-attack on Saturday last, and by Tuesday had compelled the enemy to retreat both to the north and to the east of the capital. Traffic was resumed on the western railway route from Warsaw to Danzig, by Thorn, and on the eastern railway the Poles recovered Ciechanow. We earnestly hope that the Polish Government will use this military success to hasten the conclusion of the armistice at the conference which opened at Minsk- on Tuesday. Poland, like the rest of Europe, needs peace above all. If the terms offered her by the Bolsheviks are really compatible with her independence, she should accept them promptly. The British public, apart from the small Bolshevik faction, sympathizes with Poland, but is in no mood to undertake another Russian adventure. Of course, if the Bolsheviks seek to impose a Com- munist despotism upon Poland and thus deny her " self-deter- mination," we shall be in honour bound to assist her to maintain her liberties. But the Poles would be ill-advised to reject reasonable terms, now that the Bolshevik militarists are for the moment somewhat chastened:
