Meanwhile there is both good and bad to record in
the Russian campaign. Since our last issue Grodno has fallen, and the immediate aim of the Germans appears to be to secure the whole railway system between Riga and Lemberg. It must be admitted that they have made some rapid progress in the last few days. At Grodno, however, the Russian garri- son, as usual, got clear away. Only four hundred prisoners were taken. A worse loss for the Russians was the important bridgehead at Friedrichstadt. It was sometimes said that Riga must necessarily fall if the Germans reached Friedrich- stadt, but the Times correspondent tells us that, owing to the swiftness of the river and the fact that the Russians still have some commanding artillery positions, the menace to Riga is not immediate, It may well be, indeed, that the Germans will secure Riga, if at all, only by sea. And their costly attempt on the Gulf has not been repeated. A considerable anxiety, as we write, is the retreat of the Russians from Grodno. Along this line they are threatened with envelop- ment,
