GIFT OF GIFT MAR 6 1919 THE UNITED STATES OF POLAND WITH TWO EXPLANATORY MAPS THE UNITED STATES OF POLAND WITH TWO EXPLANATORY MAPS BY Dr. A. Syski MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL POLISH DEPARTMENT OF AMERICA POLISH AMERICAN CITIZENS COMMITTEE BOSTON, MASS. UNITED STATES OF POLAND BY DR. A. SYSKI Member of the National Polish Department of America. GENERAL VIEW OF THE POLISH PROBLEM "The Polish question is the key to the European vault," said Napoleon. The future peace of Europe will largely depend on its proper solution. Unfortunately the very fact of the existence of the Polish nation was brought into prominence and the attention of the world only lately. During the period preceding the outbreak of the war, the people of the world would occasionally meet with some poor Polish immigrant; would read a novel by Sienkiewicz, the au- thor of "Quo Vadis"; would go with pleasure to Paderewski's concert and enjoy his interpretation of Chopin's Polish Music, but to many of them these things did not even suggest the fact that somewhere, in a distant part of Europe, there existed a national life and a civilization whose human, literary, and artistic products thus reached them in fragments. They were like fishermen, who, having caught a fish close to the surface of the sea, were satisfied with it and did not even ask themselves what sort of life it was beneath the surface that had produced the specimen they caught. In the years just prior to the war, the papers brought them occasional news about a desperate struggle for existence going on in German or Russian Poland, about the unheard-of meas- ures employed for the purpose of destroying the Polish nation- ality, about the law to expropriate Polish possessors of land estates, about the Polish children being flogged because they insisted in praying in their mother tongue and so on. But they knew very little of the nation engaged in the strug- gle and failed to realize what the contest meant for Europe. It was only after the outbreak of the present war that the Polish existence and problem reappeared, and that the idea 392633 of independence and reunion of the partitioned Polish terri- tory was put forward. The people of the world only then began to ask "What is Poland? What are her frontiers, her boundaries? What the number of her people and strength ?" It was not easy to find answer to these questions. Outside Poland itself, literature concerning that country, still pretty rich as late as fifty years ago, particularly in French and English, became in time worse than poor. The very few modern books on the subject are either partial, written by the enemies of Poland with the view to discredit Poland in the eyes of the world, or if friendly, then very far from being exact, and accordingly unable to give a true picture of Polish reality and claims. The average educated man, therefore, knows that in the past there existed a great Polish kingdom, that towards the end of the eighteenth century it disappeared from the map of Europe, and that later the Poles tried to recover their inde- pendence by means of a series of insurrections, but what became of the nation afterwards and especially what the neces- sities and the real boundaries of Poland are at present, the average educated man does not know. And yet it is important to know it. It is important to know what Poland is to-day, and it is im- portant to know what Poland should be in the future. WHAT IS POLAND TO-DAY? What is Poland to-day? It is a vast desert, an immense ruin, a colossal cemetery. Precious works of art, valuable books, documents, and manu- scripts, all the priceless proofs of the ancient thousand years of old Polish culture have been confiscated as the operation is diplomatically called when it is performed by an overwhelm- ing collective force. Several large cities have been spared, preserved for the com- fort of the German or Russian guests in Poland. But on the tremendous battle-front extending from the Baltic Sea to the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, all of Russian Poland, almost the whole of Austrian, and even a portion of Prussian Poland have been totally ruined. 3 300 towns, 2,000 churches, 20,000 villages have been wiped away. An area equal in size to the States of Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine put together has been laid waste. What could remain of a country where in many districts those huge armies of millions of men were moving forward and backward for over three years? Over three years of continuous fighting, of incessant danger, of uninterrupted anguish and pain imposed upon an innocent nation. Millions of homeless peasants, of unemployed workmen, of humble Polish and Jewish shop-keepers have been driven into open wastes. Millions of bereaved parents, of breadless, helpless widows and orphans, have been wandering about in the desolate land, hiding in woods or in hollows, happy when they found an aban- doned trench, and in that trench, next to the body of a fallen fighter, some decaying remnants of soldiers' food. Forced from their homes to escape the ruthless fury of the invaders, thousands of these unfortunates died of starvation, leaving their bodies upon the roadside to mark the line of march of a stricken people. Mr. Frederick Wolcott, who at that time visited Poland, says that both sides of the road he motored along were completely lined for the whole 230 miles with mud-covered and rain- stricken clothing. The bones have been cleared by the crows. The Prussians came along, gathering the larger bones, for these were useful as phosphate and fertilizer. The little-finger and toe bones were left with the rags of clothing. The little wicker baby-baskets were there by hundreds upon hundreds. Mr. Wolcott started to count them for the first mile or two, giving it up in despair for there were so many of them. He saw no buildings in that whole stretch of 230 miles. Everything has been destroyed ; nothing but the bare black and charred chimneys were standing. No live stock, no farm im- plements, no sign of a living being in all that vast area. This is Poland to-day. But, notwithstanding the fact of this terrible devastation of Poland, the magnitude of its domain and the number of its people is still enormous. The Polish Kingdom of Boleslaus the Great (992-1025) stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. It included part of Saxony, the whole of Silesia, Pomerania, Prussia, Moravia, Slovakia, and stretched almost to Berlin. In 1772, when came the first dismemberment, Poland covered 300,000 square miles, almost 100,000 miles more than Germany of to-day. As it then was it would rank with Italy as the fifth European nation. Before the outbreak of this war there was a compact mass of 30,000,000 people in Europe speaking the Polish language, and, whatever ruler might claim dominion over them, they were one. No mutilation of the national body, no cruelties or oppres- sions could dissever the Poles in their spirit. They remain to-day one nation in language and in aspira- tions, despite a century and a half of politic slavery; and through all those years the love of liberty has burned within them, as an inextinguishable flame. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF POLAND IN THE FUTURE MAP OF EUROPE The significance of Poland in the future map of Europe is so momentous that a short-sightedness of the world on this subject would be criminal. This tremendous international import of the Polish question was very clearly indicated to the world by every scholar who discussed it. One of them, Dr. E. J. Dillon, in an article in the Fortnightly entitled "The Allies' Task," frankly admits and points out that "unless a new Poland, strong and independent, is created, the Allies will lose the war, even though at the Peace con- gress they shall have appeared to win it." There would, he says, perhaps have been no world-war, if independent Poland had remained a Baltic Power possessed of a fleet in the Gulf of Dantzic and of a country traversed by a network of strategic railways. One of the indispensable safeguards of future peace is the establishment of strong frontier guards in north and south to bar the Teutons' road to Constantinople and the Black Sea. The power of Germany comes not from the west, but from the east, from Prussia, from the country built nearly entirely on the Slavonic side, and every progress of the Germans in the east means a new menace to Europe. The first thing for Europe to do, if she wants to have Ger- many less dangerous, is to stop the progress of Germanism in the east. But by what means may it be stopped? It certainly cannot be stopped by the establishment of numer- ous small states such as Ukraina, White Ruthenia, Lithuania, and Lettonia, which naturally cannot exist without falling under the influence of its strong neighbor Germany, and which Germany encourages to spring out of the ruins of Kussia. The only barrier against strong Germany would be either strong Russia or strong Poland. But the events show that Russia is no match for Germany. In the country of Polish civilization which extends to the north and to the south of Germany, the Russian civilization which is a progressive force in Siberia, Caucasus, and Central Asia has no constructive power at all. The only possible constructive power to fight against German aggression in the Polish country to the north and to the south of Germany is a Polish civilization. This was proved by the successful struggle of German Poles in Germany, and therefore, if this country is to be saved from German conquest, a strong Polish state and Polish civilization must be given full freedom to develop over there. The interest of Germany demands a weak Poland surrounded by provinces either directly belonging to Germany or recogniz- ing Teutonic supremacy. The interests of peace require a large, powerful, and eco- nomically independent Poland. A peace which would leave in Germany's hands any economic whip over Poland would be a German peace. Poland should be restored in a manner which would satisfy the needs and wishes of the Polish nation. According to the statement of that great Pole, I. Paderewski, a new Poland should be a continuation of that which she has been; otherwise she cannot find again the ideal which she has in her soul. Her ideal has in itself all the elements of vitality and progress, and is so deeply rooted in the nature of the Polish people that it forms the psychological necessity of their existence. Polish life cannot be normal if she lacks the essential ele- ments which have given her breath. The partitions of Poland have not divided the nation. They have created a flagrant con- tradiction between an artificial state, established by force, and the national conscience. If one should plan to cut out a certain part of the former Poland to make a new one, if instead of erasing the artificial confines one should only modify their direction, it would be creating irredeutisms which would fatally lead to a new crisis. If we are to have a lasting and durable peace, we must reunite in the new Poland all the Polish lands. It is evident that it would be difficult to construct a Polish state out of territories where there are no Poles; but would it be possible to build a Poland out of lands which have never formed a part of her history, if by some chance, let us suppose, due to a forced immigration, the number of Poles would reach 65 per cent, of the inhabitants? NUMBER OF POLES INHABITING POLISH LANDS The correct number of Poles inhabiting Polish lands is gen- erally little known, because in compiling the statistics the interested governments always treated the ethnical problems from a viewpoint of their politics. The following calculations are based upon the only existing authority, the official sta- tistics compiled before the war, and as such they must be ac- cepted with the understanding that they show only the mini- mum of Polish elements : I. RUSSIAN PARTITION: a. Kingdom of Poland, within the territories outlined by the Congress of Vienna (1815), of 127,684 square kilometres. Total population (including Russian troops), 13,427,180 : Poles, 10,232,200 (76.46 per cent.) ; Lithuanians, 336,900; Ruthenians, 374,280 ; Russians, 137,200 ; Jews, 1,746,600 ; Germans, 500,000. 6. Lithuania and White Ruthenia: 6,000,000 Poles. c. Ruthenia: 870,000 Poles. d. In Russia, the scattered Polish colonies (chiefly in the industrial districts) count approximately 600,000. The total number of Poles in the Russian partition is 17,702,200. IT. AUSTRIAN PARTITION: a. Galicia, consisting of a part of former Little Poland and Ked Kuthenia or East Galicia, covers an area of 78,497 square kilometres. The total number of inhabi- tants is 8,200,000, composed of Poles, 4,960,000 (61 per cent.) ; Kuthenians, 3,140,000 (39 per cent.). &. Silesia of Cieszyn, with an area of 23,000 square kilo- metres. Total population, 434,000, with 285,000 Poles, or 65 per cent. c. Spisz, occupied by the Austrians since 1769, and to-day belonging to Hungary, has 200,000 Poles. d. Bukowina has 36,000 Poles, Bosnia, 12,000, and other Austrian provinces, 24,000. The total number of Poles in Austrian partition is 5,417,000. III. PRUSSIAN PARTITION : Compiling the official statistics the Prussian Govern- ment employed various methods with the purpose to diminish the figures of the correct number of Poles. The recognition of the Kaszub and Mazurian dialects as belonging to separate nationalities, and other details of registry particularly unfavorable for the Poles, were the chief means of lowering the figures of Poles in the Prus- sian partition. The statistics of primary schools are a trifle more ac- curate than the figures of the general census, although still unfavorable to the Poles. According to the latest data (1910) the figures of Polish population in the Prussian partition are as follows : a. The Grand Duchy of Posen (annexed by Prussia during the second partition of Poland in 1793") covers an area of 28,996 square kilometres, with a total population of 2,100,000, out of which there are 1,465,000 Poles, or 69.67 per cent. Out of forty-two districts, thirty-three have an unquestionably predominant Polish population. 6. West Prussia (formerly Koyal Prussia) was assigned to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The total area is 25,553 square kilometres, with a population of 1,703,500, of which 754,500 (44.29 per cent.) are Poles. Out of twenty-nine districts, fourteen have a predomi- nance of Poles. c. East Prussia (Ducal Prussia). Total area, 37,000 square kilometres. Population, 543,000. The Poles number 385,000, or 70.9 per cent., with an overwhelming pre- dominance in eight districts out of ten. d, Prussian Silesia. Total area, 40,355 square kilometres, with a population of 2,208,000, of which 1,548,500, or 70.1 per cent., are Poles. Out of twenty-six districts, eighteen have the Polish majority of population. 8 e. In Germany, outside of Polish territory, there live about 600,000 Poles. The major part of them (over 500,000) is concentrated in the industrial districts of Westphalia. The total number of Poles in the German partition was in 1914, 4,751,000. Counting the increase of population from the year 1914 till 1918, we can estimate the total population of Poles in the German partition as 5,000,000. The minimum figure, compiled by Poland's enemies, gives a total of Polish population in the Russian, Austrian, and Ger- man partitions as 25,319,200, but actually it may be accepted as certain that the total is about thirty millions. TWO ESSENTIALS OF AN INDEPENDENT POLAND what is the first essential of an independent strong new state of Poland to be formed out of this great number of the Polish people in Europe? The answer is in four words "Access to the sea." No nation ever lived and thrived without a seaport, for the lack of a seaport involves economic and, therefore, political dependence upon those neighbors who command and control the passage of such a neighbor's commerce through their terri- tories. Now the ancient port of Poland is Dantzic, the natural outlet of the great and rich Polish Basin of the Vistula, but diverted from its true functions by the German commercial system. Dantzic, ethnographically Polish, went voluntarily to Poland in 1455, glad to escape from the corrupt rule of the Teutonic Knights. The city of Dantzic was at that time formally ceded to the Kingdom of Poland at the Peace of Thorn, and remained faith- ful to Polish destinies until forcibly divorced by Prussian an- nexation in the year 1793. It is mockery to talk of Polish independence unless this ancient seaport of Poland is restored to her. But there is also another essential of Poland, if she is to be a nation, and that is national industry. Poland cannot well have a national industry unless the mines of Silesia are restored to her. These mines, like her port, were stolen from her by Frederick 9 the Great, but the country of Silesia is still Polish in popu- lation. If neither of these two things is granted to Poland, it is the hollowest and most transparent of mockeries to dangle before the tortured eyes of Poland any hope of independence. A Poland without Dantzic or without Silesia is doomed, whatever her political system may be, to be the economic and therefore the political vassal of Prussia. Once the necessity of Poland reunited and independent is admitted, these two conditions in re-establishing the Polish state are essential. ~g i? HISTORIC MAP OF POLAND THE BOUNDARIES OF POLAND But even after the favorable solution of these two principal and essential conditions of future Poland, the question what 10 other territories are to be included in the new Republic of Poland must be given also very careful and strong considera- tion. "No country in the world illustrates more forcibly the dis- astrous effects of bad boundaries than does the old Kingdom of Poland," says Col. Sir Th. H. Holdien in his recent book "The Boundaries of Europe." New Poland should have certainly new and far better boun- daries in future. To start with, it must be remembered that this question of the boundaries of the future independent Poland is not only a territorial one, but mainly a national and racial one. Could the matter be decided merely on the basis of geo- graphical and commercial boundaries, the problem would be a trifling one. Kivers, forests, mountains, and valleys do not protest against any of their possessors, and readily accept any political ar- rangements and limitations man makes on their account. It is the people who dwell there who give rise to the problem. The populations living in the border provinces which formed the old Kingdom of Poland claim in a great measure their own nationality, and it is, therefore, easy to understand that the case of these nationalities should also be examined very care- fully. According to the resolution of the Polish Provisional State Council in Warsaw, the question of the fate of these provinces must be solved in accordance with the state interests of independent Poland. This solution of course would be totally different from the solution on the merely geographical or ethnographical basis. POLAND AS A GEOGRAPHICAL UNITY Geographically, Poland is the country of the Vistula, and as such she has a geographical unity which should not be broken into. The very name of Poland is derived from the word "Pole," which in all Slavonic languages means "a field, a plain"; and it derives from the fact that the country lies in a vast produc- tive plateau of which the river Vistula is the centre, and which has the river Oder on the west, and the river Dnieper on the east. This has been the home for centuries of the Poles. In 11 the early days of the ninth century, before the eastern Slavonic country had been conquered by the Normans of Roesland and had received from them the name of Russia, the inhabitants of the country bordered by the rivers Dnieper and Oder and those living in the Vistula and Warta districts were all known under the name of "Polanie," Polans. The most ancient of Russia's historical documents, the Chronicle of Nestor, dating from the beginning of the twelfth century, as well as the first prominent historian of Russia, Karamzin, agreed that the ancient Poles and the Polans were the same people, speaking the same language. It is worth while pointing out in this connection that the economic development of Poland in the last century has been seriously hindered by the fact that the Vistula had to run through parts of Austria, Russia, and Germany. It has thus been in the interest of none of these Powers to develop navigation on the river, which is one of the finest in Europe. Germany, owning the estuary, has done the most, as she was able to use the part of the Vistula which she has possessed without reference to the others. And yet the Basin of the Vistula contains one of the richest coal-fields in Europe and is developing into one of the greatest manufacturing centres in the world. An independent state of Poland cannot exist unless it pos- sesses the whole Basin of the Vistula with the mines of Silesia and with the great port of Dantzig at the Baltic near its mouth, although at the present moment the population of Dantzig is predominantly Germanized. POLITICAL ASPECT OF THE BOUNDARIES OF POLAND Another aspect of the all-embracing problem of the future boundaries of Poland is rather political. The history of Europe and the United States has shown that a superior nation is in no danger of being absorbed by its inferior neighbors, whatever the difference in population. Accordingly, the civilization of the future Poland will be Polish whatever the number of non-Polish nations included within its frontiers. 12 This leaves one to suggest that the boundaries, when they come to be drawn, need not follow the ethnographical or geo- graphical frontiers of Poland too closely. On the contrary, there are cases, and such is this one of Poland, where the drawing of her boundaries exclusively on the national geographical basis, would be precarious, not only for the Poles, but eventually also for the other peoples in whose favor it would be done. THE NATIONALITIES CONCERNED There are three nationalities especially concerned at this point, namely, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and White Ruthenians. The problem of each of these nationalities is rather peculiar, and practically cannot be solved without reference to Poland. In the first place, they all are not yet developed enough to be alone and independent. The culture of each of them in their upper and civilized classes is everywhere Polish. There is no Ukrainian in Ukrania, or Lithuanian in Lithu- ania, or White Ruthenian in White Ruthenia who would be unable to speak, or read, or at least to understand Polish. The Polish language is regarded over there as the language of the educated class, without any distinction be they Poles, or Lithuanians, or White Ruthenians, or Ukrainians. Moreover, there is there only one language, namely Lithuan- ian, which is totally different from Polish and which could not be understood by the Poles. Two other languages, namely, White Ruthenian and Ukrainian, are rather local dialects representing some mixture of Polish language and Russian language. Every Pole understands White Ruthenian and Ukrainian, although there are millions of the Poles or of the natives in those countries, but so thoroughly polonized by centuries of common life in the old Polish Kingdom that they do not use in their intercourse these local dialects and are satisfied only with Polish. And now comes the question, whose part should we take? Should we force the upper class of the people in those countries to lose and forget their nationality in order to submit 13 to the state of the lower, uncultured, although more numerous class, or, vice versa, should we submit the latter to the first? The problem is indeed very difficult, but it is evident that it cannot be solved by either extreme. THE POLISH SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM The leaders of the Polish cause especially do not want to impose their nationality on the inferior classes of the people they are dwelling with, but they also strongly protest against the attacks upon their own. All they want is to live and let others live. The Polish solution of the problem is accordingly not subju- gation, but autonomy and federation. Besides Poland proper ethnographical, with the majority of population strictly and exclusively Polish, there should be re- established a United States of Poland with the official use of two, and in some provinces even three languages, namely, Polish and Lithuanian, or White Ruthenian, or Ukrainian, according to the local conditions. This, and this alone, is the only logical and reasonable solu- tion of the problem which would satisfy all the parties con- cerned, and, furthermore, which would be politically beneficial. It would be detrimental to all the people concerned to follow the solution of the problem suggested and even started by Germany, namely, the establishment in those countries of the whole group of the small states, which would be at the mercy of the Germans, instead of one strong state of Poland, which could withstand the German influence. Neither Poland alone (Poland proper), nor Lithuania, nor Ukraina, nor White Ruthenia alone, can withstand the German ''Drang nacTi Osten" and would easily fall under the influence of Germany sooner or later. Their only hope is to unite and bind together in order to insure their future self-preservation. The best proof of it is Czecho- Slovakia. The leaders of this new state in Europe combine three nation- alities with three different languages, namely, Czechs, Moravi- ans, and Slovaks, in order to be strong enough to form one state. 14 The dominant nationality there would certainly be the Czechs (Bohemians), but no one accuses them of the imperialistic spirit just because they want to be strong by uniting with Moravia and Slovakia. Even the Poles do not oppose the union of Moravia and Slovakia with Bohemians, although both those people were once under the dominion of Poland, and although, nationally, culturally, and linguistically they are as near to the Poles as to the Bohemians. The Poles understand that both those peoples are not yet sufficiently developed and strong to be alone and independent, and that it is beneficial for them to be united with the Bo- hemians rather than to be under the dominion of Austria or Hungary. Now this is also exactly the case of Lithuania, White Ku- thenia, and Ukraina. The Polish people do not want to subjugate or oppress these people, but the Polish people claim to be right in looking for the preservation of the union which existed for centuries between these people and Poland, and which is even now their only hope of the future. This is the principal cause why the new Polish state should be united with all these border provinces of the old Kingdom of Poland. THE CLASSIFIED TERRITORIES OF POLAND In order to explain it more clearly, and at the same time in order to be brief, let us classify all the territories on which we have to face the Polish problem, into three classes : 1. The provinces of the ancient Polish Kingdom where the bulk of the population is of Polish stock and speaks Polish, and which were partitioned among Germany, Russia, and Austria. They stretch from the Carpathian Mountains to the Baltic Sea and comprise the whole of the Vistula Basin as well as the Basin of the Warta, the chief confluent of Oder. This territory roughly comprises what we call the present Kingdom of Poland within the boundaries drawn at the Con- gress of Vienna (1815) and the provinces of Western Galicia, Posnania, West Prussia, Podlachia, and few districts of Pom- 15 SO 1OO% _. 25 50% 70 25% POLFX DUTHN1AHS ETHNOGRAPHICAL MAP OF POLAND erania and White Ruthenia. The total area of these provinces is over 75,000 square miles, and their population exceeds 20,000,000, its density approaching 260 inhabitants per square mile, which is a very dense population when it is remembered that France has only 190 per square mile. 2. The provinces to the west and north of the provinces above mentioned, which were torn from the ancient Kingdom of Poland long before its partition, but where still a large majority of the people are of Polish nationality and speak the Polish tongue. All these provinces belong chiefly to Ger- many (German Silesia, part of Pomerania, and the southern 16 part of East Prussia with the Masurian Lakes) and to Austria- Hungary (Austrian Silesia and Spiz). They represent an area of over 12,000 square miles with a population exceeding 3,000,000 inhabitants. 3. The provinces to the east of the provinces mentioned in the first place, which belonged to the ancient Kingdom of Poland until the times of its partition, but where the bulk of the population is of non-Polish origin and speak either Lithuanian or White Ruthenian or Ukrainian, although the upper classes of the people speak Polish. On this territory only a small part, namely, Eastern Galicia and Bukowina, belongs to Austria, and only a small part, namely, Northern East Prussia, belongs to Germany; while the chief portion, the so-called North and Southwestern Provinces, namely, Wilno, Grodno, Kowno, Minsk, Mohylew, Witebsk and Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraina proper, belongs to Kussia. These provinces represent an area of about 200,000 square miles with over 30,000,000 in- habitants. The Poles form over there only a more or less considerable minority, not over 25 per cent., especially in the easternmost districts. This vast stretch of territory whose inhabitants in the majority are non-Polish by birth is never- theless a country with a Polish civilization. At the time of the existence of the ancient Kingdom of Poland, the provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraina proper were directly united with Poland proper, while on the other hand the rest of those provinces, namely Wilno, Grodno, Kowno, Minsk, Mohylew, and Witebsk, were known as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and were united with Poland as a distinct, separate unit, with administration and even with an army of their own. It is understood that all the Polish provinces enumerated in the first and second class are indisputably Polish and should go without any doubt to the new re-established Republic of Poland. There would be no justice in the world if they were not redeemed and reunited. But what about the provinces of the third class, which lie to the east of the first two? It is beyond doubt that they do not want to be and that they will not go again under the dominion of Russia. They want to be free, and this is the question should they be established in a number of separate, independent states, 17 according to their predominant nationality, or should they be autonomous but united with Poland as they were before its partition ? The first of these solutions was suggested by Germany after the occupation of these provinces during this war. The best proof of how far Germany was in favor of this solution is the fact that the German forces of occupation in Lithuania tried to stimulate the secession even among the White Euthenians, organizing their country into some kind of an independent state, although the natives of this country never dreamed of it. The bulk of White Euthenians consider themselves accord- ing to their religion, either with the Poles if they are Catholics, or with the Russians if they are Orthodox. THE WHITE EUTHENIANS IN LITHUANIA With the exception of the province of Kowno and a few districts of the province of Wilno, the White Euthenians are in the absolute majority in all the rest of the provinces of Lithuania, and the territory of their state would be really large if they were able to organize it. The only trouble is that they do not know how to do it and, furthermore, that they have as yet no desire to do it. The claims to govern them come on the other hand mainly either from the Eussians or the Lithuanians. We hope that the Eussian domination, or rather misrule, has gone forever over there, and that the time of the domination of the Lithuanians has not yet come. Ethnographically the number of Lithuanians in Lithuania does not exceed 2,500,000, which is only about 10 per cent, of the whole population of that country. They are confined most exclusively within the borders of only one province, Kowno, and a few neighboring districts, and they are very scarce in all other provinces over there. Nevertheless, before the partition of Poland the Lithuanians were the predominant nationality in the whole of historic Lithuania, and they claim even now their rights to the monop- oly of political power and domination over all the other in- habitants in that country. 18 They forget that the Lithuanians at the time before the parti- tion of Poland, although nominally distinct, in reality were the Poles, or polonized Lithuanians, speaking the Polish tongue, and regarding the Lithuanian language as the dialect or local idiom, only for the uneducated peasants. THE UNION OF LITHUANIA WITH POLAND The union of Lithuania with Poland before its partition was so close that this distinction of the language was practically invisible, especially in public administration. The best proof of it is the fact that the capital city of Lithuania, Wilno, is entirely Polish, and was for a long time, even after the parti- tion of Poland, the chief point of the Polish culture and civili- zation, wherefrom came a revival of the Polish literature for all Poland with such immortal leaders as Adam Mickiewicz and Julius Slowacki. It is very difficult to understand how the leaders of the movement for the Lithuanian secession intend to extirpate and over-run the Polish element in Lithuania, with their national culture only beginning to develop, and with their overwhelming minority in numbers when compared not only with White Kuthenians, but even with the Poles or thoroughly polonized Lithuanians and White Kuthenians. It is a fact that autocratic Russia was incomparably stronger than they are, and it is a fact that this Russia did everything in her power, beginning with the deportation of Poles and confiscation of their estates, towards the suppression even of the use of the Polish language on the streets of Lithu- anian cities, in order to extirpate the Polish element in Lithu- ania, and if Kussia has not succeeded, it is impossible to under- stand how any other Power can accomplish it. Moreover, it is strange, but it is true, that the over-century- long oppression of the Polish element in Lithuania by the mis- government of Kussia succeeded only in amalgamating the native White Ruthenians with the Poles. The Russian Government, by persecution of the Poles in Lithuania, accomplished what was hardly accomplished by the Polish possession of that land. This rather peculiar result of the Russian domination in Lithuania finds its explanation in the religion of the people concerned. 19 The bulk of the White Ruthenian people of Lithuania before the partition of Poland were Catholic-Uniats. The Catholic-Uniat Church was established about 1595 as a compromise or common ground of worship for Catholics and Orthodox (Greek Form). The Government of Russia, by abolishing forcibly the Uniat Church and by enrolling every Uniat White Ruthenian, against his will, as a member of the Orthodox Church, forced all those who stubbornly wanted to stay Catholic to become Polish. To be a Catholic and to be a Pole is synonymous in Lithuania since that time. From the time of the publication, in 1905, of the ukase granting religious freedom to all Russian subjects in Russia, the number of these converted Poles in Lithuania increased enormously. If the solution of the problem of Lithuania would be other than the union with Poland, then, it is without any question that these polonized Catholic White Ruthenians, believing themselves to be real Poles, would join with the Polish popula- tion over there and would object to the dominion of Lithua- nians and by all means would try to be reunited with Poland. THE POLISH ELEMENT IN LITHUANIA There are many districts of the provinces of Grodno, Wilno, and Minsk in Lithuania where the Polish element is very strong, and where, especially in the cities, the Poles are in the majority, so that only by uniting with Poland could they be satisfied. Such are especially the districts of Bialystok, Sokolka, Bielsk, Drohiczyn, Grodno, Wilno, and a few others, at the very border of Poland proper, where the population is ex- clusively Polish. Encircled by the districts of Poland proper, they still be- long to the Basin of Vistula, covering the banks of its tribu- tary, Narew, and their case is such that, even without refer- ence to the other districts of Lithuania, they should go to Poland proper, where ethnographically they belong. On the other hand, the little northern part of the province of Suwalki, in what we now call the Kingdom of Poland (or 20 Poland proper), is inhabited mostly by Lithuanians, and it should go rather to Lithuania. Outside of this internal rectification of the boundaries, the solution of the whole problem of Lithuania should be always the same, the union, namely, with Poland, with complete self- government, but with the official use of all languages con- cerned, Polish, Lithuanian, and White Kuthenian. Any other way to solve this situation would certainly be only a very problematic experiment without any hope of success. The Polish people, desiring to retain a free union with Lith- uania, are by no means aggressive, but are rather conservative and looking only for self-defence. SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE PEOPLE Self-determination of the people is really the ideal, but if it is pushed to the limit, it is absolutely impossible, at least in some of the countries, where the different nationalities form nothing else but a melting-pot. Such a melting-pot is Lithuania, and such melting-pots are also East Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia, Ukraina proper, and Bukowina, about which we must speak in order to finish with the boundaries of Poland. The claims to the possession of these above-enumerated prov- inces of the ancient Kingdom of Poland come from the Poles, from the Russians, and from the Ukrainians. According to the principle of self-determination of the people, the Ukrainians, or rightly Ruthenians, are really the most entitled to consideration in this respect. No doubt, they form the majority of the inhabitants in these provinces, and in this regard they have a better claim than the Lithuanians in Lithuania. THE RIGHTS OF THE POLES IN EAST GALICIA, VOLHYNIA, AND PODOLIA Nevertheless, at least in East Galicia, Volhynia, and Podolia, the rights of the Poles to the possession of the country are predominant. 21 Historically, the Poles, namely, White Chrobatiens, were the first inhabitants there. According to the testimony of the most ancient historian of the Slavs, Nestor, the Ruthenian prince of Kiew, Wladimir the First, only afterwards, in the year 981, came to that country, to the Lachs, that is, to the Poles, and conquered from them the cities of Przemysl, Czerwien, and so on. The Poles never ceased to strive to recover those original Polish possessions, until they finally succeeded under the gov- ernment of King Casimir the Great. From the time of Casimir the Great (1370) until the partition of Poland, East Galicia, Volhynia, and Podolia were always Polish. No authority has now a right to dispossess a nation of the territory originally its own, and which after recovery it re- tained through centuries of peaceful possession. There were troubles about possession by Poland of Ukraina proper, namely, the province of Kiew, but there was never trouble about the possession by Poland of Volhynia, Podolia, and especially East Galicia with the entirely Polish city of Lemberg, or Lwow. The Ruthenians in East Galicia, Volhynia, and Podolia owe their development exclusively to the Poles, and the latter have organized the country politically, economically, and socially. Even the religion of Ruthenians in these provinces is dif- ferent from the religion of Ukraina proper around Kiew. The Ruthenians here are mostly Catholic-Uniats, and the Ruthenians in Ukraina proper are Orthodox. The influence of the Poles in East Galicia, Volhynia, and Podolia is not in proportion to their numbers, although these also are by no means inconsiderable. The Ukrainians in Ukraina proper around Kiew still apply the name "Poland" to all the territories west of the river Dnieper, namely, Podolia, Volhynia, and East Galicia, and they consider the Poles as children of the soil equally with the Ruthenians. The favorite formula of the Ruthenians to define their own nationality was, "gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus" ("the Pole of the Ruthenian descent"). Notwithstanding the length of time, over one hundred and twenty years, that Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraina have been 22 separated from Poland, all efforts to efface their Polish char- acter have been in vain. Even the confiscation on a large scale of Polish property and the deportation of great numbers of Poles by the govern- ment of Russia, after the revolution of 1831 and 1863, have not been able to effect that aim. The majority of the Poles, especially in Volhynia and Podo- lia, are landed proprietors, owning in some districts as much as 90 per cent, of the areas covered by the large estates, and representing a very valuable element, as they are progressive and introduce all the latest agricultural improvements into the country. Of the whole area covered by all the provinces of Lithuania and Kuthenia, over 47 per cent, is in the hands of the Poles. A good many Poles are also to be found there among the peasantry, especially in Eastern Galicia, as well as in Volhynia and Podolia. The Poles form also an important section of the urban population of these provinces, as they represent the principal intellectual element of the country. In many districts they are forming even now an overwhelm- ing majority. As long as these territories belonged to Poland, harmony prevailed among all the nationalities inhabiting them, and complications arose only when the neighboring countries, and especially Kussia, started to interfere in order to prepare a path to conquer and partition the Polish state. It is to be hoped that the good relations between all these nationalities, apart from small local quarrels which are bound to arise whenever two or more nationalities inhabit the same territory, will be maintained, and that they will all have an opportunity for a free national development. There is a community of interest between the Poles, Lithuan- ians, White Kuthenians, and Ukrainians. They have been bound together for centuries. Poland cannot look indifferently on the fate of the neigh- bors among whom she dwells. An independent Poland wotild mean a free, self-governing Lithuania, a free, self-governing White Ruthenia, and a free, self-governing Ukraina. 23 Should the Lithuanians or Ukrainians object to such a friendly solution of the problem, and should they prefer to be rather under the influence of Germany or Russia, which last in the case of Ukraina proper is most to be expected, then the Poles do not want to force them in or to argue with them about it. All they want, in such a case, is to draw the boundaries of Poland proper in the East, according to their actual strength and number, so as to include at least those border provinces where the majority of the population is Polish or wants de- cidedly to be united with Poland on the ground of common culture, religion, and a community of the interests of life. The whole of Eastern Galicia, and the majority of Podolia, Volhynia, White Ruthenia, and historic Lithuania would go certainly to Poland without any restriction in such a case. "Salus populi suprema lex esto" and consequently if the peo- ple of Lithuania proper and Ukraina proper would prefer rather to fall under the influence of Germany or Russia than to be united with Poland, then in such case the rights of Poland should also be protected by all means. If this is not done, the Allies will have lost the war, ac- cording to the statement of Dr. Dillon, because there will be no strong and independent Poland after this war. Fortunately the present conditions, not only of the war, but also of the Polish cause, give us sufficient guarantee that the war is entirely won. THE MOMENTOUS PRONOUNCEMENT OF PRESIDENT WILSON TOWARDS POLAND The fullest, noblest, and most sincere expression of justice to be done to suffering Poland was voiced before the forum of the world by the President of the United States in his historic address to the Senate on January 22, 1917, which happened to be delivered on the day of the anniversary of the last Polish uprising, and in the centennial year of Kosciuszko's death. While expounding the high humanitarian ideals of the Re- public, the President said he takes it for granted "that states- men everywhere are agreed that there should be a united, inde- pendent, and autonomous Poland." 24 The moral effect of this pronouncement by the Chief of this great Nation cannot be overestimated. President Wilson has rendered to Poland such service that his name will ever be gratefully remembered by every true Pole. He repeated and included the same momentous statement about Poland with almost the force of international law in the thirteenth point of the conditions of the peace with Ger- many, which are accepted now by all Allied Governments, and the Polish people are perfectly satisfied that their fate, if de- cided in accordance with these principles, will be a happy one. The Poles never doubted that this would come. They knew that "Poland, with a land heritage of three- fourths of a million square kilometres, with a historic past one thousand years old, with a tradition of freedom and free- dom-giving, with a rich civilization, with a beautiful language and literature, with an annual economic production amounting to several billions, with a robust and virile population of about thirty millions of Poles and some twenty millions of other kindred nationalities, is not a fragment, that it is a great nation, one of the few great nations of Europe and of the world." They knew that their right to their heritage is imprescript- ible, indisputable, and that they are entitled to a sincere con- sideration of their case on the part of the great democracies of the world. God bless Democracy! God bless all who contributed and are still contributing to the freedom of Poland! Let us close with the words of I. Paderewski, the world- famous artist whom the exigencies of the world war for civili- zation have converted into an equally world-famous Polish diplomat : "Poland will be free and so will her inhabitants, as in this majestic and mighty Kepublic. "The Democratic Constitution of Poland will assure liberty and equality as to race, religion, or political opinion. "Catholics, Protestants, and Jews will all enjoy equal rights as they will all fulfil equal duties. "There was, there is, and there will be no oppression of any kind in free Poland, but self-defence !" Thus is expressed the heartfelt opinion of the Polish people. 25 The world aspect of this question is of even more vital im- portance. A strong, economically independent Poland will be the most positive guarantee of world peace and impregnable barrier to future German aggression that can be derived. In a phrase: A strong Poland means the end of European- born war. INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS Q THE SEVENTH DAY LD 21-95m-7,'37 YC 52237 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY