STACK ANNEX k 5 OBI 530 Si II [i Is 11 1 li ^ i? 2 is 3 ESTHONIA: Past and Present. By VALENTINE J. O'HARA. u^rj^ By courtesy of the "REVIEW OF REVIEWS "(September. 1922). m ESTHONIA : Past and Present. By VALENTINE J. O'HARA. To M. C. — si inenfem tiiortalia ta)if/uttt^ What is it in the German Kultur that never effectively gets beyond the antithesis to the synthesis, that with all its striving for poUtical coherence and unity inevitably leads to disintegration ? Perhaps the Germans in their experimental laboratories have neglected the problems associated with the so-called vital forces while specialising in inorganic rather than organic structures. Have the Germans left a " monumentum aere perennius" in the Baltic States where they over lorded it so long ? None. There concrete monuments imposed from without on unwilling peoples have crumbled to dust and no tear is shed for the unlovely, imloved relics. The followmg brief notes on one of these Baltic States may help us to form a judgment here. OF the three neighbouring Baltic Republics Lithuania, Latvia and Esthonia, which have come into being in consequence of the collapse of the old Russian Empire, Esthonia, though least from the point of view of population and territorial extent, is by no means least in interest to students of race cultures and de- velopments. This former province of the Russian Em- pire — a glance at the map will here repay attention — with a consider- ably enlarged eth- nographical terri- tory in what used to be called Liv- onia (the districts of Pernau, Fellin, Dorpat or Tartu, Verro and the Oesel island) was formally declared an independent re- public Nov. 28, 1917. With the further additions of Narva, parts of the Yamburg, Esthonia, Latvia, Gdov and Petchori districts in the Petrograd and Pskov directions ceded in accordance with the terms of the Russo-Esthonian peace treaty of February 2, 1920, the Esthonian republic now comprises an area larger than that of Switzerland, whose political boundaries " coincide almost completely with the lingu- istic extension of the Esthonian race " {Encycl. Brit.). This area is about 18,500 square miles, with a population of about 1,700,000. Esthonia stret- ches along the Southern coast of the Gulf of Fin- land from the his- toric tovra of Narva, wrested from the Swedes by Peter the Great in 1704, and follows the coast line half wav dovni the Gulf of Riga to Hanesh on the Latvian frontier. The Eastern or Russian frontier extends from the river Narova through Lake Peipus in the dir- ection of the Rus- sian town of Izborsk. The Southern frontier is the line of de- m a r c a t i o n be- . , . , . tween the Latvian and Lithuania. . t^,. . ti and Esthonian Re- publics. Uj. to the declaration of independer.ee the German (Saxon, Baltic) element, which then numbered 25, COO, of whom 4,7C0 com- prised the nobility and 300 the^ clergy, the other 20,000 having the greater pait of the =11111^ 21 17882 1111111= commerce and trade in their hands, in all no more than 2|% of the entire population, was economically preponderant in Esthonia. That this preponderance was economically tm- soutid, that it could only be maintained artificialh" by anti-social measures of contiol and repression, that it could not last much longer, was evident to all but the monopolists. In this connection the following figures aie eloquent. A gradual, heaw decline of the German birth-rate in Esthonia has been very noticeable since 1870. It has long been the subject of lamentation and exhortation on the part of the German clergy. At the outbreak of the War the excess of deaths over births among the German population was about 7 per thousand. The position was very much the reverse among the Esthonians, where the excess of births ove^- deaths was about 8 to 9 ■pzr thousand. This is a bnef summary o* facts regarding Esthonia in the light of the present. Esthonia in the light of the past six himdrcd years up to the declaration of independence, during which time it remained (with the exception of the period 1629 to 1710 — " the good old Swedish times "as it is referred to by Esthonians) under the practically mi- questioned domination (f the Baltic German, is a picture of almost mirelieved gloom and misery. In its earlier struggles and fortvmes from the time of its first emergence into history we get delightful glimpses of this hardy, vigorous race, whose music and poetry — the Esthonians are bom improvisers — aie now scoring successes, more enduring, it is no exaggeration to say, than any that force of arms could ever attain. As we shall see, the ruthless tyranny of the German overlord was not to be disarmed, disarrayed on this groimd. The humaner, the gentler sway of the Dane, the Swede, the Pole, the more recent one of the Russian, left no rankling legacy of hatred in the mind of the Esthonian of to-daj'. But this is anticipating. Between 500-7U0 a.d. the Esthonians had already established themselves in their present territory, outrivalling the Scandinavians later on as traders, freebooters and pirates. They form a branch of the Finno-Ugrian group (the western division of the Ural-Altaic family) which has settled in Finland, Lapland, Esthonia, parts of Kurland, and in Hungai)-, and whose vigorous ofi'shoots are still to be found in Russia south of Lake Onega, along the middle course of the river Volga, and between the Ural mountains and the river Yenissei in Western Siberia. Long and patient research and studj- enabled the eminent Danish linguist, Vilhelm Thcmsen, An Esthonian peasant homestead of thirty years ago. IIP. about 1890 to decipher the Orkhon inscriptions outh of Lake Baikal (the tale is full of moving interest) thus discovering a lost link and fixing the relation between old Turkish and this group of languages. (Turkish, according to the Encyclopa-dia Britannica, stands mid-wa}' between Mong.il and Finnish in its development of the agglutinative principle.) The Esthonian language is one of great beauty, rich in vowel sounds, not o V e r b u r- dened with gut- turals and pala- tals as German, eminently fitted for musical ex- pression. Esth- onian differs little more from Finnish (" the Italian of the North ") than Danish from Swedish. The publication of the great Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala, which first appeared in complete form in 1835, was fol- lowed 30 years later by that of the Esthonian epic, the Kalevi- poeg- — the son of Kalev, the Kid- lervo of the Kale- vala. The Kal- evipoeg is the complete collec- tion of hitherto neglected frag- ments of legend, tale and song mostly handed down by oral tradition among the peasantry, caught on their lips and duly recorded through the unwearied diligence of men like Hurt. Fahlmann and Kreutzwald. The Kalevipoeg is supposed to have lived in the 12th century, just before the conversion of the Esthonians to Christianity. At all times this king of Esthonia is striving for the good of his people and struggling against his enemies and malefi- Peasants from the Petchori District. cent powers who finally encompass his i uin. The theme is of essentially earlier treatment than that of the Finnish Kalevala, where the Chris- tian religious note is more clearly sounded. Like the Illiad and the Odyssey, these poems had been composed by various bards at various times. Upto 1906 Dr. Hurthadformed a collection of nearly 50,000 popular songs, 10,000 legends and tales, 70,000 proverbs and sayings, 40,000 riddles, etc., etc., forming a body of folk-lore mat- erial of inestim- able value to workers in this field. This collec- tion now exceeds 1,500,000 lines and is in course of publication. A comprehen- sive historical survey of Esth- onia is a subject beyond the scope or purpose of the present essay. Perhaps a few words about Tallinn, the capi- tal, in whose vi- cissitudes is epit- omised the his- tory of a nation, will sum this count and make a bold excuse. It was in 1219 that the Danish King, Waldemar II., in his zeal for the conversion of the heathen to Chris- tianity built a fortress, foimded a church, and established the episcopal see of Reval, on the site of an earlier Esthonian strong- hold, Lindanisa, the ruins of which may yet be traced on the Domberg, whose rugged clifis frown majestically over the lower town with its modem improvements that has gradually spread out along the sea level. According to the Kalevipoeg tradition Linda, the widow of the Esthonian national liero, the giant Kalev, ^lllllfl The Town Hall of Tallinn. " heaped a cairn of stones over his tomb, which formed the hill on which the Cathedral of Reval now stands. One day she was carry- ing a great stone to the cairn, but found herself too weak, and let it fall. She sat down, and lamented her sad fate, and her tears formed ' the Upper Lake,' beside which the huge block may still be seen " (W. F. Kirby's Hero oj Esthonia). King Waldemar called his castle fortress (rebuilt in 1772) Reval — Tallinn (" Danish town "), is the Esthonian name. The church of St. Olai, founded in 1240, rebuilt in modem times in the pure Gotliic style of the original, yields the palm of anti- quity to the Esthonian church of the Holy Ghost. The Church of St. Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers, built in 1317, is rich in pre- Reformation memorials. The Dominicans have left their mark in Reval. The beautiful ruins of a Bridgittine convent dating from the XVth century are yet to be seen a little distance from the touii, near the Forest of Kose, a convent of Augustinian canonesses with a smaller community of canons under one Abbess. In the Vene Street is the Russian Church of St. Nicholas, originally built in the old Novgorod stjde about 134(i, rebuilt in 1826. In this Church is preserved a large chandelier presented bj' Boris Godimov. In 1228 the Livonian Knights of the Sword, who were later to be merged into the Teutonic Order, seized Reval from the Danes, who, however, regained possession of it ten years later. It soon became one of the most impor- tant seaports in the hands of the Hanseatic merchants. The oppression of the German knights eventualh- led to the great " rebellion " of 1 343, from wliich time the Esthonians for over five centuries were practical!}' reduced to the state of serfdom mider the German landowners. In 1346 the Danish King, Waldemar III., sold Reval and his Esthonian possessions for 19,000 marks to the Teutonic Order (the Teutonic Knights of St. Marj^'s Hospital at Jerusalem), which Order, according to Pro- fessor Barker, " living a semi-monastic life under the Augustinian riHe, began as a charitable society, developed into a military One of the arched rampart gates cf Tallinn. 1111111= =1111111 E S T H O N I A. By ROBERT MACHRAY. (Reprinted from 'CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL,' March 19it.) A MONG the new national flags, and in some -'*• respects as notable as any of them, is the blue, black, and white flag of the Republic of Esthonia, or Eesti Vabariik, as it is called in Esthonian. It is a flag that is certain to be seen flying more and more frequently on the seas, and particularly in such British ports as Aberdeen, Dundee, Leith, and Newcastle, with which the Esthonians already have a large and constantly increasing trade. With their relatively considerable coast-line on the mainland, and with the adjacent islands in Moon Sound which are peopled by them, they have long been, naturally enough, a seafaring folk, and in the dark days when Europe was in the making even more than it is to-day, they were sea-rovers and land-raiders, just as many of our own ancestors were. After various political changes Esthonia passed to Russia, of wliich it formed an insignificant portion territorially. Yet it was of great im- portance commercially because of its harbours, open, with the occasional assistance of ice- breakers, all the year round. To say nothing of the exportable products of the country, there poured into Reval and its other ports vast quantities of valuable cargo from north and north-central Russia and from Siberia for ship- ment abroad. With their kinsmen the Finns and their neighbours the Letts, the Esthonians to a large extent supplied the personnel of the Russian navy and mercantile marine. Besides, tliese harbours of theirs were of the highest importance to Russia strategically — to that Russia which has vanished. Reval was a Russian base — it is so no more. But the transit trade remains ; it fell off, and for a time ceased altogether, during the Great War and what immediately followed, but it is growing and swelling again. Known till very recently only as one of the Baltic provinces of Russia, little Esthonia was practically swallowed up in the immensity of the Russian Empire, and its people were almost universally regarded by the outside world as Russians, though they themselves had steadily refused, in spite of persecutions of all sorts, to be Russified, and had fought and struggled hard to retain their nationality. It was not, however, till after the beginning of the Revolution of 1917 that Esthonia, emerging from tliat cataclysm, asserted itself as a distinct political entity, with a destiny of its own quite apart from that of Russia. The early history of the Baltic lands is obscure, but Esthonian writers maintain that up to seven hundred years ago tlieir land was free and self-governing, its tribes being united in a loosely organised commonwealth, and, further, that after it was deprived of its independence by invaders who were too strong to be defeated ;ind rolled back, it yet, through all these centuries, never lost its national self-consciousness, but clung to the hope of being free again, and did what it could to regain that freedom. Nationality does persist sometimes in this marvellous way in spite of everything, but it was not till two or three years ago that the world at large became aware of the claim of the Esthonians to nationhood. That claim they have made good, but only through great tribula- tion. It is one of the finest and most heroic stories of our time. It is not a story that is well known. It is safe to say that in Great Britain, as in most countries, the general public had only the vaguest notions as to wliat was covered by the terms Esthonia and Esthonians, and that tliey are still very imperfectly acquainted with their meaning. Before attempting to tell the story of Esthonia's fight for freedom, it will be well, therefore, to give some account of the country and its inhabitants. In the dim past a wave or waves of Asiatic migration carried various Finnish tribes to the shores of the Baltic. Some of them settled in the north, in what came to be known as Finland ; while others made their homes in the south, in the territory lying between the Gulfs of Finland and Riga on the west and Lakes Peipus and Pskov on the east. This territory afterwards was called Esthland or Estland, because the Finns who peopled it were designated Esths or Eats, and hence arose the terms Esthonia and Esthonians. It was the Germans who originated these names. Early in the thirteenth century the Germans, in the shape of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, pushed up from Livland or Livonia, the modern Lettlaud or Latvia, and con- quered the southern half' of Esthonia. About the same time the Danes founded Reval, and occupied the northern part of the country ; but rather more than a hundred years later they sold their share to the Germans, who united Esthonia with Livonia. The ' Baltic Barons,' who figure so prominently in the story of the Baltic lands up to the present day, are the descendants of the Teutonic Knights. After the Order was dissolved in 1560, Northern Esthonia passed to Sweden, Southern Esthonia to Poland. In 1629, however, all Esthonia — practically Esthonia as it is now constituted — became a province of Sweden, and it remained under Sweden till 1721, when it was ceded to Russia, who kept it till the Revolution, but not as one administrative area, the southern part being separated from the northern and joined on to Livonia. The Republic of Esthonia includes that southern part, which formerly was often called Northern Livonia. After undergoing these vicissitudes of political fortune Esthonia has recovered its old-time ethnic frontiers, which are : on the north the Gulf of Finland, on the east the Russian ' governments ' of Petrograd and Pskov, on the south Latvia and the Gulf of Riga, and on the west the Baltic. The territory of the Republic also includes the islands of Dagoe and Oesel, and a number of smaller islands, all lying a short distance from the mainland. The total area of Esthonia is nearly 22,000 square miles. The islands and the mainland for the most part lie low, the rise of the latter from the coast never being much above three hundred feet. Geog- raphers employ the expression ' Baltic Heights,' but these heights, which extend through East Prussia into Esthonia, are really far from being high, their elevation rarely exceeding a thousand feet. The Baltic States form, in fact, a gently upward-sloping tableland, which continues into Russia like a colossal gangway. The point of view of these states is that central Russia and Siberia are their natural hinterland ; on the other side, it must be remarked, there are still many Russians who hold that the Baltic lands are the natural approaches of Russia to the sea, and therefore should remain in Russian hands. And herein lies the great risk to these states in the future, when presumably there will be a strong, united Russia again. Esthonians are well aware of this danger, but passionately assert their right as a people to self-determination, and draw attention to the fact that their country, though small, is larger than Switzerland, Bel- gium, or Denmark. Consistently witli their own independence, they are willing to do all they can for Russia, as they have already shown by the treaty they have made with the Soviets. III. Apart from the shipping industry which is the consequence of its position on the Baltic, agriculture and forestry are the main occupa- tions of Esthonia. The terrain is intersected by numerous rivers and streams, and much of it is swampy ; there are many lakes, and about one -half of Lake Peipus is Esthonian. The forests are valuable and extensive, three-tenths of the whole country being covered with woods, mostly of pine and fir. The soil is by no means rich, but it is cultivated scientifically, and pro- duces good crops, particularly of flax. Little or no wheat is grown, but other grains do fairly well. There is a flourishing live-stock industry. Going from Esthonia into Russia, the traveller is struck by the different aspect of the agricul- tural districts ; in the former the trim and tidy farms are grouped about the farm-houses anil steadings as in England and Scotland, while in the latter the farm-houses are lumped together in higgledy-piggledy villages, with the badly- cared-for fields lying all around them. This indicates a difference not only with respect to the agriculture, but also with regard to the general culture of the two peoples. The standard of popular education in Estho- nia is very high, there being few illiterates. Before the Great War about 80 per cent, of the population could read and write, whereas in Russia only about 20 per cent, could do so. Secondary education is provided by numerous grammar-schools and lyceums, a very large number of the pupils being the sons of farmers ; every farmer considers that he is bound in honour to give at least one of his sons a secondary and, if possible, a university education. The University of Esthonia is situated at Dorpat ; it was founded by Gus- tavus Adolphus in 1632, and was reopened in 1919, after the German occupation of the country had come to an end. There is a poly- technic school at Reval, and technical education is being developed in many engineering, naval, and commercial academies. As yet Esthonia is not a great manufacturing state, but it has iron, steel, machinery, wood-pulp, paper-making, cotton, and spirits industries, some of which, such as wood - pulp and paper - making, are of growing importance. The manufacture of spirits is on the increase, and it is said that these spirits appear in other countries, but not as the product of Esthonia ! For 1920 the population of Esthonia was estimated by the authorities at 1,800,000, 95 per cent, being pure Esthonian, and the rest German, Russian, Swedish, and Jewish. The pure Esthonians, of the old Finnish stock, havd a language of their own, but it closely resembles that of Finland. Before tlie Great War these Esthonians were farmers, small bour- geoisie of the towns, intellectuals, and sailors and iisher-folk. The Russians, mostly officials and their families, and the Germans, whether Baltic Barons or big merchants, formed the upper class. For many a long year the pure Esthonians were serfs or little better, and education was compulsory in Russian and German — it is only since the establishment of the Republic that all education has been conducted in Esthonian. Yet Esthonian books appeared as far back as the seventeenth century, and the country is immensely rich in songs, tales, and folklore generally, often of a somewhat melancholy type, as might be expected in the circumstances, for the seven centuries of servitude left their mark. The people themselves are quiet, sober, and in- dustrious. Their climate is one that calls for eifort on their part ; the summers are rather short and usually cool ; their winters are rather long and cold, with about two feet of snow lying on the ground during most of the season. It may be recalled that the almost tideless Baltic is much colder in winter than the North Sea. IV. Esthonia is the kind of country that breeds a hardy aid vigorous people. They showed their quality in their fight for freedom. That struggle may be said to have begun in 1917, though there were not wanting indications before of the growing strength of the national movement. Soon after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution the Esthonian leaders asked the Russian Provisional Government, then headed by Prince Lvoff, to grant autonomy to Esthonia, their idea then being that their land should remain part of Russia, but self- governing, and to this the Provisional Govern- ment agreed, a decree to that effect being issued on 12th April 1917. A remarkable thing about this decree was that it gave North Livonia to Esthonia, which thereoy regained its old frontier on the south. The Esthonians promptly proceeded to elect, by universal suf- frage, a National Council or Diet, and this council met at Reval in the following July, when a National Government was set up, first with Dr J. Ramot, and afterwards with Con- stantin Pacts, as its head. This Government was Esthonian, not Russian or German, and the Baltic Barons, who, because of their owning about two-thirds of the land, had been the real governing class for centuries, no matter to what overlord country Esthonia had belonged, were left out in the cold — a thing which filled them with the deepest resentment. The next development came after the seizure of the supreme power in Russia by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Late in November of the same year Esthonia, like Finland, decided to become entirely independent, and was about to hold a Constituent Assembly for the settlement of the government of the country, when the Bol- sheviks intervened, and summarily dissolved the National Council. Notwithstanding this, the Paets Government still continued in being, and on 24th February 1918 proclaimed Esthonia an independent republic. Meanwhile negotiations had been going on at Brest Litovsk between the Germans and the Bolsheviks for peace ; and when these broke down, the Germans, to compel Lenin to come to terms, took Reval, and marching through Estho- nia and Livonia, captured Dvinsk and Pskov, thus threatening Petrograd, whereupon the Bol- sheviks, who said the ' German knee was on their chest,' threw up the sponge. The Ger- mans, to the unconcealed joy of the Baltic Barons, occupied both Esthonia and Livonia, and the Paets Government was in evil case. Under the Brest Litovsk treaty the Bolsheviks agreed to evacuate these two provinces, which, it was stipulated, were to be policed by the Germans — that is, occupied until the state organisation of Esthonia and Livonia was restored. This meant the re-establishment of the local Landtags, or Provincial Councils, which had existed before the Revolution, and which had been stafied and manned almost exclusively by the Baltic Barons and their friends, who took good care of their own interests. Had the treaty not been can- celled by the defeat of Germany in the Great War, one of its results would in practice have been the complete Germanisation of Esthonia. "With all their strength the Esthonians pro- tested against the German occupation, but as they had not been able to form a national army in any considerable force, their protests passed unheeded by the Germans, who, of course, had the support of the Baltic Barons. Yet somehow the Paets Government contrived to survive, and it appealed to the Allies for help, one sign of which was accorded when, on 3rd May 1918, tlie British Government recognised it, or, rather, tlie National Council which it represented, as a de facto independent Government, and received Mr Anton Piip, a distinguished professor of Dorpat University, as its diplomatic agent in London. France and Italy later recognised the National Council as the de facto Government of Esthonia. But it was not till the power of Germany was finally broken on the battlefields of the West that the Esthonians got rid of the German soldiers. On 19th November 1918 Esthonia concluded an agreement with Germany for the immediate evacuation of the latter's troops. Germany did evacuate the country, but in such a manner as to give ample opportunity for its invasion by the Bolsheviks, to wliom the German com- Dianders actually supplied arms and ammunition. Here again was seen the influence of the Baltic Barons ; indeed, they made no secret of the fact that, if Esthonia was not to be Gennaii, they preferred it to be in the hands of tlie Bolsheviks rather than in those of the Esthonians. But the Esthonians were firmly determined that their country should not become Bolshevist, and they organised an army against the invaders. The Bolsheviks had never been popular in Estho- nia, and Bolshevism had few adherents among the people ; nor could its horrible manifestations in Esthonia have any effect other than to cause the utmost detestation and hatred of it. Sup- ported by the Bolshevik fleet in the Baltic, the Bolsheviks advanced into the country, pillag- ing, torturing, and murdering, till within twenty miles of Reval, where they were held up at last by the Esthonian forces, mostly untrained and poorly armed. The position of Esthonia had seemed hopeless, but there was a magnificent rally round the flag. Finland sent men, thou- sands of rifles, some guns, and ten million Finnish marks to assist the kindred nation. In December a British fleet, under Admiral Sinclair, entered Reval, bringing arms and munitions, and after- wards captured two Bolshevik destroyers, which were handed over to the Esthonians, who thus were enabled to land troops in rear of the enemy. This was the turning-point in the struggle, and the Bolsheviks retreated in a panic, killing their own commissars as they fled, and abandoning their guns and equipment. In their turn the Esthonians advanced, and fighting splendidly against superior forces, drove the Bolsheviks beyond the frontier by 24th February 1919. After a pause for the reconstruction of their army, the Bolsheviks again attacked Esthonia. The Estlionians were one to five Bolsheviks, and the fighting was bitter and sanguinary; but by the middle of May tlie invaders were beaten back, and then, again taken in the rear, fled panic-stricken as on the former occasion. "Wliile carrying on this war of life and death with Bolshevik Russia the Esthonians resumed their building up of the Republic. A General Election was held early in April. Later in the same month the Constituent Assembly was summoned, and a democratic Government was formed, with Mr O. Strandmann, who had been Minister of Agriculture under Paets, as Prime Minister ; and this Government remained in power until a new Coalition Government, with Mr J. Toenisson as Prime Minister, was formed in November 1919. The work of the Assembly lay chiefly in the direction of agrarian reform — the nationalisation of the estates of the Baltic Barons and the division of the land among the people. But the fighting against the Bolsheviks was not at an end, and the German Landicehr, with the Baltic Barons in the background, now took a hand in it against the Esthonians, who, however, helped to organise, by means of active defence, the Russian and Lettish anti-Bolshevik troops, with the immediate result that the Bol- sheviks were driven back to Gatchina, near Petrograd, and thrown out of all Latvia. The latter operation properly belongs to the article on Latvia, and need only be noted here as part of the great struggle made by the Esthonians in 1919. Something must be said about the action of the Russian anti- Bolsheviks. Two drives from Esthonia were made by them at Petrograd, and the Esthonians supported both. Both failed ultimately. The first %vas attempted by the Russian Northern Volunteer Corps, the second by much larger Russian forces under Judenitch, who was saved in the upshot by the Esthonians. Neither of these oflensives brought Esthonia any profit — indeed, much the reverse. On the other hand, it became perfectly clear that it was impossible for the Germans to effect a union with the anti-Bolshevik Russians with the object of overthrowing the Esthonian Government. For a whole year Esthonia successfully re- sisted all the violent assaults of the Bolsheviks — a record of which its people may well be proud. The last heavy attacks were made on Narva in November-December 1919, and these were repulsed. In the previous August there had been some negotiations with a view to peace, but they proved abortive. As the year closed negotiations were resumed, an armistice was signed on 31st December, and peace was concluded on 2nd February 1920. Under the peace-treaty the full independence of Esthonia was recognised by the Bolshevik or Soviet Government. Esthonia was promised fifteen million gold roubles by the Bolsheviks — and this promise was kept ; it was granted prefer- ential rights for building a railway from Reval to Moscow, and on its part it undertook to give Russia free economic access to the sea, without any import or transit duty, and the use of its railways, with the same tariffs and dues as were paid by its own citizens. Subsequently the frontiers of the new state were defined by common consent. And thus at last Esthonia, not a few of whose people had been fighting since 1914, was at peace, and in a position to go on with reconstruction and economic develop- ment. In June 1920 the Constituent Assembly passed a permanent constitutional or organic law for the Republic, providing that the Constituent .\ssembly should be succeeded by a Parliament known as the State Assembly. Each State Assembly must be elected by universal, equal, direct, secret, and proportional voting, and will normally remain in office for a period of three years. The Constitution was to come into force after the summoning of the first of these Assemblies, the elections for which were held late in November last. club, and ended as a sort of chartered company exercising rights of sovereignty on the troubled confines of Christianity." On the dis olution of this Order in 1561 Reval came under the rule of the Swedish King, Erik XIV., the Southern part of Esthonia, Livonia, being held by the Polish King, Stephen Bathor)^ Reval remained under Russia in almost com- plete control of the Germans. All these changes and vicissitudes are well illustrated in the rich store of relics and in the monuments of the {Xist still to be found within the hi toric walls of Tallinn, that veritable open-air museum of mediaeval art. From 1345 Esthonia was a continual object of contention between the Danes, Germans, Swedes, Poles and Russians. The Polish King, Stephen Bathory, declared in 1561 that he Individual patterns in gloves given by bridegroom to bride. Large silver breast-buckle, with clasp for pinning up skirt of peasant woman. Bridegroom's present. knew of no race in the world more mercilessly oppressed than the Esthonians imder the Germans. The repeated remonstrances of the Pope had no effect. The only gleam of light in this awful misery, the only respite from brutal oppression, is from 1629 to 1710, when the Swedish rule prevailed. The tenure and taxation of peasants' holdings was equitably determined ; rents and rates payable to the proprietors of the manors and castles among whom the German knights had parcelled out all the cultivated lands and forests of Esth- onians were fixed. The rights of the German knights and nobles to issue sentence of death (jus vitcB et necis) at will was taken away. The feudal German barons were indignant at the loss of their " historic privileges." By 1710 they had succe sfully intrigued away Esthonia into the hands of the Russians. " The good old Swedish times " were at an end. For over m. 200 years the Esthonians relapsed into German bondage under the Russian Tsars. Baron Rosen, a Baltic Geiman and a Marshal of Nobility, thus reports to the Russian Gov- ernment in 1735 : 1 . The peasants belong body and soul to, and aic the property of, the landowner. 2 The}' have no right of property. They can only collect property for their master, who has absolute right of disposal of same. 3. The lord has unlimited powers of control and taxation of his peasants. In 1816 the peasantrv' were formallj- declared to be free from bondage — bit! all their property movable and immovable was declared annexed by the baron-. It was onl}' after 1860 that laws were passed entitling Esthonians to acquire land by direct purchase. Juridically the baronial privileges iemained in force until the revolution of 1917. The Russian Government had generally foimd it expedient to support these by every means. The University of Tartu became the hotbed of German propaganda known as the University of Dorpat. True, it was later Russified to a certain extent, being called the University of Youriev, but this onh- slightly changed its essential German character. An Esthonian as such could not enter the Russian Army or NavN- as an officer. As a German he might suco ed in doing this — and he did so. The power of the GermE.n barons in Esthonia during the Russian regime even so late as 1880 may be gauged from the following well-known fact. Goaded to desperation by baronial exactions the Esthonian peasantry' decided on sending a delegation to the Tsar Alexander III. with the object of laying their grievances before him. The}' were already assured of the Tsar's midoubted interest and goodwill. The delegation set out on foot to St. Petersburg, but the barons succeeded in heading it off en route, and brought back all the members to Reval, where they were publicly flogged before the town hall, as a result of which some died and many were maimed for life. Several more delegations always on foot, fared further but with no better result than the first. Eventually a delegation did succeed in reaching St. Petersburg and in presenting the petition. But again the Tsar's kindly dispositions in this as in many other cases were frustrated. In the light of such happen- ings not only in Esthonia but in Latvia the A Gateway on the ancient ramparts of Tallinn. ^11111= terrible nemesis that has now overtaken the Baltic barons in the almost total confi cation of their properties by the state may be explained if not always ap- proved according to our more con- servative ideas. But it must be remembered that at the outbreak of the Great Wa • two-thirds of all the land of Gr' atcr Esthonia were owned by these descendants of the old T. utonic KJnights and their retainers, that 59 per cent, of all E thonia was the property of 1 , 147 of the Baltic barons who even so laie as 1918 had fully matured their plans for colonis- ing Esthonia and Latvia with fiom two to three million small far- mers from the Ger- man Empire and S. Russia — a hefty leaven indeed ! It was a struggle of hfe and death, a struggle not so much against Ger- mans as Germans, as against the iniqui- tous old feudal s}'s- teni. The contri- bution made b}' so many of the Ger- man settler - who had long actively and honourably dis- associated them- selves from the con- temptuous attitude of their more fa- voured brethren towards the " White Hotten- tots," as these Bal- tic jimkjrs called the real natives of Esthonia, is not Clothes-beaters or clappers ; present of bridegrroom whose fancies are thus expressed in beautiful carving. evitable retri- bution of the present. Perhaps in no country in Europe are the rights of race minorities (Ger- man, Russian, Swedish, etc.) more amply se- cured than in Esthonia. At the present time about 50 per cent, of the pro- fessorial staff in Tartu University are of German origin. Perhaps no better com- on the Esthonian forgotten in the in- mentary could be found spirit. On the eve of the conclusion of the Irish Peace Treaty with England Arthur Griffith, whose spirit still sways the counsels of Ireland, wound up a memorable speech in London with a peroration whose directness and sin- cerity went straight to the heart of friend and foe alike. " On the day," he declared, " that England makes peace with Ireland, Ireland will lose her only enemy while England will gain a friend." Esthonia has now lost her only enemy in Ger- many. The real R u s s i a — n o t the Imperial Russia "made in Ger- many ' ' — was never her enemy. In the histoi)^ of the rise and fall of the Knights of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic vStates we have a great object lesson. To quote again from Types of peasants from Oesel Island Professor Barker, =111111 " with the accesssion of large territories the Order became a goviming aristocracy. The original care for the sick, and even the later crusading zeal of the period of conquest, gave way, when the conquests were gained, and administration was needed, to the problems half military, half political of governing a frontier state. The Order was at once the supreme ecclesiastical and political authority. There were no struggles of Church and State in its dominions : the State was also the Church : the bishops and the canons were priests of the Order." l,ater the Order's com- mercial dealings and policy created general friction and jealousj'. Here were no longer soldie s but financiers. However when they brought the tables of money-changers into the Temple they were doing as the Templars had done before them, and were likely to suffer as the Templais had suffered. Esthonia is now free to develop its great resources material as well as moral on its own lines. It surely deserves our attention and interest. As one of those who on the now defunct British IVIission to the Baltic States helped to rock the cradle of tlus new- bom republic the present writer looks back with affection, and indeed with pride, to associ- ations of yet older standing with Esthonians whose more recent tale of national heroism, invincible courage in the face of fearful odds, and far-seeing state-craft on the part of its chosen leaders, has yet to be fittingly recorded for English readers of history in the making. (Note. — The reader interested in the Baltic States is referred to an article by the same author on "The Lithuanian Forest" in the Review of Reviews of May, 1922) Old Castle on the Domberg dating from 1219. ^/3lKt/t. ^/- " Peep in the Kitchen " is the old nickname of this massive tower iiiniilSmw °'°''*'" ^'^'""" ""'-'" D 000 017 723 8 I W. MATE & SONS (1919) I,TD., BOtmNEMOUTH. : : : : :