FINLAND AND FREEDOM

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 14, 16 January 1918, Page 6

FINLAND AND FREEDOM

Finland's independence has, it is cabled, been recognised, by Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Denmark, but there is some hitch between Russia and Finland, and the Entente t Powers are holding their hand. ( When the Russian Revolution swept away the Taardom and the Grand Dukedom of Finland, it was held that the Tsar's prerogatives passed automatically to the Russian people, over whom appeared the Provisional Government. But' it became a matter lof argument whetner the prerogatives of the Grand Duke of Finland (the Tsar was also Grand Duke) passed to the people of Russia (including Finland) or to the people of Finland alone. If to the former, then Acts of the Finnish Government and Diet must still be subject to the sanctioD of the Provisional Government at Petrograd, as formerly to the sanction of the Tsar's Government. If to the latter, then Finland became free of Russia, and Helsingfors independent of Petrograd. It will be seen that the first reading of the situation worked out towards autonomy under the Russian Government; the^ second to complete independence.

The Russian Provisional Governments, both Prince Lvoff's and M. Kerensky's, took the view of autonomy for Finlandvery generous autonomy, with only slight subordination to Petrograd. When the Finns claimed more, M. Kerensky objected. . He saw that Finland was Russia's front door, her window on the Gulfs and the Baltic Sea, an enemy's stepping-stone to Petrograd. He wished to give the Finns full self-government consistently with Russia's legal and legitimate—not autocratic—interest. According to Mr. R. C. Long, M. Kerensky did' not handle the situation diplomatically ; and the Finnish Legislature, at the instance of the Finnish Cabinet, which is often called the " Senate," passsed a resolution tantamount to independence. Then other troubles swept the Kerensky administration away.. It i 3 now likely that Trotsky and. Lenin do not care a fig for the constitutional question, and any threatened interference of the Red Guards in Finland is due to their dislike not so much of Finnish independence as of the Finnish Cabinet and Diet, which are too respectable and not Red enough.

There is, however, another danger, and a very real one. It is military in character. There is a possibility that Germany, or Sweden as Germany's ally, might land in. Finland, in which case Petrograd and the Baltic Fleet would apparently be at the mercy of the invading army. German and Swedish recognitions of Finnish independence may, of course, be cited against fears of foreign aggression, but the virtue of scraps of paper is not what it was once. The Finnish, question is one of real difficulty.