Untitled

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 430, 9 August 1915, Page 4

\\ UK\ writ iii.u on rr« ipt of tiie news of 1 lie fall of Warsaw it was suggested that the only hope of mere) being extended to it s population lay in a possible German policy of conciliation with a view to winning the Poli'.li people from llieir allegiance to Itns-ia. The same day, however, we had a message which stated that the new military Governor of the in igh I ton ring re-oi<npie<l Aust tian ptovim c of Galicia bad b< en excr

vising harsh measures iigultisl tin Poles in that ana. imnmrous rctij Imtive cxceiit ions • bavimr taken plai-i'. 1 his rather poinicd to an extension of the policy of "frightfulness" which comes most, naturally to the Teutonic baud, and whiej had so icecntly had siieii a cruel exemplilieat ion in Jh-lgitmi, But, now we have turt-her inlormalioii that the Germans propose to make promise of something like independence. which, 'however, must await the end of the war for consiimmat ion. Tins is, of course, designed to couiiteracr the ( zar s proclamation, issued early in the war. pledging himself to the granting of autonomy to that part oi Poland embraced in the Russian dominion, with the still tiiore alhiiing prospect ol a reunion of th( whole Polish peoples now’ under the sway of tin’ Rig Teutonic ami Slav •'inpircs. To-day’s cables seem jo indicate the fact that the Russian Poles themselves tire not altogether at one with regard to the choice between Germany ami Russia. although. m> doulit. Hie denunciation of pro-Rttssian Poles be pro-Gcrman Poles in Warsaw is probably. Io a cmisidenlhie exiciit. due to Germ.ll) intrigue and bribery. It, is quite on the cards that (tcrniatiy will make the fatal mist tike of pursuing a mixed policy- of cruelly to the apparently disaffected and hesitant, and of material reward to the openly favourable. As has nirearly been said, the Poles have lull very little urouml for placing reliance upon the promises of either stiie. for neither Russia. Germany nor Austria has any very fair record in contiect ion with m-r treatment of the Poles brought tindci' her rule through tlm successive partitions arranged aiding the three empires. However, the presint had. even before Dm war, shown a delimie mclitmtmii to improve tlm condition*, under which his Polish subjects were living, and tlm p-o--clamatioii to w.deh v, c have, referred seemed, at the time, to be ticeeptcd with Loth gra.titiide and eonfidene| and among to-day's message; we have otic which embodies a declar-l-tion by a Polish, member of the Duma that his compatriots would st;ind steadfastly by Russia's side. Germany will, however, now have cxi-ejilimial opp<>rt tinily for living ing into play .her I radit ional met lions of menace and corrupt ion, ami it may be a little diHicult to surmise, correctly what the immediate effect mav he on a population that possibly Ims m> sine< .(■ confidence in. either side.

Those who read Ihe extracts we published tjem "Shrapnel’s ’ notes a few day s back wj I find no novelty' in the "Daily Mail's" <tes<ripttun or. the German strategy in the more northern area. He emphasised the danger <<> be apprehended from the operations in Hit' Kovno district, I threatening, thus far hack, one of tlm main lines of communication of the retreating Russian armies. At the same time it was indicated that, a German failure to carry tail the scheme in its entirety might, m turn, involve the German level’s m ail ent a in/ ieim-nt fit tn v'hi<-h they might find difiiitilly in extricating themselves. The Mali s ' correspondent seems now to suggest that Von Hindenburg's narrower scheme of envcliqmient. from the Narew fiont in the north and from the Vistula-Bug frent in the south, has virtually failed, and that the enemy’s <ury chance of cutting off. any considerable portion of the Russian forces lies in a rapid descent further east from the Kovno region. We trust that, this may be reliable, for it infers that the Russian rearguard tiavr sueceetlcd in holding ofl the Gorman attacks on the Narew long enough to permit, of the withdrawal, of the Russian main body to a position of comparative safety outside the bite of the German jaws. How they may fare with regard to the more easterly effort to cut them off remtims to be st'cn. and. of course, the protecting rearguard has yet to gel. itself out of danger. The general tenor of the messages to hand is of a reassuring character, and indicates that at no point has the enemv succeeded in hustling the Russians into anv precipitate retreat. The news from the Riga district is somewhat confusing, as we arc told that the withdrawal of the civil population continues, while we also heard on Saturday t hat. ihe Germans bad withdrawn some twenty miles soutbeastwant. and to-dav there is a sen sat ional message of new s being brmiglit to the town that the enemv was held. A probable explanation is that the enemy troops th.it were demonstrating towards Riga were badly wanted to assist in Ihe opeiations directed against the Pet ronrad-Warsavv- railway and were hurriedly transferred to that see-1 1 ion.