THE POLES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 13 October 1914, Page 6

THE POLES.

THE PROMISE.OF HOME RULE

'.'" After long years of waiting^ Poland, owing iotiie decree of the czar, may again be "a nation and rule its own destinj', under the aegis of Russia. It may prove in the long ran that Russia's promise of home rule to Poland will be on© ofc the decisive factors in.-the-war, as rallying under her'standard the Poles now under Germany and Austria, and ensuring the loyalty of her own Polish subjects. By the various partitions of Poland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Russia, Prussia, and Austria each took a large slice of territory with its population. To each of the three great Powers the Polish provinces have always been a-serious problem, just as Ireland has been to Great 'Britain. Therefore the Poles have rightfully been called the Irish of Europe, and ever since they lost their independence as a nation they have wrought and fought, to regain at least' a measure of home rule. The story of Poland is an imperishable monument to the vitality of the consciousness of nationality. Though their country has been parcelled out among their predominant neighbors, the Poles themselves refuse to be absorbed. „

IMPERISHABLE NATIONALITY

More so is. this ■ with Germany than with either Russia or Austria. The Poles are Slavs first and foremost, and the Slav will never submit to be swallowed by the Teaton. Racially the Poles are more akin to the Russians." though they differ from them in religion, being Roman Catholics, but the treatment of Poles by Russia up to the present has only been surpassed for coldblooded brutality by Germany's attempt to crush her share of Poland under the iron heel. But Polish nationality will not be killed, and after a hundred years of oppression ' the ■ Pole is no more a 'German to-day than he was at the partition in 1793. The Polish language has lieen forbidden in German Poland, but it still flourishes-; Germany tried to buy out the Polisih landlords, but they would not sell, or if they sold they were boycotted by their fellow Poles, who made it-too hot for the German intruder for him to stay. The whole story of German Poland bears, indeed, a remarkable resemblance to" the early oppression of Ireland from the time of Cromwell until England-learned the futility of such methods many years ago now. _ The Germans—or at least the Prussians—never learn, and thai; is why their iron heel on Prussian Poland is i eally their Achilles' heel—their danger spot. . - •

THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY

The story of the Polish struggle unpder Germany is well told by Mr Archibald Colquhou'n in the North American 'Review. He observes that the be-, ginning of the real persecutions of Polish nationality is found in the repvisaJs of .Russia after the predestined failI lire of the Polish revolt of 1863, when Bismarck- came to the assistance of Russia. _ The language was forbidden in the higher schools; the Catholic rer ligion—always a bone of contention be--1 twe'en the Poles and their Orthodox-con-querors—was subjected to disabilities; all Government offices were closed to Poles; a bigoted Russian bureaucracy ruled the country with an iron hand. All this was encouraged by Bismark, who says plainly in Eis memoirs that his policy was to; prevent any settlement of the Russo-Polish question, which must necessarily embarrass Prussia in dealing with her own Polish subjects: at the same time he was' prepared to incur, as he actually did, the reproaches' of the whole of Western Europe, which was sympathetc to the Poles, to secure that alliance with Russia, which Frederick the Great a hun-, dred years before laid down as essential to Prussian policy. The result was disastrous to Polish aspirations. Fortunately for the Poles. Austria treated her Polish subjects more generously, and gave them a limited form of home rule. Thus the spark-of life for the | Poles has not only been kept alive, but has kindled anew in the last forty' years. , i

THE BXSMARCKIAN SYSTEM. Bismarck was too much occupied for many years with Austria and France to turn his attention seriously to the Polish question. It was, not till 1873 that a definite policy shaped itself as regards _ the language; Tha scheme of Germanisation devised by Bismarck was twofold, economic and mental, and aimed at reducing the number of Polish landlords and peasants, and at banishing the Polish language from public life and from the schools. It was only when the Franco-Russian Alliance was looming on the horizon that the Germanisation of the Polish provinces commenced in earnest. The Prussian Diet voted five millions sterling for the purpose of settling Germans in the Polish provinces. and developing the country. In 1898 a further grant was made, and in 1902 the total was made up to twen-ty-two and a half millions sterling. The whole aim was to plant a? prosperous and permanent German population on the soil, and thus oust or assimilate the Poles. ' ~ , ;

AN UTTER FAILURE

The scheme has utterly1 failed. Up to the end of 1906, after an expenditure of 17J millions sterling, it is estimated that not more than 75,000-acres have actually passed from Polish hands into thos.e of Germans. The price of land has risen to a' noint where the German landlords find~it, a great temptation to sell to the Poles, especially as _ they incur hostility among their Polish, neighbours. Any Pole selling to a German is ruthlessly boycotted, me fact- remains that .after all this expenditure—brie-quarter of the. National Debt 'of Prussia—practically nothing has beeiv accomplished. The latest move is for the compulsory expropriation of Polish landowners, and a S&™ , tnat PurP°se was passed in 1907 Meanwhile the attempt on the Polish language has had little more success. All Europe was amused when f i>ussia fumed and fulminated because 50,000 school children refused to say their prayers in German! The Polish population is increasing rapidly, and so is the Polish Parliamentary vote. Socially the Poles hold their own. easily, and a Polish middle-class has risen and is prospering. Intermarriage means that the children, almost invariably are brought up with Polish ideas. In short, we find this extraordinary anomaly that the conquered race is proving stronger than its conqueror.

VITAL TO PRUSSIA. Ihe vital nature of this problem to Prussia wil| be realised when one re-. members the weakness of her eastern l.rontier—an artificial boundary of 750 miles (on a' lowland with no natural obstruction), coterminous with Russia A wedge of Russian territory runs in &* one point, and the frontier is only 180 miles from Berlin. A chain of fortresses has been established; but to render these anything more than mere bases, the rear must be secured and here is the-immovable, hostile Polish population, which must be a factor of incalculable danger in case of invasion. The inherent weakness in the Prussian position is that it depends, in the long J£ ni °? -.r 13 Permanent subjection of that stubborn Slav race-feeling which has survived centuries of oppression and which' in the process has learned to hold its own in the teeth of superior organisation. Will the Slavs respond to he lv^ 1-^ % Wood?" Whether or JV?v- -the-Polish- questiofn- still remains the Achilles heel of Prussia and the .teutonic hegemony.