The Star Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 1914. POLAND AND THE WAS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 3 December 1914, Page 4

The Star Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 1914. POLAND AND THE WAS.

Far-away outsiders who desire to ' undefstand the position with respect j to the contest Roinß on in East Prussia and -iv Poland between the Russians on the one hand and the Germans and Austrians on the other, should" not confine their attention to the mere fighting, nor even to the relative strength of the combatants. Facts in both" categories are important, count for much, and should be borne thoughtfully in mind; but the national feeling of the Poles, their former relations with Germany, and Russia's recent recognition of their long lost but ever cherished national integrity, should bs considered as almost decisive factors. Those who know the actual circumstances well affirm that had Germany possessed any capacity for the treatment of a conquered race it would have been no difficult matter for her to come to be regarded as a friend to whom the Poles might appeal in case of war. But the German Government of Posen caused the Poles to regard a German as their natural enemy on whichever side of their frontier he might be found. If he was on the Prussian side he was the emissary of a government which designed to prevent the Poles from owning land, or from speaking their own ton^ne in the schools. If he was on the Polish side he was an emissary of the same government, sent to carry out the same policy of social and economic oppression by slower degrees. It is only by remembering these governing conditions of Germany'sl policy with respect to Poland that we can fully understand the attitude of the Po^s to Russia before the beginning of the war, and their reception of the Russian offer of autonomy. The first symptoms of the pan-Slavonic movement left them unmoved. They had small sympathy with a movement which seemed destined to unite a number of peoples possessing a lower standard of civilisation against the rest of Europe, and to place the Greek Church against- the Catholic. But two important events finally decided the Poles to support Russia, r-ot merely by forced levies, but, with their active sympathy. The first was tbe recognition of popular rights as against the bureaucracy, with the consequent recognition of the identity of the Vistula provinces; in other words, of the provinces whi?b include the ancient Polish dominions. The second was the evolution of. the pan-Slavonin movement into a union of the Slav and Latin race against Germany; in other words, into the neo-Slavism of the p3st nine years. Before the war was begun, offers of autonomy were made to Poland by Germany and Austria, as well as by Russia, and the Polish pretender was offered a safeconduct to Warsaw. But the German repentance came too late. Five years ago the Raiser made his bid for the favor of the Poles by opening a gorgeous palace at the fortified town of Posen; but it has been proved that, like most of the statesmen of his race, and like so many English statesmen with respect to the reconciliation of Ireland, he failed to realise that the racial instinct or national aspiration of a people cannot always be satisfied or effectively deadened by the expenditure of money; and he and his- bureaucrats had gradually deprived the Poles in Posen of their political birthright. It is true that Warsaw under Russia also suffered ever- variety of hardship. But AVar--1 saw remained the centre of the Polish race. In Russia the Poles had at least preserved their identity alike against the German invasion, and against the j Russian bureaucracy. Hence it was I that Russia alone could give them the one prize they have all along thought worth having; their union as a separate race with their own traditions, their own culture, and their own religion, under the suzerainty of the Prussian Crown. This has not only been solemnly promised in the sight and hearing of the whole civilised world, but already essentially given in sympathy and fact, and the new conditions which have thus been brought into effective existence in Poland —"an old and haughty nation, proud in arms." and never quelled in spirit— create a powerful factor which has to be borne thoughtfully in mind, if we would rightly understand the position, and fairly apprehend the probabilities, in the eastern campaign between Russia and the Poles on the one hand and the Germans and Austrians on the other.