The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1918 POLAND'S TRIALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 76, 27 February 1918, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1918 POLAND'S TRIALS.

"The Central Powers promised us independence and have now bought peace with the Ukraine by selling a Polish province." These words occur in a proclamation by the'Polish Government protesting "before God, the world and history," against the new partition of Poland hy the giving of the • province of Kholm to the Ukraine. In his booklet, "The Dead Lands of Europe," Mr J. W. Headlam says that ; among the "dead lands" fthe first place must be assigned ' to I Poland—Poland, the Niobe of nations. ! "Let us be frank," says Mr HeadI lam. "In the political world, among ; statesmen and diplomatists,' the name of Poland calls up no pleasing recollections. How could it do so? For during the last three generations the word "Pole" has called to our hiirtds exiles, men holding often pre.cariotts positions in foreign countries, full—as exiles will always be—of fantastic and unrealisable schemes, subterranean diplomacy, intrigues and intrigues directed as often against one another as against. the common enemy of their race. And in their own country in Eastern Europe the word "Poland" implied a problem—a problem to which there appeared to be no solution, for every solution must mean the complete overthrow of the established European system. It was to throw the apple of discord into the relations of kings and states—a problem which indeed could not be solved without a fundamental change, not only in the external relations, but the internal government of Russia, of Austria, of Prussia. It is the duty and it is nearly always the object, of diplomatists to avoid war. In 1815, ! in 1830, in 1848, in 1863 the Polish question brought Europe to the verge of war, and since 1863 it is one on which the rulers of the world have, de-j liberately and perhaps wisely been silent. But now things are changed;' that great Avar which nearly all had striven to avoid has come, and is it not reasonable to hope that there may be secured from the ruin of the world, at least the avoidance of the perpetuation of a state of things which would inevitably in the future bring about again a similar catastrophe? When we speak ot Poland we think of the Poland and the Poles whom we know ourselves—weak, helpless, divided. But let us remember that there was an older Poland, one which occupied in Europe a position among the greatest of monarchies. Five hundred years ago the Kings of Poland held a great place among the rulers of Europe. Two hundred and fifty years ago a Turkish army stood before the gates of Vienna. The great imperial city, the guardian of Christendom and civilisation, was beleaguered by the hosts of the infidel and the barbarian. If it fell, a flood of desolation would sweep over Central Em-ope. Whence could help come? Ft came, and the saviour was John Sobieski, King of Poland. And the next Sunday, in the Cathedral of Vienna, the preacher took as his text, 'There was a man sent from God, and his name was John.' But now there is no King of Poland ; there is no Poland. Fifty years ago Metternich said he had no knowledge of Italy—ltaly was merely a geographical expression. There are the Polish provinces of Prussia, there is Galicia, there is" the district of the Vistula. Poland is dead, the monarchy is gone, , you can see the jewels of the Polish i crown preserved in a museum in a German city; you can see the tombs

of the kings and recall the past greatness of the kingdom in the churches at Cracow, the ancient capital. But Poland is rent asunder. It has been divided between three great monarchies, by which its territory was surrounded ; but the memory of the crime has not been effaced in the history of Europe, and Europe will never be at peace or at rest until there has! been reparation and restoration. The final judgment on it has been given by one of the participants. Maria Theresa of Austria wrote: 'When all my lands were invaded, and I knew not where in the world I should find a place to be brought to bed in, I relied on my good right and the help of God. But in this thing, where not, only public law cries to Heaven against us, but also all natural justice and sound reason, I must confess never in my life to have been in such trouble, and am ashamed to show my face.' The hour for which the world has waited so long has now come, and at last the diplomacy of Europe has mentioned the word Po-| land. The first word was spoken by t the ruler of that country which has enjoyed for a hundred years the lar-, ger share of the booty. The Czar) proclaimed that Poland should be restored, and his Allies have taken note of the words and embodied this in their proposals for terms of peace. It is a word which has not been lightly spoken and cannot be recalled. 'The President of the United States has also taken note of it and has specifically stated that an autonomous and independent Poland must be a ! part of any new system to which he and the American nation are to give their guarantee. When the Peace Congress meets, one of the first ques-' tions to be asked will be—What of i Poland? How it will be answered we do not know. If the solution is to be not a passing subterfuge to escape from the embarrassments of the moment but a permanent establish-! ment, through which the relations ofj states may be based on peace and goodwill, not on conquest and aggran-| disement and oppression, then we know this—all those districts in whichj the population is predominantly Po-. lish must be separated from the States to which they now belong. No partial or incomplete restoration will be sufficient. Prussia must give up her Polish provinces; Austria must contribute as her share the Polish ' districts of Galicia, and they must be joined with the nucleus of Polish lands which have been acquired by the Russian Empire. For if there are left lands unredeemed then they will surely remain a source of poison; j they will be a festering sore which will produce inflammation and disease, i.e. agitation, conspiracy, intrigue, and war. This new Poland must be a self-governing community. It will be for them to determine whether the head of their state should bear the title of King; in Europe many of us still like to have our kings. But our kings must be men of the same nation, the same language, the same religion as ourselves; they must be not an autocratic ruler imposed on us from outside, but the symbol of the unity of the nation. Poland must have its own parliament, and King and parliament, working in harmony with one another, must give to Poland those laws which the Polish nation desires, and must allow the free opportunity for that unrestrained play of parties and of programmes without which no nation can become conscious of that which it really desires What place will Poland take in the international system of Europe? It is too soon to answer this question, but it is not too soon to express the hope that the Russian nation will be capable eventually of a supreme act of generosity— that they will say: This great nation, this Holy Russia, with its tens of thousands of square miles of contiguous territory, with its millions of inhabitants, which comprises half Europe and half Asia, united as no other nation is united by an intensity of national and religious consciousness, has no need to rule over other unwilling dependencies. There may be a period of transition, when the Polish nation—weak, divided by more than a century of living death—is linablc to stand upon its own feet. But, looking into the future,, we can see the day when the Polish King, crowned at Cracow and ruling at Warsaw, joining under his sceptre all the Polish lands which border the banks of the Vistula, and enjoying what has been long denied —access to the sea at that great port of Danzig—will take his place, owing subjection and suzerainty to no man, as the full and complete equal of the other rulers of a free and independent Europe. Or instead of a kingdom there may be a Republic. And what hitherto has been but a vague hope and a distant aspiration now seems on the verge of fulfilment. The Russian autocracy has fallen, and that great event, by which freedom is given to the Russian nation, will also give freedom to the other races allied j to Russia under a common despot-j ism. Those generous feelings by which the Revolution was brought about, and which it will nourish in the future, cannot be confined to Russia alone. Already the decree has gone out that the Poles shall, by free elections, choose a constituent assembly to decide the future of their own race. We may now hope that a free Russia united to a free Europe, will in fact undo the wrong committed by Russian despotism in alliance with Prussia and Austria."