The sun., 1898-05-15

Finland, or, as the natives call 1t, Suomi. is a
country Of lakes and islands; a peninsula sur
rounded by the CULTS of Finland and Bothnia
on the south and west, and bordored by Russia
and Lapland on the east and north. 1t Is
larger than England. Scotland, ireland and the
Netherlands put together. The scanty infor-
nation that has come down to us touching the
condition of the ancient Films in heather times
indicates that. although divided into hostile
clans, they had reached degree OF civilization
not lower than that then attained by their
Scandinavian nelghbors. They lived in largo
village communities governed by elected or
hereditary chiefs; they pursued agriculture
made iron out of the native ores, traded by sea,
were doubtless pirates like the Scandinavian
Vikings and had special entrep6ts which were
frequented even by foreigners. 1t is certain
that they were skilled in making arms. To
Judge from numerous coins and antiquities,
they had commercial relations with Byzantium
and the far-off Orient. 1t was not, however,
until the conquest of Finland by Sweden, which
required nearly two centuries. namely, from
1857 to 1929 that the Finnish nation was recog-
nized as belonging among the civilized peoples
of western Europe. The Swedish conquest
united the Finnish clans under one Government
and thus founded the unity Of the Finnish ma
ton. Nor was unity acquired at tho cost OF per-
sonal liberty. The Finnish peasant always pre-
served his freedom, although. during the period
of Sweden's greatness 1t was often threatened
by e powerful aristocracy. Tho chief safeguard
OF tho peasantry's independence was the right
Of representation in the local Parliament,
whereby it made good the right Of self.taxation
and self-leRislation.
From 1862 the Finnish peasant has remained
in possession of these political powers. Tho
oh mnaniAl
by one serious drawback; tho Finnish language
was set aside Swedish became the language of
education. 1t was exclusively used In all Gov
ernment offices and all courts of Justice, and
by degrees came 10 be spoken among the higher
classes. Gradually 1t spread among the lower
classes in the towns. What literature there
was appeared in Swedish, and was naturally
inaccessible to the mass Of the rural population.
In the churches alone the services continued to
be held In Finnish, and in order to preserve
the peoples knowledge Of reading. the clergy
provided Il Finnish translation of the Bible,
and published books and pamphlets mostly Of
religious economic nature. Thore has bcen
q change in this respect. however, since the
conquest and annexation of Finland by Russia.
which took place in 1908. The Finnish pa.
triots, or so-called Fennomans insisted upon
the rehabilitation of the Finnish language, and
they partially triumphed in 1863, when an ordi-
nance Of Alexander ii. declared the Finnish
tongue entitled to the same rights as the'Swed-
fish. The so-called Svecomans, nevertheless,
who desire the maintenance Of the Swedish
tongue. still constitute strong party, and the
number of public schools controlled by them Is
out of proportion to their contribution to the
population. Fennomans and Svecomnns, how
over. are united in resistance to Russian at
tempts at amalgamation. The attitude, in
Of "a