New-York tribune., 1899-01-16
THE END or FINLAND.

De Segur doubtless attributed to kOSciuskO
words which that hero did not utter. Yet
though falsely ascribed the words were true.
Macejowice was the end Of Poland. Not even
Bonapartcs forgery could make it Other; and
the failure of Mieroslawsk and its sequel mere
" confirmed the doing OF what was already
done. In like manner some later De Segur
might attribute to some Finnish leader the cry
"Finis Suomi For the end Of Finland Is at
hand The present month will see II. The
guarantees of Alexander ! will be to the utter
most virtually repealed The ancient privileges
of the Land of Thousand Lakes will vanish.
The most prosperous and enlightened province
of all the Cars domain will be administrative
lv forced down to the level Of all the rest.
That and no less, IL the meaning OF the ex-
traordinary session Of the Seim which Is TO be
opened on Thursday next at HelsngfOrs Os-
tensibly that will be n meeting of the free and
independent Parliament of Finland. Practically
it will he meeting Of men under compuslon
TO register the will Of the Autocrat whose ukase
summons Them and that will is that hence
forth Finland shall be only "a geographical ex-
preston"
The expressed purpose of this meeting Of the
Seim is "to bring the Finnish law Of military
Service into conformity with the law OF the
"empire at large" That is to say. the Selm Ia
to adopt at the Cars dctation a law permit
ting the garrisOning Of Finland with Russian
troops and imposing upon Finlanders the obli-
cations Of conscrption and service in the Rus
sian Army In any part of the world Hitherto,
IT will be remembered, the Finnish Army has
been quite separate from the Russian, being
commanded exclusively by Finnish officers
save the commander-n chief, the Russian Gov
ernor-G r-General-and required to serve only with
in the limits Of the Grand Duchy, with the ex-
ccption of single regiment stationed In ST
Petersburg This system was established by
Alexander l. and no attempt to change it was
made until 1911 General Milutin then recon-
mended to Alexander ii that Finland be forced
TO conform Itself with Russia in military mat
ters and the Car approved the suggestion. but
POSTPONED execution Of II, at the request OF the
Seim, for ten years. 1t accordingly went into
force in 1851 But the law read that the Fin
nish Army was to serve for the defence OF
the Throne and Fatherland"; and the Firms
philosophicaly insisted that the Throne was at
Uelslngfors and that the Fathcrland was Fin
land SO he old system practically main
tanned under the new law for another ten
wears In 1891 Alexander III and General
Vanofsky prepared a new law, embodylng in
nnmistakable terms the ideas of twenty years
before But Alexander did not venture to force
II into execution He left that task to Nicholas
H. and the latter has gone about II with the
active aid of the redoubtable Mr.. Pobledonost-
self, the Procurator Of the Holy Synod. The
choice of that ecclcsastic AS a leader in mill
tary reform may seem peculiar, but scarcely
more so than the taking OF this action stimuli
tancously with the call for an international
conference on disarmament and peace.
This action-for the Seim will not venture 10
refuse to ratify the Cars decree-will mean.
as we have said, the end of Finland as an all-
tonomous State For it will he simply the last
and crowning one OF a series OF infringcments
upon and abrogatons Of the guarantees that
were so soleInnly made In the Treaty Of Fred
rlkshamn When the new Governor-t;eneral OF
the Grand Duchy General Bobrkoff. assumed
authority at Helsingfors three months ago, he
made the matter plain. He frankly told the
Firms that all their notions OF autonomy Of "A
mere personal union with Russia, and Of a
separate nationality, must now be forever dis
missed as perverted and fantastic. They must
use Russian money and postage stamps. and
the Russian language must he the official Ian
guage and the Russian Church the State
| Church, and they must look TO st. Petersburg,