The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-05
RUSSIA AND FINLAND.
Relations Between the Two Countr1es
 Strained to Breaking Point.


 Russia of Today" by Henry Norman,
 M.P., in the June Scribner's.
 At present. as everybody knows, the relations between Russia and Finland are almost the worst possible. Twice within the last few months l have seen a capital where every woman was III
 black. One was London, where the people were mourning their dead queen' the other was He!singfors. where peo-
 ple mourned their lost liberty. Every
 woman in Helsingfors bore the piack symbols of personal woe. But personal
 protest went much farther than tnls-
 When General Bobrikoff. the Russian Governor General, who was sent 10
 carry out the new regime, took ms
 walks abroad every Finn who saw nm
 coming crossed to the other side Of the
 street When he patronized concert
 for some charitable purpose the Finns
 bought all the tickets, but not single one of them attended. The hotels re-
 fused apartments to one of the Flnnisn
 Senators who supported. the Russiah
 proposals. By the indiscretion of DOT
 ter he secured rooms at one of the
 principal hotels and refuse4 to leave.
 Therefore, the hotel was boycotted aha
 it is temporarily ruined. The Russian
 Government, intending to make the Russian language compulsory m all
 Government departments. invited sew eral young Finnish functionarles To st. Petersburg to learn Russian under very advantageous conditions, and with ev- cry prospect of official promotion. when the language ordinance was puo!lsned and these Films saw why they were de- sired to learn Russian, they immedi- ately resigned. The Russians took charge of the postal system of Finland and abolished the Finnish stamps.
 Thereupon the Finps issued . mourn ing stamp" all black except the req arms of Finland, and the naI1e of the country in Finnish and Swedish, ana stuck it beside the Russian stamps on their letters. The Russians retorted by strictly forbidding its sale. and de- stroying all letters which bore 1t. NOW 1t is one of the curiosities of philate4y. So the wretched struggle goes on, ana
 the young Finn turns his eyes and or | ten his steps toward the United States and Canada.
 There is no doubt, whatever, that un- der the Finnish constitution, the con tention of the Films is right and that of the Russians wrong. In the fu1da- mental laws, the order on the Clet, paragraph Fl, says: "A fundamental | law can be instituted, modified, ex- plained or abolished only on the rep resentation of the Emperor and Grand Duke, and with the consent of all the orders" That is clear, and 1t Is final, I so far as any law or traaty can be. Therefore, when Russia insists upon
 modifying, apolishing or introducing
 Fundamental conditions of Finnish na-
 tional life without the consent of the
 Finnish Diet, she is acting illegally and unconstitutionally. But. as rlat-
 ter of actual fact, there Is in human
 affairs of this kind no such thing as | fnality. or, rather, the only final
 thing is force majeure-:mperative ra- tional self-interest. Before that all promises are air, and ali treaties are black marks on white paper. I put this brutally (foreseeing the consequ ences), but there is no use in mincing words. | Every student of history. politics or di- plomacy knows 1t to he the simple | truth, and every country, not Russia alone, affords examples in proof. Ger many broke her promises to Denmark. France broke her promises aboI; Mad agascar. To come nearer home, Eng land has repeatedly pledged herself to evacuate Egypt. and the United States is solemnly pledged to grant independ- ence to Cuba Neither of these pledges
 seem likely to te kept. Therefore. if 1t is, in the judgment of Russia, an im- perative condition of her national pros perity or security that her relations with Finland should be fundamentally altered, she will only be following the
 ordinary line of historical and modern
 precedents by breaking her promises and tearing up her pledges. I do not defend the principle; I state the fact. Pity 'tis, 'tis true."