New-York tribune., 1902-08-03
FINNISH RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY.

FINNISH hESfSIdACE ~ L 1ib1-'-'@-
There is less of surprise than OF gratincauon
and of vindication Of confidence In the news
that Russian recruiting or conscripting officers
| are being coldly received in Finland In the
metropolitan province of Nyland, for example.
we are told that while 2.577 young men were
! summoned for military service only o7 re-
| sponded The others, 1000, or nearly four
6fths of the whole, declined to take the oath
dictated by their Russian oppressors or to enter
the service of the latter, though in thus declln-
ing they made themselves liable TO heavy
penalty OF more than 10000 men sum-
moned in various provinces less than one-haIr
responded and of these latter the great ma
iority were those suffering from some infirmi-
ties which would make their rejection certain.
The proportion of the 10000 acceptable as
recruits was no larger than In Nyland. Thus
the young men Of Finland incur the wrath or
the Russian conqueror with the same proud
disregard of danger which made their fore
fathers world famous in the days Of the great
Gustavus.
Such conduct Of the young men of Finland Is
a protest against the Russian conquest and
spoliation of their fatherland II is also par
ticularly protest against the manner in which
the present conscrption was brought about. A
military service ukase was issued by the Rus
sian Government and the Finnish Senate was
commanded to ratify and promugate it. The
majority of that body did So although the edict
was papably unconstitutional When this was
known the people Of Helsingfors fiocked to the
street before the Senate House to express, with
groaDings and hootings, their disapproval Of the
Senators who had thus yielded to foreign dicta-
ton. Tbereupon company of Cossacks was
sent by the Russian Governor 10 chastise the
people in characteristic Russian style. They
used their heavy whips unsparngly upon men.
women and children alike, not sparing the aged
and infrrn, and even breaking into a church and
private houses in pursuit Of their victims. No
wonder the young men Of Finland refuse TO
obey the law thus imposed upon them
That the Finnish Senate should be mere tool
of Russia is deplorable, but it is easily under
stood. Ever since the conquest OF Finland was
undertaken the Russian Government has been
arbitrarily removing all Senators who have
dared to stand for the Finnish constitution and
for the maintenance of the faith pledged by all
grand dukes fro II 1909 to 1901, and has been
filling their places with its own subservient
puppets. The result is that the Senate is no
longer representative, and no longer commands
confidence or respect. Thus finding themselves
betrayed and helpless, the Firms are showing
the courage of their despair. They are defyfng
the Russian military conscription and are emf
grating from their Land of Thousand Lakes
IN quest of regions free from Muscovite tyranny
In May of last year 762 thus emigrated In
May Of this year the number reached 1,706. In
the first five months Of this year about ten
thousand Firms went into voluntary exile, near
ly all Of them being young men and women, the
flower of the race Considering that the entire
population of Finland is only 2,50000O stream
Of emigration thus increasing In volume is sig
nifcant and ominous. 1t portends the creation
of a solitude which the Russian conquerors may
call peace. but which will mean that one of the
most fertile and most enlightened of lands will
revert to the savagery and desolation which
prevail over the dreary Russian plains.