Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-15
Permission 10 Leave State Church is
Followed BY withdraWalG
leH1 TO BUY LANO IS APPRECIATED
Natives Of Poland See Renewed Hope of
Prosperity Of Race.
CAR is MORE LIBERAL THAN KAISER
Polish Papers Comment on Fact that
Germany Places More Restric-
tions on People Than Does
Russian Government.
INMATES IolN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ST. PETERSBURG, oct. 14.-(special Ca
beEram to The Bee AFTER a year and
more of commotion and trouble the conflict 4
OF despotc bureaucracy with the revolu- /
tionary forces continues and may be pro-
longed for an indefinate time. Even the /
manifesto and the constitution will remain |
mere incidents in the conflict The keenly !
critical Russian mind is already turning !
against what 1t terms political mmicry, |
mock constitutions and sham parliaments. /
The imperial ukases Of December last and !
the manifesto remain no more than vague !
promises from which there may emerge /
either the Victory of the and his pres
ent counsellors or the victory of the peo
pie. And the representatives OF the people
will enter the iuma in order to wage battle
against the old system IN new disguise.
One positive fact cannot be gainsaid. 1t
has been predicted that the old feud be-
tween the two nations would come to an
end, and when the Poles reconcied to Rus
sian hegemony would enjoy such national
autonomy would guarantee them the
independent development OF their civiiza-
tion In contradistinction TO the policy of OPP
preston followed by Prussia in the for
merly Polish provinces under it's sway. The
reconciliation has been furthered by two
measures which emanated some months
u since from the very government of which
The general tendency seems to be the main
.enance of the old autocratic system. The
irst OF these two measures, the edct on
religious liberation, is of a general char
acter and applies to the whole Russian
empire. But the Poles will undoubtedly
benefit the most by the relaxa tion of that
spirit of orthodox persecution of which
NJ. Pobiedonostzeff is the foremost repre-
sentative. In two governments out OF ten
forming the kingdom of Poland governor
general of Warsaw there are something
like 10000 of Little Russians" protesting
the Greek Catholic creed. Their priests of
the lower orders are permitted to marry
Their ritual differs only in some quaint
oriental ceremonies from the Roman the
principal difference being that the liturgy
is read in the Little Russian (Ruthenian)
Language. and that the Greek calendar is
natntained.
The hybrid church, a compromise be-
tween Roman and orthodox principles for
political reasons In the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries, was. tolerated for time
by the Russian government but for the
last forty years the Uniates have been
treated as heritics and all means have been
employed to drive them into the orthodox
fold Their churches have been closed.
their bishops deposed and exiled, many
thousands of families were punished for
resistance by transportation into faroff
governments and at last the Uniates were
Willy nilly inscribed on the registers of
the Official church.
Eject In Poland.
The recent edict on federation does not
directly put a stop to this persecution, and
the Greek Catholic church remains. as be-
fore, an unrecognized, hereticaI sect of the
state church. But under the new law it is
no longer a misdemeanor to leave the state
oh arah fNra fA.r % 81
tan churches, and such is the hatred of
the former "Uniates" against the official
form of Christianity that they avail them
selves of the opportunity to turn Roman
Catholics. The Roman Catholic bishops OF
Lublin and Cholm. Immediately after the
publication of the edict made a progress
through their dioceses and many thousands
OF Little Russians, hitherto registered
against their will as orthodox. have adopted
the Roman creed. In one town alone the
number of Roman Catholics has risen sud.
denly from 800 to 1900. As throughout all
those parts OF the formerly Polish province,
Eastern Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia Lithu
Rnia-to be Roman Catholic" and a Pole
have always been Synonymous terms, Il 1.
clear that the federation edict by pushint
the spirit of orthodoxy to the point OF no
even mentioning the innate church has I'm
advertently and Unexpectedly presented tn,
tNofidn Win ouu,VVO converts and thi
Polish nation with 10000 individuals who's,
descendants will not only be Roman Cath
olic but Poles. indeed, Orthodox communi
ties in many districts are already literall,
reduced to the priest and his beadles, all o
the petty vexauons OF passport regulation
being powerless against the converts VIII,
stick closely 10 the letter OF the edict
To the Poles directly refers the secon,
OF the ukases that regulating religiou
teaching, the revival of representation o
the mobiles and the acquisition of Iande
property in the nine western governments
viz, In Lithuania, Vohynia, Podolia an,
In the government OF Kier, the last be
ing the old Polish Ukraine on the wester
banks of the Dneiper
Russia More Liberal Than Germany
The Poles regard the terms OF that ukas
with great satisfaction. Even the out
spoken pan-Polish papers in GaIicia dc
clare that the nation never expected fror
such a quarter such a measure OF liberal
ity in the nine western governments
ana the papers OF Posen Prusslan Poland
point out with scorn and vexation. not
say alarm. with which the Prussian OF
gans denounce that ul1ase as enhancing IN
Polish danger" In the German ''Ost
marken." The press in Galieia and Pose
alike notes the contrast between the Polls
policy OF a constitutional KAISER ana ths
OF an autocratie czar The nine 'wester
governments were never thoroughly Po
ish not even before l722. when their who
territory except the city of KEN lay with
the boundaries OF the republic. Today OF
OF a population OF 100000 hardly =. 5000
is OF Polish extraction. This thin Polls
leaven is very irregularly spread over Il
whole area, and there are government
CPodolisl where II represents hardly . p
cent OF the population. while In only ol
or two wilma, KOvono), does Il range
high as % to 30 per cent In Prussia
Poland. where Poles form 81 and mo
per cent Of the population. they have
right 20 give their children religious i
struction In their own language-Poiish