Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-25
THE BALTIC PROVINCES
REVIEW OF THEIR PART IN THE
EMPIRES PAST.
Characteristics of the People Who Have
Led in the Recent Revolts
Against the Gear.

toau tue new 1oEk evening Eoat.
The terrible occurrences in Livonia and
Courland suggest inquiry into the history
OF the Baltic provinces. and the relations of
their German element to the other nation
al.ties.
According to the census of 1897. the Ger
man-speaking population Of Esthonia, La
vcnia and Couriand numbered about 229.-
600. exclusive OF 27O00 subjects OF the Ger
man empire. In Estonia the German ele-
ment constitutes but per cent OF the total
population. in Livonia and Courland each
7.6 per cent. The Esthonians are mostly OF
Finnish race. The population Of Lvonia Is
very mixed. The nobility and the burghers
are principally German; the peasantry Is
composed In great part of Let's and Esths
the Russian constitutes only about per
cent of the total population. In Courland
the aristocracy and the burghers are most
~ of German descent; the peasantry, who
constitute the bulk of the population, are
mainly Let's All told. the Let's. who are
a branch of the Letto-Lithuanian group OF
the Aryan family are estimated at 1.3oO,-
COO Besides Livonia and Courland, they
are to be found In the governments OF
Vitebsk. Kovno and Pskov. East Prussia
also contains some Let's The German
landed mobiles and the Lettish peasantry
have been living side by side since the mid
make their relations clear.
The Importance of the Baltic coast to the
west of Europe was discovered by the mer-
chants of Bremen about the middle Of the
twelfth century The Characterization Of the
region was effected in the thirteenth cen
fury, with the aid of fire and sword, by the
Teutonic knights and the knight sword,
laws of Courland were models OF their
kind. The peasantry enjoyed compare
tive freedom: the clergy were tolerant
the country prosperous. According to con.
temporary historian. the very beggars OF
Ccurland In the eighteenth century drove
two horses before their wagons But the
power of the German noblemen increased to
such an extent that they completely o5dea 81
things lasted until 1793, when Courland lost
her independence.
Livonia and Gustavus Adolphus.
Livonia. meanwhile, had become indebted
to Gustavus Adolphus for the restoration Of
the Lutheran churches and the protection
of the peasantry against exactons on the
part of their liege lords. The financial
straits of Charles XII of Sweden Q66O-169O
put end to the prosperity OF Livonla.
Nearly five-sixths of all the estates Of the
German nobility were confiscated by the
crown, Riga fell under the ruthless sway
of a Swedish governor general, who sup
pressed all German aspirations. During the
reign of Peter the Great the plains Of 1.-Two
MIA were once more the scene OF bloody
combats; the peasants were reduced to beg
gary, the cities were burned. After the
subjugation OF the country, Peter The Great
agreed to retnstate the Lutheran Church
and the German language in their rights.
Ten years later he ordered the destruction
OF the town OF Dorpat. as a punishment for
the anti-Russian attitude of It's inhabitants,
who Were deported into the interior of Rus
STA.
The laws regulating the relations between
master and peasant were repeatedly
changed IN Livonia-four times within fifty
years-but they remained stationary in
Courland until the final abolition of serf-
dom. The Orthodox-Greek Church often In
the peasantry, and generally sided with the
latter 1t Is said that nearly 100 600 Let's
and Esths of the poorer classes were thus
won over to the orthodox faith A picture
of agrarian conditions in EsthoSia at their
best, which may be considered typical of
similar conditions in Livonia and Courland
at the time, was furnished in the forties
by Miss Rigby, In her Letters from the
Shores of the Baltic"
Condition Of Peasants.
The estates were all parceled out The
same fields, for which the peasants had
paid a rent. limited only by the will of the
herr or lord. they then held upon a ten
ure fixed by law, as follows: Each peasant
householder or "wfrth'' paid rent In the
shape OF so many days labor, man and
morse, per week, upon the lords fields: by
certain contribution of grain and of a calf.
goose. SO many fowls and eggs and so
many bundles of fax. failure in crops.
added to-the national improvidence, exposed
the peasant to hardship and starvation
which he never knew In his serfdom
Among the regulations intended as a substI-
tute for his old habits of dependence, a law
was substituted compelling each peasant,
IA good seasons, to contribute a certain
quantity Of grain to a peasant eranarv
thus accumulatins provision against famine.
But the peasants seized every opportunity
70 eVade the law, and If the herr was not
saeIant IN enforcing 1t the storehouse was
found empty when famine came. wac
Ihe formal emancipation of the serfs
throughout Russia, In 1861, did not essen
italy alter the outward condition of things
IN the Baltic provinces, but 1t gave rise to
ne" aspirations on the part Of the peasan-
Try, which were fostered by the liberal
press that suddenly sprang into being In