Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-01
POLAND, THE UNHAPPY.

Because or the Strict censorship
maintained over the Russian press
the world at large knows but little re-
garding the riots now in progress In
Poland Only now and then can the
facts be sent out of the country past
the ever-watchful censors. But it Is
easy to conclude, from what does
reach the outside world, that the fight
ing between the Poles and the Cos
sacks is attended with all the fierce
brutality that has been part of the
enmity passed down from generation
to generation between these two
classes Of Russian subjects.
But though they are bloody enough
to evoke the pity and commiseration
of every nation, the riots in Poland
have not the appearance of concerted
effort to secure the freedom of the
land from the Russian rule, not the be-
ginning of the long expected insured
ton against the Russian bureaucracy.
On the contrary, these riots will not
have tendency to bring the people of
Russia to the side of the Poles, but
will rather rouse the few remaining
sparks of Russian patriotism to pre-
vent a dismemberment of the empire.
Heretofore, the revolutionary move
ments in Poland have always been I'M
der the leadership of recognized
heads. There have been many insur-
rections since Poland was divided be-
tween Russia, Austria and Prussia in
1772, and always until now there has
been a committee or a recognized
leader at the front, and it has reached
the dignity of an uprising of the people
against a government that was dis
tasteful.
The present mob riots appear to
have grown out of industrial discon-
tent leading to strikes and disturb
ances on the part of the working
classes, fomented by socialist agitat-
ors. The bitter feeling thus aroused is
also greatly intensified by the tradi-
tional and deep-rooted hatred which
has existed for centuries between the
restless liberty-loving Poles and the
Cossacks, whom they oppressed in
centuries gone by, and who are now
their merciless oppressors.
Poland's unhappy lot is mainly due
to the faults and sins Of the Poles
themselves. The decline and fall Of
Poland as an independent nation was
caused by internal dlssensions, and an
incapacity for self-government which
is conspicuously apparent in the his
tory of the country. An intensely
proud and naughty race, brave to a
fault and restless in the extreme, the
mobiles, or warrior class, despised and
oppressed the agricultural peasantry,
and laboring classes, who repaid their
oppressors with a fierce and uncon-
querable hatred. The history of Pol
and from it's inception as an independ-
ent kingdom in the ninth century to
1860, when it reached the zenith Of its
power and stretched from within
ninety miles of Berlin on the west to
$50 miles of Moscow on the east, is
marked with almost continuous war
fare against other nations and civil
wars in Poland itself. The beginning
of the end came in the sixteenth cen
fury with the regime of elected kings
and diet composed exclusively Of the
mobiles, in which unanimous conse,
was required for all legislation and
which Of course was never forthcom-
ing.
In the middle ages Poland was the
haven of refuge for the Jews perse-
cuted on every side, and they flocked
to that country. Their fierce spirit.
mingled with the restlessness of the
Slavs, has tinged the pages of Polish
history with blood. While the country
lost in wars, however, 1t progressed
steadily in arts and letters and the
Poles have successfully maintained
their identity as people in spite OF
foreign incursions on every SIDE Even
in the Polish provinces of Germany,
the Polish language is preserved and
in the major portion of the land under
Russian rule it is still taught in the
schools.
But that Poland will ever regain her
place as a separate and independent
nation is very. doubtful. There is no