The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-11-09
POLAND is UNFORTUNATE.
Great Power at One Time Was FL
nally Annihilated az !
Nation,


II Poland, in the distant past, had
had some wise old Ben Franklin to
give his colleagues sound advice as
to the value Of ''all hanging together"
that unfortunate land, In the estimate
Of many historians, would have es-
capped many disasters. 1t was great
power at one time When at its great
est, previous to 1860, it had an area
Of about $4,000 square miles and
population of about 100000. 1t ex-
tended northward to the Baltic sea
and the Gulf of Riga; westward to
Brandenberg; southwark to Hungary
and nearly to the Crimea and eastward
so as to include most of the valley OF
the Dnieper. This is just about equal
to the combined areas of Illinois,
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana. Kentucky,
Wisconsin and Minnesota. Poland
reached from within 80 miles Of Ber-
lin to within $50 miles of Moscow.
Before its final partition in 1875 the
area of Poland had been reduced to
94,164 square miles with a population
Of 100000. But even this was about
equal to the combined areas of I'LL
nois and Ohio During the tenth GEN.
fury Poland began to assume con-
sistency and unity, but about the same
time the distinction between the no.
bles or warrior class and the agricul-
turists began to be drawn. A sharply
defined caste resulted. The aristocracy
~ y,,nathV with the
peasantry. The classes and masses did
not hang together"
1t was in 1872 that Poland passed
under the. regime Of elected kings. The
national diet elected them and on this
and on all other matters the decision
single member exercised his veto all
legislation was at standstill. More
unnatural still was the recognized
right of any mobiles to confederate for
the purpose of effecting their will by
the force of arms. Thus was produced
an enfeebled government. Wars and
internal strife so greatly weakened
Poland that its partition followed.
Catherine II. of Russia especially
wanted her country to get into the cir
Gle of the western powers and Poland
stood in the way. The first partition
came in 1772. Russia, Prussia and
Austria benefited. The three mon
archs of these countries were respective
ly Catherine the Great. Frederick the
Great and Maria Theresa. This is one
reason why Frederick's statue in
Washington is not loved by many
American citizens Members of the
Polish diet, according to the histori-
ans, were freely bribed to agree to the
concessions of the partition. They did
not hang together"
One of the most glorious chapters
in the history of Poland is that of it's
defeat and final humiliation. as a ma
ton. This was the day of revolt and
gallant struggle which followed the
first partition of Poland and which
ended with the third and final parti-
ton in 1875. At one time Gen. Kos
ciusko-who is beloved by Americans
for the gallant part he took in the
American war of the revolution-with
force of 1000 peasants, mostly
armed with scythes, defeated an army
of 5000 Russians. Kosciusko was
made dictator and drove the Russians
from Warsaw, but discussions among
the Poles ruined their cause at the mo-
ment of seeming triumph. Not even
then did they hang together" Po-
land ceased to exist as a state when
its army, CALAMITY led by Kosciusko.
went down before the Russians. But
as a people to this day it has stubborn
ly nursed the hope Of successful insur-
rection.