Washington Journal., 1914-09-05
Who Started
The War?
Not GifaCuIt TO Determine.
PoLAND's RESURRECTION.

wisdom" and generosity" One feels
a sense of bewilderment at the child.
like faith which allows itself to be
trapped by so palpable a fraud. Some
people even tell US that the Tsar's
sudden resolution was not born Of his
present fright but is a child of eight
years growth. Did not the Duma in
1906 vote for Polish autonomy? Evil
IDENTIFY these people think that the
Duma which passed that vote was the
Duma of today. They have clean for
gotten that the Duma of 1906, because
Of that vote and of other objectionable
sins, was sent packing, that the next
Duma, constructed with a view to
greater docility but not coming up to
the expectations of the architects, vas
also given the grand bounce, and that
the present Duma, a mere ~caricature
Of popular representation, has wisely
refrained from committing suicide by
indulging in revolutionary votes. If
the Tsar has had Polish autonomy up
his sleeve since 1906, why did he never
let it out till he found himself con
fronted with invasion? 1t is reported
in the German press, and it seems
quite credible, that Russia would have
sent an ultimatum to Austria a year
ago, had not the governor of Poland
informed the Tsar that such a step
would probably be the signal for re-
bellion in Poland. That shows what
the Poles thought of the Tsar's inten-
tions.
by their fruits We shall know
theml" Finland is the touchstone by
which to test the fineness of the pres
ent golden promises. At the time of
his accession, the Tsar swore to main
tain the Finnish constitution. The
words were hardly out Of his mouth
when he began to violate that consti-
tuition. When his armies came back
with bloody heads from Japan, and the
"autocratic machine seemed about to
go to pieces, he had another attack of
conscientiousness, and the Finnish
constitution was once more declared
a sacred instrument. No sooner was
the revolution throttled than the old
work of "assimilating' Finland re
commenced.
when the devil wa sick, the devil a
monk would be;
When the devil was we'll, the devil OF
a monk was he"
He can't hide the cloven foot. II he
is sincere, why does he not establish
Polish autonomy at once instead OF
promising to do so in the sweet by
and by? Still more grotesque, on the
heel of the ritual murder" trial, is
his promise to enlarge the privileges
Of "his beloved Jews" as soon as the
proper law shall have been elaborated
If he meant what he said, he would
certainly have issued not a promise but
a decree, to this effect: "All Russian
citizens are equal before the law with
out discrimination on account OF re
ligion." The very fact that he finds
himself compelled to curry favor with
the Jews shows to what desperate
straights he is reduced.
History tells in glazing letters that
not from a victorious Russian govern
ment can Poles and Jews expect a re
taxation of d~espotism, but only from
a defeated government. Let Russia
lose a few important battles; let the
revolution raise it's head all owe the
empire and p2ralyze the autocratit
machine; let a truly representative
Duma be elected; break the power o.
the Most Holy" Synod, that strong
hold of reaction; then, and only then
may the Poles expect autonomy, anC
not only the Poles but the L~ithuanians
Let's and Little Russians. Then alsC
may the Jews expect to gain the same
liberty that they enjoy in civilized
countries, the liberty which the Dunn;
of 1906 had already voted to gran
to them, but which the Tsar withheld
from his beloved Jews" Defeat o
the Tsar's armies would be the great
est. blessing to the Russian people
On the contrary, if Russia is victo
rious. the autocratic machine will b.
stronger than ever, and liberty will b.
given another term in the house of cor
rection.
The Kingdom of Poland ought to b.
restored by all means. not as a de
~fenceless appendix of a vast semicivi
lized empire, subject to the whim o
an ~autocrat, the tool of a clique of big
OTIS and reactionaries, but as n Q
the States Of the German Confedera
ton, the largest next to Prussia, will
Polish as the official language in al
it's internal affairs, &c truly autono
nous as any State hlnefe 4i
Union, enjoying tn Flsnts