The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-10
Possibilities the War Holds for Little
Known Race Who Under Mazeppa
Revolted Against Peter the Great

~ ~ oiyV'A '" pt' tHs NNiss
enco Of the people, their language.
their Traditions. When they send a
telegram TO the German Emperor on
the occasion of his victories in Po-
land wa are surprised that they exist.
How is this possible" How can the
existence Of So large and distinct n
community be concealed from the rest
OF the world" The explanation >
really rather simple.
o years the rkrainians in Russia
and Austria have had no upper classes.
and II IL the upper classes that serve
as the leaders. the cultural opponents
of y community. In Russia the upper
classes OF his Ukrainian nation have
been Russified: in Galicia they have
been Polonlzed. This process may
perhaps he understood when we note
how tho ah,cr clements If our own
foreign population in the United
States are concerned with the broader
probi. ms Of the whole country,
/ whereas the lower classes ~ the same
sections are r~ncialiy more conserva-
tive. Now imagine tho ADLER elements
estranred from thei; less efficient
brethren by financial corruption or
social snohhishnrSs and you have the
condition of affairs " Obtaining in
Russia and Gslicia.
In Galicia tho problem he ONES
more difficult still fox Americans to
understand. for here the Tact mus, he
recorded that II" t'kratUiaIt IN VAS
tria known AZ I,uthenians) are OPP
pressed not IT,, IN. .tustv.ans but
by the Poles. vino. constituting as
IT,. ~ -l 1-l,s ,Aa,
~ j'l;"1,niana. have complete control
Of this province. Until half a cen-
fury 20 the I'krainian section of the
popu,ation had absolutely no voice in
its own affairs. but recently n new
intellectual. class has been recruiting
from the ~pess'ntry. with the result
thai they arr at last "Ncr'lnG some
influence on the provincial govern
ment and even. IT is said. on the ma
j!onal pol.cics -, 'hc empire.
They have SUI ceeded even in at
tracing atte nt'on from scholars in
other European countries, such as
England. France. Ge'nany. Norway.
Swed,n. Perhaps the best account
Of thcm j. thai given by Ellsec Eeclus
in the fifth volume of his Geographic
Tniverseile.' % which there is an
English translation. On the occasion
Of a sensational hunger strike OF a
hundred tk~rainean students at Lem
berg in 1907 the great Norwegian pub
licist Bjornstjernc Bjornson wrote a
fiery article I'm their defence. The
great Swedish historian Harald ~lIiarne
h- turned out an excellent essay on
the subject of the relations between
Great and Little Russians. But The
most interesting and convincing state
mtut of the vase for English readers
will probably he that by Prof. tiain,
the English historian. librarian OF the
british Museum, in the sixth volume
III the Cambridge Modern History
The essential portions of his article
,page 500 of that volumc) are here
quoted:
'The Little Russians regarded the
Great Russians with aversion and de-
hesitation. the two being distinct races
and speaking different languages,
They were united with Moscow only 10y
the common sovereignty established Icy
the Treaty ~ rereyaHaw G6ol) and
they retained at their heal Il llrtman
~ their own AS IN indication II their
Independence.
"Of primary importance TO Moscow
were the Saporog Cossac!is, who had
settled on the far side of he rapids
Of the Dnieper thence the name| and
whose free and warlike community
Sich had constituted an outpost
against me Tntars. Without a close
connection with these. which had been
,ndausered by Charles MI. in h days
! Of Mazeppa. the Russian route to the
Black Sea was insecure.
But Catharine, who looked askance
on he separate rights and ~orranlZa-
,lon Of the IkTainc, and on the innate
hostility Of the Little Russians towards
the claims OF Great Russia, desired, tn
begin with, the abolition of the office
Of the He,man. which. without being
,~anecrous In itself, served to empha-
size the independent position of I.ittl"
Russia. 1t VAS done away with in
1864, and n Little Russian hoard,
under n fuVrrn"r-f;oncra'. wa c'iah-
lished in it, place, which meant the
substitution of a real for u personal
union.
In lI15 followed the suppression Of
the Saporog Cossack Constitution OF
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