New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-08
Autonomous Poland.

proclaim an autonomous Poland are plain
But it is equally obvious how grave are
the difficulties in the path.
Russian Poland is the home of the ma
jority of the Polish race, perhaps 1l,0O0,.
900 out of total of 20,000,000. 1t is a
we'll defined geographical entity, although
it lacks natural frontiers. Russia has
preserved it as a distinct governmental
unit. and it would be a simple matter for
the new conquerors to proclaim autonomy
for this portion of the old Polish kingdom
But the difficulty that would have to be
faced arises from the fact that nearly
10000 900 Poles are included within the
present frontiers of Austria and Prussia
Galicia as far east as the San River is
Polish. Posen, a considerable portion OF
Silesia, a narrow strip Of West Prussia
extending north to the Baltic west OF
Danzig, and the famous Mazurian Lake
district of East Prussia are peopled by
Poles or by Slavs closely related.
Conceivably, to gain the protection of a
UulltI Sldlt against lNuSold, AuSNl llllS 4iN
consent to surrender her Poles to a new
Kingdom whose destinies were closely
bound to the Austro-German states. In
the event of a successful ending of the
war Austria could seek her "compensa-
ton" in the south, in the Balkans and in
Albania.
Germany, on the other hand, could not
consent to a SIMILAR sacrifice because not
only does the Polish strip penetrate far
west toward Berlin, but it also isolates
East Prussia, which is mainly Germanic
and intensely Prussian in its spirit, from
the main mass of German speaking peo-
pie. 1t was to Join East Prussia to the
balance of his kingdom that Frederick the
Great engineered the first Polish parti-
ton.
The Poles of Austria have been well
treated and are the happiest portion of
the Polish race. In Galicia they have been
the privileged race and have repaid their
masters kindness with fairly consistent
loyalty.
In Germany, on the other hand, and par
ticularly in Posen, the struggle between
the Poles and the Teutons has been inces-
SAINT, and the Prussian government has
made repeated effort first to GermaniZe
the Slavs and then to drive them out by
land purchase acts. Both efforts have
failed and the Slavs, remaining bitterly
hostile, have steadily gained ground.
If Prussia now surrendered her Polish
lands to new kingdom her own terri
torial unity would be destroyed. If she
consents to the erection of an autonomous
Poland which does not include Posen and
other Polish districts, there is the peril
that Poland like the Balkan States, will
presently acquire complete freedom and
then Prussia will have to deal with a
risor9imentO question. precisely compare
bic to that which led to the eviction of
Austria from Italy and more recently pre-
cipitated the Austro-Serbian crisis, which
supplied the occasion for the present con-
fict.
A reunited Poland, recreated by the
Teutonic allies, would serve as an admi
rable barrier to Russian advance 1t woulC
be bulwark against the Pan-Slav peril.
To proclaim it would he to demolish much
of the Allied argument that the present
struggle is a War of Liberation" It
would give Germany a far better moral
standing than she has yet enjoyed, and it
might win to the Teutonic side the whole
hearted support of 2OOOO,OOO Poles. no
mean accession.
But Prussia could never consent to the
complete re-establishment of Poland on
ethnic lines, because it would divide Prus-
STA. This is the great obstacle, and Prus-
sian statesmen know we'll that any par
tial measure would be the promise Of fut-
ure peril.
The Polish problem remains one of the
most inextricable of European tangles.
Russia could promise a restored and auton.
omous Poland, because she had merely tc
take from her foes all the districts in
which there were Poles, together with the
ethnic islands of Teutons. Her own unity
was not called into question, and if Pc
land ultimately became a sovereign state it
would not menace Russian solidarity. Ger
many cannot do this and cannot for SINH
lar reasons encourage Austria to assign
her Polish district to a new Poland.
The purpose of the Teutonic allies in
Poland is at the moment the most inteE
esting non-military circumstance of the
war. But on the surface the problem
seems insoluble.