Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-23
A NEW POLAND CONTEMPLATED

When the brave Pole and American
patriot. kosciuszko. at Maciejowcie.
cried in despair. "Finis
Poland Not Potomac" all seemed
finished for Poland. But
isnsu' Poland still lives after
14o years of suspended life. lives to be
born again, new Poland.
From 1872. the date of the first par
tition. there has been no Polish nation,
but Poles existed in Posen. Upper ST.
lesia. occidental and oriental Prussia
Poles inhabit Galicia and dominate In
the ten governments of the Vistula.
are numerous in Lithuania, in White
Russia and Ukrania.
Nevertheless. more than 2o,0Oo.o00
Poles form a solid block from the Bal
tic to the Carpathians. and from the
Oder to the Niemen: lit is a nation that
no one sees, but every one feels" Po-
lands name is hidden under those given
her in the acts of partition. but her
real name subsists; historians, poets
and heroes have rendered her name so
glorious that Poland has not been for
gotten and cannot be forgotten ever!
The manifesto of the former Russian
generalissimo. the Grand Duke Nicho-
las, dated August Is. 1914. promised
solemnly that Poland should be free.
and later-September 9, 1914-the en-
peror proclaimed that he would re-
unite in single autonomous state the
parts of Poland held under German,
Austrian and Russian domination. and
that Poland should be recreated under
the scepter of Russia.
Prussian Poland is the least in extent
Of the three Polands. yet it was the
aspiration of Frederick II on the Po-
lish provinces of Prussia that precipi-
tated the first partition of Poland
Prussia annexed in 1872 the coveted
territory between Brandenburg and
Old Prussia (Konigsberg). She took
Polish Prussia. with the exception OF
Thorn, which remained to Poland, and
of Danzig, which remained free.
-
The second partition of Poland was
accomplished in 1893. Austria partici-
pated in the partition of
The Second 1895. Prussia took Varso-
,.,. via (Warsaw). Austria
fartltlon. took Lublin and Cracovia
(Cracow). The definite frontiers of the
three copartitioners were traced by the
treaties of Vienna in 1915. Prussia took
Thorn and Danzig, Polish Prussia and
the Grand Duchy of Posnania, about
"a, 900 kilometers square. Counting the
Marzowa country and Upper Silesia
there are more than $4,000 kilometers
square under Prussian domination.
The Polish army, eagles. diet, minis
try, University of Varsovia. all that
disappeared with the insurrection OF
1890 The ecclesiastical hierarchy, with
priests to keep the civil lists. its Gre
gorian calendar, the code Napoleon
given the grand duchy of Varsovia by
the emperor himself in 1907. have be.
come Russianized.
Russian Poland, according to the con
gress of Vienna. consists of dense
Polish population. On an area OIL
$4,000 kilometers square, there are
IL, 100000 Inhabitants (ninety-eight pei
kilometer square: France. for example
has seventy-three). 1t may be said tha1
there are still 12.500,000 inhabitants
ton and desolation by the actual war
There are still 100000 Poles in the Rus
sian army. The Russian administration
heretofore very hard on the Poles, or
the contrary manifested iHuCl
toward the German colonists. become
very numerous in the provinces Of the
VuStula.
Germans in Poland. at Lodz, number
1000 LODI is. in fact, German city
in which there are German Journals
which carry on a propaganda agains,
the Poles; numerous verein societies
gymnastic. shooting at the mark, Boy
Scouts, cyclists, combatants of wal
of 1870, etc. Several times during the
1so11 h1<
of the fete of the Emperor of Germany
all these societies parade in the streets
of LODI, music at the head of the col
umns, banners and flags unfurled. and
the Russian governor passes them IN
review, and even addresses them In
German. The conservative journal, the
Sviet, said. prior to the war: I'VE con-
slider the Germans who fix themselves
in Polish countries as the defenders oil
the Russian empire" Little wonder
that Germans had come to regard Lou1
as German city.
The country of Chelm, Russian Po-
land, counts few Russians except func-
tionaries and soldiers
Auainst Rooa but the governments
of Lublin and Siedlce
4ntereStS. are inhabited by 4O0,-
600 Ruthenians, who, forced to become
orthodox, are "uniates." The orthodox
clergy have dismembered the govern
ments of Lublin and Siedlce and formed
them into what is known as Chelm.
The majority of the population OF
Chelm is Polish, Jew and German. The
separation of Chelm was made despite
the opposition of several governor gen.
erals of Varsovia. This separation was
cruel blow to the Pole, to whom 1t
seemed as new partition of Poland.
The international treaty of 1915, which
traced the limits of Russian Poland.
gave the impression that these limits
were to remain intangible.
Chelm added nothing to the power of
Russia. Fanaticism only was flattered
by separation of this country from the
rest of Russian Poland. Russian opin-
ion, more enlightened on the loyalism
of the Poles, their courage in battle.
their secular sufferings. is quite de-
cided that it does not desire that any
more assaults should be made on
Poland
Since the coming of Bismarck. the
Prussification of Poland has been a
marked policy. Prior to Bismarck,
Prussian Poland was more blessed than
Russian or Austrian Poland. and en-