New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-05
Finland and
The Baltic

lHe DdtflC
In addition to the Polish problem, the
Congress Of Versailles will have to decide
both as to inland and the Baltic provinces
AS to Finland the decision will be easy
Through all the Russian period lasting for
just over & century, Finland preserved its
character and semblance of autonomy.
With the collapse Of Russia. the Firms.
aided by the Germans, sought to achieve
independence Under German influence a
sovereign was chosen from Germany. and
Finland seemed destined to become one
more of the outlying dependencies Ct Ger
many.
With the fall of Germany Finland will
regain complete independence. That it viii
return to its old Swedish association is Ut
terry improbable; rather we are likely 10
see one more Independent nation, larger IN
area than The British Isles, with popua-
ton in excess of three Millions emerge
from the shadow of Russian slavery and
take its place among the Baltic states.
South of the Gulf of Finland and along
the shores OF the Baltic still another COM
plication must be faced and solved In
the three Baltic provinces of Russia-Li-
vonia Esthonia and the Courland-acquired
by Peter the Great in Ireland in several
Russian governments east Of the Niemen
are some six millions of people. Esthcnians.
Let's, Lithuanians and Germans, with
Polish and Russian infusions. who. under
German direction, when Germany was vic
torious, were to be erected into a nation
IN which the German minority was to exer-
else dominant influence
Of the several groups of people making
up the population of this region, the Lithu-
anians are most numerous counting more
than $4,000 the Let's, who are Slavonic,
and the Esthonans, who are Firms, each ex-
coed million, while the Germans do not
number more than 100000 Yet Riga, the
largest city, is an old centre of German
culture, with a very marked German char
acter. Indeed, this whole shore has some
thing of the same alien quality as the
Adriatic coast. In the north the culture
and the tone is German, as in the south il
Is Italian, but in both eases the population
of the hinterlands is Slav.
Long before the present war the Slavs Of
the Baltic provinces revolted and sought TO
escape the Russian rule, itself no more than
a consent to the systematic plundering Of
the country by that German nobility which
maintained its influence through the aid Of
the Russian court, always Teutonic in SYM
pathy. Since Russia fell Germany has had
her hour seeking to rule through the same
agents, who had transferred their alIeeiancs
to Berlin. Now, with Russia and Germany
both fallen, the provincial authorities are
seeking to prevent the invasion of Bolshe-
vism. and have already invoked the aid of an
Allied feet.
1t seems to be the common expectation
that new state will be framed out of these
Baltic provinces, with the addition Of Ger
tain Russian lands to the southwark. As to
Esthonia, Livonia and the Courland the
problem is simple and the frontiers of race
and Of geography easy to draw. But to the
south, where Pole and Lithuanian claims
conflict, it is otherwise. Yet if the Polish
dream of reunion of Poland and Lithuania
fails. then one may expect TO see the Lithu-
anian, Lett and Esthonian districts united
in single state, occupying the whole Bal
tic littoral from the Niemen to the Gulf Of
Finland, with Riga as It's capital
Finland, Lithuania, Poland--these are the
three states to be created or re-crea.ed In
the north. In all of them the German effort
to dominate has failed but to make the Ger.
man failure complete and close the road to
the east to the Teutonic tribes il is essen
tial that all three of these states shall DO
built upon solid foundation. Nor Is tie
danger now threatening less menacing than
the German, since Bolshevisth Is planninga
westward advance that can hardly be stayed
without the prompt and effective interven-
ton of the Allied fleets and armies.
Thus the new Poland, which is to save
Russia from the German, may have as its
first mission to save Western Europe from
Bolshevisn,, as the Poland OF Sohieski saw
Europe from the Turk.
Copyright, 1919, by The MycAsrs