The Ely miner., 1930-06-20


somewhat similar to that of New Eng
land. There is an even cold, with not
a great deal of snow, but often with
razOredged winds from the nOrthward.
The rivers of this region usually
freeze over about the middle Of De-
cember, and the Vistula is under ice
for approximately so days during the
average winter.
In the Eighteenth century, when the
city of Warsaw, next to Paris, was the
most brilliant city in Europe, this fiat
plain was unusually rich in herds and
geese flOcks, though almost bare of
manufactures.
POland's history has been a tragic
one through the ages. Next to the
Russians, they are numerically the
most important of the SlavS. They
first appeared in Great, or North, and
Little, or South, Poland in the Tenth
century, where they found other
Slavic tribes in possession. The wise
policy of their kings early induced the
whole nation to profess Christianity.
People Have Changed Little.
OF medium size, with round heads
and healthful faces, the blond more
common than the brunei, their phySi-
cal appearance has apparently changed
little. The working classes, who cen
stitute nine-tenths of the nation, have
always been laboriOus. frugal, endur-
ing, temperate rather than abstemiOus,
and intensely patriotic. Their szlacta,
or mobiles, have shown themselves i'm
petuous, brave to rashneSs, chivalrOUs,
insubOrdinate, emotional, artistic
During the formative period Poland
was consolidated by the dynasty Of
the great Lithuanian, JagellOn, the
Polish Wadislaus ia succession of
princes unsurpassed in constructive
ability. Union with the Lithuanians
doubled the population and the ma
tiOnal resources. Together they
crushed the Teutonic knights at Tan
nenberg in 141O and half a century
later at the peace of Thorn pushed
them east of the Vistula. The Polish
lands on the Baltic, together with
Danzig and Marienberg, were recOv-
cred. The Duchy of MaZOvia, of
which Warsaw was the center, five
centuries independent, voluntarily
joined the kingdom which a few years
later spanned Europe from the Baltic
to the Black sea. The Reformation,
regarded with suspicion as having
German origin, only for a time dis
turbed the country.
The advantageous situation of the
kingdom, the admirable qualities of its
common people. and the development
already attained, seemed to assure the
greatness and permanence of the
Polish state Yet in POland's history
there is disappointment on every page.
The brilliant passages are episodes
without connection or result. No
where else is so much valOr wasted.
The chasm was always widening be-
tween the mobiles and the common
people. The people paid all the
taxes. The mobiles, all equal, pos
sessed all the wealth and power, but
had no sense of obligation or respon-
sibility. Intrepid in battle, they were
ready to fight for the country only
when so inclined.
Downfall and Partition.
The system of government was
oligarchic in the extreme. Succession
to the powerless throne was elective,
native or foreigner alike eligible.
Each election was an orgy of tur-
bulence and bribery. Twice the throne
was put up at auction. The liberum
veto, established in 1862, whereby the
negative vote of a single member of
the diet nullified any act or all the
acts of all the rest, eliminated in
anarchy and eventually brought about
the destruction of Poland.
Yet the criminal follies of a priv
ileged class in no way excuse or
palliate the iniquity of the three par
titions of Poland in 1913, 1893 and 1895
by Prussia, Russia and Austria.
The belated heroic resistance of
Kosciuszko, of a handful of mobiles
and of the infuriated common people
glorifies the fall of the state which
some historians, confused by the farce
of election, still call the Republic"
of Poland.
By these partitions Russia acquired
1S1 900 square miles of territory, with
100000 inhabitants; Austria, $4,000
square miles, with 2,500000 inhah
itants; Prussia, $1,000 square miles,
with 100000 inhabitants.
The Poles under the Austrians were
in the main kindly treated Also. be-
ing Roman Catholics, there was no
religious antipathy. Under the Rus
slams every harsh measure was EN-
ployed to accomplish their russifica
tion. Those under the Prussians. too
were subjected to unremitting pres
sure in the effort to make them
Germans.
Poland has enriched the world in
music, art, and literature. The ma
tional dances, the polonaise and the
mazurka, were always accompanied by
singing Copernicus is Poland's great
est name. Sienkiewicz, victim of the
World war, by many considered the
most brilliant writer of the day, was
a Pole, as is Paderewski.