New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915: April-September, 1915Various
History
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915: April-September, 1915
Various
World War, 1914-1918
What would it be right to include in a reconstructed Poland, if the
great principle of nationality is to be respected?
First, such a Poland would naturally include all of the Russian Poland
of today--by that I mean all the districts where Poles are in a large
majority. This forms a preliminary nucleus of 12,000,000 inhabitants,
among whom are about 2,000,000 Jews. This great proportion of Jews is
accounted for by the fact that Poland is in the zone where Jews are
allowed to live in Russia.
Our new Poland would not comprise the ancient Lithuania--the districts
of Wilno, Kovno, and Grodno--although Lithuania formerly was part of
Poland and still has about one million Polish inhabitants who form the
aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Lithuania, which is really the region of
the Niemen, is peopled by Letts, who have their own language, resembling
neither Polish nor Russian, and they likewise hope to obtain some day a
measure of autonomy in the Russian Empire, with the right to use their
language in schools, churches, and civil proceedings. One thing is
certain: they would protest, and rightly, against actual incorporation
into the new Poland.
The 125,000 square kilometers and 12,000,000 inhabitants of Russian
Poland, lying around Warsaw, would constitute the nucleus of
reconstructed Poland.
Must we add to this the 79,000 square kilometers and 8,000,000
inhabitants of Galicia, which was Austria's share in the spoils of old
Poland? Certainly, so far as western Galicia around Cracow is concerned,
for this is a wholly Polish region, the Poles there numbering 2,500,000.
As for eastern Galicia, of which the principal city is Lemberg, (Lvov in
Polish,) the question is more delicate. Though Eastern Galicia has over
1,500,000 Poles and 600,000 Jews, most of the population is Ruthenian.
Now these Ruthenians, who are natives, subjugated in former times by the
conquering Poles, and who still own much of the big estates, are related
to the "Little Russians," the southerners of Russia, and speak a dialect
which is to Russian what Provençal is to French.
Besides, whereas the Poles are Catholics, the Ruthenians are Greek
Orthodox Christians like the Russians, but differ from the latter in
that they are connected with the Roman Church, and are thus schismatics
in the eyes of the Russian priests.
Should these Ruthenians be annexed to Russia along with the 1,500,000
Poles and 500,000 Jews, among whom they have lived for centuries, they
would scarcely look upon this as acceptable unless they were certain of
having under Russian rule at least equal political liberty and respect
for their dialect and religion as they have under Austrian rule.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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