f/l I4BI QJorneU Uttinwaitg ffiibtara Jtitara, £7m fork BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE FISKE ENDOWMENT FUND THE BEQUEST OF WILLARD FISKE LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY 1S6a-IS83 1905 ThedSLte shows when this volume was taken To rentj tJf'TOis bocdf copy the call No. and give to the librarian. IJIM^^n HOME USE RULES .::: '}j:m. SEGl All Bootes subject to recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to bor- row books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspec^oa and repairs. Limited books must be returned within the four ■81946 week limit and not renewed.' Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted Lg their absence from iwn. Volumes of periodicals id of pamphle^f^e held in the Ubr^uf^^^much as possible^jjTOr special pur- posaarfroev are given out a limited time. Borrowers should not use .heir library privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not al- lowed to circulate. B^aders are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library DK 511.L25H31 1922 Lithuania past and present. 1924 028 383 895 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028383895 i >■' -.iTi(BPPv^*^'^»>-i>'- H^ -/I'Z^K. ^ . wtfr ^BBW •<^l%^^ WMfSk- --Vtoi**^ '*^ .-i: ^ ■'■■-■■ -■ ^^^?^ • ^ Y ..^^^i^^^g^g^g^ MEMBEES OF THE BRITISH CONStlLATE AT KAUNAS. Frontispiece. LITHUANIA PAST &• PRESENT By E. J. HARRISON Formerly British Vice-Consul at Kaunas and Vilnius NEW YORK ROBERT M. McBRIDE Gf COMPANY Printed in Great Britain "UJUilil.f \' j I ' "; | I V ^^x^ox-x. (All rights reserved) PREFACE In the following pages I have not attempted to do more than scratch the surface of a subject which, for adequate treatment, would require several large volumes. My main purpose is to arouse interest among English readers in a country and people whose glorious past and present renascence, under peculiarly moving conditions, are surely an earnest of great future achievement in all constructive activities. To this end I have tried to give a general outline of Lithuanian history, geography, economic position and possibilities, present-day political problems, cultural characteristics, etc., so that Britishers may no longer be able to plead ignorance as an excuse for their unfortunately apathetic attitude towards the legitimate aspirations of the Lithuanian people. Should the reception accorded this modest preliminary essay warrant it, I shall gladly hereafter embark upon a more exhaustive and ambitious handling of this fascinating subject. For much of the material embodied in this book I am indebted principally to Stasys Salkauskis' masterly study Sur les Confins de Deux Mondes, W. St. Vidunas' La Lituanie dans le Passe et dans le Present, and Dr. Joseph Ehret's Litauen, which have rendered readily accessible many facts which otherwise might have eluded com- pilation. I make no apology for largely employing the Lithu- anian spelling of place names. The sooner we adapt 6 PREFACE ourselves to changed conditions the better. But for the reader's convenience, I have appended a short glossary giving the former Russian and present Lithuanian renderings of these centres. A hint on pronunciation. The Lithuanian c is pro- nounced like our ch in church ; the s like sh in shall ; and the z like z in azure. Authors' Club, Whitehail Court, London, S.W. 1. March 30, 1922. CONTENTS FACm PREFACE 5 GLOSSARY 13 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 15 English Ignorance of Lithuania — Lithuania's Former Great- ness — Chaucer's Reference to the Country — Early Com- mercial Treaty with England — Fatal Association with Poland — The Great War and German Designs — Proclama- tion of Independence — Polish Occupation of Vilnius — Lithuanian Retreat to Kaunas — Refusal of de jure Recogni- tion by the Allies. II. A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE .... 20 Historic and Ethnographic Lithuania — ^Area and Population — ^Vilnius, the National Capital — Testimony of Early Chroniclers — Other Provinces and Cities — Palanga on the Baltic Coast — Prussian Lithuania or Lithuania Minor — The Port of Memel — Configuration of the Laud — Hills, Lakes and Rivers — Nature of Soil. III. THE RISE OF LITHUANIA . . . • . . 37 The Lithuanian People not of Slavonic Origin — Lithuanian Language one of the Oldest in Europe Allied to Sanscrit — Aestians or Baits — Claim to Grecian Ancestry — -The Early Grand Dukes — Struggles with the Teutonic Order — Pros- perity of the Country under Gediminaa, Keistutis and Vytautas the Great — Extension of Frontiers from the Baltic to the Black Sea — Beginnings of Polish Influence — Personal Union with Poland under Jagellon — Wars with the Tartars — Lublin Union with Poland in 1569 — Partition of Lithuania and Poland at End of XVIIIth Century. IV. PERIOD OF DECADENCE 49 The Reformation and Lithuania — Corruption of Catholic Priesthood and Lithuanian Nobility — Oppression of the Peasantry — Missionaries of New Doctrines — Nicolai Radvila, the Black — Re-introduction of Catholicism — Polonization of Upper Cltisaes — Internecine Strife — Extinction of Inde- pendence. V. UNDER THE RUSSIAN YOKE .... 55 Russiflcation of the Country— The Iron Hand of Muraviev — Attacks on Lithuanian Culture — Closing and Dispersal of Vilnius University — Substitution of Russian State Religion for Catholicism — ^Manifesto of 1863 Prohibiting Lithuanian Tongue — Ban on Latin Alphabet — Victims of Muraviev's Rule — Abolition of Lithuanian Statute- — Confusion in Ad- ministration of Justice — Russian Judges Ignorant of Lithuanian — Russian Confiscations of Lithuanian Lands — Wholesale Emigration. 7 8 CONTENTS CEAFXBE FAQB VI. THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE ... 62 Neo-Lithuanian Movement — Secret Associations — Literary, Cultural and Political Activity — The Work of Basana- vi6ius — Smuggling of Lithuanian Books and Magazines into Country — Decline of Polish Influence and Rehabilitation of Lithuanian Speech — Effect of Russo-Japanese War on Liberation Movement — Russian Revolution of 1905 — Labours of Lithuanian Patriots — The Vilnius Memorandum — Congress of Vilnius — Historic Resolution — Rvissian Reaction — Development of Lithuanian Schools and Societies — Rise of National Press — Art and Literature — Economic Revival. VII. LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR . . 75 Lithuania as Battleground — Her Contribution to Allied Victory — Hostile Devastation of Country — Fall of Kaunas and Vilnius — The Land a Desert in the Wake of the War — Ravages of Disease — Deplorable Lot of Lithuanian Civil and Military Prisoners — Dispersal of Entire Families — Organization of Relief — German Military Occupation — Efforts at Germanization — Ober-Ost Administration. VIII. RISE OF THE NEW STATE 85 Share of American-Lithuanians in National Movement — Congress of Chicago Declares for Self-Determination — Bureau of Information EstabUshed in Paris — First Berne Conference in 1915 — Demand for Independence Raised in Russian Duma — Congress at Lausanne — Second Berne Conference Declares for Independence — Other Notable Gatherings — Conference of St. Petersburg — Diet of Vilnius in 1917 — Election of National Council — Third Berne Con- ference — Recognition of Taryba as Lithuanian Constitu- tional Organ — Two Declarations of Independence — Stem Resistance to German Intrigues — Effect of Allied Victory — Appointment of Provisional Government — War against Bolsheviks — Polish Occupation of Vilnius in April 1919 — Intervention of Supreme Council and Establishment of Demarcation Line — Election of Constituent Assembly — Lithuanian Political Parties — Lithuanian People Essen- tially Non-Bolshevik. IX. THE POLISH BETRAYAL 97 Personal Observation of Polish Designs — British Commission for the Baltic Provinces — Branch Established at Kaunas under Colonel R. B. Ward — Author Appointed British Vice-Consul — Views of Former British MUitary Attach^ on Polish " Prussianism " — Russo-Lithuanian Peace Treaty of July 12, 1920 — Russo-Polish War and Lithuanian Neutrality — Polish Evacuation of Vilnius and Invitation to Lithuanians to Occupy City — Polish Treachery — Reds take Vilnius — Lithuanians Enter City — Transfer of Lithuanian Govern- ment to Vilnius — Conclusion of Suvalki Agreement and its Immediate Infringement — Colonel Ward's Aerial Visit to Warsaw and Polish Assurances — Polish Offensive against CONTENTS 9 OEAFTEB FAGB Vilnius and Re-occupation of same, October 9, 1920 — Flight to Kaunas — Author's Return to Vilnius and Observa- tion of Polish Methods — Complicity of Warsaw Government in the Zeligowski Coup — Depositions of Polish Officers — Intervention of League of Nations in Polish-Lithuanian Dispute — Causes of League's Failure to Achieve a Settle- ment — Termination of League's Intervention — Polish Viola- tion of Four Demarcation Lines — The Unlawful Vilnius Elections — Polish Pogroms of Lithuanian Institutions in Vilnius — Lithuania Penalized for Sins of Poland — Denial of de jure Recognition — Allied Failure to Settle Polish Frontiers Largely Responsible for Situation. X. THE MEMEL QUESTION 116 Defeat of the Borussians and their Gradual Germanization — Teutonic Knights oppose Lithuanian Advance to the Sea — Memel District — Ratio of Germans and Lithuanians — ^Memel economically dependent upon Lithuanian Hinterland — Allied Declaration of Predominantly Lithuanian Character of Memel Region — Memel Port Lithuania's Sole Sea Outlet — Provisional French Administration of the District for Supreme Council — Franco-Polish Designs to Prevent Memel's Reversion to Lithuania. XI. LITHUANIA'S ECONOMIC PROGRESS . . . 122 Country's Favoured Position — Government's Abstention from Issue of New Currency — Collapse of German Mark Reacts to Country's Detriment — Lithuania Primarily an Agricultural Land — Racial Percentages — Agricultural Yields Before and After War — Capacity for Further Expansion — Dairy-farming and Stock-raising — Current Prices often Lower than Pre-War — Tendency towards Small and Medium Farming — Lithuania's Timber Resources — Heavy Post- helium Demands — Need for Remedial Measures — Agrarian Reform — Grants to Soldiers — Comparatively Mild Incidence of Law with Recognition of Principle of Compensation — Lithuanian Industries — Trade Figures — National Finances — Credit Associations, Banks and Cooperatives — Lithuanian Railways and Waterways — Government's Economic Policy — Legal Reform. XII. LITHUANIAN TYPES AND CHARACTER . .145 Appreciations of Foreign Observers — Sexual Purity a, Notable Trait — Meeting of East and West on Lithuanian Soil — Latent Capacity for Tremendous Effort — Physical Aspects — Lithuanian Love of Nature — Democratic Senti- ment — Belief in Religion — Lithuanian Superstitions often Pagan Survivals. XIII. IN THE COUNTRY 153 Description of Lithuanian Farm — Ubiquity of the Cross in Lithuanian Countryside — National Dress — The " Juosta " Worn by Women — Lithuanian Love of Song — Some Marriage Customs — Rue as the Emblem of Purity. 10 CONTENTS CBAflEB PAGE XIV. LITHUANIAN MYTHOLOGY 163 Its Indo-European Origin — Lithuanians the Last to abandon Paganism — Ancient Sacerdotal Caste not UnUke that of Brahmins or Druids — Its Influence in both Religious and Social Life — The Vestal Virgins — Fire Worship Practised at Vilnius — Perkunas or God of Thunder — Myths of Sun and Moon — Natural Phenomena Objects of Adoration — " Sventa Ugnis " or Sacred Fire — Lithuanian Love of Symbolism survives Paganism — Belief in Metempsychosis — Legends of Giants — Interpretation of Dreams. XV. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE .... 173 Lithuanian Tongue part of Aestian or Baltic Linguistic Branch — At One Time Identical with Lettish — The Two Main Dialects — Resemblance to Greek and Latin — National Existence Bound Up with Native Speech — Special Use of Participle — The Genitive Attributive — Lithuanian uniquely Rich in Diminutive and Caressive Forms — German Study of Lithuanian Poetry in Eighteenth Century — Lessing and Herder — ^The " Dainos " or Chansonettes — Belles Lettres Proper — Duonelaitis, Mickiewicz and Vidunas — Drama encouraged by the Jesuits — Modem Literary Revival. XVI. ART AND MUSIC 185 The Work of Ciurliouis — Hig Fame in Russia and on the Continent — Antanas Zmuidzinavifiius — The Sculptors Rim^a and Zikaras — Modem Artists from the People — Peasant Handicrafts — Lithuanian Ecclesiastical Architecture — Churches of Vilnius — National Love of Music — Popular Chants Reveal Greek Origin Homer's Hymn to Demetrius — The Brothers Petrauskas — Simkus, Braiys and Naujalis — Some Native Musical Instruments — ^Lithuanian National Hymn. XVII. THE PERSONAL EQUATION AND CONCLUSION . 196 Author's Early Association with Lithuanians — Journey by Motor-Lorry from Riga to Kaunas in Summer of 1919 — A Night at Radzivilishki — Author Arrested by German Soldiery — Meeting with Colonel Robinson and the German Airman Rother at Keidany — Story of Rother's Dramatic Rescue of Enver Pasha — Author's Entry into Kaunas — City under. Martial Law owing to Discovery of Polish Plot — Life in Kaunas — Author's Visits to Vilnius — Impression of the Poles — The Bolshevik Regime — Other Aeroplane Inci- dents — Von Platen and his Russian Wife — Lithuanian Leaders — Some Political Reflections in Conclusion. APPENDIX 207 INDEX 225 ILLUSTEATIONS MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH CONSULATE AT KAUNAS Frontispiece TO PACE PAGE TWO VIEWS OP VILNIUS . . . . .22 INHABITANTS OP PALANGA GREETING LITHUANIAN TROOPS . 28 LITHUANIAN CHILDREN PRAYING POR DEAD COMRADE . 28 RED CROSS TRAIN AT KAUNAS . . . . .76 PIELD DRESSING STATION . . . . .76 VIEW OP KAUNAS PROM VYTAUTAS HILL . . .92 KAUNAS UNIVERSITY . . . . . .92 LITHUANIAN BIVOUAC ....... 100 ON THE FRONT ....... 100 MONASTERY ON VILNIUS ROAD ..... 112 MEMBERS OP BRITISH MILITARY MISSION AT KAUNAS • 196 MAPS MAP OP LITHUANIA ILLUSTRATING INFRINGEMENTS OP TEM- PORARY DEMARCATION LINES . . To face page 14 ANCIENT MAP OP LITHUANIA At end 11 Lithuania Past and Present CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY REMARKS My own experience is that, if we except certain business circles which before the war engaged in trade with the Baltic and to-day are making somewhat halfhearted attempts to resume these relations with the independent States that have succeeded to the old Russian regime in that part of the world, very few persons in England know anything at all about Lithuania. Spelling the name in syllables accomplishes little in the face of an abysmal ignorance extending to the very geography of the country. This unfortunate apathy goes to prove how very super- ficially the average citizen reads his daily paper, because for months past there have been repeated press references, long and short, to the Polish-Lithuanian dispute and the futile efforts of the League of Nations to settle it at Brussels and Geneva. And yet at the end of the XlVth and the beginning of the XVth century Lithuania was the most formidable Power in the North, and the boundaries of this compact State extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, On one occasion Moscow was almost taken by Algird, who spared it only in deference to the prayers of the Grand Duke Demetrius, thus unconsciously and naively revealing the boundless gulf which separates the simple barbarous mentality of that age from our own vastly superior conception of what is due to a military victor. The devastated regions of Northern France and East Prussia show conclusively how far we have advanced along the 15 16 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS road of civilization since those primitive days. Few are probably aware that this period of Lithuanian power has found a place in English literature. In the Canterbury Tales Chaucer sends a brave English knight to that country, and in this connexion it is interesting to note that Chaucer calls Lithuania " Leetuwe " (Lietuva), which is the Lithuanian word for Lithuania, the latter being used only abroad. Historians also relate that in the XlVth century Keistut, or Keistutis, the ruler of Lithuania, signed a commercial treaty with England. In Rymer's Foedera there is also a document of Queen Elizabeth, written in 1560, giving a licence to a Lithuanian in the following terms : He by Himself, his Servants, or Factors, maye or shall brynge in this our Realme of England within the space of one Monethe next hereafter following Thyrtie Tymber of Sabels and a Carkamet of Gold sett with Divers Pearl es and pretiouse Stones without payings Custome or Subsidie for the same Lithuania has passed through many vicissitudes since that spacious epoch. Her disastrous association with Poland, of which more will be said elsewhere, involved her in the downfall of the latter in the XVIIIth century when the whole of Lithuania was attached to Russia by the sole right of conquest. Although the Great War hit Lithuania hard and for a season led to the substitution of Teutonic tyranny for that of the Muscovite, its ultimate outcome proved on the whole favourable to Lithuanian national aspirations, which never ceased to be cherished in secret even during the darkest days of Russian and Polish oppression. During their period of military occupation, from 1915-18, the Germans tried in every way to suppress the national movement. They prohibited the publication of Lithuanian newspapers and threw the national leaders into jail. The object of the German Government was clearly to make Lithuania an integral part of Germany, but these efforts encountered a resistance which proved to be insuperable. Finally Lithuania succeeded in obtaining permission to call a convention at Vilnius in September TERRITORY OF LITHUANIA 17 1917. This convention elected a State Council or Taryba, which on February 16, 1918, solemnly proclaimed the independence of the country. This day the young Republic annually celebrates as Independence Day. After this came with bewildering swiftness the Allied victory, the German revolution, and the Bolshevik advance, which latter compelled the Lithuanian Government to withdraw from Vilnius to Kaunas, whence the defence of the country was energetically directed. The Bolshevik advance was checked at Koshedary, and the Lithuanians would again have entered Vilnius if they had not been deliberately forestalled by the Poles, who advanced from the south-east and occupied the city. The Polish occupa- tion of Vilnius on this occasion lasted till July 1920, when the Polish defeat at the hands of the Soviet armies necessitated its abandonment, and the Lithuanian Govern- ment re-entered into possession. Under the Suvalki Agreement, signed between the two States on October 7, 1920, Poland recognized the right of Lithuania to provisional administration of Vilnius and its territory, but this trifling fact in no way prevented her from flagrantly violating the agreement two days later, when the notorious General Zeligowski recaptured the Lithuanian capital. Thus the Lithuanian Government was again obliged to remove to Kaunas, and pending a settlement of the Vilnius question the affairs of the country are still directed from this temporary capital. According to the Russo-Lithuanian Peace Treaty, concluded on July 12, 1920, Lithuania comprises an area of approximately 82,000 square kilometres (approxi- mately 32,000 square miles), and the three governments of the former Russian Empire, Suvalki (Suvalkai), Kovno, (Kaunas) and Vilna (Vilnius), which is the ethnographical territory of the original Lithuanian Grand Duchy, and in past centuries was always recognized by both Poles and Russians as ethnographical Lithuania or Lithuania Proper. The population of this area numbers over 4,200,000, of which about 75 per cent, are Lithuanians by race and tongue, the rest being Jews, White Russians, Poles and others. Owing, however, to the loss of the 2 18 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Vilnius region through the force majeure of Polish filibuster- ing, the population actually under the jurisdiction of the Lithuanian Government at the time of writing is not probably much in excess of two millions, of which fewer than 3 per cent are Poles. This, then, in brief, is the State which ever since the election of a Constituent Assembly, or Seim, in April 1920, by universal, direct, and secret suffrage, according to the system of proportional representation, has vainly sought for de jure recognition from the Allies, though this recognition has been granted by almost every other neutral country and former enemy state, large and small.^ Into the motives which have hitherto dictated so conservative a policy I propose to enquire later on in these pages. Moreover, I make no sort of apology for doing this frankly as a partizan. No man of spirit with any firsthand knowledge of the facts, such as I possess, could be otherwise. It was my inestimable privilege to live through the makings of history in the Baltic from the summer of 1919 to the winter of 1921, for the last fourteen or fifteen months of that period as British Vice- Consul at Kaunas, and for an all-too-brief interval at Vilnius, in which capacity I enjoyed unique opportunities of acquainting myself with the true inwardness of the situation. What at the outset was an objective investi- gation led me by inevitable stages to wholesale con- demnation of the Poles and their post-bellum policy. Only an invertebrate degenerate could remain on the fence in such a quarrel. As a partizan, therefore, it shall be my special aim in the proper place to make as many other converts as possible by giving in some detail the reasons which in my own case proved so efficacious. But before coming to that essentially controversial phase of my subject, I wish to excite public interest in * Since these linea were written, the United States Government haa granted unconditional de jiire recognition to Lithuania. On July 13, 1922, the Ambassadors' Council in Paris offered de jure recognition on condition that Lithuania should consent to internationalization of the Niemen River. The Lithuanian Government accepted this condition in due course, and is therefore presinnably recognized de jure. FRANCO-POLISH INTRIGUES 19 other aspects of the Lithuanian problem, historic, geo- graphical, sociological, aesthetic and cultural. Thus I hope to be the medium of removing from many British minds the reproach of ignorance of a country and a people with quite exceptional claims to our sympathy and support, not alone on grounds of international justice but equally on those of national expediency and self- interest. Indeed it is only to our proverbial middle-class and proletarian provincialism and indifference to foreign affairs, even when the latter have a vital bearing upon our destinies, that I can ascribe a popular attitude which has for so long tolerated Franco-Polish intrigues at our expense, and equally the very questionable laissez-faire policy of Great Britain herself in this regard. If my own modest contribution to this branch of East European history helps, in however limited a degree, to disperse these clouds of ignorance and perhaps to galvanize the deadened national conscience into tardy recognition of its responsibilities, I shall not have laboured in vain. CHAPTER II A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE In any description of Lithuania we must distinguish carefully between the historic and ethnographic Lithuanias. What is called historic Lithuania or the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, comprises the territories of the former Russian governments of Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Suvalki, Kurland, Minsk, Mohilev, and Vitebsk. During several centuries they formed, under the style of Lithuania, a political unit. When, therefore, we speak of old Lithuania up to the end of the XVIIIth century we mean this group of governments, which were not inhabited exclusively by Lithuanians but included various foreign ethnic elements which had been wholly absorbed in the energetic expansion of the Lithuanian State and passed under its dominion. Ethnographic Lithuania, on the other hand, includes the old Russian governments of Vilna, Kovno, Suvalki, part of Grodno, and a small portion of the government of Minsk (Novogrodek). It embraces also the northern part of East Prussia with the districts of Memel, Tilsit, Heydekrug, Niederung, Ragnit, Pillkallen, Labiau, certain parts of Insterberg, Gumbinnen, Stalluponen, and Goldapp. The former Lithuanian territory is called Lithuania Major and the German territory Lithuania Minor. If we include the Vilnius territory as an integral por- tion of ethnographic Lithuania and also the Memel district, at present administered by the French for the Supreme Council, we get an area of over 30,000 square miles, and a population which, in 1914, was estimated at 4,345,000. Thus in area and population Lithuania is larger than Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Switzerland. PROVINCE OF VILNIUS 21 A large majority are of Lithuanian blood and speech. While much controversy has raged round this question, a fair estimate of the relative percentages appears to be Lithuanians about 75 per cent. ; Jews about 10 per cent. ; Polish-speaking element about 8 per cent, (for the entire district) ; Russians, White Russians and other nationalities 7 per cent. The population of the larger cities is approxi- mately : Vilnius 214,600 ; Kaunas 90,300 ; Gardinas 61,600 ; Memel 32,000 ; Suvalkai 31,600 ; Siauliai 31,800. These figures have been subjected to considerable modifications by the war. The present population of Kaunas, for example, owing to the tremendous influx of refugees from Vilnius and district in the wake of the Polish occupa- tion is not far short of 120,000. The rural population constitutes 86*2 per cent, of the whole, indicating that Lithuania is essentially an agricultural country. The Lithuanian province of Vilnius has a superficies of 42,500 kilometres, i.e. approximately the size of Switzer- land. On the north it touches the province of Kaunas and the Vitebsk government ; on the east Vitebsk and Minsk ; on the south Minsk and the province of Gardinas ; on the west Suvalkai. It constitutes a plain traversed by a chain of hills. In view of the dearth of other means of communication the numerous rivers possess great importance. More than four hundred lakes cover 10 per cent, of the total surface, and lakes and rivers are sur- rounded by swamps. In the Trakai (Troki) district one marsh has a circumference of 85 kilometres. This province is divided into seven departments named after their respective capitals, viz. Vilnius, Trakai (Troki), Lyda, Sventionis (Svenciany), Vileika, Asmena and Dysna. The capital of the province and of the entire country is Vilnius, situated at the confluence of the Vilija and Vileika, at the foot of Mt. Gediminas, the name of the founder of the city. Before the war Vilna, as the Russians called it, was the capital of the General Government of the same name and was an important railway and commerical centre with a big trade in timber and cattle. Baedeker mentions that the history of the city stretches 22 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE back to the earliest times, when it was a great centre of Pagan worship. A sacred fire was kept constantly burning at the foot of the hill upon which Gediminas (Gedymin), Grand Duke of Lithuania, built his castle when he founded the city in the XlVth century. In 1323 Vilnius was raised to the dignity of a town and was made the capital of Lithuania. The Grand Duke Ladislas Jagellon, who became King of Poland in 1386, introduced Christianity in 1387 and erected the cathedral of St. Stanislaus on the site of the heathen temple. Vilnius is afterwards often mentioned in the history of the struggles of the Lithuanians with the Teutonic Order, the Tartars, and the Russian Grand Dukes. During the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries Vilnius was frequently pillaged by the Swedes, Russians, and Cossacks, and lost much of its former importance. In 1794 it offered a gallant resistance to the Russian army, but was captured on August 12th after a severe bombardment. At the opening of the war of 1812 Napoleon fixed upon the line of the Niemen as his base of operations and made Vilnius (at the point of intersection of the roads from Konigsberg and Warsaw to St. Petersburg and Moscow) the strategic centre of the French line. On his retreat from Russia he again visited Vilnius, which he finally left in disguise on the night of November 24 (New Style December 6), 1812. Vilnius's public edifices, her churches, and the memories which they enshrine, the palaces of the Lithuanian aristocracy, all have a great historical and national signification for Lithuania, and are the fruit of the work of many centuries, whose toil was accomplished under the hard conditions of bondage. Vilnius's other buildings are due to the work of the local labouring classes, composed for the most part of Lithuanian Jews. During the period of the Muscovite rule, the public edifices were constructed at the expense of the Russian Empire ; but one seeks in vain for any evidence of such work by the Polish people. During a period of over four and a half centuries Vilnius was the capital of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, who were ber national rulers. The capital of a State VIEW OF VILNIPS. VIEW OF VILNIUS. To face p 22. VILNIUS, THE LITHUANIAN CAPITAL 23 which in addition to the Lithuanian land properly so- called embraced vast Slavo-Russian territories, Vilnius, thanks to the autonomous rule of government which these latter enjoyed, served especially as the centre of ethnographical Lithuania (Lithuania Proper), which was composed of the principality of Samogitia and of the two palatinates of Vilnius and Trakai. The Government, the legislative and judicial administrations, constituted in the domain of Vilnius an indivisible whole, which was separated from the Slavonic regions of the Grand Duchy. Even after the Russian annexation, Lithuania Proper formed an administrative unit, composed of the three governments of Vilnius, Kaunas, and Gardinas, and designated under the general name of the " North- western Country," with Vilnius as its capital, the seat of the central institutions of the whole land and the residence of the Governor-General. Vilnius was the intellectual, artistic and religious centre of Lithuania, whose influence on the scientific and artistic development of Poland was considerable. However, even at that epoch, when the Polish language took the place of the Latin tongue, the University of Vilnius never lost its character as the home of Lithuanian culture. During the whole of her existence as a sovereign State, and later, at the time of her struggle for independence, Lithuania, with Vilnius at her head, constantly asserted and defended with an imtiring energy her real nationality and her right to absolute independence. In the same way, the unions with Poland were never an expression of free-will on the part of Lithuania but of combinations imposed on the country by Poland, who profited by the difficult situation of the Grand Duchy. The Union of Lublin, in 1569, was a striking example of this policy. It was at Vilnius, at the time of the Russian dominion, that Lithuania experienced the most cruel losses in her struggle for liberty, and this city is the centre of the political and intellectual revival of Lithuania at the present day. In view of the efforts made by the Polish delegation 24 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE at Brussels and Geneva before the Council of the League of Nations, in 1921, to disprove the Lithuanian origin of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, it is interesting to recall that one of the oldest Polish chroniclers, i.e. Mathew Miechovita, himself states that the Lithuanians founded Vilnius (" hiprimum condiderunt oppidum Vilno "). Miechovita even mentions a Duke Vilis (dux Vilis) who transported Lithuanians into that region and founded the city which from this Duke received the name of Vilnius. The Grand Duke Gediminas having transferred his capital thither assuredly maintained a Lithuanian garrison, as in the case of all ducal courts. There is no cause to doubt that at that time the inhabitants of Vilnius were Lithuanians, although there is no direct evidence available as to their precise nationality. The names of the children of both the Dukes Gediminas and Algirdas, as well as those of others, are Lithuanian of those times. Under Algirdas the nobles of his court Kiklis or Kuklejus, Miklis or Miklejus, and Niezila gained fame through their acceptance of the Orthodox faith about 1347 and their sufferings on that account at the hands of the Pagan Lithuanians. Even to-day they are revered as saints in the Orthodox Church under the style of Joannas, Antonius and Eustachius. We have clear information about the nationality of the inhabitants of the town at the time of the introduction of Christianity into Vilnius by Jagellon in 1 387. According to the testimony of J. Dlugosius (1415-80) Vilnius was then the capital of the Lithuanian nation {caput et metropolis gentis) and here the Lithuanians were baptized. Miechovita (1476-1523), M. Stryjkowskis and A. Guagnini, writing about the introduction of Christianity into Vilnius, say that the sacred eternal fires of the Pagan Lithuanians were then extinguished, their idols destroyed, the sacred mounds levelled, and 30,000 Lithuanians baptized. More- over, as the Polish priests could not speak Lithuanian, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jagellon himself explained their sermons to the baptized people. It appears from this that then the inhabitants of Vilnius, who were baptized en masse, were Lithuanians, , That in the XlVth century USE OF LITHUANIAN SPEECH 25 the inhabitants of Vilnius were Lithuanians we know from other evidence, i.e. Count Kyburg, who, during the reign of Vytautas the Great, visited the latter in the summer of 1397 on a political mission, and testifies that the prevailing language in the palace and among the people themselves was Lithuanian, though already there were White Russians, Germans and Poles among the inhabitants. At a later epoch also the Lithuanian speech was used and esteemed in the Grand-Ducal palace at Vilnius. For example, Stryjkowskis clearly testifies that when on the death of the Grand Duke Zigmantas at Trakai castle in 1440 the Lithuanian nobles nominated Jagellon's son, Kazimieras, to be ruler of the country, the latter, who was born at Cracow, did not know Lithuanian and was therefore taught the language on his removal to Vilnius. From writers of the XVth and XVIth centuries who travelled in Lithuania and visited Vilnius, such as Guille- bert de Lannoy (1413-14) and Baron Herberstein (1517-26), we have mention of Vilnius, but no information about its inhabitants or their language, Guagnini (1538-1614) in his work Sarmatice Europea descriptio, briefly describes Vilnius, but is also silent about the nationality of its inhabitants. The Italian writer Jonas Boterius Benesius, whose work was translated into Polish and published at Cracow in 1659, superficially describes the Lithuanian people, and when mentioning Vilnius does not differentiate its inhabitants from other residents of the country who were Lithuanian. It is a fact that as late as 1737 the Jesuits at St. John's Cathedral maintained preachers in Lithuanian, and it was only from that time that the Polonization of the Lithuanian inhabitants of Vilnius proceeded more rapidly till the majority lost their nationality. But even though denationalized the popular masses long retained the con- sciousness of their Lithuanian origin, as can be seen from the evidence of Father Hilarionas Karpinskis and M. Balinskis. The former of these writers, in his work Lexykon geograficzny (Wilno 1766, p. 602), speaks of the population, numbering 60,000, as Lithuanian and German, 26 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE and that besides Catholics there were Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists and Jews, even Mohammedan Tartars, who had a mosque there. BaHnskis in his work Pisanie statystyczne miasto Wilna (Wilno 1835), when describing the inhabitants of the city, makes no mention at all of Poles among them. He says only, " The inhabitants of the city of Vilnius are in their origin Lithuanians, Russians, Germans and Jews. There are so few inhabitants of other nationalities that in this respect they cannot make any distinction." The town of Lyda with its 20,000 inhabitants (seventy kilometres south of the capital) still possesses some importance. From a historic standpoint the town of Trakai (Troki), twenty-five kilometres south of Vilnius, on the shore of the lake of the same name, offers some interest. Trakai Lake is dotted with several islets, on one of which may be seen the ruins of the ship Konigsberg built by Keistutis, in which Vytautas the Great saw something of the world. Trakai, the capital of the Palatinate, formerly enjoyed great importance. Later its development was arrested and to-day it is only a small district town. On the upper course of the Vilija may be seen the chateau or castle of Verkai, where formerly the bishops of Vilnius resided during the summer months. To-day it is abandoned. At Birstonas are celebrated sulphur springs. Rodune has won an unenviable reputa- tion as the scene of many conflicts with the Russians. Forty per cent, of the total surface of this province is cultivated ; 19 per cent, consists of pasturage and meadow ; 28 per cent, of forests ; and nearly 11 per cent, of unculti- vated lands. The peasants of this region experience no little difficulty in drawing subsistence from the sandy soil, being in this respect worse off than the peasants of Suvalkai who, farther to the west, are better able to obtain necessary auxiliaries to agriculture. The province of Kaunas, covering an area of 40,640 square kilometres, is thus almost equal to Vilnius in size. In the west it includes Samogitia ; to the north it is bounded by Kurland ; to the east by Vitebsk ; to the south by Vilnius and Suvalkai ; to the south-west by PROVINCE OF KAUNAS 27 Lithuania Minor. It forms a slightly undulating plain with an altitude a little over 150 metres. Only in the west are there any elevations, viz. the so-called mountains of Satrija, Girgzduta, Medvegalis, etc. Among the navig- able rivers are the Nemunas (Niemen), Vilija and Venta. Lakes are also very numerous, the district of Zarasai alone possessing four hundred of them. As in the province of Vilnius swamps hinder communication. The great swamp of Remygala, near Panevezis (Ponievezh), covers 136 square kilometres. This province, like Vilnius, has seven districts, viz. Kaunas, Telsiai, Siauliai (Shavli), Raseiniai (Rossieny), Panevezis (Ponievezh), Zarasai and Ukmerge (Vilkomir). Kaunas, the capital, is situated at the confluence of the Vilija and Nemunas, and before the war had between ninety thousand and a hundred thousand inhabitants but to-day is even more densely populated. In this neighbourhood the banks of the Nemunas often rise to a height of two hundred feet and are very picturesque. Before the war Kaunas was regarded as a first-class fortress, but this reputation was speedily exploded by the German assailants who reduced it in a few days, though treachery is supposed to have played an appreciable role in this result. It is supposed that the town was founded in the Xlllth century. In the XlVth century it had already become a great bone of contention between the Lithuanians and the Teutonic Knights. At the time of the so-called " personal " union between Poland and Lithuania, when Jagellon became king of the former country, Kaunas began to serve as a centre for the export trade from Poland and Lithuania to Russia. An English trading factory was established here. In 1655 Kaunas was plundered and burned down by a Russian army under Tsar Alexis. At the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 it was finally annexed to the Russian Empire. On June 23, 1812, the French army reached the left bank of the Nemunas, opposite Kaunas, and a hill near the village of Ponyemon is still known as Napoleon's Hill. Kaunas is the residence of the Bishop of Samogitia and his chapter and also of the Lutheran Provost of 28 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE the Vilnius diocese. The Church of the Franciscans dates from the epoch of Vytautas the Great. The most remarkable of the Catholic churches is that of the Jesuits, which was built by Italians. The Jews, who are also numerous in Kaunas, possess four synagogues. The library of the Catholic seminary contains many very valuable manuscripts. Before the war Kaunas was well- known for its industries, one of the biggest iron foundries in Russia, that of Tillmann, doing a big business. At Raseinial, a to>vn of ten thousand inhabitants, the Diet of Samogitia formerly assembled. Kedainiai possesses a large Protestant church constructed in 1629 by the magnate Radvila, and it shelters the tomb of this princely house. The mortal remains of the Lithuanian historian Daukantas repose at Papile. The Radvila family at one time had their residence at Kraziai, where there is to-day a well-known monastery. The Lithuanian poet Sarbiewski used to pursue his literary studies at the Jesuit college of this town, while at one time the Jesuit church possessed, according to report, Leonardo da Vinci's " Ascension." Plunge, the home of the Princes Oginski, is the Lithuanian Jerusalem, the Jewish population being very large. On the banks of the Nemunas is the ancient fortress of Veliona, before which Gediminas died in 1341. Sidlava, in Samo- gitia, is a place of frequent pilgrimage, as also Kalvarija, which has a Calvary constructed on the model of the original at Jerusalem. The Birzai locality is known in history as the principal scene of Lithuanian opposition to Roman Catholicism and the headquarters of the Lithuanian Protestant Prince Nicolas Radvila the Black. Under the Simpson boundary award between Latvia and Lithuania, the latter has acquired the watering- place Palanga on the Baltic, with valuable medicinal springs, and is considering plans for its development, together with Sventoji at the mouth of the river of that name, into an ocean port. There is indeed quite a mass of historical evidence available to show that there were in former years deep-sea harbours at both these places. During the Xlllth century, the Crusaders having taken INHABITANTS OF TALANOA GREETING LITHUANIAN TROOPS. I.ITHTTANIAN CHILDREN PRAYING FOE DEAD OOMBADE. To face p. 28. PALANGA AND SVENTOJI PORTS 29 Prussia and the Knights of the Sword Latvia, the towns of Konigsberg, Rusnis, Klaipeda (Memel) and Riga, which then belonged to the Germans, tried to seize the entire trade of Lithuania together with that of other regions. The Lithuanian Grand Dukes, on the other hand, did their best to thwart these schemes and to liberate Lithuanian trade from the German yoke. With this object, for example, Keistutis in 1342 concluded a commercial treaty with England. The trade of Lithuania at that time, in all probability, was conducted via Palanga or Sventoji. At any rate Vytautas the Great, wishing to open " a window^ into Europe " which should not be dependent upon Germany, restored those ports. It must therefore be supposed that they were situated very much where the present Palanga and Sventoji are to-day. Later, apparently, they were abandoned. The trade of Palanga-Sventoji even during the time of Vytautas had begun to decline. Lithuania having strengthened and improved her relations with Prussia and the Latvian Germans had revived the trade via the Nemunas and Dauguva (Dvina). In the XVth century we find further information about Palanga port. From the XVIth to the XVIIth century the independent trade of Lithuania rose. Dutch and British vessels lay in Lithuanian harbours. In 1603 Sventoji still appears on a map of Lithuania published by command and at the expense of Radvila. From the XVIth to the XVIIth century, however, war and disorder detrimentally affected Lithuanian trade. According to one account it was in 1625 that the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, and according to another in 1701 that Charles XII, also of Sweden, at the instance of the Riga merchants, filled up Sventoji harbour with stones which were transported in nine vessels. There is information extant that in 1685 an English merchant named Horst opened his office at Sventoji. It is probable that the Swedes twice destroyed Sventoji port and that Lithuania restored it. In the second half of the XVIIIth century the representa- tive of Lithuania and Poland, Bukaty, in negotiation with so A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE England on behalf of his Government, promised to restore Sventoji harbour ; but as Lithuania dreaded foreign domination this project came to nought. The father of the present owner of Palanga, Tiskevicius, with the object of restoring the trade of Palanga, built a long pier alongside which his own and other vessels used to moor, but trade did not develop. Now that the Lithuanian State has been recreated the importance of Palanga as a port will perhaps again be revived. From an economic standpoint Siauliai was formerly of considerable importance and should again become so, since it possesses some of the largest tanneries in the world and several confectionery factories. Of the total provincial area 38 per cent, is under cultiva- tion, 27 per cent, consists of meadows and pasture, 24 per cent, of forests, and 11 per cent, of marshes and uncultivated land. Lakes cover a surface of 400 square kilometres. Suvalkai province, with only 12,300 square kilometres, is appreciably smaller than the other Lithuanian provinces. It is bounded on the north by Kaunas province, on the east by Vilnius, on the south by Gardinas, and on the west by East Prussia. In a topographical sense the country is divided into two distinct parts ; the northern half is very fertile and possesses near Kazli^ Ruda ex- tensive forests, whereas the south-west, traversed by a chain of hills, is covered with innumerable lakes which abound in fish. The largest of these, Lake Vigrai, has an area of 10,000 hectares. Swamps are also numerous. There are about 700,000 inhabitants in the province. There are seven district divisions known as Suvalkai, Augustavas (Augustovo), Kalvarija, Marjampole, Seinai (Seiny), Vilkaviskis, and Naumiestis. During the Russian occupation of the province the capital, Suvalkai, had 25,000 inhabitants. The episcopal residence Seinai boasts a Roman Catholic seminary and is generally regarded with reverence by all Lithuanians as the home of Lithuanian religious culture. Augustavas is best known GARDINAS PROVINCE 81 for its canal of the same name, which figured largely in the Great War. Cultivated land constitutes 49 per cent, of the total, meadows and pasture 19.5 per cent., and forests 23 per cent. The rest is uncultivated. The province of Gardinas has an area of more than 88,600 square kilometres and is divided into nine districts, i.e. Gardinas, Sakale, Baltstoge, Brest-Lithuanien, Kobrin, Pruzenai, Slanimas, Vilkaviskis and Bielsk. On the north it touches Suvalkai and Vilnius, on the east the Minsk government, on the south Volhynia, and on the west Poiand. Its configuration is also that of an undulating plain with a mean altitude of 160 metres. The highest hill, in the Slanimas district, reaches 280 metres. In the south-east are many swamps. The Lithuanian hills divide the country into two basins, that of the Baltic Sea and that of the Black Sea. This explains why some of the rivers flow north and others south. The Nemunas flows in the first-named direction and the Jasiolda and Pina, affluents of the Pripet, in the second. The capital, Gardinas, is situated on the right bank of the Nemunas at the point where the river begins to penetrate a barrier of hills and forms a valley enclosed by sides one hundred feet in height. Gardinas is the point of bifurcation of several railway lines and possesses a land bank. Its efforts to improve agriculture are favourably known. Its fortress and environs were the scene of many sanguinary engagements during the war. Pruzenai and Vilkaviskis possess well-known distilleries. Slanimas has made a name for itself in apiculture. Balstoge contains many breweries and one of the biggest weaving mills in all Lithuania. Druskininkai is celebrated for its salt baths, and is very rich in radium. Seventy per cent of the territory is a light soil. Cultivated land constitutes 39 per cent., meadows and pasture land 22 per cent., forests 25 per cent., and uncultivated land, marshes and moving sand 14 per cent, of the total area. In the Minsk government, the district of Naugardukas, called also Naupilis, forms part of ethnographic Lithuania. Before Vilnius, Naugardukas was the Lithuanian capital, 32 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE and ruins of the castle in ;which the Grand Duke Mindaugas resided may still be seen there. No review of Lithuania would be complete without mention of Prussian Lithuania, which is generally now referred to as Lithuania Minor. Since 1422 it has been under Prussian domination. It was about that time, in fact, that Vytautas the Great ceded this part of the country to his enemies, the Knights of the Teutonic Order, in order to promote his far-reaching political ambitions elsewhere. Nevertheless, the greater part of this territory has preserved its Lithuanian character despite its secular dependence upon Prussia and the most persistent efforts to Germanize it. One can find in Prussian Lithuania Lithuanian customs, types, and, above all, the Lithuanian language. In 1654 the Old Prussians or Borussians renounced their Balto-Lithuanian idiom in favour of German. The Prussian Lithuanian does not differ essentially from his compatriot of Lithuania Major save in his religion, which is Protestant. The districts of Tilze (Tilsit), Klaipeda (Memel), Ragaine (Ragnit), Pilkalne (Pilkallen), the eastern parts of the districts of Labguva (Labiau), Isrute (Insterberg), Gumbine (Gumbinnen), Stalupenai (Stalluponen), and Goldape (Goldapp) are still in great measure Lithuanian. The city of Klaipeda or Memel, situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Kurland, is a very important port for the future of Lithuania ; but although, under the Versailles Peace Treaty, detached from Germany, together with the rest of the Memel territory, and recognized as Lithuania's sole sea outlet by the Powers in their reply to the German delegation on June 16, 1919, as already mentioned, the city continues to be administered by the French, very much to their own special advantage. In the Middle Ages, Memel was an object of fierce contention between the Lithuanians and the Teutonic Knights. To-day, in its national com- plexion, the place is largely Lithuanian. Tilze (Tilsit), on the Nemunas, is the natural centre of Prussian Lithuania. Here was organized the contraband trade in Lithuanian books when the latter were prohibited in Russian Lithuania. Tilsit is also known as the scene of the Peace CLIMATE OF LITHUANIA 88 Treaty of that name which Napoleon signed there in 1807. Gumbine (Gumbinnen) on the Pisa and Isrute (Insterberg) on tlie Pi'cgel are two interesting localities. The country is rich in meadow land, forests, and fertile soil. Agriculture and cattle-breeding form here, as they do in Lithuania Major, the principal occupation of the people. In certain regions, along the coast more espooially, are less fertile lands and peat moors. The town of Trakenai is famous for horse-breeding. Several small localities in the east, Palmininkai for example, are also known for tlicir amber trade. The climate of Lithuania varies according to the situation of the provinces. On the littoral it is influenced by the sea and becomes more and more continental as one advances into the interior. The mean temperature is 6.6 dcgvoos centigrade. Li July the mean is 18 degrees. In winter for four months the thermometer falls below zero. The rainfall is 580 millimetres annually, July and August being the wettest moiiths. Westerly winds pre- dominate, but in summer they blow from the north-west and in winter rather more from the south-west. In the Vilnius province the climate is fairly continental. The summer temperature is generally higher than in Lithuania Minor (in July, lor example, 18*6, whereas at Konigsberg it is only 17*5 degrees). In winter, on the other hand, it is lower, tlve tlienuometer during five months (from November to March) falling below zero. The rainfall reaches 605 millimetres imnually. Cloudy weatlier is frequent. At Vilnius, for example, there are on an average during the year only 68 bright days, 183 cloudy and 167 days of rain. Tlie climate of Kaunas province is strongly influenced by the sea. In July the a\'orage temperature is 18 degrees, while in winter it oseillates in the various districts between 8 degrees aaid 6 degrees. The atmospheric precipitation varies fixim 550 to 600 milliiuetres. Tlie piwince of Suvalkai has a meaji annual temperature of 6* 2 degrees. In July tlio average is 17*7 degrees; from December to Mai'cli it is below zero. Suvalkai is not so rainy as the other provinces, the fall being from 500 8 34 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE to 550 millimetres. The weather is very variable, especially in spring. There are some 70 wet days in the year. The province of Gardinas has the most continental climate. The average temperature is in January 6 degrees, in July 20-9 degrees. The annual rainfall does not exceed 335 millimetres, showing that Gardinas is the driest of the Lithuanian provinces. In its generality Lithuania is a plain lightly inclined towards the sea and traversed by two chains of so-called mountains, the Lithuanian Hills and the Telsiai Heights. The Nemunas divides the Lithuanian Hills into two groups — to the left the chain of the south-west, to the right the chain of the south-east. The latter crosses the Vilnius province and the north of Gardinas province. The western chain, which is smaller, starts from the left bank of the Nemunas, extends to the province of Suvalkai and as far as Prussia. Strictly speaking, these hills are merely light undulations with an average altitude not exceeding 200 metres. The highest point is Mount Ciupiskiai (55 kilometres south-east of Vilnius), which rises 313 metres. In the valleys numerous lakes brighten the scenery. The Telsiai Heights largely resemble the Lithuanian Hills. They skirt the sea and traverse the districts of Telsiai and Raseiniai in the province of Kaunas. Their lesser spurs extend as far as Prussian Lithuania. The average altitude of the chain is 150 metres, the most notable peak being Mount Satrija. In Lithuania Minor is Rambynas, the legendary mountain of the Lithuanians. The region of Ober-Eysseln, owing to its charming scenery, is sometimes called the Lithuanian Switzerland. Lithuania owes much of her scenic distinction to her rivers and lakes in which the country abounds. This variety is caused by winds from the west which carry rain-charged clouds from the sea and also by the clayey soil which prevents the subsidence of the water. The Nemunas is the great Lithuanian river. Its course has the form of the latter Z. The lower horizontal stroke corresponds to the line east-west which it describes from its source to the town of Gardinas ; there the river turns abruptly towards the north, but when several kilometres NEMUNAS RIVER 35 from Kaunas it resumes its east-west direction, which it keeps till it enters the Baltic a little below Tilze (Tilsit). The Nemunas has cut for itself a deep bed and in places its banks are very steep, of cliff-like formation, while in others they are flat. In its upper reaches the Nemunas has been compared to the Rhine, but is less attractive in its lower reaches in Lithuania Minor, where it flows idly through a plain. Then for the last time it returns to the hills, piercing the Prussian spurs of the Telsiai Heights and winds round Rambynas, the mythological mountain of the Lithuanians. The Lithuanian basin is formed principally by the Nemunas and its numerous affluents. On the right bank the Nemunas receives the Jura, Dubysa, Nevezes, Neris or Vilija, which comes from Vilnius, the Merkis, etc. Its affluents on the left bank are the Sesupe, Black Ancia, Zelve, Mulcia, etc. These affluents are not uniform and monotonous rivers : each has its distinctive aspect and passes through delightful country. The gilded waters of the Neris inspired the Lithuanian poet Mickiewicz. The Dane, which joins the Nemunas near Memel, is renowned for its beautiful shores. The Dubysa, which is certainly one of the prettiest rivers in Lithuania, acquired a melan- choly notoriety during the war, many desperate engage- ments having been fought on its banks. The Venta, which traverses Kurland and directly enters the sea, often causes floods. The lakes greatly contribute to the beauty of Lithuanian scenery. They exceed 2,100 in number. Corresponding to the two mountainous regions they may be divided into two groups. The greater number are in the Lithuanian Hills, i.e. about 1,500. The eastern chain, on the right bank of the Nemunas, is abundantly provided with them, notably Lakes Drukse and Narutis (Narocz). On the left bank, in the region of the south-western chain, are Lakes Augustavas, Vigriai, Duse and Trakai. One of the eleven isles of the last-named contains the poetic ruins of a castle belonging to the epoch of Keistutis. The second group of lakes borders the littoral of the Baltic Sea and numbers about 600. The more important are Liepoja, Lukstas, Birsulas and Plateliai. 36 A TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE Geologically Lithuanian soil is in large measure the work of the glacial period. Glaciers from Scandinavia covered Lithuanian territory, and in their retreat left numerous morains and blocks of stone which they had brought in their course. Even to-day this plain traversed by hills affords sufficient proof of the diluvial formation of the country. The marshes, peat-bogs and valleys have an alluvial origin. The deeper strata, chalk for example, are products of the tertiary pei'iod. The province of Vilnius is formed by tertiary strata which were mostly covered by diluvial formations. The quality of the soil is extremely variable. It is not rare to find sand close to the best black earth. Nevertheless sandy clay is most frequent in this province. Where clay, which is an impermeable stratum, predominates the waters remain stagnant and form swamps. Such is the case, for example, in the districts of Vilnius and Asmena. In the district of Trakai, on the contrary, we find a very fertile black earth. The province of Kaunas is of almost exclusively diluvial origin, although in places Devonian formation may be found (Siauliai), also Jurassic and tertiary. The soil is in general clayey ; but black earth exists in some districts of the north (Panevczys, Siauliai, etc.), moving sand in the Zarasai district. In certain places the marshes favoured by the clay soil have formed peat bogs. The soil of the province of Suvalkai is in general a product of the glacial period. The valleys and marshes are of alluvial formation. By the side of these strata one meets here and there with chalk. The soil of the northern plains is of superior quality to that of the moun- tains of the south ; it is formed of clay mixed with chalk. The south has numerous swamps and, in places, a sandy soil. In general the soil here is much less productive than in the north. The province of Gardinas is rich in clayey lands of a general diluvial formation. One finds some black earth in the south, but this is rather rare. It should be mentioned that there are moving sands in the districts of Pruzenai and Vilkaviskis and numerous peat bogs in those of Kobrin and Slanimas. CHAPTER III THE RISE OF LITHUANIA For many years it was generally believed in Western Europe that the Lithuanians were Slavs. A similarly erroneous belief was entertained as regards the Estonians and Letts. The union of Lithuania with Slavonic Poland, then her dependence upon Slavonic Russia, have helped to create and foster this error. Actually the Lithuanians together with the Letts and Old Prussians form a fanaily of Aestians or Baits, who for centuries have preserved their own language and customs. They are part of the great family of Aryan peoples to which the Grcrmans and Slavs also belong. The Lithuanian language, however, conclusively proves the non-Slavonic origin of the Lithuanian people as a whole, for although it has borrowed individual words from the Slav vocabulary, as also from the German, in all other respects it is an entirely distinct and separate etymological unit. Slav and German borrowings no more make it German or Slav than our own Greek and Latin borrowings would make English Greek or Latin. Lithuanian is, in fact, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, language extant in Europe, and as such fully deserving greater attention from philologists. It is indeed very closely related to Sanscrit and possesses, according to the celebrated Russian philologist Fortunatov, more than 75,000 words. Intrinsically it is unquestionably a highly developed tongue which lends itself admirably to all nuances of literary and colloquial expression. No less an authority than Elis6e Reclus, in his Universal Geography, says of it : Of all languages of Europe, Lithuanian, which lacks augumen- tatives, is the one -which possesses most affectionate and caressing 37 38 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA diminutives. It has more of these than either Spanish or Italian ; it has more of them than even Russian, and can multiply them almost to infinity, applying them to verbs as well as to adjectives and nouns. If the value of a nation in the ensemble of humanity were to be measured by the beauty of its language, then the Samogitians and Ijtvines would occupy the first rank among the inhabitants of Europe. A British authority, Benjamin D. Dwight, in his Modern Philology also writes : This (the Lithuanian tongue) is a language of great value to the philologist. It is the most antique in its forms of all living languages of the world, and most akin in its substance and spirit to the primeval Sanscrit. It is also at the same time so much like the Latin and Greek as to occupy the ear of the etymologist, and in the multitude of words not otherwise understood, in the place of the interpreter, with its face fixed on Latin and its hand pointing backwards to the Sanscrit. It is like a universal inter- preter, seeming to have the gift of tongues, since its tongue is so greatly like the rest in preserving the purse of prime model, from which they are all corrupt derivatives, as to seem, in whatever language you hear, the chime of that language, ringing loud and clear from ancient time. The famous German philospher, Emanuel Kant, in his preface to Mielke's Dictionary says : " She (Lithuania) must be preserved, for her tongue possesses the key vi^hieh solves the enigma not only of philology but also of history." In the opinion of expert investigators this tongue affords proof of a primitive connexion betvi'een the Lithuanians and the Greeks. The cradle of the Indo- European races is generally located on the shores of the Caspian Sea ; and it is therefore not impossible that, after the dispersion of the ancient Aryan family, these two peoples for some time pursued a common route towards the west. Subsequently their paths diverged. The Eolians, Dorians, lonians and Thracians, tribes of pure Hellenic race, drifted towards the south, whereas Aestians or Baits travelled north and established them- selves on the shores of the Baltic. It is generally admitted that at the dawn of the Christian era, or perhaps a little earlier, the primitive idiom of the Aestians disappeared in giving birth to two new languages LITHUANIANS AND LETTS 39 — Old Prussian (Borussian) and Letto-Lithuanian. The definite separation of Lettish and Lithuanian was effected only towards the end of the Xlth century. In course of time the family of Aestian peoples was considerably reduced. It lost the Old Prussians who fell under the sway of the Teutonic Knights and were Germanized. Already in the XVIIth century the Prussians had aban- doned their ancient idiom and adopted German. In matters of civilization the Lithuanians came under the influence of the Finns, their eastern neighbours, but after the latter had migrated to the lands which they occupy to-day their influence ceased to make itself felt, and the Lithuanians have conserved their national character. Certain etymological analogies suggest a Gothic admixture or contact, as for example the names of some farming appurtenances, viz., " karvide," a cattle-shed, " avide," a sheepfold, etc., but this influence was not sufficiently strong to eliminate the ancestral customs of the Lithuanians. To-day the ancient Baits are represented only by the Lithuanians and the Letts or Latvians. The two peoples, however, have developed along different lines. The Letts passed under the dominion of the Teutonic Order and became Protestants, whereas the Lithuanians formed an independent State and are Roman Catholics. Their languages also have drifted farther and farther apart, and to-day are two distinct idioms which, nevertheless, reveal a common origin. Elsewhere in these pages the fascinating subject of the Lithuanian language is dealt with in more technical detail {vide Chapter XV, on Language and Literature). Although nothing in the nature of an exhaustive historic survey of Lithuania's past is given here, since such an undertaking would require a volume or volumes to itself, even a superficial understanding of Lithuania's present would be impossible without noting the more important landmarks of her past. The Lithuanian people, from almost time immemorial, have inhabited the shores of the Baltic between the Dvina and the Vistula. Their dwelling place was isolated from 40 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA the main route of the nations from Asia into Europe by the plains of Southern Russia, intercepted by impassable swamps and forests. Thus the Lithuanian people in the past lived their own life in tranquil fashion, innocent of aggression against their neighbours. Until the Xlth century very little reliable information about the origin of the Lithuanians can be found in the writings of other peoples. Nevertheless the first actual reference to the Lithuanians appears in Tacitus, who lived in the 1st century a.d. Even at that remote epoch their territory was famous for its wealth of amber, which was sought by merchants from distant Rome. Tacitus speaks about the inhabitants of the land of amber and calls them Esti or Aestians, men- tioning, too, that they spoke a language distinct from German. They used very little iron. They cultivated grain more carefully than the Germans. Later writers also refer to the Lithuanians as Aestians. In the Vlth century Jordanes stated that the Aestians occupied an extensive area of the seacoast beyond the Vistula ; that they were people of peaceful habit, wherein they differed from the Germans, who more frequently migrated from place to place and came into collision with other races in consequence. In the Xlth century Adam Bremeniskis speaks of the Aestians as a separate race, Pruri or Sambi, and styles them a humane people. He praises their cus- toms and censures them only for one thing, i.e. that they were not Christians, Bishop Albertas was slain by them. Writers of various centuries give the dwellers of the Baltic coast the same name and write similarly about their manners and customs. The Lithuanian language itself bears all the signs of extreme antiquity and hardly any indications of foreign admixture, thus showing that the Lithuanian race in its earlier stages had but little communion with other peoples but lived its own life in peace and contentment. The name Lithuania (Lietuva) appeared for the first time in the chronicles of the Xlth century on the occasion of the armed expeditions against Russian tribes. The Russian chronicler Nestor, a monk of Kiev, writes that EARLY GRAND DUKES 41 the Russians, or rather the Ruthenes, victoriously fought the Lithuanians in the Xlth century, but that subsequent epochs showed the great mihtary superiority of the Lithuanians over the Russians. The Grand Duke Rim- gaud as welded a congeries of warring tribes into a single more or less homogeneous principality, and battled success- fully against the Russians to the east and the brethren of the Order of Sword-Bearers to the north in many decisive engagements. Ardvila succeeded Rimgaudas. This Prince or Grand Duke fought against the Tartars in 1242 to such good purpose that after a desperate struggle he achieved the liberation of both the Ruthenes and Ukrainians from the alien yoke. It is said that Ardvila founded the town of Naupilis, now known as Novogrpdek, where the ancient ruins still exist. A little later began the Lithuanian wars against the Teutonic Knights. Mindaugas, Ardvila's successor, reigned more than twenty years over Lithuania. In 1252 this Grand Duke was converted to Christianity with all the grandees of his realm. This fact is often passed over in silence, although it has an important bearing upon the conversion of the entire Lithuanian people some hundred years later. At the same period Mindaugas received from a Papal envoy a royal crown in his castle at Naupilis and in the presence of the Superior of the Order of the Teutonic ICnights, proving that from that moment the Lithuanian rulers were invested with the kingly status. Mindaugas established a bishopric in the region of the present Vilnius and one of his sons even became a monk. The country, however, did not enjoy peace. The Lithuanians were soon obliged to oppose anew the encroachments of the Teutonic Benights, whom they severely defeated in 1261. At the same time the Prussians rose against the Order. Mindaugas fell a victim to assassination, and his death was followed by terrible internecine strife which lasted twenty years. At length Vitenis succeeded in winning power and in inflicting a decisive defeat upon the Teutonic Order near the river Treide. The successor of Vitenis was Gediminas, perhaps the most powerful of the Lithuanian sovereigns. He it was 42 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA who established his residence at Vilnius. This enlightened ruler pursued a different policy from his predecessors and threw open the country to the influx of Occidental civiliza- tion, inviting Western artists and artisans, the Franciscan and Dominican friars to co-operate in the task of educating the people. He favoured the extension of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Greek faith. Yet he himself did not accept baptism, and under his tolerant and eclectic sway Pagan temples and Christian churches flourished side by side. In response to proposals that he should adopt Christianity Gediminas is reported to have made use of these words : " The Christians worship God in their own fashion, the Russians according to their usage, the Poles also, and we worship God in our own fashion. We have all one God, so why speak to me of the Christians ? Where can you find more crimes, more injustice, more acts of violence, corruption and usury than among Christians, and chiefly among those who are ecclesiastics as bearers of the Cross ? " There are bigots in the present year of grace who might profitably emulate this enlightened Lithuanian monarch of the XlVth century. Apparently the Lithuanians, always known for their religious tolerance, regarded religion as much more the private concern of individuals than did other neighbouring peoples. The Teutonic Order continued its forays against Lithuania. Gediminas in 1323 complained to the Pope, but without result. He then had recourse to the sword and successfully repulsed the enemy. He further extended his dominion as far as the Dnieper to the east, and south almost as far as the Black Sea. He built a network of strong castles to safeguard his conquests, but failed to create a truly Lithuanian national culture. After his death civil troubles broke out afresh till his two sons, Algirdas and Keistutis, agreed to govern the country jointly. Algirdas, the elder, took over the eastern section, residing sometimes at Vilnius and sometimes at the castle of Mednikai. His court came to a certain extent under Russian influence, the wives of his second and third marriage having been Russian princesses. Nevertheless THE GRAND DUKE KEISTUTIS 43 in a political sense Algirdas was far from being dependent upon Russia. On the contrary, he fought against the Russians on several occasions, and thrice entered Moscow as a conqueror. Keistutis ruled Western Lithuania. His wife Birut^, the daughter of a Lithuanian noble, figures prominently in Lithuanian song and story. Tradition has it that before her marriage she was a vestal virgin who guarded the sacred fire on a hill near Palanga. When Keistutis met her he was so overcome by her beauty that he made her his consort. To this day this hill bears her name and is the bourn of many a popular pilgrimage. But in lieu of the ancient sacred fire there now stands a chapel containing an image of the Virgin, while on the northern slope of the hill is a grotto with a statue of Mary, made to the order of the present proprietor Count Tyszkiewicz, to resemble Notre Dame of Lourdes. Keistutis resided at Kaunas and also at a castle on Lake Trakai which was erected by Gediminas. In marked contrast to his brother's court, here the Lithuanian language was alone spoken. His wife bore him six sons. Keistutis won the respect and affection of his people to a far greater extent than his brother, and to-day holds a place in the pantheon of national heroes. He was obliged to defend the country to the north and west against the Teutonic Order, though not always fortunate in these encounters, his opponent being the redoubtable W^inrich of Kniprode. Once he was taken prisoner but escaped and sent his captor the following characteristic message : " Thanks for your kind reception. But if I should have the honour of welcoming you under similar conditions, I should know how to guard you better." His greatest misfortune was the loss of Kaunas. The defence was conducted by his son Vaidotas who, when he realized the hopelessness of his task, collected thirty- six of his bravest knights and tried to cut his way through the Teuton invaders, but was taken prisoner. The other defenders of the castle set fire to the latter and perished in the flames on Easter morning of 1352. Yet despite this loss, it was during the rule of the two brothers 44 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA Algirdas and Keistutis that Lithuania attained her greatest development, extending for the first time from the Baltic to the Black Sea. After the death of Algirdas, in 1877, his son Jagellon tried to make himself master of the country with the help of the Teutonic Order. In 1882 he took Keistutis captive, as also his eldest son Vytautas, both of whom were incarcerated in Krevo castle. Several days later Keistutis was found strangled in his cell, but to allay the popular anger Jagellon conveyed the body to Vilnius where it was burnt, according to the national custom, seated upon an armoured horse, Vytautas later escaped from captivity and proceeded, also with the support of the Teutonic Order, to challenge Jagellon's hegemony. When, however, Jagellon became King of Poland through his marriage to Hedwig, the Queen of that country, he effected a reconciliation with Vytautas, to whom he ceded a portion of the principality in the south. On ascending the Polish throne he left Lithuania to his brother Skirgaila, but the latter proved so incompetent that Vytautas had little difficulty in over- throwing him and assuming undivided control in 1392. It was at this epoch that Polish influence began to make itself powerfully felt. The pious Queen Hedwig persuaded Jagellon to order the destruction of all the old Pagan sanctuaries and the extinction of all the sacred fires, while Jagellon himself embraced Christianity. Yet when Vytautas ascended the Lithuanian throne Polish influence sustained a check. Vytautas was the pupil of Hanno of Windenheim and was highly educated for those days, speaking both German and Latin. He had travelled widely in the west and south of Europe and had learned to know Occidental civilization. He sought to raise the standard of Lithuanian culture, but was greatly hindered by political complications. Lithuania was alternately exposed to Russian, German, and Polish influences, until finally the latter took the ascendant. None the less the rule of Vytautas synchronized with a notable extension of the power and prosperity of Lithuania. It was he who formed the project of expelling the Tartars from Europe, VYTAUTAS THE GREAT 45 and although he did not entirely succeed in his self- appointed task his victories and his great prestige for many- years checked the Tartar incursions into Lithuania and Poland. Tamerlane was then sovereign of the immense Tartar Empire. He dwelt in Asia and confided the government of his hordes in Europe to vassal khans. One of these, Toktamich, rose against his suzerain, and having been vanquished by another khan sought refuge in Lithuania and demanded aid from Vytautas. The Grand Duke first sent armed assistance and subsequently took command in person and inflicted a severe defeat upon the Tartars in the vast unexplored plains which extended beyond the Don. The influence which Lithuania exercised over the Golden Horde and the Crimean Tartars dates from this moment. It is true that in 1399 Vytautas was defeated by Eudigne on the banks of the Vorskla, and had to beat a precipitate retreat, but this reverse did not discourage him and he continued the struggle with conspicuous ability. He intervened in the internecine feuds of the Tartars, played the r61e of arbiter, and was present at the election of two khans. These savage people entertained such respect for his justice that the entire Golden Horde beyond the Volga obeyed him. Twenty years after the battle of the Vorskla, the same Eudigne, who had previously defeated Vytautas, sent to Vilnius an embassy bearing rich gifts to solicit the friendship of the most powerful of European princes. Vytautas possessed in his immense territories two ports — one, Palanga, on the Baltic, and the other, Odessa, on the Black Sea. It is narrated that on the day he vanquished the Tartar hordes established on the shores of the latter, he rode his horse into the water and proclaimed himself monarch of the ocean . The southern provinces of Volhynia, Ukraine and Podolia enjoyed a useful breathing spell under his regime. Fortresses established on the banks of the Dnieper and the Bobr were guarded by Lithuanian garrisons. Commercial caravans from the Orient could penetrate with their merchandise, and in perfect safety, into the heart of Lithuania. Vytautas built roads and 46 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA bridges for the development of trade, and travelled the land in person to see that justice was dispensed and order maintained. No powerful subordinate ventured to oppress the people, because the Grand Duke was ever ready to listen to complaints and to punish the wrong-doers. His was of course the paternal form of government best suited to the times. Yet when circumstances seemed to dictate such a course he did not hesitate to take up arms. When, for example, the inhabitants of Novgorod, who had recognized Lithuanian sovereignty since Gediminas, refused obedience to Vytautas towards the end of his reign, the Grand Duke, although then eighty years of age, placed himself at the head of his army and reached the province of Novgorod with a cannon of giant size for that epoch, drawn by forty horses, the sight of which so terrified the recalcitrant Novgorodians that they promptly tendered their submission. During the closing years of his prosperous reign, Vytautas wished to convert Lithuania into a kingdom and receive a royal crown. This idea wajs inspired by Sigismond, Emperor of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire, who in his turn was actuated by the ulterior motive of wishing to shatter the alliance between Lithuania and Poland. There could have been none more worthy of the crown than Vytautas, but inasmuch as the Polish alliance united the two peoples under the same king, Ladislas Jagellon, the proposed coronation encountered insuperable opposition from the Poles and therefore came to nought. Vytautas invited to his splendid castle at Luck the Emperor Sigismond, King Ladislas, and other monarchs. At this meeting they discussed not only the question of the coronation but also other important matters, such as means of expelling the Turks from Europe, Among other dignitaries present were the King of Denmark, Vassili, the Grand Duke of Moscow, the Pontifical delegate, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, envoys of the Greek Emperor, the Tartar Khan, several tributary princes, etc. Never before had Lithuania seen so brilliant an assembly. For the entertainment and feeding of his BATTLE OF GRUNEWALD 47 guests Vytautas ordered the daily delivery of 300 cows 600 sheep, 100 lambs, and 300 casks of beer. The festivities lasted fifty days, but no question of importance was settled. The coronation of Vytautas did not take place owing to the energetic opposition of the Poles, who feared that its effect might be the secession of Lithuania. Vytau- tas returned despondent to Vilnius, where he fell ill the following year. He was taken thence to Trakai, and when he felt his end approaching himself renounced his idea of being crowned. Ladislas did not abandon his cousin's bedside, and it was in the arms of Ladislas that Vytautas breathed his last at the advanced age of eighty-six. He was buried in Vilnius cathedral in 1430. The style of " Great " has been attached to the name of this distin- guished ruler. One of his most notable achievements, in conjunction with the Poles, was the crushing defeat he inflicted upon the Teutonic Order at Grunewald in 1410. Notwithstanding this notable record, one measure of his, in the opinion of no less a critic than Vidunas, con- tributed largely to the ultimate weakening of the Lithu- anian nation. He sent the Lithuanian nobility to distant territories not inhabited by Lithuanians, where these emigres, isolated from their countrymen, were soon absorbed by the foreign race and thus to a large extent lost to their own people. Polish influence gained corres- pondingly, and the Lithuanian nobility gradually adopted the Polish speech, Polish manners and customs. With Vytautas ended the series of great Lithuanian rulers inaugurated by Gediminas. Among his successors some were men of talent who tried to govern the country in the spirit of their ancestors, while others endeavoured to retain their power by clever compromises. But none of them handled the marshal's baton more effectively than Keistutis ; none bore the sceptre with greater dignity than Vytautas. Skipping, therefore, a succession of Grand Dukes whose administration witnessed the steadily declining power of the Lithuanian State, we reach the fateful year 1569, in which Polish-Lithuanian relations were regulated by 48 THE RISE OF LITHUANIA the famous and disastrous Lublin Union. Nevertheless, under this treaty Lithuania retained her own treasury, law courts, and army distinct from those of Poland. At the end of the XVIIIth century Lithuania Major shared the fate of Poland, when the latter was partitioned, and thus fell under the Russian sway. Lithuania Minor had been annexed to Prussia before this epoch. CHAPTER IV PERIOD OF DECADENCE It is not strange that the great rehgious revolution of the XVIth century should have roused echoes in Lithuania. Documentary data dealing with the Reformation in Lithuania are still rare, but they prove that the country was powerfully moved by these new doctrines. Contributory causes in Lithuania, as elsewhere, to this revulsion of feeling may be found in the corruption of the clergy. The bishops, more especially, abandoning the traditions of the Church, set the worst example to the nobility and people, which these were quick to imitate. At that time there were four dioceses in Lithuania, i.e. Vilnius, Samogitia, Kiev and Luck. The bishops were influential members of the Senate, participated actively in the political life of the country, and possessed consider- able juridical competence. Every bishop received a minimum of five thousand florins gold annually, which in those days was a huge stipend. The Bishop of Vilnius enjoyed an annual revenue of forty thousand florins. The rents of the Bishop of Samogitia were not less than this sum. Possessing as they did episcopal, temporal, and senatorial power, these magnates of the Church speedily deserted the apostolic path and became infamous for thfiE, luxury, their ambition, their pride, and their excesses of every description. These vices were shared in corresponding degree by the inferior clergy. Large numbers of priests were totally devoid of intellectual qualifications, many receiving Holy Orders without having passed through any school. Poland sent the most lamentable specimens as pastors to Lithuania. These worthies made not the slightest 4, « 50 PERIOD OF DECADENCE effort to learn Lithuanian. Disorganization and anarchy in ecclesiastical affairs reached such a pitch that according to contemporary evidence even Jews were appointed to hold office as parish priests ! Contaminated by this example the Lithuanian nobility presented a melancholy spectacle of deterioration. Luxury, effeminacy, and love of pleasure had become so deeply ingrained in the aristocracy that venereal disease in the Lithuanian tongue was styled " the court sickness." Those who had not yielded to immorality in their own country succumbed to the temptations offered by the no less decadent courts of Western Europe, where the Lithu- anian nobility made frequent sojourns. The members of the smaller nobility copied the manners of the magnates and, perhaps, were even less discriminating in their choice of relaxation. One of their playful fancies was to under- take raids on the country and to massacre all who ventured to resist them. In such circumstances the peasantry suffered unspeak- ably. Treated as slaves they were steeped in ignorance. The Church entirely neglected them. The Lithuanians had embraced Christianity in 1886, on which occasion the various princes had assembled their subjects to be sprinkled with holy water by Christian missionaries. That was the extent of their baptism, beyond which ghostly teaching did not go, so that whilst the peasants had adopted a few external signs of Christianity, inwardly for the most part they remained Pagans. Thus it was that the power of the Catholic Church in Lithuania was largely illusory, and bound to collapse at the first resolute attack. Missionaries of the new doctrine began to preach in Lithuania about 15.30. The two principal reformers were Tortyllowicz, a parish priest of Samogitia, and Abraham Culva, a member of the Lithuanian noblesse. They were sent by Duke Albert of Prussia who, in his zeal for Reform, supplied the movement with money, books, and preachers. The new doctrine witnessed its full efflores- cence during the reign of the Grand Duke Sigismond Augustus. RADVILA THE BLACK 51 Nieolai Radvila (Radziwill), known as the Black, was the central figure of the Reform movement in Lithuania. He belonged to a very wealthy and distinguished family of the Vilnius palatinate. Although enjoying the favour of the court, Radvila, in the midst of the prevailing degradation of manners, had preserved his moral integrity. Since Sigismond Augustus was without issue, Radvila was everywhere regarded as his successor to the throne. A Lithuanian of ancient stock, he was deeply indignant at seeing the Poles behave in Lithuania as though the country belonged to them and strongly opposed the union with Poland. Believing that the religious decadence of Lithuania was in great measure the work of unworthy Polish priests, he determined in this respect to detach his country from Poland by introducing the new faith. Thus he began to spread the Calvinistie doctrine about 1550. He brought foreign preachers iiito the country and sent Lithuanians to Switzerland in order to study the new religion at its very centre. So successful were his efforts that in 1555 almost all the nobles with their peasant subjects had become Calvinists. Indeed, the Calvinistie doctrines won a victory with almost unprecedented ease. Lulled into carelessness by their success, the Reformers took no steps to secure for their Church a legal foundation. As long as Radvila the Black was alive and protected the Calvinistie Church nobody ventured to attack the new doctrine, but no sooner was he dead (in 1565) than the proiid edifice of Calvinism fell even more rapidly than the previous Catholic Church. The weakening of the Calvinistie Church was largely due to the multiplication of sects. Almost every great family had its own preacher and private chapel. As many as seventy-two different sects and churches are mentioned in statistics of the time. This Babylonic confusion between the various doctrines, in which the theories of present-day Bolshevism are said to have been formulated, ruined Radvila's work beyond salvation. The country people, who had never understood the Catholic faith, had no more comprehension of the Reformed belief, 62 PERIOD OF DECADENCE which they speedily abandoned to revert to the Pagan cult of their ancestors. The conversion of Nicolas-Christopher Radvila to Catholicism was a severe blow for the New Believers. The Papal Nuncio Commendone and Cardinal Hosius greatly helped the Counter-Reformation in Lithuania, the former through his remarkable eloquence and diplomatic ability and the latter through his theological writings. The new Church, already seriously undermined, miser- ably collapsed in 1569 when the Jesuits arrived in Lithu- ania to reconquer the country for the old faith. In this manner the vital work of Nicolas Radvila the Black, the great Lithuanian patriot, was destroyed in a few years, and one of the last efforts of Lithuania to escape from Polish influence was frustrated. Ever-increasing checks and failures at this epoch bear witness to the baneful effects of the Lublin Union. Far- reaching projects of foreign policy were abandoned. The provinces of Poldachia, Podolia and Volhynia had been annexed by Poland and removed from the protection of Lithuania, who forfeited her rank among great Powers. The strength which had formerly been expended in expedi- tions and conquests was not employed to increase the internal prosperity of the country. Lithuania, accus- tomed to see her affairs directed by the Poles, became steadily more and more feeble in national will. And still another enemy had arisen. The Swedes invaded the country, which was now without a military organiza- tion, and the situation seemed desperate indeed. The Polish union, which lasted two centuries, exercised a debilitating influence on the Lithuanian people. To speak Polish and to dress in the Polish fashion were con- sidered the correct thing. Towards the end of the XVIIth century nearly all the Lithuanian nobility had ceased to speak Lithuanian. The clergy were rarely recruited in the country, but were imported from Poland and assisted the rapid Polonization of Lithuania. The upper classes of Lithuanian society, who went abroad for their educa- tion, became gradually strangers to the people who alone remained faithful to their native tongue and traditions. INTERNAL ANARCHY 53 In this manner the Unk between the head and members of the Lithuanian body was sundered. The nobihty no longer took an interest in anything that was not foreign, whilst the people, doomed to live in wretchedness and poverty, were insensible to political affairs and the public weal. A century after the alliance of Lublin had been con- cluded national sentiment awoke once more in Lithuania. On the occasion of a Swedish invasion of Poland the Lithuanian magnates Janus and Boguslav, scions of the virile Radvila race, proclaimed at Kedainiai, in 1655, the independence of their country and attached themselves to the Swedes. This bold stroke, however, won but few adherents and was the last evidence of Lithuanian life. Thereafter the country fell a prey to the anarchy that had overtaken Poland. The right of brutal might everywhere prevailed, A vicious and dissolute nobility despoiled the people with impunity. The magnates, who jealously defended their privileges, maintained regular armies and fought among themselves. Under the govern- ment of the King of Saxony, Augustus (between 1733 and 1763), internal chaos reached its apogee. The various national parties appealed for aid alternately to Prussia and Russia. Frederick II of Prussia, in con- junction with the two Empresses Marie Theresa of Austria and Catherine II of Russia, proceeded to partition the defenceless country. In 1793 there was a second and in 1795 a third and final partition of both Poland and Lithuania. The present provinces of Kaunas, Vilnius and Gardinas, i.e. the largest part of the country, were attributed to Russia ; the government of Suvalkai was attached to Prussia, who in 1815 ceded it to Russia. Such was then the end of Lithuania, which failed to evoke a single effective protest. This ancient land, which in the past had subdued the power of the Teutonic Knights and repulsed the Tartar invasion, was sold into bondage like so much vile merchandise. At the debut of her history Lithuania had produced a Gediminas, a Keistutis, and a Vytautas ; at the time of the partitions nought 54 PERIOD OF DECADENCE remained save an enfeebled and a depraved nobility and a people who vegetated in misery and ignorance. The " Lietuvos Vytis " (Lithuanian Knight), symbol of a glorious past, was relegated together with the Polish Eagle to the dustheap. From that moment the Black Eagle of Russia spread its sombre wings over Lithuania, who was destined to retrieve her national dignity under the Muscovite claws. CHAPTER V UNDER THE RUSSIAN YOKE Only sympathy and knowledge can help us to picture the sufferings of an entire people subjected to an alien yoke. For the Britisher the thing is but a dim historical tradition. But for thousands, nay millions, of members of the smaller peoples, not yet much beyond middle age, it is a dire personal reminiscence. And few among the resurrected nationalities of post-bellum Europe can enter- tain bitterer memories of such a past than Lithuania. In 1795 the greater part of the country was attributed to Russia. It may be cited as one of history's little ironies that this subjugation of the Lithuanian people should have synchronized with the French Revolution and the fall of the Bastile, which put an end to the pleasing political maxim " UEtat, c'est moi." In 1793 Louis XVI. expiated the sins of his forefathers upon the scaffold. But this national emancipation did not extend to St. Petersburg. True, the rights of Lithuania were confirmed on paper, but this was the last respite, and by 1793 the Russification of the country was begun with the govern- ments of Vilnius and Gardinas. The Lithuanians were expelled from ofl&ce and replaced by a horde of Russian functionaries. The government of Suvalkai alone enjoyed ostensible automony. In 1831 the spirit of rebellion awoke in Lithuania, but it was suppressed with ruthless brutality. Suvalkai shared the fate of the other governments. The Russian Government decoyed the Lithuanian peasantry by the abolition of serfdom, so that they took but little part in the second insurrection of 1863. General Muraviev devastated the land. He asked only forty years to 56 UNDER THE Kus»iAi\ xuts^r^ obliterate the Lithuanian national character. The Russian sword bit deeply into the Lithuanian flesh, and the Ukase of May 22, 1864, effaced the name of Lithuania from the map of the world, from which date all Lithuanians became subjects of the Russian North-West Provinces. Kalmucks and Tartars were let loose on the land to put down all manifestations of national sentiment. Only Russians took part in the administration of both governments and towns. In 1894 a secret edict bereft Lithuania of all remaining hope. To be eligible for employment on the railways, in the post offices, even to repair the roads, one had to be Russian. Worse still, Russian tyranny extended to the intellectual and spiritual life of the people, for it was hoped the more easily to wean the Lithuanians, ever eager for education, from their national allegiance by compelling them to go to Russian sources for their mental pabulum. After the first rebellion the university of Vilnius was closed down and its precious possessions were scattered among Kiev, St. Petersburg and Moscow. With the university fell also the higher schools. Eighteen institu- tions directed by the Jesuits, the Basilians and others were suppressed. There were left in Lithuania only three large seminaries, at Vilnius, Varniai, and Seinai, two normal schools, a few incomplete gymnasia at Vilnius, Katmas and Suvalkai, while in these schools the Orthodox Russian reigned as master. Every high ofHcial received from the Government an allowance for the education of each of his children. The suppression of the monasteries and the substitution of the Russian State religion for Roman Catholicism menaced the existence of the popular schools, which were directed by the monasteries and Catholic parishes. Private schools were strictly prohibited. On the other hand, a school was founded for every district with a population* of from fifteen to twenty thousand inhabitants. Happy the district which possessed two or three of these schools. The well-to-do peasants and the landed proprietors some- times engaged instructors who went from place to place to teach the children, but the school organization was notori- SUPPRESSION OF THE LANGUAGE 57 ously inadequate. In bad weather many children could not travel the distance separating their homes from the schools, and the task of educating the children fell, as before, upon the family. The Russian schools, moreover, could not entirely replace national instruction, since the families and the clergy secretly opposed their influence. For that matter the Russian teacher was not an educator, but simply the representative of a foreign bureaucracy, speaking a tongue scarcely comprehensible to the children and evoking no echo in their hearts. In order to prevent the diffusion of intellectual culture, in 1824 the peasant children were forbidden to attend the gymnasia. This prohibition was renewed in 1882 with a view to suppressing the Socialist danger. The only schools worthy of the name were the parochial schools in which the Lithuanian clergy taught the children their mother-tongue in a manner suited to the national sentiment. But these were closed in 1832, and thereafter the people had to make shift as best they could with books smuggled in from Lithuania Minor. The family, the hearth of Lithuanian life, had to replace the schools. In many cases the clergy took advantage of religious instruction to cultivate patriotic feeling among the children. As soon as the Russians got wind of this propaganda they subjected the clergy to a pitiless persecution, which reaped a lavish crop of martyrs. But the most ruthless blow to Lithuanian intellectual life was dealt by the infamous Manifesto of 1863 which banished the native language from the schools altogether. The speech which every Lithuanian had learnt at his mother's knee was branded as a crime and the Lithuanian child was forced to learn an aUen tongue. From that moment the popular schools were deserted. Only those seeking to curry favour and advancement attended them. The'Btthuanian might not even pray in his native language. SuvaUsai government, which had hitherto been allowed to teach the Bible in Lithuanian, now lost this privilege, and religious instruction had to be imparted in the privacy of the home. The well-known Lithuanian sculptor Petras Rimsa, in a group entitled " Lietuvos Mokykla " 58 UNDER THE RUSSIAN YUKJi: (the Lithuanian School), has left a touching symbol of this sad period in Lithuanian history. It represents a mother turning a spinning wheel and at the same time teaching her child. In 1865 Muraviev prohibited the use of the Latin alphabet and circulated a Lithuanian grammar in Russian characters. Nothing more could be printed in Lithuanian letters, since an exception made in favour of a restricted scientific circle could not extend to the masses. On the other hand, the country was inundated with Russian writings to replace the forbidden Lithuanian books. Thus the world was confronted with an almost unprece- dented spectacle, that of a nation of three million souls dwelling on the soil of their ancestors, yet deprived of the right to use their mother tongue. The soft musical sounds of the native idiom might not be pronounced save behind carefully closed doors with the bolts drawn. Lithuanian books crossed the frontier as contraband during dark nights. Russian police spies were posted at the church portals to seize the prayer-books of the worship- pers. In return Lithuanian books printed in Russian characters were gratuitously offered but scornfully rejected by the people. Muraviev ruled with an iron hand. In less than two years he sent 128 persons to the gallows ; 972 Lithu- anians were condemned to penal servitude and 1,427 exiled to Siberia. In all some 9,361 persons fell victims to the fury of Russification. To this number must also be added the thousands who in some form or other suffered from Russian persecution. Muraviev, the hang- man of Lithuania, was favoured by fortune, for although his life was repeatedly threatened he managed to escape, and on retiring from his congenial post, after two years' tenure, received from the Tsar as a reward for his services the title of count. Later a monument in his honour was erected at Vilnius, but all Lithuanians carefully avoided its site, and to-day His Excellency Michael Nikolaevitch Muraviev has disappeared from the Lithuanian capital. On the approach of the German armies the retreating Russians appropriately passed a ADMINISTRATION^ OF JUSTICE 59 cord round the neck of the notorious hangman and in this manner lifted him from his pedestal. Nor is it recorded that anybody wore crepe to commemorate his withdrawal. Confusion in the administration of justice favoured the Russian domination. Before the introduction of any Russian legislation the country possessed a well- arranged body of law, which had been drafted in 1529 and bore the title of the Lithuanian Statute. This code contained laws and decrees promulgated by various Lithuanian sovereigns, and in course of time had been supplemented and revised. So practical of application was it that it even survived the partition and remained in force during part of the Russian regime. In 1848, however, the Tsar Nicholas I abolished it and introduced Russian law, which was not adapted to Lithuanian manners and customs. Nevertheless, notwithstanding this measure, the Lithuanian Statute persisted as common law and was accepted even beyond the Lithuanian frontiers, in White Russia and Little Russia — a striking proof of its suitability to the times. The Russian savant Speranski, a recognized authority in this domain, declared that it would be quite possible to modernize the Lithuanian Statute, but such a course, needless to say, did not commend itself to the Russian occupants, who preferred simply to rescind it. The administration of justice became very complicated. In the Suvalkai government, which Napoleon had united to the Duchy of Warsaw, the Code Napoleon was in force. In the other governments, Vilnius, Kaunas, and Gardinas, Russian law prevailed, to which the landed proprietors and bourgeois alone were subject. Nobody bothered about the peasant. When serfdom was abolished in 1861 legislation should have been passed for the new free men, but nothing of the kind was done, and the Russian Govern- ment confided to each commune the duty of administering justice as it saw fit, so that each commune went to work in a different way. In the majority of cases recourse was had to common law. The judges were Russians, who understood hardly anything of the language of the country and were accessible to every, kind of corruption. The Suvalkai government, which for a time had been attached 60 UNDER THE RUSSIAN YOKE to Poland, was deprived of jury trial. The inhabitants of the country were not equal in the eyes of the law, which constituted a grave defect, whilst the use of Russian, which many Lithuanian litigants did not understand, frequently operated to the detriment of the accused. In this manner the Russians provoked hopeless confusion in the sphere of justice. It would have been infinitely simpler to adapt the Lithuanian Statute to the needs of the new regime and thereby avert the disorder which resulted from this triple melange — Russian law, the Code Napoleon and common law. But the Russian Govern- ment wished to have all Lithuanian law abolished. It was indifferent to the question of what sort of legislation took its place provided that it was not Lithuanian. But this does not exhaust the list of measures adopted by the Russian tyrants for the exploitation of the country at the expense of the native inhabitants. In the wake of the loss of liberty and the mother tongue came the turn of agrarian wealth. Measures to this end were taken from 1795, when Russia seized the property of the Crown and the State domains. The insurrections of 1831 and 1863 provided the Russians with a convenient pretext for expelling many Lithuanians from their small patch of ground. If a single peasant revolted the entire village was punished, and the inhabitants in serried ranks set out on their long and weary march to Siberia. After the suppression of the monasteries the wealth of the congregations reverted to the State. It amounted to millions. To the parish priests, professors, and teachers, who had received their salaries from the monasteries, ridiculous compensation was assigned. A parish priest might esteem himself fortunate if he could lay hold of 450 roubles annually, and a teacher getting 250 roubles was regarded as well paid. In order to gloss over this piece of barefaced robbery the Russian Government founded twelve scholarships of 300 roubles each for Lithuanians who should go to Moscow to study. An Ukase of 1865 forbade the Lithuanian aristocracy to acquire landed property. In order to weaken the Catholic nobility they were allowed only to rent land. LAND RESTRICTIONS 61 and a lease might not be concluded for longer than twelve years. The same measure was applied in 1894 to the Protestants and to Russians who had contracted marriage with Catholic women. The peasant who wished to acquire land was obliged, in conformity with a decree of July 1868, to present a " certificate of patriotism," which the Government- General granted to those with whose political attitude the central authorities were satisfied. In 1870 it was decided that no Lithuanian peasant might receive more than 60 hectares (about 150 acres) of land. A decree of 1889 prohibited the cession of landed property to political and religious chiefs of Lithuania. In 1892 a new law interdicted the acquisition of land by all peasants who had opposed the closing of the churches and the destruction of the latter by dynamite. All these decrees reacted disastrously on the country. The peasant would no longer attach himself to his strip of ground, since he knew not at what moment his produce might be confiscated by the Russian chinovniks. In these circum- stances immense territories fell out of cultivation and the peasants migrated in thousands. Lithuania became a land accursed, and accursed was he whose misfortune it was to dwell therein, since the Russian overlords regarded him as little better than a criminal and an outcast. CHAPTER VI THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE Fortunately for posterity the iron hand of Russia could bend but could not break the national spirit of the people. An interval of seeming despair gave way to the outbreak of a neo-Lithuanian movement largely directed by young Lithuanian students. Secret associations were formed. In 1875 a hectograph review entitled Kalvis Melagis (The Liar Blacksmith) made its appearance in St. Petersburg. At Moscow, through the same medium, was published AuSra (Dawn). Both these were written by students for students. All along the frontiers Lithu- anian magazines cropped up. After Petersburg and Moscow came the turn of Tilsit, where in 1883 the indefatig- able Dr. Basanavicius founded a monthly review styled also AuSra. Since 1887 have appeared successively, in 1889, Varpas (The Bell) ; in 1890, Apivalga (The Review) ; in 1896, Tevynes Sargas (Guardian of , the Fatherland), in 1901, Naujienos (News), and Vkininkas (Peasant). These periodicals represented various parties, but all pursued the same ultimate end — ^the creation of an autono- mous Lithuania. Little by little these printed invocations penetrated into the soul of the people and set up vibrations by no means welcome to the Russians. Obsessed by the fear of losing the country the Russians began to organize their offensive. The Russian police agent insinu- ated himself everywhere, even into stables and cattle- sheds, in the hope of there discovering the forbidden writings. Against smuggling Russia opposed a vigilant watch at the frontiers. Although thousands of these prints fell into the hands of the Customs guards, a highly- organized contraband system was able to diffuse a large 62 REMOVAL OF PRINTING PROHIBITION 63 number of the same among the people who read and re-read them surreptitiously. Thousands of journals, calendars, prayer-books and other pamphlets sent by secret press associations crossed the frontier, in spite of all the law could do to prevent it. Many of these publica- tions were not printed but written by hand, and they circulated until they became illegible. A keen sense of humour was not lacking among the authors of these broadsides. To mock the Russian Government, notoriously stupid as well as brutal, the larger part of them, actually printed at Tilsit, bore the name of Vilnius on their title-pages, together with the date 1863, the last year of freedom for the Lithuanian press. These published incitements made the people bolder and bolder. Appeals were pasted on walls during the night, and in 1896 many were distributed in broad day- light. The struggle on both sides grew more and more embittered. From 1900 to 1902 the customs confiscated about 56,000 Lithuanian writings. Victory was scarcely in doubt from the start. On April 27, 1904, Russia capitu- lated : the interdict against Lithuanian printing was removed. Shortly afterwards the Russian Revolution extended to Lithuania, but the struggle was not violent, thanks to the concessions made by the Government on the question of the national language. This impetus of Lithuanian culture led to an immediate development of national sentiment. Even before 1863 a literary renascence had begun. Prompted by belief in the greatness of his country Daukantas wrote a history of Lithuania in the Lithuanian language. The Bishop Valancius also wrote a history of the dioceses of Samogitia in the same tongue. His episcopal colleague Baronas composed Lithuanian poetry. All these men believed in the restoration of Lithuanian greatness. But in 1863 an icy blast passed over the land and withered these literary flowers. As the nobility inclined towards Poland the agricultural classes assumed the reins of government, and despite numerous obstacles the sons of the peasantry devoted themselves to study with fiery ardour. Even 64 THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE before 1875 they had formed secret associations and turned out some of the earliest national journals. Cultivated Lithuanians no longer, as formerly, went to Russia in quest of positions, but remained in their own country and helped to sustain the national movement. A secret warfare against the brutish system applied by the Russians was conducted during many long years. At last in 1892 and 1896 revolt broke out openly. The people refused to recite Russian prayers in the churches, and on fete days absented themselves from the Orthodox Russian churches. Although Polish influence made itself very strongly felt in the country, Lithuanians step by step won a foothold in the normal schools and in the ecclesiastical seminaries. In 1870 the pupils of the seminary of Kaunas recalled their Lithuanian origin. Even at Vilnius, where Polish influence was very great, the Lithua- nian students formed associations. Abroad they organized themselves even more rapidly. Lithuanian student societies were formed at Petersburg, Moscow, Riga, Odessa, and at Fribourg in Switzerland. In Russia these associations were secret. They did not concern themselves solely with univer- sity questions. At the end of last century they launched appeals to the people. During vacations the students journeyed to distant villages in quest of fresh recruits. They established secret schools. The Lithuanian section of the Universal Exposition at Paris in 1900 clearly showed the activity of the Lithuanians. It contained nineteen journals and thousands of books, despite the printing prohibition. The furious efforts of the Russian police to suppress these manifestations led to frequent collisions and many fatal casualties. The Russo-Japanese war afforded Lithuanian patriots an excellent opportunity for redoubled attacks upon the Muscovite knout policy. As we have seen, the first great victory was scored when Petersburg at last rescinded the insensate and dastardly prohibition of Lithuanian printing. This hardly-won concession opened the path to fresh objectives, and the newly-awakened native intelligentsia rallied to their large-scale offensive with increased ardour. THE WORK OF DR. BASANAVlClUS 65 The stirring story of the Lithuanian Renascence must ever be associated with the name of Dr. Basanavicius, who devoted his whole life to the Lithuanian cause. He was born in 1851 at Bartnikai, Suvalkai government, the son of well-to-do parents. He studied at the Mariampol gymnasium or high school, where he graduated with the silver medal award. Thence he proceeded to the Moscow university, where he studied philosophy and medicine. In 1879 he secured his medical diploma, and subsequently practised his profession off and on some twenty-five years in Bulgaria. After the Russian Revolution of 1905 he returned to Lithuania, where he still resides. The value of his work for his country cannot be over- estimated. While the embargo on Lithuanian printing lasted he devoted himself to study of Lithuanian origins, collected the ancient Dainos or popular songs, historical reminiscences, etc., and immersed himself deeply in the national soul. In 1883 he went to Lithuania Minor, where at Ragaine and later at Tilze (Tilsit) he published Auhra (Dawn) which did much to promote the Renascence movement. By devious and manifold contraband routes this paper found its way into Lithuania Major, where it met with a ready sale. The besotted Russian Govern- ment detected in this phenomenon a Bismarckian intrigue and tried to entrap the publisher. In 1885 Basanavicius was obliged to leave Germany, but he confided his work to his comrade Slitipas. Basanavicius returned to Bulgaria, where he resumed his task of compilation, till he had prepared six large volumes on the Lithuanian people^ which appeared in Lithuania Minor and America. After the Russian Revolution of 1905 he renewed his activities in Lithuania Major. When the Diet of Vilnius assembled he was elected President in recognition of his tireless energy. He took advantage of the interval of calm succeeding 1905 to try to improve the moral and intellectual life of his countrymen. To this end he founded the Lithuanian Scientific Society, which published an organ called Tauta (Nation). He also opened a museum and library in Vilnius. In 1913 he visited the flourishing Lithuanian colony in the United States, which contributed 5 66 THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE large sums to help in the realization of his special objects, including the establishment of a theatre and a national museum. Basanavicius has continued to live in Vilnius ever since, through all the upheaval of the Great War and subsequent unrest, never losing an opportunity of advanc- ing the national cause. He attended the opening of the Lithuanian Constituent Assembly or Seim at Kaunas on May 15, 1920, when he was accorded a wonderful reception. It was my privilege also to be present on that occasion, and the scene made a deep and lasting im- pression upon my mind. Even Polish persecution of every- thing Lithuanian has hesitated to touch this noble veteran, and he lives among the books of his beloved Lithuanian library, occupying his leisure with his favourite studies. Another notable name closely connected with Basanavi- cius is that of Vincas Kudirka, the Lithuanian national poet. For many years he remained under Polish influence till through AuSra he found the way back to his own- people. After this paper had ceased to appear he secretly founded a students' society, which brought out a new paper, the Varpas (Bell). This organ was printed at Tilze, but edited by Kudirka from Lithuania Major, where the Russian police frantically sought to discover his identity. Besides the Varpas he also issued the Vkininkas (Peasant), addressed more especially to the rural masses. He was responsible likewise for the clever satirical tales Tiltas (Bridge) and Viesininkai (The Officials ) . But the best of which he was capable is embodied in his many folk songs which brought consolation and hope to his countrymen in their darkest hours. His activity naturally aroused official hostility. On several occasions he had to don the garb of a convict, which by that time had grown to be regarded as an honourable distinction among Lithuanians. "He was unhappily not destined to assist at the emancipation of the Lithuanian language in whose cause he had ruined his health in prison, for he passed away four years before the year of liberation deeply mourned by a grateful people. The defeat of Russia by Japan evoked widespread CONGRESS OF VILNIUS 67 disorders, assuming the form of peasant risings in the country and strikes in the towns. The spirit of revolt speedily spread to Lithuania, where the panic-stricken Russian officials soon abandoned the field to Lithuanians, who lost no time in taking control of the local administra- tion and the schools. In the autumn of 1905 the Tsar proclaimed freedom of person, press and assembly. Already in October of that year a number of Lithuanians had gathered at Vilnius and drafted a Memorandum addressed to the then Russian Minister, President Count Witte, demanding far-reaching autonomy, equal rights for all aliens in Russia, the recognition of Lithuanian as the official language in Lithuania, construction of Lithuanian schools, attachment of Suvalkai government, hitherto included in the Polish administrative system, to Lithuania, freedom for the Catholic Church, etc. This Memorandum was actually published in the Russian Government organ, Pravitelstvennyi Vyestnik. It natur- ally evoked a lively protest from the Poles, who feared lest the grant of autonomy should alienate their former allied State from Poland. The initiative of the Vilnius Memorandum was the signal for a startling outburst of patriotic fervour and enthusiasm, all the stronger doubtless for its long suppression. In order to show that the foregoing Memorandum was not merely the handiwork of an isolated group of fanatics, the Lithuanian leaders decided to convoke a great National Lithuanian Diet or Congress at Vilnius. The indefatigable fighter for Lithuanian freedom, Basanavicius, signed an appeal to all parties of the country to unite in Vilnius for the expression of the national demands. The land became a veritable beehive of political activity. Meetings were everywhere convened to choose delegates to the Vilnius Congress. This Congress met in Vilnius on December 4th, admission being granted only by ticket. The congestion was tre- mendous, since more than two thousand delegates took part. All classes and callings were represented ; all governments, districts and communes had sent their nominees. With them sat numerous representatives of 68 THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE societies and clubs, officials of the various parties, and many delegates of Lithuanians abroad, notably from Peters- burg, Moscow, Odessa, etc. It was an All-Lithuanian gathering in the fullest sense of the word. This Congress was followed by sittings of various organizations which adopted supplementary resolutions moved, for example, by the clergy of the three dioceses, the officials of the Peasants' Union, and the representatives of the Lithuanian Teachers' Body. The decisions of this imposing national demonstration bore testimony to the readiness of the people for the coming test. The event served as a warning, not only to the Russians but also to the Poles, to keep their hands off Lithuania in future. How swiftly the Russian adminis- trative apparatus could operate when it listed will appear from the example of the Governor-General of Vilnius, Froese, who on the day following the Congress issued a manifesto to the Lithuanian people in which he recognized the justice of their demands and promised to submit them to the Duma. As a first step towards the fulfilment of the Tsar's Ukase of October 17, 1905, he permitted the employment of the Lithuanian tongue in the communal boards and schools. The sequel, however, showed how insincere the Russian Government really was in its lavish pledges. The following historic resolution was adopted by the Vilnius Congress : 1. Russia and Lithuania. That Russia is the opponent of the rightful demands of the nationaUties existing under her rule. Since all Russia has now risen against this tyranny the Lithuanians also join the move- ment and decide to make common cause with the other nation- alities. To this end it is essential that every Lithuanian should be instructed in the importance of this step. 2. The Autonomy of Lithuania. Only self-government will satisfy the aspirations of the Lithu- anian people. Lithuania nmst therefore be resuscitated within her ethnographic boundaries as an autonomous State in the Russian Empire. Her relations with other Russian States must be established upon a federative basis. Vilnius will be the capital of the country and the seat of parliament. The latter will be RUSSIAN OPPRESSION 69 elected by general, secret and direct ballot, in which women will also participate. No means must be neglected to attain these ends. In the first place, all parties must be reconstituted and directed in a common action. The following are decided : Refusal of military service, and taxe.?, the closing of Russian schools and Russian bureaux, the boycott of all liquor shops, the threat of strike, etc. 3. Lithuanian Language and Schools. The Lithuanian language is the ofRcial language. The schools must be the nurseries- of the Lithuanian spirit and must be directed by teachers freely chosen. Good wishes for further success shall be expressed to all Lithuanians who, in the Vilnius government, are fighting against Polonization. Unfortunately the fervent hopes aroused by the con- cessions won through the Russo-Japanese war were destined to sustain a serious setback. The reaUzation of Governor-General Froese's programme speedily en- countered exasperating checks. Another Russian official reaction led to renewed assaults on the Lithuanian language, which was again proscribed. The old horde of Russian chinovniks, but recently expelled, reappeared upon the scene to occupy their former posts. The right of land-ownership, ostensibly conceded to the Lithuanians, was so freely interpreted by Russian casuistry that in actual fact the Lithuanians received more paper than land. The fight against the Catholic Church was also resumed, and the anomaly was offered of Catholic priests and teachers obliged to go abroad to gain a livelihood. The former Russian muzzling order came into operation, and more inveterately than before the Russian police suppressed all public meetings of Lithuanians. Neverthe- less this policy of pinpricks was now powerless to put back the hand of time ; its most obvious effect was to strengthen popular opposition and the resolve to win national inde- pendence sooner or later. A very characteristic phenomenon of the epoch was the rapid development of the schools. Russian statistics, which cannot be accused of partiality to the Lithuanians, indicate that the percentage of illiteracy in Lithuania in 1897 did not exceed 45, whereas in Poland it was as high as 60, and in Russia 75 or 80. In 1905 a commission 70 THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE for popular education convened at Kaunas succeeded in establishing, partly at least, the Lithuanian language in the schools. Some Lithuanians were admitted into purely Russian institutions, the normal school of Panevezis for example. In localities where the State made no provision Lithuanian committees came into being. Thus the educational society " Saule " (Sun) obtained permission to open a normal school at Kaunas, and so successful were its efforts that it established forty-five popular schools attended by more than a thousand pupils. This society shortly before the war comprised sixty-eight branches with 3,400 members, and in addition to schools had founded numerous communal libraries and reading-rooms which proved a veritable boon to the people. Three secondary schools were also created, together with a com- mercial school designed to train Lithuanians and thus better enable them to compete with the Jews, who had hitherto possessed a virtual monopoly of trade. Shortly before the War the society put up its own building at Kaunas at a cost of 200,000 roubles. In the Suvalkai government the educational society " 2iburys " (Light) discharged similar functions. Its fifty- seven branches number 4,200 members, and it succeeded in opening seven popular schools, a school of agriculture, and a high school for girls at Mariampol. Further it established several asylums for the poor, and folk-halls, while libraries were opened in almost every parish. Vilnius government also possessed its society of educa- tion styled " Rytas " (Morning). Its position, however, confronted by an active pan-Polish propaganda was very difficult and delicate. Yet it was able to form thirty-seven groups with a membership of 2,000, and thanks to its efforts reading-rooms were opened in several localities. These three societies, " Saule," " Ziburys," and " Rytas," will not soon be forgotten in Lithuania, where their splendid efforts in the cause of education and modern enlighten- ment have borne such rich fruit. Analogous work on behalf of temperance was done by the society " Blaivybe " which was founded at Kaunas, and in 1914 had 40,000 members and 171 branches. RISE OF NATIONAL PRESS 71 More than 25,000 pamphlets have been sent out by this association, and its labours have led to the closing of numerous pot-houses. Equally symptomatic of the thirst for progress has been the wonderful expansion of the Lithuanian press of recent years. The Society of St. Casimir has done much in this direction. Its membership before the War rose to 10,000 and it established its own printing-office at Kaunas, whence issued a flood of educational and religious literature, together with reviews and magazines of all kinds. At Vilnius two daily papers, Viltis (Hope) and the Lietuvos Zinios (Lithuanian News), appeared, also many weekly and monthly publications. The same objects were pursued by the Society " Sietynas " which was established at Siauliai and developed great activity. Among student organizations a specially important r61e has been played by the Lithuanian Society for the assistance of Lithuanian students in the higher educational institutions of the city of Moscow, under the superinten- dence of Mr. T. Narusevicius (Naroushevitch). This society attained a membership of nearly five hundred and during recent years has expended a very large sum of money for the above-mentioned objects. Many members of this society now occupy very high official posts in Lithu- ania and elsewhere. A comparison of the output of Lithuanian books during the three and a half centuries between 1500 and 1864 with the brief period from 1904 to 1914 will afford some idea of the national determination to make up for lost time. The figures are respectively 786 and 2,550. Not a village could be found without its subscribers to Lithu- anian reviews ; not a district without its association for the development of the Press ; not a house without its calendar and religious books. It may be said without exaggeration that the entire people were obsessed with the desire for modern progress — the same people whom Muraviev the Hangman had undertaken to wipe off the map of the world in the space of forty years. There is nothing remarkable in the fact that science, art, and literature, in the real sense of those terms, came some- 72 THE LITHUANIAN RENASCENCE what later in the day. Pohtical strife is not a favourable medium for the cultivation of these refinements of life which prefer to wait till the social structure is more or less prepared. In 1907 the Scientific Society of Lithuana and the Society of Fine Arts were born in Vilnius. The former was founded by Dr. Basanavicius, and possessed 250 members. It issued a yearly publication to which all classes contributed. Some time before the movement began in Western Europe this Society proposed to investi- gate Lithuanian folklore. All the old songs, legends and popular traditions were carefully collected and the Society Annual began to publish them. The yearly gatherings of this society were formerly attended by more than five hundred Lithuanians, and these occasions bore the character of national ffetes. During this comparatively placid period of Lithuanian history poetry also was sedulously nurtured. It was customary for the villagers to assemble at the house of a well-to-do peasant or landlord and there sing the old popular ditties, the Dainos, which celebrate the glories of the past, the joys of love and the plaintive nostalgia of the Lithuanian people. In the villages also popular plays were resuscitated. The dedication of a church or the holding of a fair furnished a convenient pretext for these popular representations which, if they lacked somewhat in artistry, were replete with rustic vigour. In the towns theatrical unions were formed which promoted the staging of Lithuanian and also foreign pieces. The Lithuanians have always enjoyed a high reputation for their love of music. In the village choirs, conducted by the village organists, several artists of note gained their first experience. The names of Simkus, Sosnauskis and Brazys may be mentioned. It is to their credit that after perfecting their talent abroad they returned to their native land to co-operate in the further musical development of the country. The Society of Fine Arts, with 2muidzinavicius at its head, has busied itself on the one hand with the pre- servation of valuable national monuments of the past, and, on the other, with the encouragement of modern ECONOMIC ACTIVITY 73 artists and the creation of new works. Tliis Society holds an annual exhibition at Kaunas which always contains numerous canvases of a high standard of merit, and never fails to attract a big attendance. It has even begun to excite attention abroad. One of the Society's cherished objects is to erect a national building to be designed by Lithuanian artists. The scheme meets with the lively encouragement of the general public who have liberally contributed to its realization. The economic development of Lithuania in the past has encomitered enormous difficulties. Enfeebled by mass emigration, the Lithuanians have had to fight against both the Russians and the Jews, although as regards the latter, my o^vn personal opinion is that they are really a source of strength to the country at the present day. Economic debasement was a cardinal tenet of Russian policy as a means of maintaining their grip on the land. Even after 1905, when lithuania had already begun to develop in all other branches of human acti^•ity, its economic life left a good deal to be desired. In the economic conflicts between Russia and Germany, Lithuania fomid herself, so to speak, between the hammer aixd the anvil. The Germans wished to take advantage of the weakening of Russia through her war with Japan to dump their products into the country. The Russians, powerless to compete against the Germaiis, avenged them- selves by imposing heavy import duties upon German goods. In many places, however, the primitive so-called '' tryohkpohiyi " or three-crop tillage system of cultiva- tion had given way to a more rational one which created a demand for new agricultural machinery. A more inten- sive culture was an immediate consequence of the political successes gauied. The peasant attached hin^elf anew to his plot of ground, and many Lithuanians who had emigrated returned to their native land. The passion for landownership is tj'pical of the Lithuanian as of the Russian peasant. In spite of everj-thing the Russian occupants could do, the native Lithuanian would resort to a thousand subterfuges to gain possession of imcultivated ground. The peasantry also acquired the land of im- 74 THE LITHUANIAN KENASUJiP^UJii poverished proprietors. The Russian Government fought against this movement, by itself selling the land of ruined gentry and distributing it among Russian colonists who settled in the country en masse. These colonists were to be the Russian leaven designed to transform Lithuania into an Orthodox pasture, and needless to say they were liberally subsidized. Fortunately, these Russian plans miserably miscarried. The newly-created settlements dis- appeared as rapidly as they had sprung up, as soon as they had exhausted the official appropriations, and their holdings passed into Lithuanian hands. The latter, on their part, began to found societies for the purchase and sale of fields. In the Vilnius government the agricultural society " Vilija " thus functioned ; in Kaunas " Progress " ; in Suvalkai the societies " Ukininku Draugove " and " 2agre." The business turnover of these societies before the war had reached a total of a quarter of a million of roubles. Concurrently with practical work theoretical instruc- tion was not neglected. Agricultural courses were inaugu- rated and attended by the peasants, whilst the Government itself founded an agricultural school. The situation became more tolerable, but was not yet such as to tempt the return of all the Lithuanian emigrants from overseas. Working hands were insufficient, and high rates of pay ruled for harvesters. But complete reorganization cannot be effected until the majority of Lithuanians abroad have returned to participate in this task. In this connexion it must be said that already the Lithuanians in the United States, who number not far short of a million, and are nearly all well to do, have generously co-operated to help their less fortunate com- patriots in the homeland. More than one Lithuanian peasant owes the extinction of his mortgage to this source. The women have taken an active part in the national development. Notwithstanding numerous difficulties, many of them have studied medicine and dentistry and are nowadays successfully practising their profession. Their services have been recognized from the first, and it was regarded as a matter of course that with Lithuania's acquisition of independence women should enjoy the franchise together with men. CHAPTER VII LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR On the Eastern front Lithuanian territory was destined to bear the brunt of hostile attack, and in proportion to area and population no country has suffered more severely or made greater sacrifices ; and that, too, I regret to say, with less Allied recognition than Lithuania. Places like Kaunas, Gardinas, and Daugpilis were fortresses of the first rank, and as such naturally served as targets for the enemy's sledgehammer blows and as centres for the concentration of the Russian defence. Large bodies of troops were assembled in Lithuania and the country soon became one of the most important bases of operations. Owing to the slowness and insufficiency of means of transport, the Russian General Staff was obliged to requisition supplies on the spot for the needs of the Russian armies. More frequently than otherwise all these things, grain, horses, cattle, groceries, and raw materials of all kinds were confiscated without payment, so that early in the war the inhabitants were, denuded of almost everything they possessed, not by the Germans but by their so-called protectors. As a typical example, in the village of Leipalingis the Russians seized 2,000 horses without any payment and left only two. During the Russian offensive in East Prussia the Lithu- anian provinces suffered terribly. Flourishing towns and villages were completely destroyed by artillery fire. Fifteen thousand persons, the majority Lithuanians, were deported by the Russians into the interior of the country, the brilliant idea underlying this policy being to leave the advancing Germans nothing but a desert. The first German advance into Lithuania took place in the autumn T5 76 LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR of 1914, when for the first time the Russians were driven out of East Prussia. At this time the districts of Suvalkai were mainly affected. Towards the end of 1914 some districts of the government of Kaunas, Taurage, Naumiestis, Palanga, and others shared the same fate. At the end of the winter of 1914-15 the Russian advance was again halted and the Russians after the battles of the Mazurian Lakes with heavy losses were compelled to fall back behind the Lithuanian boundaries. Later the German advance continued in the Suvalkai government, where, for six months, desperate fighting took place. In May the Germans succeeded in penetrating into Samogitia and Kurland. The banks of the Venta and Dubysa, behind which the enemy forces had entrenched themselves, were the scene of violent engagements, since the Russians did not yield ground without offering desperate resistance. At the beginning of July considerable German forces opened the attack on Kaunas, which was taken on August 18th. The Russians, entrenched in the region of the lakes, on the Kaunas-Vilnius road, made resolute efforts to protect the Lithuanian capital from capitulation ; but Vilnius fell on September 8th. The Russians were pursued as far as Smurgainiai (Smorgon), where a fierce artillery duel caused the destruction of the town. In the autumn of 1915 mobile operations gave place to positional warfare, and up to the peace of Brest- Litovsk the situation of the two armies changed very little. Lithuania was speedily devastated. At the outset, as we have shown, she had to satisfy the requirements of the Russians for, as ill luck would have it, the German offensive coincided with the harvest season. During their retreat the Russians destroyed everything which they were unable to remove, with the result that the output of an entire year's hard work was lost to the inhabitants. Fighting raged all over Lithuania for several months, and artillery fire above all caused whole- sale devastation. The western districts of Kaunas and Suvalkai in many places resembled a desert. The towns of Kalvarija, Kibartai, Sirvintai, Naumiestis, Sudarga, ¥ Iteifc ^ " • 1 1 r,liv."'^illB ^ss BED CBOSS TBAnST AT KAUNAS. FIELD DE.ESSINO STATICS'. To face p. DEVASTATION OF THE COUNTRY 77 Sakiai, Siauliai, Jurbarkas, Taurage, Kretinga, Gagzdai, and others were burnt or otherwise reduced to ruins. The region of the Nemunas (Niemen), where the fortresses of Kaunas, Alytus, and Gardinas were situated, offered a frightful spectacle of destruction. In the parish of Kalvarija alone fourteen large villages with their estates were entirely obliterated. In the Liubavas parish only two or three houses were left. Many market towns were also destroyed, including Prienai, Simnas, Serijai, Drus- kininkai, and Liskeve. At Trakiskiai, of 56 estates one only was left intact ; at Dievogalas one out of 52 ; at Silaliai and Pariecius one out of 40 ; while at Padainupis all were wiped out. Three-quarters of the town of Siauliai were destroyed by fire, and this flourishing industrial centre of 30,000 inhabitants counts now only a few thousands. In the same neighbourhood, where there was much fighting, the majority of the villages, market towns, and farms were laid waste. The western part of the Vilnius government and the district of Ezerenai (Zarasai) in the Kamnas government fared no better. These regions suffered severely under the tactics of the retreating Russians. Villages and farms were given to the flames, machinery and implements were carried oft, and unspeakable miseries began for the inhabitants of these desolated areas. This mania for destruction did not spare the churches, twenty-five of which were badly damaged. In many places these edifices were bombarded during divine service, and old men, women and children who had sought refuge therein were buried beneath the ruins Even at Kaunas, the celebrated church constructed by Vytautas the Great, which had been converted into an Orthodox temple by the Russians, was badly shattered, and the Church of the Dominicans partially wi-ecked. Since the war, therefore, very heavy fuaancial burdens have devolved upon the faithful in making good all this damage. What Avith the inevitable devastation wrought by gunfire, and the deliberate plundering of so-called friends and open foes, Lithuania in the wake of the war was reduced to little better than a desert. The countryside. 78 LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR through lack of working hands, wore a wild and savage aspect. According to the testimony of Dr. Bartuska, who visited the country as an American delegate, Lithuania at that time seemed entirely ruined. He stated that he had called upon many ecclesiastics whose houses had been rifled literally of everything portable by the various passing troops. In the Suvalkai government, owing to the destruction of houses, the inhabitants were forced to dwell in the abandoned trenches. In Kaunas province 144 mills were razed to the ground ; in Vilnius 235 ; in Suvalkai 87. The lot of the urban workers was no more enviable than that of the peasant. Hungry and poorly clad, they eked out a miserable sub- sistence, a constant prey to typhus, dysentery, influenza, and other maladies. Doctors and medicine were totally inadequate to meet the needs of the country. Unlike Belgium, Lithuania did not benefit from the liberal aid extended by the United States and Spain. When, in accordance with the inhuman Russian policy, thousands of Lithuanian adults had to leave the country, entire families were broken up. The peasants first sought refuge in the towns, but were moved on farther by the Russian soldiery. Parents had thus to abandon their children, and were themselves transported into Russia in cattle trucks. At Vilnius, for example, thousands qf children ran about the streets vainly seeking their parents. The Central Lithuanian Committee subsequently placed them in orphanages. But these institutions were without funds necessary to provide proper nourishment for the children, meat and milk being particularly scarce. Meet objects of pity also were the Lithuanian civil and military prisoners. More than 30,000 Lithuanian soldiers were made prisoners in Germany and Austria, besides which the Germans seized 5,000 civilians as hostages as a reprisal for the behaviour of the Russians who, when evacuating East Prussia, had driven out 15,000 of the inhabitants, of whom quite half were also Lithuanians. The majority of these prisoners consisted of old men, women and children. Very often civihans were thus carried off without cause HELPING WAR SUFFERERS 79 and merely on suspicion. The Lithuanian Aid Committee of Lausanne is in possession of authentic documents which show that sometimes enceinte women were torn from the bosom of their famihes, whilst women and children perished from hunger through the loss of the male bread-winners. Thanks to the initiative of a priest named Strikas and a teacher named Velykas, who were among the prisoners at the Holzminden camp, a school for I>ithuanian children was opened in the camp under their direction. The majority of the military and civil prisoners received nothing from their families, as the latter were utterly unable to send them help. Even to-day many Lithuanians are in ignorance of what has become of their relatives. Besides the moral suffering inseparable from prolonged captivity, far from home and without news of their families, these unfortunates had also to endure terrible physical privations. The situation of the children was particularly lamentable ; many of them died through lack of proper care and food suitable to their years. Praiseworthy efforts were made to lighten the sufferings of these unfortunates. The Lithuanians who remained in the occupied territories organized the Lithuanian Committee for the succour of war refugees, which is still functioning ; but its usefulness has been restricted by insufficient funds. A similar committee in Russia Proper has had very extended activity. It established 175 branches, 293 schools, 84 workshops, and a large number of asylums and pensions capable of receiving 1,500 pupils. During three years it spent thirty-four million roubles. Through the efforts of this committee similar organizations were created at Stockholm and Copenhagen, the latter of which has been successful in ameliorating the lot of many Lithuanian prisoners of war Further help has been given by the Hispano-Lithuanian committee founded in 1916 at Barcelona. Work undertaken in the United States has also been of considerable service to Lithuania. Congress decided to organize for November 1, 1916, a " Lithuanian Day," 80 LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR which was supported by a sympathetic appeal from President Wilson. A public collection on All Saints' Day produced more than a million francs, and this generous subscription proved of great value in extending the sphere of aid. The Pope further co-operated in this commendable work. As far back as 1915 he personally contributed 20,000 lire to the Lithuanians, and he ordered for May 20, 1917 a collection in the churches for the same purpose. Although collections had previously been made on behalf of Poland and Belgium, a sum of 1,200,000 francs was raised. Switzerland served as intermediary between the various committees of Lithuanian aid, for it was at Lausanne that the Executive Committee for the organiza- tion of the world collection and the Central Committee of Lithuanian succour for the victims of the war had their headquarters. The former busied itself with the organiza- tion of the world collection ordered by the Pope, and the distribution of the amounts so raised. The Central Committee of succour styled " Lithuania " was established at Fribourg on November 7, 1915. Its statutes were drafted in conformity with the Swiss Civil Code and were approved by the Government. The Committee operated in conjunction with the committees of Barcelona and Copenhagen. The first annual report showed 17,000 francs receipts and 13,000 francs ex- penditures, and the second 200,000 francs receipts and 50,000 francs expenditures. Up to November 1917 Switzerland, herself badly in need of food, could not permit the export of the latter in large quantities ; later, 10,000 and 15,000 francs monthly were disbursed for the despatch of foodstuffs. An American named Wood presented 25,000 dollars worth of clothing, but this gift could not be imported into Europe owing to the war. With the German military occupation of Lithuania it became necessary to give the country a new organization, the old one having disappeared with the retreating Russian armies. The new administration was formed by Marshal Hindenburg in August 1915 ; its headquarters were at Tilze (Tilsit), and it embraced a portion of the Kaunas OBER-OST ADMINISTRATION 81 and Suvalkai governments. At the head of this adminis- tration was placed Prince Isenburg. After the conquest of new parts of Lithuania by the Germans, the miUtary government transferred its scat to Kaunas in April 1916, and there assumed the name of the Vilnius-Suvalkai Military Administration. The limits of this administration were again extended by a decree of Marshal Prince Leopold ol" Bavaria, who, as Governor-General of the East, in April 1917 removed his headquarters to Vilnius. This enlarged jurisdiction was styled the Military Administra- tion of Lithuania. It formed merely part of an administra- tion which extended from the Gulf of Riga to the line Brcst-Litovsk — Warsaw comprising a territory of 212,000 square kilometres known as Ober-Ost. The authorities assigned to Lithuania constituted a central and district administration. The central administration was divided into a central department, a department of justice, an economic depart- ment, a forestry department, and a department of commerce and raw-materials. Each of these departments dealt with matters that could not be entrusted to the district administrations. The central administration had at its disposal the military gendarmerie, which had groups at Vilnius, Kaunas, PaneveJys and Siauliai. In addition, under the central administration, functioned an Imperial Commissary of the Committee of War Indemnities. In all, the personnel of this administration numbered 4,000 soldiers, without counting some twenty commissariat companies and several engineering units. To the central administration were subordinated two urban districts and 82 rural districts, with an area varying from 1,500 to 4,000 square kilometres. These districts were administered by captains, with the assistance of other officials, i.e. a steward, justice of the peace, a district doctor, commissariat officers, a military detachment and a company of military gendarmerie. The districts were divided into sub-districts administered by prefects, who were usually officers of commissariat. They were helped by a staff and a detachment of covering troops. 6 82 LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR The Central Forestry Department had divided the country into seventeen mihtary inspectorates, the super- intendence of each of which was assumed by a Chief Inspector of Forests. For inspection of schools the country was divided into eight districts, at the head of each of which was an inspector. The Department of Justice of Vilnius had three district tribunals in the country (Vilnius, Kaunas and Suvalkai). To the Kaunas tribunal were subordinated 21 peace circuits ; the Vilnius and Suvalkai tribunals each had seven of these. Upon the military authorities of Vilnius devolved the administration of the country. While the Eastern front existed, a purely military administration was necessary for the security of military transport and the rear of the army fighting against Russia. Much also was done to ensure the proper sanitation and health of the troops ; very little similar solicitude was exhibited on behalf of the civilian population. Lithuania suffered greatly from the German occupation. Enormous quantities of timber were removed from the country. The forests bordering the lakes, roads, and rivers were almost completely razed to the ground. Many long years and vast sums of money will be necessary to restore these devastated regions. In the same manner the land was denuded of horses and cattle through constant requisitioning not only for the needs of the army of occupa- tion but for purposes of export to Germany. The value of this form of loot, reckoned at the present exchange, would run into billions of marks. True the authorities of occupation nominally paid for these requisitions, not in money, however, but in exchequer bills with which the peasants' coffers were congested, but which were devoid of all practical utility. Many of these bills bore inscriptions injurious to the bearer, of whose ignorance of German the donors took advantage. A favourite sentiment was : " The bearer of this bill is condemned to a hundred blows " ; another ran : " The bearer is a fool and, should he complain, should be put in prison." Nor were these merely idle pleasantries ; on the contrary. GERMAN NEWSPAPERS 83 they were often carried mUj execution, and many peasants were forcibly incorporated into the labour battalions. Much could be written about the efforts of the mihtary adminiiftration to Germanize the country. A beginning was made with the names of places and families. SuTalkai became Suwalkeri ; Kaunas, Kaunen ; Sirvintas, Schir- windt ; Klikeli Klickeln, etc. The theatres played only German pieces, and the cinematograplis showed only German hlms. German papers made their appearance in great number, among them being the Zeitung der 10 Armee, the Liebesgabe, Kownoer Zeitung, Wilnaer Zeitung, Libauerzeiiung, Zeitung von G-rodno, NachriclUen von Suwalki, Bialislxtclcer Zeitung. In Lithuanian Dabartig was printed at the rate of 20,000 copies daily. Lithuanian papers proper were not viewed with any favour by the authorities, and ViUis and lAetuvos ZinioH were suppressed. A complaint submitted to Berlin by a delegation of the Lithuanian National Council in the United States brought no amelioration. To appease the literary hunger of the Lithuanians sheets like Laigve (Freedom), and Laisva lAetuva TFree Lithuania) were hectographed and spread broadcast. The Kvailag Prusas (Stupid Prussian) was issued as a satirical jomrial, the editor and readers of which the German authorities vainly tried to discover. The barristers Jonas Vileisis and Janu- laitis, suspected of collalx>ration in this paper, were arrested and interned in Germany. Many other Lithuanians on similar suspticion were also detained for a long time in captivity. In the newly-organized schools the German language was introduced as a compulsory subject from the first year. When, too, in June 1918 the Vilnius teachers opposed an increase in the hours for German their schools were closed. These efforts at Gerrnanization were the natural outcome of the German policy as a whole, which insisted upon the necessity, from military, political and economic considera- tions, of annexing Lithuania to Germany. In the light of these aims one can understand why the German Govern- ment did not abolish the Ober-Ost administration even 84 LITHUANIA DURING THE GREAT WAR after the peace of Brest -Litovsk, when a state of war with Russia ceased to exist. On this subject responsible Lithuanians addressed petitions and energetic protests to the German Government. The Eastern front fell in February 1918, but the military command continued, and the free and independent Lithuanian State was still subjected to military control. In January 1918 Prince Isenburg retired from his post as Administrator of Lithuania. The pan-German papers congratulated him on the successful discharge of his mission, and the university of Fribourg-en-Brisgau conferred upon him the title of doctor honoris causa for services rendered to the German cause. CHAPTER VIII RISE OF THE NEW STATE The great Vilnius Diet of 1905 marked an epoch in the reawakened national consciousness of the Lithuanian people. It exacted at least a verbal recognition of autonomy from Russia, though, as we have seen, the concessions ostensibly granted were realized only in part. During the years that followed, however, the great progress of Lithuanian culture served still more to strengthen the national sentiment. The Lithuanian people more imperatively than ever demanded freedom, and a repetition of the events of 1905 could not have been far off when the war broke out in 1914. The Lithuanians were not slow to understand that the moment had come to present their claims anew. The Lithuanians in the United States have always displayed considerable activity in everything concerning their native land. So in this case they were the first to make themselves heard when from October 21 to 23, 1914, in Chicago, they convened a national congress which was attended by three hundred delegates. The gathering declared itself in favour of the reorganization of the Lithuanian State ia conformity with the principle of self-determination. Further, this State was to be in- dependent of Poland, and besides the Lithuanian territory of Russia was to embrace the Lithuanian region of East Prussia and the Suvalkai government. The Lithuanian Bureau of Information in Paris was entrusted with the task of diffusing knowledge of Lithuania among the general public. Moreover, J. Gabrys was commissioned to treat with the belligerents on behalf of Lithuania. A national fund was created to cover all expenses in this connexion. 8S 86 RISE OF THE NEW STATE In America a national council was established for the protection of Lithuanian interests. This council repre- sented all Lithuanian organizations, those of the latter numbering more than a thousand members nominating one delegate and those with over five thousand members two delegates each. The American Lithuanians followed events in Europe with keen attention, more particularly in the Motherland, and held themselves in readiness to intervene should a favourable opportunity offer itself. In the wake of America the Lithuanian colony in the neutral countries of Europe laboured ceaselessly for the promotion of national aspirations. Thus on August 3 and 4, 1915, the first Berne conference was held. This assembly was of exceptional importance as affording occasion for the formulation of Lithuanian demands for a free and independent State, in the folowing terms : 1. The Lithuanians and the Letts form, in the great family of Indo-European peoples, a parallel branch not subordinate to that of the Germans and the Slavs. To the number of seven millions they occupy a territory of 250,000 square kilometres situated between Russia and Germany, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, in the basins of the Nemunas and Dauguva (Dvina). 2. The Lithuanian people occupy, by reason of their intellectual culture, the first rank among the peoples subject to Russia. 3. The Lithuanian State extended, from the Xlllth to the XVIth century, from the Baltic to the Black Sea and rendered great service to the rest of Europe in its struggle against the Tartars. A few days later, August 30, 1915, the Lithuanians demanded their independence from the Russian Duma. The Lithuanian deputy, Januskevicius, in a memorable speech traced the material and moral sufferings endured by the Lithuanian people. He closed his remarks with this appeal : " Come to the aid of our unhappy country, and give us the assurance that our just demand for national autonomy will be fulfilled." This was the second time that the Lithuanian question had come before the Russian Duma. Previously, in August 1914, a Lithuanian deputy, Mr. Yeas, from Kaunas, had spoken in favour of autonomy and the annexation of Prussian Lithuania to Russian Lithuania. LAUSANNE CONGRESS 87 Lithuania was represented at the congress of oppressed nationalities held at Lausanne in February 1916. Here the Lithuanian delegates made the following declaration : The issue of the war is uncertain. Whatever it may be, Lithu- ania does not wish to return to poUtical servitude or to revert to a situation which would permit Russia or Germany to impose their yoke upon the country. A free Lithuanian people occupying the entire national territory, and having free poUtical, intellectual, and economic development — such are the demands of the Lithu- anians of all parties. This declaration clearly expressed the end proposed by the Lithuanians ; it was articulated still more clearly at an exclusively Lithuanian assembly which took place at The Hague ; here the Lithuanians, conscious of their rights, acted on their own initiative. Shortly afterwards, from JIarch 1-5, 1916, Lithuanian delegates from Lithuania, the United States and Switzer- land, assembled for the second time at Berne to discuss the situation in Lithuania which was then under German military occupation. This conference pronounced in favour of the organization of a free and independent Lithuanian State, and justified its demand as follows : 1. Lithuania was for many centuries an independent State. 2. The Lithuanian people have never ceased to demand their lost hberty. 3. Lithuania possesses a very clear ethnographic character, and a national culture, and she forms a distinct political organism. 4. Only an independent Lithuanian Government will be able to repair the immense damage which the War has caused to Lithuania. 5. The creation of a free and independent Lithuania will favour the estabhshment of a durable peace. 6. At the outbreak of the War the Allies proclaimed the liberation of oppressed nationalities as the object of the War. 7. The German Government also, through the Imperial Chancellor, has declared that the German troops have " deUvered " Lithuania. The delegates further declared that the alliance between 88 RISE OF THE JNEW STATE Lithuania and Poland had been ipso facto and juridically abolished through the partitions of the two countries among Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1772 and 1795, and that the Lithuanian people desired to be masters within their ethnographic boundaries and protested against any encroachment on their rights by Poland. The lattei" portion of this declai-ation was inspired by the consideration that the Poles were representing Lithuania as a Polish province ; that the Poles wished to usurp the legitimate rights of the Lithuanians ; and that tlvey were everywhere posing as the representatives of Lithu- anian rights. Moreover, it was declared that the university of Vilnius, which the Poles pretended to regard as a Polish institution, was actually Lithuanian. Founded in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the uniA'ersily of Vilnius wished to become again Lithuanian, while respecting the rights of national minorities. Lithuanian conferences succeeded each other almost uninterruptedly. That held at The Hague from April 25th to 80th had considerable importance ; the resolutions there adopted have the value of a programme of action. The representatives of the Lithuanian people declared that Lithuania, after having escaped from Russian domina- tion, did not wish to exchange its reconquered independ- ence for a fresh yoke. This resolution was based upon the following considerations : 1. Russia oppressed Lithuania during one hundred nnd twenty years (since 1795) ; had despoiled her of her name and in lieu thereof had given her the style of " North- West Russia." 2. The national administration and the liithuanian Statute have been set aside and in their stead foreign institutions have been imposed upon the country. 8. The Russian Government has suppressed the uni- versity of Vilnius (1881), closed the schools, and persecuted the Lithuanian language and literature. 4. The Russian Government has done great damage also to the Catholic Church ; in persecuting Catholics it has not recoiled before the spilling of blood. CLAIM FOR COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE 89 5. Under barbarous governors (Muraviev the Hang- man, for example) the country has suffered a setback of half a century at least in the development of its civilization. 6. The forty years' prohibition of printing (1864-1904) grievously injured the country, notwithstanding which the intellectual level is higher than in Russia (52 per cent, of the population can read and write, whereas the propor- tion in Russia is only 29 per cent.). 7. Besides the robbery of her culture Lithuania has also had to endure that of her soil which the Lithuanians by their labours of several centuries have rendered fertile. 8. Since the beginning of the War some hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians have fought in the Russian army ; despite this, Russia has not promised to the Lithu- anians the political autonomy which she has accorded to the Poles. 9. During their retreat the Russian troops massacred young and old in the country and carried off thousands of Lithuanians. At this time two different opinions were entertained by Lithuanians regarding the future of their country. One party desired an autonomous Lithuania under a Russian protectorate, whereas the other, and the more numerous, demanded complete independence. In the long run the latter won the day. To promote their object all the political parties of Lithuania and of the Lithuanian colonics abroad created a High National Council upon which devolved the duty of representing the Lithuanian people in all matters concerning the country. This Council chose Switzerland as its domicile so as to enjoy the necessary freedom for the exercise of its activities, which soon became greatly extended. For some time previously there had existed at Paris a Lithuanian Bureau of Information which was now trans- ferred to Lausanne, where it entered upon a new sphere of usefulness. The Lithuanian deputies had formerly demanded auto- nomy from the Duma. With the fall of the Tsarist Government the situation changed ; the many Lithuanians 90 RISE OF THE NEW STATE who had been deported from their own country into Russia by the Russian troops began to concern them- selves vigorously with the future of their native land. In June 1917 they convoked a special conference at St. Petersburg. This was attended by three hundred authorized delegates, besides some two thousand other Lithuanians who were present by invitation as an auditory. The congress adopted a resolution which, in its general outline, coincided with that passed some weeks later by the Lithuanian Diet at Vilnius. But a minority of the Left, composed for the most part of Socialists, quitted the conference to hold a meeting of their own which assumed the style of " democratic," and passed a resolution differing somewhat from that of the general congress. This schism somewhat hampered the political action of the Lithuanians in Russia, and in the party of the Left hostile groups were speedily formed which fought among themselves. Unity of aim was thus impaired. In this emergency the Lithuanians of Russia decided to convoke an assembly of their compatriots from both Lithuania and the colonies at Stockholm. The next really epochal event in the history of the struggle for independence was the Diet of Vilnius which sat from September 18 to 22, 1917, attended by two hundred and twenty delegates. Owing to the German occupation of the country it proved impossible to choose the delegates through a general vote, but they were all prominent and well-known men, representatives of the various parties, classes and professions. This Diet was therefore a faithful organ of the Lithuanian people. The most important work of this Diet was the election of a National Council (Taryba) and the adoption of an historic resolution. The latter reads as follows : 1. In order that Lithuania may be able freely to develop it is necessary to make the country an independent State, based upon democratic principles and having ethnographical frpntiers which shall take into consideration the interests of economic life. The national minorities of Lithuania shall be given every guarantee for their cultural needs. In order to fix definitively the bases of independent Lithuania NSnUNAL COUNCIL ELECTED 91 and lier rdivtions willi neiglibouring countries, there shall be convoked nt Vilnius n t'oiistilucnt .Vssciubly elected in conformity witli dcniocnvlic principles by all the inhabilanis of Litliuanin. 2. If, bcforo ncjjoliations for a jjencral peace arc entered into, (Jormany should declare herself ready to rocoKni/.c the Lithuanian State and to defend Litituanian interests in the peace negotiations, the Lithuanian eoiiference would then a