The relation of the German Government to its Polish subjects
is curiously illustrated by a speech delivered by the Emperor at Gnesen, in Posen, on August 9th. William II. assured the Poles among whom he spoke that they should have complete protection for their creed, and mentioned that Leo XIII. had blessed him and promised that Catholics should be faithful to their Emperor ; but he added : "Any German in the East who without reason disposes of his property sins against his duty to his Fatherland." In other words, the system of substituting German for Polish proprietors of the soil is not to be abandoned. Hitherto that method of "pacific penetration" has not been successful, the Poles, who often succeed greatly in associated industry, constantly buying out German landlords, though the latter can purchase estates with money borrowed at cheap rates from the Treasury. Of the three Governments which shared in the partition, the one which is least disliked is that of Austria, and even the Hapsburgs, though their comparative lenity has secured order, have failed to develop loyalty. In Russian Poland two peoples are separated not only by creed, language, and race, but by two distinct social ideals.
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