The sympathy felt for the Finlanders in this country is
natural and well deserved, they being in the main an ex- cellent and peaceable people, but their power of resisting " Russification " is exaggerated. The Russians are against them, seeing no reason why they should be specially privileged, and for insurrection they are too few—about two million three hundred thousand scattered over a hundred and forty thousand square miles—and have too few weapons. Their present method of simply refusing to present themselves at the recruiting depots is no doubt most embarrassing to the War Office, but it leads nowhere, and gradually each district will be reduced to order. The immense emigration—said to reach fifteen hundred a week—would, if continued, impair the prosperity of the province ; but it will only make the Russian task the easier, for it is the energetic and the young who go. As to armed resistance in the streets of the only con- siderable town in Finland, that only produces slaughter. We fear there is little hope for Finland unless the Czar's relatives at Copenhagen, who know the truth, can bring it before him in such a fashion as to induce him to hold his Ministry in check. It is believed that his Majesty has been deceived by representations that the Finlanders are most disloyal, and that he never intended to sanction such severe measures. The recall of the Governor-General lends some confirmation to these rumours, but it is now difficult to retreat without creating the impression so dreaded by the bureaucracy that the Government can be beaten.
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