who have always been the worst enemy of their country.  Alexander after a time lost patience, and in 1820 he felt compelled to withdraw some of the liberties which he had conferred in 1815.  After this the breach between the Russian Government and the Polish people began to widen, partly owing to stupid and clumsy actions on the side of Russia, partly to the incurable lack of political common-sense on the side of the upper classes in Poland, partly to the fact that the country could never be anything but restless and unsatisfied while it remained divided.  The history of Russian Poland since the time of Alexander is the history of two great failures to throw off the Russian yoke, the failure of 1830 and of 1863.  These risings were marked by heroism, disunion, and incapacity on the one side, and by relentless repression on the other.  The upshot was that Poland was deprived of her constitutional rights one by one, until finally she became nothing more than so many provinces of Russia itself.  To some extent, however, the failure of 1863 proved a blessing in disguise.  The rising had been almost entirely confined to the nobility; Russia therefore turned to the peasants of Poland, released them from all obligations to work upon the estates of the large landowners, and handed over to them at least half the land of the country as freehold property.  The result of this measure, and of the removal of the customs barrier between the two countries in 1877, was twofold:  the power of the factious nobility was shattered for ever, and a marvellous development of industry took place in Poland which has united her to Russia “with chains of self-interest likely to prove a serious obstacle to the realisation of Polish hopes of independence."[3] It is indeed doubtful whether at this date the Poles cherish any such hopes.  What they desire is national unity and self-government rather than sovereign independence, and they know that they are at least as likely to receive these from Russia as from Prussia.

[Footnote 1:  Pp. 24-27.]

[Footnote 2:  As a matter of fact our representative, Lord Castlereagh, was Alexander’s chief opponent at the Congress in the question of Poland.  See Camb.  Mod.  Hist. vol. x. p. 445.]

[Footnote 1:  Camb.  Mod.  Hist. vol. xi. p. 629.]

While of late years the relations between Russia and Poland have steadily improved, those between Russia and Finland, on the contrary, have grown rapidly worse.  Until 1809 Finland was a Grand-Duchy under the Swedish crown, but in that year, owing to a war which had broken out between Russia and Sweden, she passed into the control of the nearer and more powerful State, after putting up a stubborn resistance to annexation which will always figure as the most glorious episode in the annals of the country.  Alexander I., who was at that time Tsar, adopted the same policy towards Finland as he did towards Poland.  He refused to incorporate the new province into the Russian State-system,