POLAND AND THE !.. GERMANS .

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 19, 17 October 1918, Page 6

POLAND AND THE !.. GERMANS .

! DEMAND FOR UNITY AND INDEPENDENCE V: : --"t : I (Rec; October 16,. 11 p.m.) j London, October 15. j The Polish Committee in London of- ' ficially describes as absolutely false the I German, assertion that Germany could not leave Poland because the Poles do ' sired her to protect them. ■ '• ' Owing "ito" v Gemaiiy'.s -acceptance or N 'President "VVil&ii's fourteen points the Prussian Poles have issued a manifesto \\ demanding a united and independent : • Poland, with" access to the sea. f'-\ In this connection tho "Lokal Anzei- ; ger" cynically comments: "The Gov\<eriinienV will know how to reply to f. this' aew-tfo.und courage."—Reuter.

K' ?; "'Amon'g"tlie "fourteen points" of Preiisident Wilson's, statement of. peace f-terms was a provision that "an inde-. 5 pendent Polish State should be erected, '. which should include the territories ln- | -habited: by, indisputably Polish populaSvtions; which 'should be assured a free ;■ and: secure access to the sea; ; and : ; whose political and economic radependi erico and territorial integrity should be '.guaranteed by international covenant !i Germany appears to have accepted this •• ? -point with the others. ■ _ . i . The importance of the. proposed Pol- : ish Stat© was emphasised by Mr. Jus-(--.■tie'e Cliapman' wheu he was speaking' 1 at the civic luucheon to-Mr. Massey *■ and Sir Joseph "Ward.- He said that i'. Alsace 1 was tiie .front door, which had '•"to bo opened-before the Allies, could ! ideal 1 with Germany.; But there was ': also a back door that was almost more ~• important.'::' The back -door '■ had' been f'sßussia, and nqw was.Poland. An..out--v- standing , fact of the. 'present war '? situation'-- was v : that- Poland;- was Agoing .to ';be: restored.; to_- its '.independence. It would have a difficult I- task, before it, since the Poles, were a ;■ peculiar people, apt to quarrel about 6 small matters, and neglect the great f matters. Tiie Pole 3 would, have to :■'. leam to govern themselves, and to put |" ; their ', State on a, much beEer, footing '■than'it had occupied a century and a i balf ago.:'':'.'' "' '• '•'■ .' -, ~~r ;. .The restoration of, Poland, added Mr. . : Justice Chapman, meant 'taking from from Germany, and from Aus-, f: tria..tne' territory., that these three [•'States '-tad' stolen when 'Poland among themselves, yrussian'I Poland'reached the Baltio coast, and l : contained the port of Danzig. This • German port would become the port of 'Poland. The Allies ought iiot to show ! i raflylweakniess'''on that point. The GorRmans had' not:.hesitated' to.'rbb the ! whole . of Eastern ' Europe, ■. and _they ; : would, find it an easy, task.to retain i their spoils linless 'the Allied 'Powers ! 'erected: a strong barrier State ■in -the i shape ,of a free Poland; with Danzig v-as.itsjport.:-;'- -,'-':' ■■-'■.■■[ r,; It was a; curious fact that the mass I" of cablegrams' dealing -with recent developments in Europe 'had contained' i ; .only, one reference to '. Poland, arid that I had ibeen' a statement'by ( the Germans i' that, tiey,.. could not leave Poland, be--5; cause.ine Poles wished them to stay, f- The statement was an obvious -untruth. l :'The'vhatred;of, the G'erbmans was a passion that could scarcely L'be understood on this side of the world.

fvThere would: be no peace, in Europe j .until, something like -'.finality had been '(: secured in the settlement of Eastern i boundaries, and a very important part ;,'. of ithig. settlement was'the' restoration' ';!' of the.great State that Germany, Austria, and Russia had rent asunder more '. "'than a century ago.i The fate of Poland I was -one of the most important ques- !,.' tions the Allies had to determine. ' ■