UKRAINIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 44, 16 November 1918, Page 8

UKRAINIA

ANCIENT GLORY AND MODERU

STRUGGLES

SOME LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS

Ukrninia, a nation little known and seldom heard of, uuxibers fully 30,000,000 people who for 203 years had been in subiection to tho Tsars of Kussia. George Kaffalovich, the son of an Ukrainian father and a French mother, an author of repute under the pen-name of "Bedwin Sands," is an nutuority on Ukrainian history. In an article in the New York "Sun" he gives some enlightening and interesting facts concerning tho reborn nation :— Ukraine covers 850,000 square kilometres, an area greater than that of Franco and only a little less than that of Italy, Spain, and Portugal together. Taking the figures usually given by European writers of repute, there are to-day 23,000,000 Ukrainians in the south-west-em provinces of Kussia, between one and two millions in Siberia, where they have, especially in the Amur region, extensive settlements; three and a half millions in Eastern Galicia, four hundred thousand in Northern Bukowina, and perhaps 'half a million in Northern Hungary on tho southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. To these figures should be added the half-million Ukrainia'ns who are at the present time in the United States, probably as many in tho Dominion of Canada, a few thousand in Australia, and about fifty thousand in Brazil. There are Ukrainian settlements in Turkey, in the Dobruja, and in Southern Hungary, but they are very small. The bulk of the Ukrainians consists, therefore, of thoso in Ukrainian Russia, in Galicia, and in Bukowina, for they inhabit the compact territory which, is only artificially—or shall wo say politically ?—divided between Russia, Austria, and Hungary. Leaving out the Rusniaks, or Ukrainians of Hungary, who express no desire to work politically with tho other members of their nation, and who insist, even in America, upon societies of their own, we have a population of over 33,000,000 stretched between the Caucasus, the Black Sea, tie Carpathian Mountains, and the San River. The purely Ukrainian Governments of .Russia are: 1. Ukraine of the right hank (of the Dnieper), Podolia, Yolliynia, Kief, and Kholm. , , \ ~ 2. Ukraine of the left bank (of tho Dnieper), Tchernihov, Poltava, Kharkov, south-west Khursk Voronezh, and the resion/ of tho Don Cossacks to the Sea of Azov.

3. On both sides of the Dnieper lies the Steppe Ukraine, comprising Ekaterinoslav, -Kherson, and the eastern parts of Bessarabia, and Tauris. ■1. North Caucasus, adjacent to the region of the Don Cossacks, comprising Kuban and the eastern parts of the Stavropolskoi and Tlierska Governments. In all these districts the Ukrainians form from 70 to 93 per cent, of the total population, the rest being Jews, Poles, and lastly Russians. Political Enlightenment. Ukraine's popular form of government attracted settlers from near-by countries, and the fame- of the freedom of its institutions reached ns far as Ireland, as is shown by the Celtic names that are still preserved in Ukraine. The writer says: The Rurik dynasty founded Ukraine. When it disappeared, as all monarchies must, the next organisation that kept the Ukraine lands together was tho republic of the Cossacks, whose domrjn overlapped Lithuania and Poland, who occupied much of the Ukraine soil. Tho Cossacks were organised something on tho lines of the chivalry of Western Europe. Their precepts were obedience, "piety, chastity, and equality. Tho Assembly was the only authority they recognised. The Hetmnn (headman) was elected by, and was responsible to, the Assembly'for his actions. If he offended he was incontinently deprived" of office. The Assembly, called Rada, was periodical, and comprised representatives of all classes of the community, who often criticised freely the policy of the Hetman. In the interval' between Radas the Hetman 'ruled. the country by a series of decrees. When any section of tho Ukrainian community was dissatisfied with the person or the policy of the Hetman it was entitled to call together a Rada, which in such cases was called a Black Rada. If the Black Eada happened to be representative enough, and th« complaint met with the approval of the majority, the Hetman might be compelled to resign. While the Muscovites lived under an absolute monarchy, while the Poles wero ruled by a haughty and- exclusive aristocracy, in Ukraine all were free under the Lithuanian kings, and republican institutions were gradually taking root. Many peonle would leava the surrounding countries aud go to settle in Ukraine. Such names preserved in the Ukraine as O'Brien and O'Rourke tend to provo that people came from much farther to settle in tin happy land. "It has been said -that tho Ukrainian race seemed qualified to put into practice the idea of umvtv.;al equality and freedom: The science of war was there brought to hhrli perfection. At tho same time a literature was produced which glorified the Coss.vk life in attractive ballads and tales. The Slavonic world is 'proud of the history of this free State, The Wreckers. It is on the Poles that %s the stigma of wrecking this promising nation, since it was under Poland that Ukraine was ai that lime. • Tho whole of Ukraine, or rather all that was left of it after the Tartar incursions, was easily conquered by Lithuania aud the principalities of Kief, part, of Podolia, and Volliynia became part of the Lithuania kingdom. Being, however, of higher culture than the conquerors, the conquered provinces gave their language and their laws to Lithuania.

After various social and political disturbances the situation in Ukraine grew worse ant worse. - She lost all her rights one by one, and finally her name was almost forgotten by :nen. Then, says tho writer:—

Game tho Japanese war and-the first revolution. Ukrainia oegaii to revive. The great war accomplished its independence. Tho birth of the nationalist movement in Russian Ukraine was Automatic. Its lift! was fostered by Ukrainians themselves, financed by Ukrainians' of all classes. Ukrainians who know tho Germans best like them least. Muscovites or Great Russians may admire the Teuton system of efficiency. Tho Ukrainians are too much ot an. artistic nation to care over much for kultur without polish. If there are proGermans in Russia they are certainly not the individualistic, essentially democratic Ukrainians. Americans need not fear betrayal from that quarter.

Great Natural Resources. Of the great natural resources of the now nation tho writer says: The famous black soil of, Ukraine covers threequarters of tho couniry. To the north as well as in tho Carpathian Mountains are somo 110,000 square kilometers of forests. The agricultural soil covers 53 per, cent, of the aggregate territory of Ukraino and 3!i per cent., if wo take in the whole of European Russia, which is, howovor, six times greater than Ukraino itself.

Tho annual production of cereals in Ukraine is two-thirds of the whole prodiiicHon in tho Russian Empire. It is greater than that of Germany or France. Tho exportation of grains from Ukraine amounts to 27 per cent, of the production, and of all tho wheat exported from Russia nine-tenths comes from Ukrainian lands. As,a matter of fact the trade «f Ukraine is more, devolopcd than that of any part of tho empire. Ukraino ranks highest among all tho countries that comprise, tho vast Russian Empire as to tho annual, agricnltuß/l production. Wheat, rye, and barley are tho staple crop of Russia's agriculture, and the annual production in Ukraine of these products amounts to one-third .of Russia's output. As to other farm products, Ukraine's position is also very conspicuous. Beetroot, for instance, is especially cultivated in the Ukrainian provinces of Podolia. Volhynia, Kief, and Kherson; thoso provinces together yield five-sixths of the suear-beet production of all Russia. Ukraine produces Almost all the tobacco of tho empire, and she has the largest and finest orchards and vineyards of European Russia. The immense natural resources of Ukraine furnish splendid opportunities for the development of manufactiu> ing industn'e* ■■ " "