THE H.B. TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30, 1927 POLAND AND LITHUANIA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 30 November 1927, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30, 1927 POLAND AND LITHUANIA

RESPITE the complaints of tardiness in the movement for a general scheme of disarmament, we fancy it may be taken that there is very little risk of any early war originating among the nations of Western Europe. The only reservation that may have to be made in this respect is with regard to Italy under Mussolini, who cannot but cause some anxiety as a possible disturbing fac tor. The real fear, however, is to be found in the unsatisfactory relations that exist in the eastern regions of the Continent. Towards the south we have the Balkan States, which are still the prey of centuries old mutual jealousies and hostilities, while in the north we have the newly constituted republics of Poland and Lithuania continually at loggerheads. Bordering on both we have Soviet Russia, .whose undoubted vogue it is to promote both international and internal strife. For the moment the differences between Poland and Lithuania have gained some prominence in our cable messages and so may be worthy of a little attention. This is more especially the case since a spokesman for the British Government has admitted a feeling of “grave anxiety,” while at the same time expressing a hope that the good offices of the League of Nations Council may prove effective in "restoring friendly relations.” The last phrase just quoted is one that is scarcely applicable to Poland and Lithuania, for it may be said that really friendly relations have never existed between them since their liberation from Russian rule and re-establishment as independent states. In fact, since Poland’s occupation of Vilna, some seven-years ago, even diplomata relations have ceased, and in their place there has been a virtual, though generally latent, “state of war.” The probabilities are that there would have been armed hostilities on a big scale had it not been for the disparity in the relative fighting strengths of the two countries. Poland has a population of 30 million and a broad territory rich in natural resources. Little Lithuania has but two million people and could riot dream of making war unaided upon her powerful neighbour. One feai has been that, in her desperation, Lithuania might even invoke the assistance of Russia, her old oppressor, who would be only too pleased to seize any pretext for attacking Poland. An evidence of this is to be found in the present activity that is being manifested by representatives of Moscow in magnifying to the utmost the difficulties that have recently arisen. When laying out the new map of Europe in 1919 the Supreme Council of the Allies drew a “provisional” frontier line between Poland and Lithuania which gave the important town and district of Vilna to the. smaller State, though it was difficult to say whether the Polish or the I ifhuanian element was in prepm ’ rice so far as population was concerned. Tn spite of this, however, th" Pole" maintained the garrison which

they had previously set up in Vilna. It is probably forgotten by most people, though it happened only seven years ago, that what, but for the overshadowing memories of the Great War, would have been regarded as a momentous conflict took place between Soviet Russia and recently liberated Poland. During a phase of this struggle, when the Poles were driven back almost to Warsaw, the Lithuanians took advantage of the situation and occupied Vilna. However, the close approach of the Russian armies shortly afterwards caused the Lithuanians to evacuate the town, with the result that the Polish flank was perilously exposed to the Russian attack. The Poles then made a great rally and expelled the Russians from their territory, but while they were thus engaged the Lithuanians again took possession of Vilna. Then Lithuania made a separate peace with Russia, under which the Lithuanian claim to Vilna and Grodno was recognised by the Bolsheviks.

This was the position when the Poles protested to the League of Nations against Lithuania’s occupation of Vilna, with the result that a tentative arrangement was reached that Vilna should in the meantime be regarded as a kind of neutral territory under Lithuanian control. Almost simultaneously, however, an “independent” Polish general, Zeligovski, took it upon him to make a raid on his own account and drove the Lithuanians out of Vilna. His action was nominally disowned by the Polish Government, but Vilna has remained since then continuously in Polish hands. The League of Nations made many vain attempts to bring about a satisfactory solution of the Vilna. problem. But when peace was signed between Russia and Poland. Russia agreed to a new Russo-Polish frontier running to the east of Vilna, thus ignoring Lithuania’s previously acknowledged claim. This line was endorsed by the Council of Ambassadors in 1923, a decision which Lithuania declined to accept. She has, however, failed to induce either the principal Allied Powers or the Council of the League of Nations to disturb it, and there lies her chief cause of enmity towards Poland. Her present grievance that is being examined by the League of Nations Council lies in a complaint of ill treatment of Lithuanian school-teachers in the Vilna district. That, however, is quite a minor matter, and the possession of Vilna will still remain the real bone of contention between Poland and Lithuania.