POLAND THE KNIGHTAMONG NATIONS pw£ ZRAV* POLAND THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS NICHOLAS COPERNICrs THE FATHER OF MODERN ASTRON.MV. (This view of the Polish astronomer, (who w;is the first to propound the theory that the earth moves aroun 1 the sun) surrounded by the scientists and other worthies of his time, is reproduced from a rare old si pel em ing made in 1843, at the celebration of the three- hundredth anniversary of his death.) POLAND THE KNIGHT AMONG NATIONS LOUIS ifc VAN NORMAN With an Introduction by Helena Modjeska a illustrated n ^ * At i New Yohk Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 1907, by •FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY All rights reserved SECOND EDITION New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago : 80 Wabash Avenue Toronto : 15 Richmond St., W. London : 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh : 100 Princes Street TO MY WIFE who taught me all the noble qualities of the Poles and made me very hopeful of their national destiny INTRODUCTORY fine characteristic I have especially ONEnoted in the American people. As a gen- eral rule, they are not led to an opinion by the verdict of any other nation. Of recent years, particularly, their popular verdicts have been based upon their own independent judg- ment, and some of these verdicts have afterwards been accepted by the whole world. They were the first to "discover" Sienkiewicz. They did not accept him on the claims of French, or Ger- man, or English criticism. By their own native perception they knew he was great, and now the whole world has accepted their judgment. Therefore, I think it is particularly appropri- ate that it should be an American who now, for the first time, presents the true Poland, the coun- try of Sienkiewicz, to the American people. I must confess that I am usually frightened when I begin to read anything foreigners write about Poland and us Poles. So much has ap- peared that was untrue and distorted and ridic- " " ulous. But these impressions are so sympa- thetically written, so discerning, and, at the same time, so generally impartial and just, that 7 INTRODUCTORY I am glad to recommend the volume to the dear land of my adoption as the best I know of about modern Poland by an outsider. It is so clear, bo interesting, so pleasantly written, that one does not want to put it down before reading the entire book. I was especially pleased with the " chapter on Polish Music and the Slav Temper- ament." It is so fair and discriminating. Most of the names mentioned in this chapter are well known to me, are personal friends, and I can recognise the faithful portrayal of these artists, who, like myself, were contemporaneous with the first stages of development in the great art movement in Poland. Several of them, includ- ing Mr. Sienkiewicz himself, were with my hus- band and myself in our little colony in Cali- fornia. Americans know very little of the real Poland. Most of them have read " Thaddeus of Warsaw," but this Thaddeus was not the real Kosciuszko. He was not even a real Pole—only a creature of the author's imagination. Since Sienkiewicz wrote his Trilogy, Americans have known more. They have much still to learn, for with all her faults, there is much in Poland, with her history, her literature, her art, and her unfortunate p pie, which Americans ought to know. I am glad this excellent book has been written. Helena Modjeska. 8 A FOREWORD " AN" impression comes so perilously near A\ being a judgment that the author of this volume feels called upon to offer a few words of explanation. In the following pages no attempt is made to write a history of Poland, or to present a com- prehensive study of the Polish national psychol- ogy. To sound the depths of racial character would require many years of actual life near the heart of the people, and elaborate historical re- search. Nor has the writer ventured to prophesy the political future of the Poles. Nor, finally, has he attempted to describe the condition of Kussian Polish cities during the reign of terror of the past two years. The following chapters, many of which have already appeared as maga- zine articles in this country and in England, are no more than the first-hand impressions of an American journalist who has been permitted to spend a year in the former Polish Common- wealth, visiting almost all the important his- toric points. Being the first American ever to visit all sections of old Poland for the express purpose of writing about it, he was accorded ex- ceptional facilities for observation and study. The result is a collection of honest impressions of a remarkable people, presented as an humble con- 9 A FOREWORD tribution to race psychology. To make the pic- ture more complete, it has seemed worth while to summon back from the past some of the more potent personalities of Polish history. Here is the home of a denationalised people, in which there is being enacted a century-long drama worthy of a Homer or a Tacitus. Forty- four years ago, in the middle of our Civil War, the Poles had their last uprising against Russian " " rule. Ten years of reconstruction for our South seemed an age. Mutinies, riots, and revo- lutionary outbreaks, all suppressed in blood and fire, show the world that, after nearly half a " century, Poland is not yet fully reconstructed." Politically, there is no Poland, but a distinct, in- dividual, resistant people, who are no more con- quered and absorbed by the partitioning powers than the Hungarians are assimilated by Austria. The Poles remain a persistent national type, and " " " the Polish question is an ever-present ghost that troubles at every European Council." And yet, up to the time when the Trilogy of historical works by Henryk Sienkiewicz appeared, Poland was, of all civilised geographical enti- ties, the least known to Americans. It is in the belief that the country of Kosciuszko and Pu- laski, of Copernicus and Sobieski, of Chopin and Paderewski, deserves better of the land of Wash- ington that this book is written. There are so many striking contrasts—and startling similarities—between Poland and these 10 A FOREWORD United States of America, that a study of Polish history and conditions ought to be of peculiar interest to us. We Americans are citizens of a young, powerful, active country, which is the bulwark of freedom and the refuge of oppressed peoples. Poland—if one may still speak of her as a nation—is very old. For a century and more she has been in chains, with no chance for activity, save in her spasms of revolution. Yet how much alike are the two peoples. Both are brave to a fault. Both live in a country which is a confederation. The union, in 1569, of Po- land, Lithuania, and Ruthenia, was the first vol- untary confederation of independent powers in Europe. Both peoples incline to elective gov- ernments; both, while religious themselves, have ever been tolerant to all other creeds. Both love liberty better than life. And finally, the greatest soldier heroes of both—Washington and Kosci- uszko—fought side by side for American inde- pendence. But there is a vital present signifi- cance also to Americans in the psychology of the Pole. Almost three millions of this highly de- veloped Slav race are now settled in this coun- try, rapidly becoming bone and sinew of Ameri- can national life. A study of the temperament and genius of this sturdy stock will help us in understanding more than one factor in our own pressing problems. Of modern books on Poland, available to the general reader, there are very few. Those inter- 11 A FOREWORD ested in following up some of the facts and allu- sions in this book should, first of all, read the immortal Trilogy of Sienkiewicz, as well as " " " Children of the Soil," Hania," Knights of " the Cross," and On the Field of Glory," by the " same author. Georg Brandes' Poland, a Study of the Land, People, and Literature," will also " prove of value. W. R. MorfilPs Story of Po- " land is a good brief reference history, while " " Herman Rosenthal's article on Poland in the Jewish Encyclopaedia is an excellent resume of the Polish Jews' part in history. The list of those who have aided the author in the preparation of this book is so large that it includes practically everyone he met in Poland, and many others in this country. It is impos- sible to render adequate thanks to all, but the author wishes to express grateful acknowledg- ment, particularly to the patriotic Poles who have read the manuscript and have made many valuable suggestions. He also desires to ac- knowledge courteous permission to reproduce articles from The Bookman, The Outlook, The Chautauquan, The Cosmopolitan, Brush and Pencil, The Booklover's, and other magazines. The author's opinions, of course, are his own, and Madame Modjeska's sympathetic introduc- tion does not indicate, necessarily, her agree- ment, in detail, with these opinions. Louis E. Van Noiman. Wyceojt, New Jeeset, August 1, 1907, 13 CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK I. Poland's Role in History ,. M 17 II. Polish Autonomy—Under Austria . 30 III. Cracow: the Heart op Poland . 44 IV. The Poles and Germany's World Dream .... 70 V. Russia's European Door . * 99 VI. The Geographical Centre op Eu ROPE ;. • • . • 123 VII. How Vienna Escaped the Turk 138 " VIII. The Real Thaddeus op Warsaw * 153 IX. On the Field op Glory .