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Lithuania and White Ruthenia

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Lithuania and White Ruthenia L5 L 9 LI T H UA NIA D WH ITE RUT H ENIA L I M I TS O F H I ST O R IC L IT HUAN IA whi c h Lithuania i s the name o f an old State , correspond s r ou hl a c tu a l g y to the six provin ces o f Gro dno , Kowno , Wilno , e M o h l ow Wit bsk , Minsk and y , and throughout thi s report the a si x name o f Lithu nia is us ed to indi cate these provinces . i t x 1 7 7 2 Historic Lithuania , as e iste d in b efore the p artition o f Poland , included b esides almo st the whole o f the provinc e o o f Suwalki (except one sixth o f the district of August w) , i a the district o f B la , one half o f the district of Wlod awa , one fourth o f the district of Konstantyn ow in the province o f Siedlce , and the town of Pol aga with surroundings in the D b ur . n a province o f Kurland But the districts of y g , Lucyn , R z e Z c W y a in the province of iteb sk , and the districts o f o Gro dn o di d Bialystok Sok lka and Bielsk in the province of , not b elong to the historical Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which n . W had a area o f sq km , hile the six provinces n usually identified with it cover a area of s q . km . D I SCOVE R Y O F W H I TE R UT H E N I A N S The name of White Ruthenia was formerly applied only to ‘ VVit e b s k M oh low the present provinces o f and y , as inhabited chiefly by White Ruthenians . In the ethno graphic atlas of W o s z cz nin 1 848 a are y , published in , White Rutheni ns indi ca t e d . only in these two provinces In the atlas of Ekert , 1 863 a l s o published in , White Rutheni ans are found in the 1 889 provinces o f Minsk , Grodno and Wilno , and in Mitrofan Z a p ol s kij reco gnizes their exi stence also in the province o f lit e rat ure th e n Smolensk . In Polish fi ame o f White Ruthenia (Bi aloru s) i s usually applied to thos e p arts o f historic Lithu a n i a w c a re c hi e flv a W n o u hi h inh bited by hite Ruthenia s , a p p lation which ethnogr a phi c ally is intermedi a te between t h e ua Pol es a n d t h e Muscovites . The lang ge spoken by the W e e a a th e hit Ruth ni ns is kin to Ruthenian , but p ermeated b y the in fluen c e o f Polish : it is ea sier understood by the b R a W a Poles than y the ussi ns , while the hite Rutheni ns gen o a n d c a rally und erstand Polish , many o f them , esp e i lly the a r e Catholics , who numerous , speak it . W H IT E RUT H E N IAN S A N D P OLAN D The Wh ite Ruthenians have never formed a State of thei r o w n a s a r e a , they almo st exclusively a rur l population a W are p e sants) . The maj ority of the hite Ruthenian s c a me early und er Polish rule and only a sm a ll part b elonged a a r e to Muscovy . The White Rutheni ns o f Lithuania nation a u n d e v e lo e d a n d lly p p , , unlike the Lithuanians , they had until the war s carcely any politic a l aspirations of their own a a r e Tho se mongst them who C atholics us e Polish prayer books , and they consid er their sp eech a s a di a lect fi t only for the u n m a i a n d educated , whilst Polish is to them the sy bol o f educ t on higher so cial po sition . The few White Ruthenians who attain ed a higher educ tion b ecame generally Poles or Muscovites . The White Ruthenians have preserved their origin a l a n d tradi ti o n a l character chiefly within the limits o f the old Polish c w a Republi , hilst the White Ruthenians who c me under the rule o f the T s a r o f Muscovy b efore the p a rtitions o f Poland a have been more or less assimil ted , and have become Musco r i t e s a . , or as they are c lled now , Russians ET H N OG R A P H I C L IT HUAN IA The ethnogra phic territory o f Lithuania is much smalle r a n than the boundarie s o f histori c Lithu ia . It comprises the K r W province o f owno , a narrow strip o f the p ovince o f ilno , a e a the northern p rt o f the provinc o f Suw lki , and the north r e a stern corner o f E ast Prussia . The Lithuanians numbe l e ss th a n two millions a n d their ethno gr a phic area do es not reach e c t W ven the old api al o f their State , ilno , which is now chiefly t a Polish . This city has only two p er c e nt Li hu a ni ns a mo n g a a n d c a a its inh bitants , the whole country around the old pit l o f . Lithuania is completely outsid e the area in w hich the Lithuanian language prevails . P O LE S I N L IT HUAN I A It i s evident that a n ethno gr a phi c Lithuania would b e to o small a State to maintain its politi c al a n d e conomi c ind e e n d en c e e a p o f G rm a ny . Thu s the Lithu nians insist on a s w a their historic frontiers , they ish to fo rm a re lly w c indep end ent State . But ithin tho s e hi stori frontiers of a a a Lithu ni there are more th n three million Pole s , and the c belt which is hiefly Polish , extending from Bia lystok to Wi e a Gro dno , lno and b eyond Dyn burg , sep rate s Lithuania ’ p rop er from the predominantly W hite Rutheni a n part o f d a historic Lithuania . Mo re ov e r the Pole s are is semin ted in hi s t o ri c Li thu a ni a a n d w the whol e o f , here the y are numerically “ i n f e ri o r the o s 1 ti on s f or o , y o ccupy the mo st influential p , they f rm a 8 5 th e a p rincipally the educated cl sses , whil e o f Lithuani ns and 98 o f t h c White Ruthenians a r e unedu c ated p eas a nts . It is a gre a t mist a ke to believe that the Pol e s in Lithuania l a a s a are o nly the upper c sse s , l rge numb ers o f the mo st c a a r e a suc essful sm ll farmers Poles ls o , and without them t h e p ercent a ge o f Pole s could never b e a s considera ble as i t a c a tu lly is . UN I 'U E C O N D IT I ON S T hi s mixture o f different ethno gra phic elements in the same c ountry is a res ult o f historic and natural conditions whi c h a r e a o t a b y unique o f their kind , and c nn b e e sily und erstoo d tho s e who are a c cus tomed to the c learl y c u t ethnographic n e c e s s a r v d elimitations prevailing in We stern Europe . It is to g o i n t o many d e ta il s i n o rd cr t o g ra sp the unpre ced ented con d i t i o n s n o w in u a u th e exist g in Lith ani , and to j dge o f po ssible a ltern a tive s open fo r i ts po litic a l organiza ti o n in the future . C ON FL ICT I NG C LA IMS w a s u c a n d t Lithuania a part o f the Poli sh Rep bli , its his ory sinc e the X I Vth century is clo sely r e l a ted to the d est i n i es ’ W c l e a r o f Poland .
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