Page:Brandes - Poland, a Study of the Land, People, and Literature.djvu/108



important result of the censorship in Poland is the constant disquiet of the press and thereby of the people. As it is impossible to obtain any certainty of what is going on in the country, and impracticable to impart what one knows or thinks one knows, eternal rumours float through town and country, in which the political hopes and anxieties of the people are reflected. At one time it is reported that this or that high official has been recalled, because the government itself finds the pressure too severe; men believe that they are going to breathe a more liberal air; they find in the most accidental negligences, from one or another of the authorities, symptoms that for the future they will wink at much that has been forbidden. Again, it is reported that the severest measures are in preparation, that hitherto unknown dangers are threatened. Thus the people are constantly kept in a state of feverish agitation.

It will easily be seen how greatly such perpetual disquiet hampers the growth and development of the intellectual life. Only the exact sciences flourish. Medicine especially stands high. Dr. Tytus Chalubinski, an old man, upon whose face genius has stamped itself, has long been regarded as the leading physician of Poland. Next to him Baranowski is the most esteemed. Historical and political literature necessarily stand somewhat in the background. At present Russian Poland does not possess any historian of the first rank. Szujski, who died recently, is the most important writer of later historical literature, and as an essayist Julian Klaczko, who has a European reputation, holds a like position. Both of them lived and worked in Austria. In literary history a