Page:Brandes - Poland, a Study of the Land, People, and Literature.djvu/59

Rh external distinction, title, or decoration, and where the official tinsel of honour is regarded as a disgrace, while on the other hand the official garb of disgrace, the political prison blouse, is regarded as honourable.

Every child who daily goes past Paskiewicz's monument, who sees the names of traitors encircled by garlands on the obelisk, is from a tender age familiar with the thought that those whom the authorities honour are not as a rule the best men, and that those whom they persecute are not as a rule the worst.

That which is the pith, the true pith of Christian teaching, a right estimate of the honours of this world, the ignominy of this world, and the justice of this world, of real greatness and real baseness—this estimate, every one here, even the least gifted, has accepted. What a school for life! Poland is the only country, I believe, where primitive Christianity still exists as a power in society, and that equally for those who are Christians and for those who are not.

The name of Poland is not found on the map of Europe. The people of Poland are not reckoned among the peoples of Europe. The freedom and welfare of its sons and daughters are in the power of foreign rulers. Its language is persecuted and suppressed.

This people has not a single friend among the mighty of the earth; on the other hand it has active, extremely active and effectual enemies, and its misfortune is that its enemies are the most absolutely powerful men in the world. On the other hand Poland has, I believe, among all the nations of the world the best and the most humane of their sons for her friends.

Poland presents the spectacle of a nation which is not only condemned to death, but which, as Cherbuliez has said, has been buried alive, and yet which continually raises the lid of its coffin, and shows that its vital power is still far from exhausted.

We meet here a people in whom every nerve is strained, because day in and day out they fight for their existence, instead of enjoying it like other races. We see here a people who are entirely absorbed in their national cause, and yet