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Rh the polls; sometimes they were maltreated and even in some instances murdered; and houses where outvoters were staying were set on fire. The day of the plebiscite passed, however, without disturbance except at a few places, such as Rybnik and Pless.

The day after the plebiscite the Polish excesses recommenced, and from that date onwards continued without interruption; nor was the Inter-Allied Commission able as a rule to prevent them. The poll showed 717,122 votes for Germany and 483,514 for Poland. In 664 districts there was a German, in 597 a Polish majority. Practically all the towns voted for Germany. There was a Polish majority in the following administrative districts—Rybnik, Pless, Beuthen, Tarnowitz and Gross-Strehlitz. The decision of the Inter-Allied Commission as to the allocation of the disputed regions to Germany or to Poland was delayed on account of differences which arose within the commission itself; the French representative, Lerond, who had from the first been accused of tacitly supporting the Poles, wished to allot the whole of southern and eastern Upper Silesia to them, while the English and Italian representatives wished to apportion the industrial region to Germany. Protracted diplomatic negotiations between Paris, London and Rome did not lead to any result. At the end of April a report became current that the Council of Ambassadors at Paris had determined to give only the districts of Rybnik and Pless to Poland. In consequence of this rumour the first days of May witnessed a new Polish insurrection which assumed far greater proportions than the former one. Korfanty had secretly raised a well-organized Polish force which was provided with arms and munition from across the frontier, and was rein- forced by large bodies of men from Poland. With these troops he occupied the whole south-eastern part of Upper Silesia, on a line extending from the S. of the district of Kreuzburg through Gross-Strehlitz to the Oder in the south. He nominated himself dictator of the districts under Polish occupation, took over the administration, and treated even the Allied officials with such scant consideration that they were obliged to withdraw to Oppeln and the regions that were not occupied by the Poles. It was only in the larger towns, where there was a German majority, that the Allied troops, supported by the German population were able to maintain themselves. A further advance on the part of the Poles was prevented by the German Defence Force (Selbstschutz) under Gen. Höfer, which was composed of Upper Silesians and Germans who poured in from other parts of the Reich. There was severe fighting between the German Defence Force and the Poles, especially in the districts of Ratibor and Gross-Strehlitz. Colonel Percival, the British representative, was obliged to resign owing to ill-health, and was succeeded by Sir Harold Stuart. Attempts on the part of the Inter-Allied Commission to put an end to the insurrection by negotiations with Korfanty were unsuccessful, and the Allies were compelled to despatch reinforcements of French and British troops, under the command of Gen. Heneker, to Upper Silesia. After lengthy negotiations with the German Defence Force, which refused to withdraw unless guarantees were secured that the Poles would first quit the field, an agreement was ultimately effected with regard to the evacuation. By June 20 the British troops had again occupied the larger towns, while the Poles had the upper hand in the rural districts. As a result of the difficulties in paying his men and providing them with food Korfanty now lost control over his followers. Independent bands were formed which plundered the villages, ill-treated the Germans, and murdered many of them. In the industrial districts work in many of the mines and iron works came to a standstill, because imports of raw material and exports of coal had become impossible. By the end of June the loss suffered by the industrial region was estimated at 3 milliard marks; and there seemed to be no prospect of the restoration of tranquillity.

The French adhered to their contention that the greater part of the industrial region should be assigned to Poland. Great Britain, on the other hand, firmly maintained the view that such a partition would, as Mr. Lloyd George publicly expressed it, be "unfair" to Germany on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles and the result of the plebiscite. There were at one time three rival proposals for partition: (a) the Korfanty line, the extreme Polish demand; (b) the Sforza line, a proposal put forward by the then Italian Foreign Minister; (c) and the British proposal giving Poland only the south-eastern corner with the towns and districts of Pless and Rybnik. France was ultimately left in a minority of one on the Supreme Council, Italy and Japan having adhered to the British view. After prolonged debates and open differences among the principal Allied Powers on the subject of the partition, it was at last arranged, at a Paris conference in Aug. 1921, that the solution should be entrusted to a Commission of the Council of the League of Nations. This commission was ultimately constituted by the representatives of Japan, Brazil, China, Spain and Belgium, with the Japanese representative, Baron lishi, as chairman.

(*)

On Oct. 20 1921, the text was published of the documents containing the award of the League of Nations on the partition

Upper Silesia Frontier, 1921

of Upper Silesia. The proposed new frontier line between Germany and Poland was as shown by the appended Map. The division here made in the industrial area, previously German, was such that the Council of the League of Nations declared it to be desirable, however, that measures should be taken to guarantee the continuity of the economic life of the region during a provisional period of readjustment, and to provide for the protection of minorities. It was recommended, therefore, that a general convention for this purpose should be concluded between Germany and Poland, so as to place Upper Silesia under a special regime during the transitional period, and that an "Upper Silesian Mixed Commission" should be set up as an advisory body, composed of an equal number of Germans and Poles, with a president of some other nationality to be designated by the Council of the League, together with an arbitral tribunal for settling private disputes occasioned by the temporary measures.

The provisional or transitional period was to be 15 years, and certain stipulations were laid down by the League of Nations for the economic arrangements during that period in the "plebiscite area." (l) Railway and tramway systems, privately owned or municipal, were to continue under the terms of their concessions, and the German State railways were to be put under a joint system of operation. Railway rates were to be uniform. The State insurance of employees in the Silesian railway system was to be undertaken by that system. A single Accounts Office was to be set up for the whole system. Expenses of new construction to be charged to a separate account, and borne by the State in whose territory it was carried out; the working capital for operation to be