Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/91

 determined maintenance of order can we keep our recently acquired independence; disturbances of the order may either entirely destroy the independence and liberty of our people, bring our country under foreign rule, or expose it to dismemberment. Everyone who disturbs the order is a foe to the Finnish people and its independence.

"But still more degrading to all our people is the fact that the inhabitants of the country enter into connection with the foreign troops, and together with them commit outrages against their own fellow-citizens. Such behaviour is a crime against the people of Finland, and at the same time a crime against the whole order of society. They are directed against the Lantdag, which holds the supreme power in our country. If such behaviour gains the day our people will disappear from the ranks of the peoples of culture, the State of Finland from among the lawfully ordered States.

"The distress of our native country forces us to appeal to you all. We hope that every Finnish citizen will at the present moment be ready for the sacrifices that may be required by the threatened position of our country and our people, of each individually and all in common. The aim of the concerted endeavours of all should wholly and solely be the maintenance of civil peace. In no circumstances can inflammatory acts or reprisals be allowed, nor any private action opposed to the regulations of the Force for the Maintenance of Order.

"Fellow-citizens! Join hands in order to protect the peace of your homes, the life of those nearest and dearest to you, property, personal liberty, and inviolability. To maintain order is to defend the independence and the future of the Finnish People.

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But the leaders of the Labour Party? Did they not