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i9t4] THE QUESTION OF POLAND 325
the cruelties and injustices without number which were
committed after every Polish rising were a source of
opprobrium, discredit, and zveakness. And how could one
speak of a Slav policy when ten million pure-bred Slavs
were being down-trodden ? At last, I thought, this
monstrous state of affairs is going to cease ; if only there
is not too much wrangling over the question of the
" national frontiers," and if only they will keep to what
they have promised. In this sense I was myself much
inclined to go far further than the famous manifesto.
I could not help realising that the uniting of all the
divisions of Poland—however extensive her autonomy
might be—under the sceptre of the Emperor of Russia
could not be truly and honestly accepted by Europe,
even by our most faithful allies. It would push forward
still more the frontiers of the mighty Empire of the North
into the frightened body of Western Europe; the mere
sight of the new map of Europe would arouse fears
and ideas of a solidarity against us of all countries, all
nations, even of those who were now fighting each
other fiercely. And then between Poles and Russians
there would always exist the irritating question of
national demarcation, and the still more irritating and
difficult question of the limits of the autonomy. In short
I greeted the manifesto of the Grand-Duke Nicolas as a
happy beginning, but I hoped from the bottom of my
heart that our country would have the courage and
intelligence to go on to the end, that is to say to consent
to the complete independence of resurrected Poland.
The end of the year 1914 was a historic and crucial
moment for the fate of the Hapsburg Empire. For
several weeks we were led to believe by confused
rumours which reached us from the bosom of this
Empire that a sensational change was taking place in the
policy of Vienna. Indeed, if the Austrian Empire wished
to be saved this was the only moment in which that was
possible. To make peace with Russia immediately, to
grant to the Jugo-Slavs, Czechs and Slovaks absolutely
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