p. 12 | Mission Fields

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 14, 1892

Mission Fields.

"Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days."—Eccl. 11:1.

THE FATE OF FINLAND.

WHILE it is probable that at no distant period Ireland will secure the long-desired boon of home rule, there is another nation in Europe from which the privileges of local self-government are being gradually withdrawn.

The grand duchy of Finland lies at the extreme northwestern end of the Russian Empire. A narrow gulf separates it from Sweden. To the north lies the semi-Arctic country of Lapland. It is inhabited by an intelligent, thrifty, and law-abiding race to the number of nearly two and a half millions.

The Finns are especially interesting as being probably one of the most ancient people on the continent of Europe. They have occupied their present home since the end of the seventh century or the beginning of the eighth, having been driven from their settlement on the Volga, probably by the Bulgarians.

For a long period the Finns were subject to Sweden, and as a fact the Swedish tongue is still largely used among them. Eighty-three years ago, however, the Grand Duchy was ceded to the Russian emperor by the treaty of Frederickshamn, and thus became an appanage of the Russian crown.

But whether under Swedish or Russian control, Finland has always retained its ancient constitution, and for the most part has been allowed to manage its own local affairs. It has had its own Parliament, its own monetary system, and its own custom houses.

To the czar, however, has been reserved the right of veto and the appointment of the governor general, while the military and foreign affairs of Finland have been under the control of the central Russian Government at St. Petersburg.

It now appears that these quiet and industrious Finns are doomed to lose such liberal institutions as still remain to them, and to come under the stern despotism to which the Russians themselves are subjected. Their peace has been greatly disturbed by the events of the past two years.

The Czar Alexander has manifested during this period a grim resolve to "Russianize" Finland as Poland has already been Russianized. He is determined to deprive the Finns of their political liberties and separate system, and to absorb the grand duchy into the empire.

The first step that the czar took in this direction was to replace, in 1890, the Finnish currency by that of Russia. In the following year a far more serious blow was directed at the Finns. An excellent penal code has been framed with great care by the Finnish Senate. Scarcely had this penal code been put into execution when the czar decreed that it should be altogether suspended. Since then the administration of justice in Finland has been thrown into confusion.

In the summer of 1891 the czar was spending a few weeks in his yacht off the coast of Finland. One day he wrote a letter of some importance, and stamped it with a Russian postage stamp. He dispatched it with the orders that it should be sent forward without delay. It was sent back to the yacht with the statement that it could not be forwarded until it bore a Finnish and not a Russian postage stamp.

The czar angrily declared that henceforth none but Russian postage stamps should be used throughout Finland. Soon afterwards he put the threat into execution.

When the most effectual means are sought to assimilate one nation with another, the method usually chosen is to stamp out the language of the subject nation. This the czar is attempting to do in Finland.

The teaching of the Russian language has been made compulsory in the Finnish schools, and within four years it is intended that all subjects of instruction shall be taught in Russian, and that no schoolbooks except those in the Russian tongue shall be used in Finland.

—Selected.