Catherine of Russia. The last partition of Poland was in the
year 1795.

Posen, at one time one of the capitals of the old kingdom of
Poland, is the intellectual centre of that part of Poland which has
been incorporated into Prussia. For years Prussia has alternately
cajoled and oppressed the Poles, and has made every endeavour to
replace the Polish inhabitants with German colonists. A commission
has been established which buys estates from Poles and sells
them to Germans. This commission has the power of condemning
the lands of Poles, taking these lands from them by force,
compensating them at a rate determined by the commission and
settling Germans on the lands so seized. This commission has
its headquarters in Posen. The result has not been successful.
All the country side surrounding Posen and the city itself are
divided into two factions. By going to one hotel or the other
you announce that you are pro-German or pro-Polish. Poles will
not deal in shops kept by Germans or in shops unless the signs
are in Polish.

The sons of Germans who have settled in Poland under the protection
of the commission often marry Polish women. The invariable result
of these mixed marriages is that the children are Catholics and
Poles. Polish deputies voting as Poles sit in the Prussian
legislature and in the Reichstag, and if a portion of the old
Kingdom of Poland is made a separate country at the end of this
war, it will have the effect of making the Poles in Prussia more
restless and more aggressive than ever.

In order to win the sympathies of the Poles, the Emperor caused