58 



BALTIC QUESTION. 



In 1835 he returned to London, accompanied 

 by his wife, who had been Mademoiselle Lina 

 Rezer, prima donna of the troupe in Sicily. 

 lie sang at the Ancient and Philharmonic con- 

 certs, and also appeared at Drury Lane in the 

 " Siege of Eochelle," one of his earliest operas, 

 " The Jewess," and other pieces. His "Maid 

 of Artois " was written for Malibran, and the 

 great cantatrice won in it one of her chief 

 successes. In 1839 he undertook the manage- 

 ment of the English Opera House, but the en- 

 terprise was unsuccessful, and he abandoned 

 it lor the more congenial and profitable work 

 of composition. Within the next few years 

 he produced, in rapid succession, "Joan of 

 Arc," 'The Bohemian Girl (his most popular 

 opera in England and America), " Rose of Cas- 

 tile," "Catherine Grey," "The Enchantress," 

 "The Maid of Honor," "Satanella," "The 

 Daughter of St. Mark," "The Bondman," 

 "The Puritan's Daughter," "Blanche de 

 Nevers," and other operas of less note. "The 

 Daughter of St. Mark" ran at Drury Lane 

 Theatre for one hundred nights. Many of 

 these operas were performed successfully in this 

 country, but Balfe's music was most popular in 

 Germany, where it produced a great effect. 



BALTIC QUESTION. The three prov- 

 inces of Esthonia, Livonia and Cpurland, which 

 are situated on the Baltic, are commonly 

 called the " Baltic provinces" of Russia. Since 

 the introduction of Christianity in the twelfth 

 century, German influence has been in the 

 ascendency in these provinces, although the 

 majority of the native population have never 

 become Germanized. The constitution of the 

 provinces, as sanctioned by the Government 

 of Russia, recognizes and guarantees the Ger- 

 man character of the administration. Of late, 

 the Russian Government, in view of the im- 

 portance which the nationality principle has 

 gained in the international relations of "the 

 European states, has made great and often 

 violent exertions to undermine the influence of 

 the German element, and to hasten the com- 

 plete Russification of the provinces. These 

 efforts are strenuously opposed by the German 

 population, and their resistance begins to 

 awaken the warmest sympathy among the 

 people of Germany. Thus the Baltic provinces 

 have become an apple of discord between the 

 Russians and Germans, and the "Baltic ques- 

 tion," or the question of the ultimate fate of 

 the Baltic provinces, constitutes one of the dif- 

 ficult European problems which either diplo- 

 macy or the sword will have to solve, before 

 the reconstruction of Europe on a solid and 

 lasting basis can be completed. 



The original inhabitants of these provinces, 

 the Esthonians, Livonians, and Lets, who con- 

 stitute the majority of the population, belong 

 to the race of the Finns ; in Livonia, however, 

 there are some Lets who are akin to the Slavic 

 Lithuanians. Up to the-invasion of Russia by 

 the Mongols, the provinces are said to have 

 been tributary to the Russians. In the twelfth 



century, a lively commercial intercourse sprang 

 up between them and the Hanse towns, which 

 was followed by the establishment of a number 

 of German settlements, and the introduction 

 of Christianity. The order of Teutonic Knights, 

 from being missionaries (from 1237), soon be- 

 came the conquerors of the provinces, which 

 from this time until 1561 constituted the state 

 of Livonia. Then the rule of the order became 

 untenable ; Livonia and Courland were incor- 

 porated with Poland, and Esthonia became a 

 dependency of Sweden. Gotthard Kettlcr, the 

 last High-Master of the Order, received Cour- 

 land (and Semgallen) as a secular grand-duchy 

 in fief from Sweden; one of his descendants 

 married the Empress Anna of Russia, who, after 

 his death, caused, in 1737, the election of her 

 favorite, the Courland Count Biron, as duke. 

 A son of Biron reigned until 1795, when, at 

 the third partition of Poland, Courland was 

 united with Russia. Livonia was, in 1660, by 

 the Peace of Oliva, ceded by Poland to Sweden; 

 but in the Nordish War it was conquered, to- 

 gether with Esthonia and Ingermannland, by 

 Peter the Great, who thus opened to his em- 

 pire the Baltic Sea. 



During the rule of the Teutonic Order over 

 the Baltic provinces, the German element had 

 become predominant. German civilization 

 spread throughout the territory, but simul- 

 taneously with it spread the feudal system, in 

 virtue of which the conquered Esthonians 

 and Lets became serfs. The German nobility, 

 still counting over 20,000 members, possessed 

 the privilege of owning landed property, and 

 of controlling certain courts. The Germans 

 also became predominant in the towns of Re- 

 vel, Riga, Dorpat, Libau, and others, and a 

 marked difference was established with regard 

 to legal position between German and non- 

 German citizens, between privileged and non- 

 privileged classes. In the Diets, the jurisdiction 

 of which extended as well "to the rights, inter- 

 ests, and institutions of the nobility, as to the 

 well-being of the whole country," only the no- 

 bility was represented ; of the towns, only the 

 town of Riga had a representative in the Diet of 

 Livonia. The provinces have their own law, 

 which is closely related to that of Germany, 

 and their institutions have repeatedly been 

 sanctioned by the Russian Emperor as well as 

 by their former rulers, the Poles and the 

 Swedes. Thus Peter the Great, on September 

 30, 1710, promised to maintain the Primlegium 

 Sigismundi Avgusti, according to which a Ger- 

 man administration was to be preserved in the 

 country. The same promise was repeated by 

 all the following Czars, and even Alexander 

 II., on February 17, 1856, engaged to leave the 

 nobility undisturbed in possession of those 

 rights which they heM in virtue of the ukases 

 of his predecessors. These rights include Ger- 

 man government, German law, and German 

 administration. 



Soon after 1840 the first serious effort was 

 made to prepare the way for the Russification 



