those
territories would have to become the slaves of Prussia as did
the inhabitants of Belgium and Northern France. Prussians of
Russia paid the agitators to talk about peace without indemnities.
Germany, since the first days of the war, has been taking
indemnities not only in money, but in property and in labour from
the conquered countries. Belgium alone has been compelled to pay
a tribute of forty-million francs a month (lately sixty million)
to her conquerors and vast sums have been exacted from Lille and
other conquered cities. Property, including machinery, has been
seized and transported to Germany in the effort, not only to
obtain a temporary advantage, but to destroy forever factories
that compete with German manufacturers.

Especially do the German autocrats hope to obtain the so-called
Baltic provinces as a spoil of war. Of Courland, Livonia and
Esthonia now largely occupied by the German invaders, Courland
and Livonia were originally possessions of the Teutonic Knights,
then became a part of Poland and finally passed to Russia. The
three provinces were governed semi-independently, until 1876,
when they became in all respects an integral part of the Russian
Empire. The land in the provinces is held by great landowners,
mostly of German blood--and the mass of the population belongs to
the Lutheran Church. The peasants have been kept down by the
lords of the soil, whose sympathies turn to Germany.

In 1913-1914 I met in Berlin several landlords from these
provinces who acted in Berlin and were treated in Berlin like
Germans, although subjects of the Russian Czar. So backward were
these provinces in liberty under their German landlords that it
was not until 1848 that the infamous "right of the lord" (_droit
du Seigneur_ or _Jus primae noctae_) was abolished.

What Tannenberg has to say about Courland, Livonia and Esthonia
is well worth studying. He writes:

"The most precious portions for us of the Russian
heritage are the German Baltic provinces,
Courland, Livonia, Esthonia.

"To the north in Esthonia and in the northern part
of Livonia live the Esthonians. In the South, the
Livonians of the Lithuanian branch. Esthonians and
Livonians are Lutherans and form the principal
part of the population. There are 250,000 Germans.
But the civilisation is German and gives to the
whole country a German stamp. In the rural
districts, the great landlords, the