desire to be free. They
have had several opportunities to manifest their wish in a more
peaceful and regular manner. Thus, the Central Rada, which represented
all classes of Ukrainians, and included in addition representatives of
the various non-Ukrainian nationalities in the land, proclaimed
Ukraine's independence in 1917. When, in December of the same year, the
Bolshevik propagandists questioned the representative character of the
Central Rada, a general congress of the workers and peasants of Ukraine
was called, and this congress, chosen after the Bolshevik method, made
haste to affirm its support of the Central Rada by a vote of 2,000 to
70. There was also in 1917 a formal election of deputies to the
All-Russian Constituent Assembly. Ukraine elected 230 deputies in all.
Of those, 75% or 175 members, were Ukrainian nationalists.

After the overthrow of the pro-German Hetman Skoropadsky in 1918, and
assumption of authority by the Directorate, even the Ukrainian
communists declared themselves in favor of a free Ukraine and protested
to the Russian Soviet Government against its proposed invasion. Their
protest went unheeded, and when the Russian Bolsheviki occupied Kiev
and endeavored to impose their system upon Ukraine, they found no
Ukrainians who were willing to co-operate with them. The result was a
so-called "Ukrainian Soviet Government," which is in reality anything
but Ukrainian. The head is a Roumanian, Rakovsky, and the regime is
nothing but a local agency of the Moscow government.

It is noteworthy that the Government of the Ukrainian People's
Republic, headed by General Petlura, which I have the honor to
represent, is the only government which the Ukrainian people have been
willing to support. On the other hand, they have revolted against all
foreign invaders who have attempted to impose their own rule upon the
Ukrainians. The Germans, the Bolsheviki and the forces of General
Denikin all met with vigorous resistance. If now the Polish forces are
in Ukraine and the population does not oppose them, it is because the
Poles are acting in conjunction with the Ukrainian forces under
Petlura, as their allies.

It is also necessary to consider the opinion entertained in some
circles that an independent Ukraine must inevitably fall under the
influence of Germany and become a German outpost in eastern Europe. The
reason generally advanced as a basis for this suspicion is that Ukraine
concluded a separate peace with