By Grand Duke Nicholas, Generalissimo of the Russian Forces, St.
Petersburg, Aug. 15.
Poles: The hour has sounded when the sacred dream of your fathers
and your grandfathers may be realized. A century and a half has
passed since the living body of Poland was torn in pieces, but the
soul of the country is not dead. It continues to live, inspired by
the hope that there will come for the Polish people an hour of
resurrection, and of fraternal reconciliation with Great Russia.
The Russian Army brings you the solemn news of this reconciliation
which obliterates the frontiers dividing the Polish peoples, which
it unites conjointly under the sceptre of the Russian Czar. Under
this sceptre Poland will be born again, free in her religion and
her language. Russian autonomy only expects from you the same
respect for the rights of those nationalities to which history has
bound you. With open heart and brotherly hand Great Russia advances
to meet you. She believes that the sword, with which she struck
down her enemies at Grünwald, is not yet rusted. From the shores of
the Pacific to the North Sea the Russian armies are marching. The
dawn of a new life is beginning for you, and in this glorious dawn
is seen the sign of the cross, the symbol of suffering and of the
resurrection of peoples.
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