Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1917 — ONE-TIME PIRATES [ARTICLE]

ONE-TIME PIRATES

Esthonian Outrages Enkindled; Wrath of Danish Kings. Records Show They Were Regarded as a Daring, Predatory People of the Baltic. The Esthonlans, who constitute fourfifths of the population of the Russian Baltic province of Esthonia, which lies between Riga and Petrograd, are the subject of a bulletin issued by the National Geographic society from its Washington headquarters:.. “Like the Finns, to whom they are closely related, the Esthonians or Esths, a race numbering 1,000,000 people, more than 400,000 of whom reside in Esthonia, retain many characteristics which bespeak their Mongolian origin. They are long-armed and shortlegged, have broad face and low brows, are usually beardless and have oblique eyes.

“The first record of the Esths in Europe reveals them as a daring, predatory people of the Baltic whose piratic outrages enkindled the wrath of Danish kings as early as the twelfth century. In 1104 and 1196 Canute VI sent a strong expedition against them' and forced a number of the lawless bands to accept Christianity and allow themselves to be baptized. Hardly had the warlike proselyters left -the Esthonian shores, however, than the inhabitants reverted to barbarism and their heathen practices. A quarter of a century later Waldemar II was more successful. He subjugated the northern portion of the land and brought the inhabitants under submission to the Danish crown. It was never al willing submission, however, and for more than 100 years the inhabitants gave their conquerors endless trouble until 1343 Waldemar IV decided that they were ‘not worth the bother,’ so. he sold his Interest in the rebels and in their land to the Knights of the Sword, who were gradually spreading their net of power northward from Teutonic, lands. “For more than 500 years thereafter the lot of the Esthonians was virtually that of serfdom under their German landowners. “In the sixteenth century both the nobles and the fortified towns of Esthonia placed thenaselves under the protection of the Swedish crown, but they: were forced to acknowledge a new master after Peter the Great’s successful wars against Charles XII. “For the last thirty years the Russian imperial government has been making systematic efforts to abolish the Esthonian language, to which the people have clung tenaciously. Harsh regulations as to the use of the language In the schools have not served t« wean the people from their language, however. One characteristic which has served to preserve the Esth language through the centuries han been the people’s love for poetry, and they have rare natural gift for versi- • ficatlqn. “The Orthodox Greek church of RusSia also has conducted an active program in Esthonia, but according to the latest religious census 96 per cent of the Inhabitants are still Lutherans.”