However, it is not necessary for us to be more passionately5 patriotic6 and political than these champagne counts, and we must attempt to secure something of the street scenes without becoming involved too deeply in political problems.
[Pg 18]
Whenever I come to a town I ask myself, Why was it built here and not elsewhere? With the help of a little imagination one can understand even to-day how Warsaw came into existence. It was at the head of a bridge. The word "Warsaw" is believed to be derived7 from the word "Warszain" (on the height). So the city lies at a height of about forty metres on the bank of the Vistula, fully8 half a kilometre wide at this place. An elevation9 of forty metres on the immediate10 bank of a broad stream offered, at the time of its foundation in the twelfth century, a natural fortification, and the merchants who came up from the sea to sell their wares11 to the semi-barbarous inhabitants of the plain may have found perhaps on this height a frequent protection from the attacks of the plainsmen. Later the fort became a city and culture and luxury made their appearance, offering to the tamed dwellers12 of the plains and to the landed proprietors13 from far and near the opportunity to squander14 the proceeds of their crops. The numerous churches did not fare badly in the days of penitence15 then.
To-day, Warsaw is still a fine city of broad streets paved with wooden blocks, with rows of stores on both sides, prominent among which are the richly equipped jewelry16 establishments. Carriage traffic is considerable, even though it cannot compare with that in St. Petersburg. Just now the main artery17 of the city, the Vistula, is closed. The stream is frozen almost over its entire width and ravens18 croak[Pg 19] on the snowy shoals. But within the city there pass unceasingly modestly neat cabriolets, fashionable cabs, and splendid private turnouts with Russian harness and servants. The buildings are of little interest. A few attempts in the Russian style, a few Polish shadings of quite modern secession architecture strike the foreigner, but the deepest impression is created by the feverish19 life on the streets and not by its ornamental20 frame-work. From this should be excepted the pleasure Villa21 Lazienki and its quaint22 park situated23 at the end of the avenue. Even snow and ice cannot banish24 the spirits that possess one in these gardens. It is a miniature Versailles. Here is a little castle within which is a picture-gallery of aristocratic beauties, statues, and portraits of King Stanislas Poniatowski represented mythologically25 as King Solomon entering Jerusalem; without are enchanting26 villas27 scattered28 throughout the park, in the centre of which is a little natural theatre built in the open of stone, and arranged like an amphitheatre, the stage separated from the rest by an arena29 of the wide lake, and constructed of Corinthian columns and palisade of bushes. Plays were given here in the times when the court and the "beauties" of the picture-gallery enjoyed nature and art together. The moon in the sky was one of the requisites30, and fireworks were burned for the relaxation31 of the high and most high lords. Meanwhile the kingdom hastened to its ruin; for a witty32, pleasure-loving court and an immoral33 [Pg 20]oligarchy together are beyond the endurance of one people, especially when it is surrounded by covetous34 neighbors. One hundred years of slavery and three ruthlessly suppressed revolutions are the historical penalty for the pleasures of Castle Lazienki. There and on the broad election plane the "Pole Elekcji Krolow," in the southern part of the town, where the "schlachtzitz" (lordling) could deposit his "liberum veto" for a couple of rubles or thalers, the kingdom was destroyed, and its resurrection is a pious35 wish the fulfilment of which even our grandchildren will not live to see.
I have no faith in a Polish kingdom. There may be a Polish revolution to-morrow, perhaps, when the Russians shall meet defeat in eastern Asia, as the Russian patriots36 hope, but a Polish kingdom there will never be. It is quite apparent how the influence of the times is changing the entire social structure of the people. No nation can maintain itself without a middle class, and Poland still has no middle class. The material for such a class, the strong Jewish population, has been so ground down that a half-century would not be sufficient for its restoration and the Russian régime of to-day is disposed to anything rather than to the uplifting and the education of the Polish Jewry. It is stated that there are in Warsaw a quarter of a million Jews, a few well-to-do people among them, who have hastened, for the most part, to transform themselves into "Poles of the Mosaic37 faith," without [Pg 21]disarming thereby38 the clerical anti-Semitism of the Polish people, and innumerable beggars or half-beggars, who are designated in western Europe as "schnorrer." And of these there are in Warsaw an unknown number. It is hard to draw the line between the "schnorrer" and the "Luftmensch" (a man without any certain source of income), who has not yet resigned himself to beggary, and yet cannot tell in the morning whence he is to draw his sustenance39 at noon. These include artisans, sweat-shop workers, agents, and go-betweens, a city proletariat of the very worst kind. I have seen no such shocking misery40 in the Jewish quarters on the Moldau as I encountered in the brilliant capital Warsaw. The Polish Jew, everywhere despised and unwelcome, is the wandering poverty-witness of Polish mismanagement. A system that succeeds in depraving the sober, pious, and sexually disciplined orthodox Jew to the extent observed in a portion of the Jewish Polish proletariat should be accorded recognition as the most useless system on the face of the earth. In the last analysis it was the Polish "schlachtzitz," and the Polish clerical going hand-in-hand with him, that constituted the prime cause of all the miseries41 of the nineteenth century.
And yet, to be just, one should compare this cheerless Polish-Jewish proletariat with its immediate environment—the Polish peasants and the common people. Here one would still find a plus of virtues42 on the Jewish side. The wretched Polish peasant[Pg 22] is not more cleanly than the Jew. On the contrary, he lives in the same room with his pig, and no ritual requirement compels him to wash his body at least once a week. The Jew, under his patched garment, is for the most part comparatively clean, only hopelessly stunted43 and emaciated44. The Jew does not drink, while his "master," the Pole, has a kindly45 disposition46 towards all sorts of spirituous liquors. Also, the modesty47 of the Jewish women has yielded but lately to the pressure of endless misery or the temptations of the cities, while of the higher classes of Polish and Russian society but little of an exemplary character has been told. And finally:
"Deutsche Redlichkeit suchst Du in allen Winkeln vergebens."
Goethe's verse applies not only to the Italians, for whom it was intended; it applies also to Poland and Russia, where less faith is attached to statements than is customary with us, and it applies, above all, to the merchant classes of all nations who are wont48 to make their living by overreaching their neighbors. There is a wide gulf49 between the development of commercial ethics50, as they are understood with us and in England, and the tricks and devices of petty trade no matter of what nation. But the Jew in Poland and in Russia has been and still is being driven, in great measure, into a class of wretched petty traders; and the law of the land forces back into the pale of settlement by drastic[Pg 23] regulations him who would escape from its cage and from an occupation of dubious51 ethics.
The Jewish section is the "partie Hortense" of the beautiful Polish capital; the Jewish misery is a shameful52 stain on Polish rule and its Nemesis53. All the five continents must have their misery and toil54, and they need a firm, all-embracing humanity to relieve them of this contagious55 wretchedness, this residue56 of centuries of depravity. But for Poland and Russia the humane57 solution of the Jewish question is simply a life-question.
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1
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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emancipate
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| v.解放，解除 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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mythologically
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| 神话的； 虚构的 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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covetous
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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41
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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42
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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50
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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51
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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52
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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53
nemesis
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| n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手 | |
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54
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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55
contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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56
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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57
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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