new premier, M. Slezevicius, widening the Cabinet on coalition lines. Prof. Voldemar, whom the precarious situation of the country and the approaching Peace Conference called to Paris, served as Foreign. Minister, M. Yeas as Finance Minister, M. Velykis as Minister of War. In Jan. 1919 the near approach of the Bolsheviks to Vilna caused the removal of the Govern- ment to Kovno. Owing to this menace of the enemy and dis- j putes over very urgent questions the Provisional National ! Assembly was elected with difficulty, but in session at Kaunas (Kovno) from Jan. 16-23 1919 it recognized the Council of State (" Taryba ") and the Slezevicius Cabinet as the regular Government of Lithuania, which had the confidence of the country. Thereupon, although large stretches of territory were still in enemy occupation; the Taryba voted the provisional constitution, elected A. Smetona President of the State, and composed the statute for the election of the Constituent As- sembly by universal, equal, direct and secret franchise accord- ing to a proportional system basel on d'Hondt's distributive principle which contains elaborate safeguards against the tyranny of the majority. Despite the most painful conditions, national defence began to be organized at first in the form of volunteers and afterwards by regular troops. Under these circumstances the Bolshevist advance reached its culminating point in May 1919, when the Soviet armies occupied Telshi and Shavli in the north and Olita in the south, thus threaten- ing Kovno itself. Until Sept. 1919 fighting took place against the Bolshevist forces, which were successfully cleared out of the northern districts of the country, and until Dec. of that year against the so-called Bermondt troops, and sporadically all through 1920 against Polish units. The Constituent Assembly, or " Seimas," composed of 112 members, met on May 15 1920. The President of the State, the National Council and the Cabinet resigned, and, all power passing to the assembly, the provisional Government give way to the permanent Government.
Meanwhile the Polish Government's proposal for joint action against the Bolsheviks was rejected pending Lithuania's recogni- tion as an independent state with Vilna for its capital. The state of war with Soviet Russia, however, continued until the Peace Treaty of July 12 1920, whereunder the Lithuanian claim to Vilna and Grodno was recognized by the Bolsheviks and Lithuania received three million rubles in gold and 100,000 hectares of forest land for exploitation.
The Polish war against Soviet Russia continued. The initial victories of the Bolsheviks were followed by defeat and the victorious Poles, under the so-called " rebel " Gen. Zeligowski, on O:t. 9 1920 drove the Lithuanians out of Vilna, which they had temporarily occupied after the retreat of the Soviet armies.
This incident leading to an infor nal war between the Lithua- nians and Gen. Zeligowski 's so-called mutineers, the matter was taken up by the League of Nations, which strove to establish the fate of Vilna and other dispute 1 areas by means of a pleb- iscite. An armistice was concluded with effect from Nov. 30 1920.
In the beginning of March 1921, direct negotiation between Poland and Lithuania under the auspices of the League of Nations, to be followed by arbitration on unsettled points, was proposed in lieu of the plebiscite and agreed to by all parties.
The independence of Lithuania de facto was recognized by Sweden, Norway, England, Esthonia, Finland, France and Poland; de jure by Germany on March 23 1918, by Soviet Russia on July 12 1920, by Latvia and Esthonia in Feb. 1921 and by the Argentine Republic in March 1921.
Constitution. The provisional constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on June 2 1920 describes the State of Lithuania as a democratic republic, over which, until the final constitution is established, the president of the Con- stituent Assembly (A. Stulginskis) rules as temporary President, whose acts need to be countersigned by the premier.
Territorial Possessions. Ethnographical Lithuania (approximate- ly as defined in the Soviet Peace Treaty of July 12 1920) includes:
(1) The whole of the former Russian province of Kovno (20,260 sq. km. and 1,857,000 inhabitants);
(2) The province of Vilna, minus the districts of Disna and Vileika (29,818 sq. km. and 1,538,000 inhabitants);
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(3) Part of the province of Grodno north of the Niemen river and the narrow hinterland of Grodno city in the south (say 2,000 sq. km. and about 100,000 inhabitants) ;
(4) The province of Suvalki, minus the southern parts of the districts of Suvalki and Augustovo (Augustow) (10,000 sq. km. and 615,800 inhabitants) ;
(5) Parts of the former province of Courland between the old German frontier and the Holy Aa river, as also part of the district of Illuxt.
Including the Memel area, to which the people aspire as an outlet to the sea, it may be said that 4,295,000 souls inhabit ethnographical Lithuania. Of these only 1,844,000 residents of Kovno are fully under State control plus from 33 to 50% of the 615,000 persons in- habiting Suvalki province.
The remainder of the Suvalki population is under Polish gover-. nance, as also nearly the whole of the 1,471,000 persons inhabiting Vilna province and the 139,000 inhabiting Grodno province. la the Memel area 165,000 persons are under temporary French occu- pation ; in the Polangen district 3,000 under Lettish governance.' In the disputed Illuxt area 53,000 persons are also under Lettish rule. Thus not less than 1,143,500 subjects, or just one-half of the total, are temporarily or permanently not under the jurisdiction of the Lithuanian State.
Religion and Education. In the Vilna, Kovno and Suvalki prov-> inces Roman Catholics make up 75-2% of the population, Jews 12-5%, Orthodox 8-9% and Protestants and Calvinists 3-5%. Elementary school education (4 years' teaching) is not yet com- pulsory. There is a higher training course, but as yet no university; Secondary schools are few, one foreign language being compulsory; The official language being Lithuanian, Russian is almost universally understood. Polish, Yiddish and German are widely spoken. ;
Economics. In the provinces of Vilna, Kovno and Suvalki 7i-4% of the population belong to the rural class, industry and commerce absorbing 12-8 %. Of the 82,000 sq. km. in question before the war* 40 % belonged to the large estate owners, 10 % to the Government and the churches, 50% to the farmers. Of the last-named class 30%* owned less than 3 hectares, 60% from 10-50 hectares, 3 % from 3-10 hectares, i% from 50-100 hectares, while 17% of all the villagers were landless. An agricultural reform initiated by the provisional- Government aims at the distribution of the fallow lands of the- large estates and the better exploitation of the land. _ >
Agriculture. Lithuania is essentially an agricultural country in which the soil is richest in the old Kovno Government, north of Suvalki and north-west of Vilna. Grain of all kinds (chiefly rye), 1 clover and potatoes are grown. Flax is mainly grown in the north- ern districts of Kiejdani, Shavli, Ponevyez and Rakishki.
In 1920 the territory administered by the Lithuanian Govern- ment (5,200,000 hectares out of 8,500,000 hectares) yielded:
Rye . Wheat Barley Oats . Potatoes Peas . Flax seed Harl .
10,000,000 cwt.
1,500,000
3,000,000
5,000,000 20,000,000
1,200,000
700,000 730,000
As regards live-stock raising there were in 1920 in the same area: ,
Horses 380,000
Cattle 865,000
Sheep and Goats . 73> oo
Swine 1,400,000
Forests. Twenty-five per cent of the whole extent of Lithuanian; territory is covered by forests, 80 % of which consist of needle-bearing; and 20% of leaf-bearing trees. The country is thickly wooded (the areas under timber comprising some 25-5% of the whole against 35 % fifty years ago). The most heavily wooded districts are in the southern and eastern parts (fir, pine, birch, aspen, alder and oak).. Sixty per cent of the present output of timber being needed for in-, ternal consumption, about 200,000 festmetres are available annually for export. Coal has not been found, but peat may be exploited under favourable economic conditions.
Manufactures. In 1913 there were 5,140 industrial establish- ments in Lithuania with 33,000 workmen and a yearly productive value of 62 million Russian (gold) rubles. During the war the larger industrial establishments were destroyed.
Exports and Imports. In 1920 were exported farm products,! live stock, fowls, timber and flax valued at 501,797,000 marks, and imported foreign products and machines at 428,728,000 marks.
Lithuania requires primarily manufactured fertilizers and agricul- tural machinery and salt, sugar, herrings, manufactured articles, etc.
Towns. The towns in order of importance are in political Lith- uania: Kovno (Kaunas) with about 60,000 inhabitants, Ponevyez. with 20,000, Shavli (Siauliai) with 8,146, Vilkomierz with 8,000. The ethnographical claim in its extreme form would include Vilna. (Vilnius) with about 170,000 inhabitants, Grodno (Gardinas) with 61,000, Memel (Klaipeda) with 32,000, Suvalki with 31,600.
Roads. The only first-class roads are: Kovno-^Vilkomierz- Dvinsk; Kpvno-Mariampol-Suvalki ; Mitau-Shavli-Tilsit. Roads
