God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. 2. 1795 to the Present

EDUCATION AND THE CULTURAL HERITAGE 171

Map 6. Polish Schools in the Russian Empire, (1822)

in large measure against the Church, which suspected them of secular if not of
libertarian attitudes, against the widespread indifference of the 'respectable'
population, and against the rival missionaries of other national movements
operating on the same ground. They had their own special view of reality, in
which the existing Empires, with ail their pomp, institutions, frontiers, and false
loyalties, were little more than a superficial imposition on the eternal Polish land
and people, waiting to be free. They drew their strength from secret Polish