But, while the Tsarist regime, unable to denationalize a homogeneous population of a different religion and language, initially conceded a minimum of rights to the Polish nation, in Lithuania proper from the outset an unrelenting system of tyranny was established which was designed to break by force every non-Russian element in the country.
The four centres of Polish literature, which, in spite of the attempts which have been made to denationalize the country, is fairly active, are Cracow, Posen, Lemberg and Warsaw.