BALTIC TWO TALES OF INDEPENDENCE : In 1776, the Imperialist Power Also Made Demands : King George III had nothing on Mikhail Gorbachev, who’s setting the same kind of unbearable conditions.

And the government in London sent word to George Washington:

“Of course you can secede from the British Empire. But it must be done in an orderly and lawful manner, and we are the ones who make the law.

“Your committees and your Congress count for nothing. They do not speak for most of your people, and if they do, then your people are just too emotional. There must be a referendum, and we will run it. The Redcoats will take control of printing presses, your youth will be pressed into service, and we can disband any organization that advocates secession. We will write the text of the referendum question. Something like: Are you for Christianity and the British Empire? And we will determine who is a permanent resident qualified to participate. Redcoats and Hessians obviously qualify. With such help, the loyalists probably will get a shade more than one-third of the vote. If so, then we will declare the matter closed; let the majority who favor independence of the Thirteen Colonies shut up forever.

“But even if you should make the two-thirds mark, that does not mean that independence is yours. The matter must then be approved by the Royal Soviet--oops: Council--in London. Approved by what majority? By whatever it takes to block it.”

Of course, there are differences between the American Colonies of 1776 and the Baltic states of 1990. The Colonies never were independent, not even for 20 years, and they were not occupied by the British army in the wake of a deal with the Ottoman Empire. One-tenth of the American colonists were not subsequently deported to Australia. The Baltic nations did suffer a crushing of their independence and consider themselves illegally occupied countries. They did suffer genocidal deportations, which made room for those Russian colonists whose minority vote now is designed to thwart the will of the native majority.

Within the Soviet Disunion, the talk of a genuine federation remains what it has been for 70 years: talk. From the time “economic autonomy” officially started in January, Moscow has told Estonia that it cannot raise its tobacco taxes to pay better salaries to teachers. All local savings accounts have been transferred to Moscow, and Estonia’s limited leeway in dealing with Finnish banks has been further reduced. Under the label of “economic autonomy,” centralization actually has been reinforced in many essential aspects.

The Baltic nations see no reason to be part of a disunion that is akin not to the United Europe of the future but to the discredited empires of the past.

Mikhail Gorbachev is not looking for a face-saving compromise but for complete capitulation of the Baltic nations. Moscow is emotionally attached to the idea of empire. The goal of the recent legislation is not to slow down the move toward restoring Baltic independence but to block it permanently. Regardless of the Baltic wishes and the world opinion, the Soviet military can handle it. Whether the Soviet economy can is another matter.