THE ROMANCE OF THE CZECHOSLOVAKS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 204, 23 May 1919, Page 7

THE ROMANCE OF THE CZECHOSLOVAKS

(From Mr. E. Eiley, Official Journalist with the New Zealand Peace Delegation.) T , ' Paris, March 19. In the crashing downfall of great European Powers and the emancipation of small nations, tho emergence of tho Czecho-Slovaks from tyranny is an historical romance. Less than four years ago Czecho-Sloyakian exiles in tho various Allied countries, encouraged by their knowledge of tho\aims and ideals of the Allies against the Central Powers, inspired the movement in their cradleland towards the formation- of an independent Czechoslovak State, and the restoration of the smothered but unsubdued nationhood of the people of old Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian Silesia, and Slovakia, In a little over two years they had succeeded, with Hie help of the Allies, jn setting up a central Government and, a strong political organisation, an! also in putting three armies in the field. The story of their emancipation from over 300 years of servitude and vicissitudes which almost led to the extermination of tho nation, is of universal interest, for it shows that true national sentiment aud love of country and freedom cannot be suppressed and must in the end overcome tyranny. " The claims of the Czecho-Slovaks were submitted to the Council of the Allied nnd Associated Powers by Dr. Karl Kraniartz, Prime Minister'of the Czechoslovak Government, whose whole public hfo has been devoted to the cause of Bohemian liberty (he v-as condemned to death early in the war by an Austrian Court, but was subsequently reprieved and released), and by Dx. Benes. Foreign Minister of the new Czecho-Slovok Republic, formerly a brilliant pupil of Professor Masaryk, now President of tho Republic, and a prominent leader in the movement for the establishment, of the' Czecho-Slovak National Council. They based their claims on the principles of justice—the principles of the Peace Conference. All that the Czecho-Slovak nation wanted, it was explained in detail, was the right and freedom to control its own destiny. Their principles wero the principles of the Allied nations; they had risen against a mediaeval dynasty backed by bureaucracy, and brutal militarism. Tho nation had not hesitated to side with the Allies in - the interests of democracy. It had plunged into the great struggle without asking for guarantees or weighing tho chances and rewards of success. :

The Nation's history was recounted with dignified simplify, Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia had been one State from tlio sixth century, and Czech independence had lasted until. 1747, wheii it ceased to hare practical significance. Tyrauuy and misrule'had fomented rebellion, and rebellion had ' intensified tyranny. The nation had been three times , overwhelmed by .superior numbers of the German peoples.. After the battle of the White Mountain in the seventeenth century the Czech people had practically ceused to exist. ,A Sicker of reaniumtio.'i had been kindled by the French Revolution, but it had never reached ,the, intensity of a fire. But through thp centuries the heat and guiding passion of nationhood had never cooled, and the fountainhead of nntiomil inspiration was the history of the nation. ' I After explaining the exposed situation of Czecho-Slovakia the representatives of the new Republic urged the necessity foi the adjustment of frontiers in order-to resist the flood of German invasion and aggression. The first territorial claim waa to Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, which formed a geographical and ethnological whole, notwithstanding Iho presence of a German population repre-' sentiux the result of centuries of. infiltration and -colonisation. Hut the best argument was on econoniic rights. Bohemia was by far the strongest indus. (vial portion of Austria-Hungary. The majority of the worker.? were Czech, though most of the employers were German. It was intended to grant to the German-Bohemians full minority rights.

frontier rectifications were claimed in Prussian Silesia, in Lower Austria, hi Slovakia, and the incorporation of tlie "Rulhtnes of Hungary in order to obtain territorial connection with Rumania; also connection with the Jngo-Slnvs. In addition to these and minor 'territorial claims (lie Czccho-Slovak delegates asked for the internationajisation of the Elbe, Danube, and the Vistula, as well- as. of the following railways-. PreesburgTriest, Prcssburg-Fiume, and > Prague-Nnrnberg-Strnssburg. All the claims were referred to a Special Commission for consideration (ind report to the Council of the Allied Powers, whose final decision will bo (and has since been) incorporated in the final Pence Treaty.