CZECHO-SLOVAKS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10284, 20 May 1919, Page 6

CZECHO-SLOVAKS

PEACE CONGRESS ONE OF EUROPEAN TERRITORIAL CLAIMS. (From R. Riley, Official Journalist.) PARIS, March- 19. In the crashing downfall' of great European Powers and tho emancipation of small nations, the emergence of the Czecho-Slovaks from tyranny is an historical romance. Less than four years ago Czecho-Slo-vakian exiles in the various Allied countries, encouraged by their knowledge of the aims and ideals of the Allies against tho Central Powers, inspired the movement in their cradleland towards the formation of an inde„pendent Czecho-Slovak State, and the restoration of the smothered but unsubdued nationhood of the people of old Bohemia, Mora via, Austrian Silesia, and Slovakia. In a little over two years they had succeeded, with tho help of the Allies, in setting up a central Government and a strong political organisation, and also in putting three armies in the field. Tho story of their emancipation from over 300 years of servitude and vicissitudes, which almost led to the extermination of the nation, Is of universal interest, for it shows that true national sentiment and love of country and freedom cannot be suppressed and must in the end overcome tyVanny. The claims of the Czecho-Slovaks ■Were submitted to the Council of the Allied and associated Powers by "Dt Karl Kramartz, Prime Minister of the Czecho-Slovak Government, who»e whole public life has been devoted to the cause of Bohemian liberty (ho was "condemned to death early in the war by an Austrian Court, but was subsequently reprieved and released), and by Dr Benes. Foreijrn Minister of the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, formerly t brilliant pupil of Professor Masarvfc, law President of the 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 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 were the principles of the Allied nations: they "had risen against a mediaeval dynastjr backed by bureaucracy and brutal militarism. The nation had not hesitated to sids with the Allies in the interest* of democracy. It had plunged into the great struggle without asking for guarantees or weighing the cEances awj rewards of success-.

The nation's history was recounted with dignified simplicity. Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia had be»n one State from the sixth century, aad Czech independence had lasted until 1747, when it ceased to hare practical significance. Tyranny and misrule had fomented rebellion, and rebellion has intensified tyranny. The nation tad been three tiroes overwhelmed by superior numbers of the German peoples. After the battle of the White Mountain in the sevententh century, the Czech people had practically ceased to exist. A flicker of reanimation had been kindled by the French Kevolu- ' "tiori, but it had never reached the intensity of a fire. But throughout the ' centuries the heat and guiding passion of .nationhood had never cooled, and the fountainhead of national inspiration was the history of the nation. After explaining the exposed situation of Czecho-Slovakia, the representatives of the new Republic urged the necessity for the adjustment of frontiers in order to resist the flood ' of -German invasion and aggression. The .first territorial claim was to Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, which formed a geographical and ethnological whole, notwithstanding the presence of a German population representing the result of centuries of in- . filtration and colonisation. But the best argument was on economic rights. Bohemia was by far the strongest in- ' diistrial portion of Austria-Hungary. 'The "majority of the workers 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, in Slovakia and the incorporation ot the Ruthenes of Hungary, in order to obtain territorial connection with Roumania; also connection with the Jugo-Slavs.

In addition to these and minor territorial claims, the Czecho-Slovak delegates asked for the - internationalisation of the Elbe. Danube, and the Vistula, as well as of the following railrays :—Preesburg-Trieste, PreesDurgFiume, and the Prague-Nurnoerg-Btrassbnrg. All the claims were referred to a special commission for consideration jnd report to the Council of the Allied Powers, whose final decision will be Incorporated in the final Peace Treaty.