"Inexpressibly Pleased”—New State is Created on Siamese Notepaper

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 648, 27 April 1929, Page 22

"Inexpressibly Pleased” —New State is Created on Siamese Notepaper

O whatana O whatana O whatana Siam O what an ass l am! — Schoolboys’ Anthem for Siam. HTJITE recently the venerable and sagacious ministers of his Majesty King Prajadhipok of Siam sat in conclave over a large official letter which had reached them from remote, outlandish Europe. Everything seemed to be in order, and the letter —on stiffest crackliest paper with a large cerise seal—asked nothing more than that the Royal Siamese Government should recognise the new Republic of Slovakia, declared just to have been successfully proclaimed. Well, why not recognise Slovakia?

The first President of Slovakia seemed to be a Professor Milialusz, at least he had signed the super-crisp letter. What more natural? Even Siamese know that the President of Czechoslovakia, is Professor Masaryk. Obviously Slovakia must have seceded from Czecho, and of course the secessionists had chosen another professor as their President. The capitol of the new State appeared to be Treucsen, and why not? The whole thing seemed so natural to the statesmen of drowsy Bangkok thftt they thought it superfluous to drop a cable query Europeward.

Very recently the postmaster of Trencsen, a town in the Slovak section of Czechoslovakia, carried to the local mayor in some alarm a tremendous letter from Siam, emblazoned with the royal arms and addressed to his Excellency the President of Slovakia, Professor Milialusz. Whatcould this mean? Startled, the mayor ripped open the envelope, grew popeyed as he read. With all the pomp and felicity of Oriental diplomacy, his Majesty King Prajadhipok declared

himself graciously and inexpressibly pleased to accord full recognition de facto and dc jure to the Sovereign Republic of Slovakia. There is, of course, no such State. Recovering his startled wits, the mayor of Trencsen drafted with much thought a letter to Bangkok. About a year ago, he explained, some Slovaks held a mass meeting and issued a “Declaration of Slovak Independence.” The whole thing was quite harmless and academic, easily suppressed by the police. In fact the

ringleader was just an old botanist of some slight renown, Professor Mihalusz. Scared pink as a geranium by the first police warning, Botanist Mihalusz fled Trencsen for parts unknown—some say Vienna. He must have written the letter which won Slovakia recognition—from Siam.