THE ROMANCE OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 1682, 31 May 1919, Page 8

THE ROMANCE OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS.

(From Mr R, Riley, Official Journalist wifcn the .New'uGaiuud i>d.eg&uonj.

• PARIS, May 19.In ths crashing downfall, 01 great European i'oii'er.-, and. the eiiiancipai/ion of sma.il nations, tlie emergence of ihe Czemo-cSlovaks irom tyranny is an Historical romana3. Less tliu:a four years ago . Czecfao-aiovakiau esc.ies iii tlie various Ajlied countries, encouraged by their knowledge of the aims and icLfas of the Allies against the CoU'tra! Powers, inspired tile movement hi their cradleland towards the formation of an independent 'Czecho-Si.ovak Stabs, aaid ilie restoration of the smothered birfe unsubdued nationliood of the people of old Bohemia,' Moravia, Austrian S-lesia, and Slovakia, Iu a little ovor two years they had succeeded, with the help of. the Allies, in setting up a eentr.il Government and -a strong political organisation, and also in putting three arm.es in the field. • The story of their emancipation from over 300 yfars of servitude and vicissitudes which almost led to tne externnmuio-i or uie is of universad interest, for it snows that true national sentiment and love oi country and freedom" canrtoc be suppressed and must in .tlie end overcome tyranny. _ .

The claims of the ', Czecho-Slovaks were submitted to tee Council of this Allied and Associated Borers, by Dr Karl Kramartz, Prime Minister bf the Lzecho-Slova-k Government whose whole public iife had been,' ..devoured to the cause of Bohem,ian' (he was condemued to death, in the war. by an Austrian Courtf'but was subsequently reprieved"■ and . released), and by Dr Benes, Foreign .Minister of the n6w Caecho-Slovak .E/-ptiblity, formerly 'a brilliant pupil of Professor Masaryk, now President of the Republic, a;hd a prominent leader in tlie movement for the establish merit of ,the Czecho-Slovak National Council. They basr<d their claims on the principles of justice—the principles of the. Peace Conference. All that the Czecho-Slovak tuition wanted it was explained, in ' detail, was the right and freedom to control its own destiny. Their principles were tho pr.nclpl'es of the Allied nations; they had risen & gainst a mediaeval dynasty backed by bureaucracy 1 and: brutal mi.itarism. . ,The. nation had not hesitated to side w:tli the Allies in, the interests- of democracy. It had plunged, l into the great, -truggl© without asking for guarantees or weighing .the chances and rewards of success. The Nation's, history, was recounted with dignified'' simplicity, Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia had been one State from the sixth century,. and Czech independence had lasted until 1747, when it ceased to have practical significance. Tyranny 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 WhiteMountain in the seventeenth century the Czech people had practically ceased to exist. A flicker of reanimation had been kindled by the French Revolution, but it had never reached the intensity of a fire. But through the centuries the heat and guiding passion of nationhood had never cooled, and the fountainhead of national inspiration was the history ofi the nation. - After, explaining the exposed situation of Czecho-Slovakia the representatives of the new , Republic urged the necessity for- the adjustment of frontiers iu 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 infiltration and colonisation. But the best argument was on economic rights. Bohemia was by far the strongest industrial 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 GermanBohemians full minority rights. Frontier rectifications were claimed in Prussian Silesia, in Lower Austria-, in Slovakia, and the incorporation of the Ruthenes of Hungary in order to obtain territorial connection with Roumania ; also connection with the Jugoslavs. 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 railways: Pressbiirg-Triest. PressburgFiume, and Prague-Nurnberg-Strass-burg. All the claims ivere referred to a. Special Commission for consideration and report to the Council of the Allied Powers, whose final decision will be (and has since been) incorporated in the final Peace Treaty,