Page:America in the Struggle for Czechoslovak Independence (1926).pdf/88

RV 84

the legal basis of the Czech revolution in 1915.

“De facto the Bohemians lost their independence, de jure they still have it, and are now demanding something of which they were illegally deprived. Just as no one can be legally deprived of his property by force and violence and without due process of law, just so the Czechs retain their legal title to independence.”

The soundness of the Bohemian claim is also proven by the agreement between Austria and Hungary as to the government of the latter country. The Magyars have asserted the right of Hungary to be considered as a country independent of Austria, and this view has been practically acquiesced in by Austria.

But Hungary and Bohemia came under Hapsburg rule at the same time and in the same manner, and there can be no legal difference between the relations between Austria and Bohemia, and those between Austria and Hungary. This has been recognized and admitted by the fair-minded and liberty-loving faction among the Magyars. In a letter to Mr. Helfi, editor of the Magyar paper Magyar Ujszag, dated November 8, 1871, Louis Kossuth made the following statement:

“Between the legal titles which form the foundation of the right of the dynasty to the throne in Hungary and Bohemia there is not merely an analogy, but a complete identity. That is true of their origin and time, method, conditions and principles, as well as their literal wording. The Bohemian land is not