Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/120



After him came the spokesman of the Poles, John Kasprowicz, professor of literature at the University of Lemberg, the eloquent poet of Polish democracy. He brought greetings from the entire Polish nation and assured the Czechs that the Polish and the Czechoslovak aspirations were closely united and would win.

The deputy Conci spoke for the oppressed Italian people of Austria and said:

For the Slovenians spoke Dr. Ivan Tavcar of Laibach; for the Croatians Dr. Stefan Srkulj, mayor of the capital city of Agram, and for the Serbians Vojislav Sola, vice-presidet of the dissolved Bosnian diet. The whole tone of the speeches of which, of course, the most radical parts have been eliminated by the censor, was in favor of a new Slav Triple Alliance: the Czechoslovak, Polish and Jugo-slav States free and independent in close alliance with western democracies and in full understanding with Roumania and Italy.

After the official celebration there were secret conferences of the spokesmen of the different races of Austria-Hungary and it was decided the publish a common Slav-Latin declaration setting forth the unshakable will of these races to accomplish a free national life on the basis of the right of each nation to settle its own destinies. The declaration condemns completely all treaties made between states, when they are not based upon the will of the peoples. The delegates whose names are appended to the declaration pledge themselves to act with energy and complete harmony for the realization of their aims, and in the name of their peoples promise each other full support. The text of the declaration has not yet reached beyond the boundaries of Austria, but the world has already heard by telegraph that during the celebration the people of Prague cheered for the Entente, for Clemenceau, Lloyd George and President Wilson, and that the police were powerless to stop the singing of the “Marseillaise”. “Masaryk’s shadow was present”, say the German papers. Not his shadow only, but his spirit—the spirit of the revolution, the consciousness that the Allies are with them, was what filled Prague during the May meetings.

The man who was condemned by the Austrian Government to death as traitor was cheered over and over again, and the monuments, the walls and sidewalks all over Prague were marked with gigantic inscriptions: “Hurrah for Masaryk! Hurrah for Kramář! Long Live the Entente!” The government went as far as it dared. The police tried to break up the crowds and a number were killed and wounded, and the jails were crowded. The foreign guests were all ordered to leave Prague at once, the “Národní Listy” was suppressed. All that will not change the fact that the Slavs and Latins of Austria-Hungary, under the leadership of the Czechs, are in open revolt against the monarchy and the dynasty. They are opposed to the German cause and they look for deliverance to the Allies.

Count V. Sternberg, a member of the so-called Bohemian or rather Austrian nobility, had an interview with Premier Seidler and was given a message by the premier to the Czech people.

Count Sternberg says: “When I told Dr. Seidler that the cutting up of Bohemia into districts was contrary to the fundamental laws of the State, the premier declared that that was not so and that the measure was legal. He said further that after the speech of Count Czernin which had stirred up so greatly the Germans because it announced upon the very highest authority that the Czechs were traitors, the Germans would have quieted down, if the Czechs had made a declaration to the effect that:

The premier said further that political parties doing nothing to refute the suspicion that they are looking for salvation to the enemies and that give out declarations like those made in Prague for the universal sentiment of their people, and refusing altogether to make any attempt at reconciliation, can expect nothing else but that their interests shall be passed over.