The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-17
Declare Conscription is En forced By Hanging in Bohemian and Slav
 Provinces.

walks demanding independence for their oppressed countries. This doc unlent is signed by Bohemian deputies who managed to escape from Austria and by leaders of Bohemian. and Slo- yak colonies in various landss and re- cites the wrongs suffered by the Czechs and Slovaks under the sceptre
 of the Hapsburgs. Up to the out
 break. of. the present war the oppress-
 ed Slavs sought only a. qualified inde- pendence within the limits of Austria Hungary. But the war is to them an act of German aggression; SIav
 conscripts are driven to death, com peIled to fight for a cause which they a.bllor- Persecution ragess in. the Bo-
 henian and Slovak provinces and
 obedience is enforced by hangings. Austria Hungary has become a vassal
 of Germany and has lost all justif1ca-
 ton to further existence
 Bohemians and Slovaks, acting to-
 gether. appeal to the world for sym
 pathy and look forward to the final victory of the Allies to realize their national aspirations. This document
 they hope, will take the same place
 in Bohemian history as the Declara-
 ton of Independence occupies in American history
 We place ourselves before the pol- tical public at a moment when the re- treat of the victories Russian army is being used by opponents politically against Russia and her Allies. We take the side Of the fighting Slav na- tions and their Allies. without regard to victory or defeat. because right is 1 oInz their side The problem of which sidezis right in this fatal war is a ques- | ton of ,prin pie and of political nor als question sw hich at present no honest and sincere statesman no con
 sciencious and thinking nation can evade. Y ct we are prompted to come forward by warm feelings of Slav un-
 ion. We wish to express. heart sym
 pathy to our Servian and Russian brothers and to brother Poles who
 are so cruelty afflicted by this war. I We believe in the final victory of Slavs
 and their Allies We are convinced
 that this victory will be for the bene- l This victory will not be checked by fanti-Slay- treaeherys cfs the Bualgarian ] king and his government.
 I We shall not discuss the. whole sit
 uatfon created by the war. We shall ion1y explain briefly the position of tthe Bohemian people, the Czecis, as they call themselves.
 The Bohemian nation having by its
 free choice called to- the throne a king i of the Hapsburg family entered into
 a union with Hungary and German 1 Austria; but the dynasty. through
 gradual centralization and GerTnapi- 3 zae1on aimed at the construction of a single state with arbitrary govern inert thus violating it's agreement to
 maintain the internal and external in-= dependence. of the Bohemian state.
 The Bohemian people exhausted by
 the European and Hapsburg eounter-l reformation were for a long, lime un-
 able to withstand the oppression until 3the great revival came at the end
 of the eighteenth century, culrninat- ling in the revolution of 1848- The ] revolution was suppressed, rights con- iceded to the people of Austria, and 1 principally to the Bohemians, were taken back and abso1utisTn reigneds once more, until the disastrous war of
 1859 compelled the granting of an inn
 perfect constitutional regime. May vars obtained from Vienna what they 1 demanded, but all that the -Bohen-
 ians got were solemn promises never fulfilled The Bohemian people 1 through their representatives preserv- 1 ed for a long time the attitude of pass
 i've opposition, later entered the new
 parliament but both in the central l parIiament and in the diets demand
 ed taeir historical rights and re constitution of the monarchy on a I ffederalistic basis as against the Ger
 man -Makyar dualisnn All attempts ] to reach an agreement with the enn-
 pire were frustrated by the rapacity l and intolerance of Germans and | Magyars.
 l 5The present war has intensified the
 antagonisrns between the people of Bo-
 hernia and the Austro-Hungarian .ern- pire. War was declared without the lapprovaI of the parliament; every 1 other country participating in the war I has laid the momentous decision be- 1 fore the representatives of the nation,
 
 to listen to the voice of the Austrian peoples, because the mai ajoritv would have been against the war. The Bo- I hemian representatives would have l protested most vigorously; therefore
 the government did not consult
 single Bohemian deputy or leader be-
 fore taking the momentous step
 The recent history of the Bohemian 1 people shows plainly the great stress 1 laid by the Bohemians upon the lSlav l idea. And so in this war which found 1 the Czechs totally unprepared, just as it did every other peace loving na-
 tion from the very beginning in spite l Of the incredible terrorism with which i every manifestation of the real senti- rnents of the people was suppressed,
 sympathy for Russians, Servians and their> Allies was universal Declara- tions in favor of Austria were en- l gineered and extorted by the govern
 ment. Today Bohemia leaders are in
 jail; an innbeci1e government enforces l obedience by hangings, and Bohemian regiments are decimated, because they l spontaneously acted in accordance
 with the unanimous sentiment of the Bohemian people. The rights of the
 Bohemian language are ruthlessly
 violated and curtailed, the war
 goes on. Military power overrides all laws and treats the Bohemian lands, and all non-Ger1nan and non-Magyar
 districts, conquered provinces. I Bohemian publications are confscated, and suppressed for expressing their opinion, whereas our national enemies are allowed to inveigh against the Bohemian people, and Vienna and Budapest encourage pan-Gern1anic excesses in the spirit of Lagarde, von 1 Hartmann, Mommsen, Treitschke.