The Washington herald., 1918-10-19
DAWN OF NEW
CZECHO-SLAV
NATION TODAY
Officers Here Declare In
dependence Of Austro-
Hungarian Rule.
REPUBLIC IS FORMED
REPUBLIC Is FORMED
New State Guarantees Free
dom of Conscience, of
Speech and Press.

This day will live in history as the
birthday Of a new nation, whose SOL
diers are scattered over the entire
globe. whose capital is thousands of
miles away from the motherland, but
which is fghting the fight of the al
lied nations and the United States.
The CzechO-Slovak state is the new
nation. and its declaration of indie
pendence, drawn DIP by the National
Council. was made public i'm Wash
ington and Paris yesterday The
provisional government is vested in
the National Council, of which Prof.
Thouas G. Masaryk. now under SEN
tence of death in Austria, is the chief.
Complete Freedom Asked.
The Czecho-Slovak nation will be a
republic and will guarantee complete
| freedom of conscience. religion
science, literature, art. speech. the
press and the right of assembly and
! petition. Only the main principles OF
| the constitution. such as the forego-
ing. are outlined in the declaration,
as the final decision is left to the
| legally chosen Representatives OF
| liberated and united people" The dec
a. laration says in part:
y
| Hohenzollerns are offering peace in
order to stop the victorious advance
of the allied armies and to prevent
| the edismemberment OF Austria Hun
gary and Turkey. and when the
Hapsburgs are promising the feder-
| aIization of the empire and auton-
omy to the dissatisfied nationalities
committed to their rule. we. the
/ CZeCho- o-Sloyak National Council
| recognized by the allied and Amerl-
| can governments as the provisional
| government of the Czecho-SloVak
state and nation, in complete accord
with the the declaration of the
Czech deputies made in Prague on
January s. 1918. and realizing that
! liberalization. and still more. auton-
omy. mean nothing under a Haps-
8 burg dynasty. do hereby make and
declare tins our declaration of inde-
pendence.
Democrats All.
| We do this because of our belief
| that no people should be forced to live
! under a sovereignty they do not rec
ognize. and because of our knowledge
! and firm conviction that our nation
! cannot freely develop in a Hapsburg
mock federation, which is only new
/ form of the denationalzing oppres-
sion under which we have suffered
| for the past 300 years. We consider
freedom to be the first prerequisite for
| liberalization and believe that the free
nations of Central and Eastern Eu-
rope may easily federate should theg
| find II necessary
| The declaration then recites the
claim to freedom and declares that
| haO of indnnpndpnt
state since the seventh century; that
since the fifteenth century. when 1t
consisted of Bohemia, Moravia and
| Silesia. it Joined with Austria and
| Hungary against the menace of the
/ Turks, but tnat its rights have been
woefulIy transgressed by the Haps-
| burrs. The declaration also asserts
the claim of Bohemia to be reunited
TO Slovakia, torn from her by the
Magyars. 1t adds
Hnpsburgs Real Menace.
I'VE cannot and will not continue
to live under the direct or indirect
ruIe of the violaters of Belgium
france and Serbia, the would-oe
murderers of Russia and Rumanla,
ond the rnurderers of tens of thou
sonds of civilians and soldiers OF our
blood and the accomplices in num-
berless unspeakable crimes commit
tod in this war against humanity by
the two degenerate and irresponsible
dynasties."
The Hapsburg dynasty is termed
menace to the peace of the world
/ while the divine right of kings Is
! set down as a sacrilegious assertion
Inv both the Hohenzollerns and the
Hapsburgs. The principles laid down
nv President Wilson, together with
the principles laid down In the Amer
| lean Declaration of Independence the
principles of Lincoln and those OF
the declaration of the rlghts OF man
and the citizen are also accepted IN