Evening star., 1938-05-08
Britain and France Sealed
Doom Of Czechosl0vakia
Dismemberment Now Held Assured Is Seen BY
Diplomats of Democratic Nations as
the Price of Peace.
By CONSTANTINE BROWN.

TINE fate Of Czechoslovakia was sealed
in London when Premier Chamber
lain and Lord Halifax discussed the
troubled European situation with
Frances Premier Edouard Daladier and
Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet. What
form the disappearance OF the Czecho-
slovakian republic as now constituted will
take is not certain. Either President Benes
and Premier Hodza will yield to Hitler's
demands for the attachment of the Sudeten
Germans to the Reich and of the Poles by
implication. in the Teschen region to
Poland, in which case the operation will be
bloodless, or they will resist Germanys de-
mands, in which case the country will be
dismembered violently into its component
parts. Whatever the nlodality, there is no
doubt today in the minds Of diplomats in the
democratic countries that the partition of
Czechoslovakia is the price that must be
paid for the maintenance of doubtful
peace in Europe.
The attitude of Washington diplomats
is: "Czechoslovakia was not viable state.
The change which inevitably takes place
is bound to bring an appeasement in
Europe's affairs and is worth the price"
True enough, Czechoslovakia is one of
those heterogeneous nations which could
have continued to exist only by close
were thrown together by the MASTER
minds who made the Versailles treaty.
But, unfortunately for the young republic,
its leaders adopted toward the ill-assorted
minorities much the same policy the Haps-
burg empire followed. It was somewhat
there was certain glamour-the imperial
ermine and purple-which kept ignorant
masses loyal to the crown They woke up
later in the days of defeat. But there was
no glamour in the democratic republic
headed by Masaryk and Benes.
Land Of Hatreds.
The republic Is composed Of 100000
Czechs, 100000 Slovaks, $500, 900 Ger
mans, 10000 Jews $4,000 Hungarians,
100000 Ruthenians and 81 900 Poles. The
Prague government has made honest
efforts to create the illusion that these
elements form one body-one nation. But
the Poles hate the Czechs, the Hungarians
hate the Czechs and the Germans have
all become Hitlerites. Since Hitler became
the strong man of Europe all these minori-
ties have been looking longingly across the
border-toward Poland, Hungary or Ger
many.
Because Of the kaleidoscope composition
Of the republic, Czechoslovakia has enter
tanned none too friendly relations with her
neighhors, relying almost exclusively on
Franco and Russia-two powerful military
nations which might have saved the re-
public In the shape in which it was created
in 1919. But its immediate neighbors
could have been more useful in times OF
peace The relations between the Czech
government and Poland and Hungary have
been cool, to say the least: while those
with Germany have been frankly bad.
Berlin knows only too well that the day
she gives the signal both Poland and
Hungary will jump into the breach to
grab slice of the republic-a slice they
have been coveting for the last 10 years
Hitler is like the athlete who goes into
training to take a 6-foot Jump. His
4la-foot hurdle was taken in 1886 when
he militarized the Rhineland; his 5-foot
jump was made few weeks ago when
he absorbed Austria: now he is getting
ready for the 6-foot Jump with the incor-
poration Of the Bohemian plateau and
the Sudeten mountains. How high will
he be able to Jump afterward? For a
time he may be satisfied with this record:
that he intends to go further later is the
, prevailing opinion among diplomats and
military experts
Armed Defiance Unlikely.
Germany's iron chancellor, Prince Otto
Won Bismarck, remarked when he was the
guiding spirit of Germany: Whoever con-
trols Bohemia holds Europe" With the
annexation of the Sudeten territory the
road to the East, which was barred with
the defeat of Germany in 1918, is open to
the Reich; the famous "Eurasian trans
versal"-the short line from the North
Sea to the Black via Prague, Budapest,
Constantinople-w become a reality.
The eventuality of Czechoslovakia Of
fering armed resistance to the German
drive is becoming less probable every day
and, queer as it may seem, the new treaty
Of alliance between France and Great
Britain has killed the last hope for Czecho-
slovakia to defeat the Nazi-Polish plans.
The treaty provides uniform command
Of the armed forces of both countries;
the British will have the final word in
naval and air affairs, while French gen.
eral will be placed in charge of the COM
bined Franco-British . land forces. But,
it is pointed out, this alliance is operative
not for an aggressive action by either party,
but only in the event of an aggression