Evening star., 1938-09-22
BY VINCENT SHEEAN.

By Radio to The Star.
PRAGUE, Sept 22.-The streets of
Prague rang last night with the cries
Of doomed nation.
At S pm. yesterday President Benes,
yielding to the menaces of friend and
| foe alike. handed to the French and
British ministers a note which ac-
ceptS their plan for the vivisection
| Of CZechoslovakia. Then and long
into the night the great Wenceslaus
Square in the center of Prague re-
| ing feet.
Workers came out in force, singing
patriotic songs, singing for the army
and its leader. Gen. Syrovy, and ours
ing the treachery of Czechoslovakia'
| powerful ally. Yell of Shame on
France!" were mixed with defiant
cheers for the nation that is to be
thrown to the vultures today.
Crowd Keeps Its Head.
The police are in full control up
to the present, and the crowds that
| throng the square before my hotel.
although wrought up to great emo
tional excitement and at times weep
ing with grief, had not lost their
heads. The assumption that this crowd
| had been organized or that it had
revolutionary significance would not be
| justified. as yet. anyway.
But there were dark passions at
work throughout this people. and ex-
perienced political observers agreed
that almost anything is possible now.
The tumult in the streets as write
recalled the most serious moments in
! the history of our time and indi-
Gated that Czechoslovakia' people may
no. be % easily abolished by its sweep
of ministerial pens.
! The story of the day, with its sue
cessive crisis decisions, reconsidera-
| tions and consultations, is now known
to every inhabitant of the capital
Since 2 O'Clock yesterday morning.
when the British and French ministers
called on President Benes to present
their ultlmatum, the people and lead
ers alike have been in a condition Of
tndecision. When Benes, threatened
with an immediate attack on all sides
by Germany. Hungary and Poland.
with Britain and France washing their
| hands Of the whole matter and Soviet
Russia silent, finally capitulated ct
o'clock last evening, a shock Of horror
ran through Prague, and the street
demonstrations last night were the
result.
Bloodshed in the Wind.
It is certain that this country will
not be SO easy to carve UP as its for
eign friends assumed, and bloodshed
may come very soon.
Observers here have found it difficult
to digest an event Of such magnitude
in the little time that Hitler allows.
The collapse of the whole postwar
system, destruction Of the French
chain OF alliances. the abandoning of
all Central and Southeastern Europe
to German domination are political
facts OF such immense importance that
they almost overshadow the tragedy
OF CzechosloVakia itself But, in the
lovely valleys of Sudetenland or in
the crowded and tumultous streets of
iosuo, iio oIIc VIII HAS Witnessed
these unprecedented occurrences can
believe that the cold edicts of partition
will end the story.
There will be plenty of trouble be.
fore this corpse has been wholly torn
asunder.
Mutiny Could Change Course.
Yesterday, on the Saxon border to-
ward Johanngeorgestadt, I saw first
class Notifications which could nave
been held by hardy troops FOR a long
time. One mutinous regiment i'll such
place would still be enough to