negotiations concerning this were begun and concluded at the same time as those with regard to the army. The Czechoslovak workmen(28) were to be regarded as free citizens, and the National Council was to have the same consular rights with regard to them as were enjoyed by the Allied Governments towards their subjects in France.
Considering the circumstances existing at that time, it must be deemed a great success that the negotiations secured the autonomy of the army and the political supremacy of the National Council, which thus received express recognition by the French Government as a body representing the Czechoslovak nation. The same remark applies to the circumstance that our troops were permitted to take an oath of allegiance to the Czechoslovak nation. By these concessions France acknowledged our right to independence, and made it a constituent part of her war programme.
It was therefore my concern that this significant document should include an express statement to the effect that the army in process of formation, being composed of volunteers, was purely political in character, and that its aim was to achieve the independence of the nation. It was further my concern to guarantee this success in one form or another. From the outset my leading idea was to adopt a course of action which would obviate the possibility of our being set aside at the peace negotiations.
In negotiating on the subject of the army I therefore formulated the demand that a part of our future army, even though it might be used at the front, should, as far as possible, be preserved so as to be still in existence at the time of the peace negotiations. In this way it would help to promote the political demands of the Czechoslovak nation. What I feared was that our army would be destroyed after its first use at the front in such fighting as the Verdun struggle, and that thus our political significance as regards diplomatic negotiations would be lost.
No less serious was the question of the decree by which the army was to be constituted. It had been arranged that the decree should simply contain, in the abbreviated form of a few paragraphs, all the political principles agreed upon in the scheme for the organization of the army. The final wording, however, was not to be drawn up until after my return from Italy, whither I proposed to proceed in August for the purpose
