established and existing fact. America would not attempt to create trouble in Austria-Hungary for her own purposes. But once it is proved that any Austro-Hungarian nationality calls and fights for independence, America unhesitatingly gives its approval to the demand. But she undertakes this step not only because she is confronted with an existing fact, but also because the object fought for by the nationality in question, in this case by the Czechoslovaks, she considers just. An unjust cause, no matter how forcefully supported, she would not give recognition to. Therein lies the greatness of the statesmanship of Woodrow Wilson.
In this respect, too, the admission of the Czechoslovaks into the community of the fighting democratic nations as full-fledged allies is their own work,, and we may be justly proud of that fact. No nation is entitled to freedom and liberty, nor can it maintain its freedom and liberty, without having fought for it, without having won it for itself. These priceless possessions never have been and never will be of any value as a mere gift, and never have been and never can be banlied about as charity. Immediately upon the declaration of war the whole Czechoslovak nation adopted a vigorously anti-Austrian and anti-German attitude. The movement was one of the people. It was spontaneous and general. There was absolutely no artificial stimulation about it, and it could not be repressed by the White Terror of Vienna and Budapest. In fact, the opposition to the war and to Austria-Hungary was begun by Czechoslovak soldiers who were unsillingly conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian armies, but refused to fight for their hereditary enemies and against their friends and brothers on the Allied side. They surrendered to the so-called enemy at every possible opportunity. The Czechoslovak legions in the Allied Armies, came into existence very soon after the outbreak of the war.
The quality of the Czechoslovak legions and the Czechoslovak Armies need not be commented upon. The Russian offensive in July, 1917, was really made possible by the Czechoslovaks, and the battle of Zborov some day will be the subject matter of one of the most stirring tales of the war. A writer in the magazine “Asia” for September, who has been some time with our Siberian Army, has this to say about it: “In my notebook I cannot find the names of a dozen leaders of the Czechoslovak expedition. In a sense there are no leaders. The outstanding fact in the Czechoslovak Army is the democracy of it. The leaders are men who have been trained, but they owe their position to popular choice. Yet there is no foolish idea that military decisions can be made by a committee of soldiers. The Czechoslovak sacrifices personal ambition to his cause, and that is why his cause is worth fighting for.”
We have won our standing as one of the Allies, and we are grateful to the United States and to the Allies for having admitted us into the partnership of the combined fighting democracies after we have proved our fitness for membership.
In some quarters an attempt has been made to construe the wording of the official text of Secretary Lansing’s announcement of recognition as being consistent with a possibility of a future existence of Austria-Hungary as a federal state. Nothing can be more erroneous. If the struggle of the Czechoslovaks is an existing fact so potent that it led to the recognition of our National Council as a de facto belligerent government, the undeniable fact also exists that never again will the Czechoslovaks voluntarily submit to Austro-Hungarian rule in any form, and to Hapsburg sovereignty in any shape or manner. We have broken with Austria-Hungary and the Hapsburgs forever, and our struggle shall continue until the Hpasburgs have been sent to deserved oblivion and Austria-Hungary has been wiped off the map forever. This being the case, we are confident that in this, too, we shall have the support of the United States and the Allies.
For that matter, it must be remembered that the principle of natioanlity cannot be carried out without a complete dismemberment of Austria-Hungary. It must be equally remembered that this principle means not only freedom, but that it also means unity. To preserve Austria-Hungary in any form would mean not only that the Czechoslovaks must remain divided under alien domination, but that the Rumanians of Transylvania and Bukovina must continue to suffer under the unspeakable cruelties of the Magyar regime, that Poland could not become united, and that the Italians of Trentino could not be joined to their brethren of Italy.
