foundation of civilized life must be laid down.
The territorial readjustment of Eastern Europe will, as a rule, be carried out according to the principle of nationality; but in each case due regard must also be paid to present economic conditions, and to historical peculiarities. The great complexity of the national problem makes each concrete national question a distinct political problem of its own.
(10) Belgium must be completely restored; Germany must make compensation for the losses caused by its perfidious attack and occupation.
(11) The non-German nations of Prussia, Germany, must be liberated. In the first place, Alsace-Lorraine; though the majority of the population is German, they desire to be united with France, or at least to break away from Germany. Alsace-Lorraine was annexed to Germany in 1871 against the will of the people, and has never become reconciled to the annexation; on that occasion the representatives of the Czech nation alone protested officially against this deed of violence. True, the German Socialists of those days had enough courage to protest also.
The Danes in Schleswig must be united with Denmark, the Poles in Prussian Silesia and in Posnania with Danzig must be united with their countrymen of Russia and Austria. Eastern Prussia will thus become a German enclave having direct connection with Prussia by the sea.
The Lusatians, should they so wish, may be joined to Bohemia, the Lithuanians of East Prussia (with i few Letts) would be attached to Lithuania. Czechs in Prussian Silesia will be exchanged for German territory of the Austrian Silesia. Prussia and Germany would in that way become united nationally, something that the Pangermans themselves desire; that is no injury to the German nation, for it would merely compel the Germans to limit themselves to their own national resources, and give up exploiting non-German nations.
I have not the least doubt that the Pangermans will reject with the greatest indignation such a solution of the Prussian question—to free the Lusatians? To have within cannon shot of Berlin a free Slav territory? Yes—that would be a victory of justice and Nemesis: if the Allies win, a solution of the Prussian question in a democratic and truly national sense is possible and necessary.
The Germans will object to leaving Danzig to the Poles; they already proposed to give the Poles a free acceess to Danzig. The Polish population reaches to the gates of Danzig and the sea shore; the forcible, in human Germanization of the Slavs justifies such German losses.[1]
(12) The entire Polish nation, in Russia, Austria, and Prussia, must be united into an independent state. It will have the access to the seas through its own territory (Danzig).
(13) The Bohemian Lands (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia) with the Slovaks of Northern Hungary must form an independent state. The boundaries of the Bohemian Lands are given, for the Bohemian state is by law independent the so-called German territory in Bohemia (Moravia and Silesia) has many Czech inhabitants, therefore, it is just that the renewed state keep it; it would be unjust and inhuman to sacrifice hundred thousands of Bohemians to the furor teutonicus; as late as 1861 the Germans in Bohemia were one with the Czechs in demanding the coronation of Francis Joseph as King of Bohemia—no doubt, after this war the Germans in Bohemia will abandon the national fury into which they have been driven by the brutal Pan German agitation. Many Germans themselves more than once protested against the Pangerman policy of severing North and West of Bohemia and trying to establish a new capital in one of the German towns.
Respecting the Magyar minority, it must be emphasized that there are no Magyars in Slovakia, only Magyar-speaking individuals; the Magyars closed the Slovak schools, suppresed the Slovak literature, and are trying by all means to denationalize the Slovaks. It is only just to stop this brutal,
- ↑ The entire independence of the Baltic nations has been proclaimed after the German occupation and the Russian revolution; but representatives of the Lithuanians ,for instance, proposed until lately federation with Russia. A close union of the Lithuanians with the Letts has been proposed to facilitate the independence of both peoples.The Armenians proclaimed their republic and joined the Allies in fighting the Turks and Germans; similar attempts have been tried by some of the small nations in Russia.
