authorization. In the Convention it was laid down that the details of the Slovak political problem would be settled by the legal representatives of the Slovak people themselves, just as I subsequently made it clear that our Declaration of Independence was only a sketch of the future Constitution, and that the Constitution itself would be finally determined by the legal representatives of the people. And so it was. The Constitution was adopted by the Slovaks as well as by the Czechs. The legal representatives of Slovakia thus expressed themselves in favour of complete union, and the oath sworn upon the Constitution binds the Slovaks, the Czechs and me too. Even before the Pittsburg Agreement, on May 1, 1918, the representatives of the Slovaks had declared themselves in favour of union at Liptovsky St. Nicholas, and they renewed the declaration on October 80, 1918, at Turčansky St. Martin. Union is the main thing. A demand for autonomy is as justifiable as a demand for centralism, and the problem is to find the right relationship between the two.
Among the Slovaks and Czechs in America it was rumoured that, at the beginning of 1918, Count Károlyi[1] had come to the United States in the hope of inducing the American Government to recognize the indivisibility of Hungary; he was alleged to desire freedom for the Czechs but wished Hungary to retain the Slovaks. Colonel House informed the Czechs, who agreed with the Slovaks to stand together for a united State. Indeed, the more thoughtful Slovak leaders saw that the Slovaks would derive no benefit from territorial autonomy and that an independent Slovak movement for the liberation of Slovakia must end in a fiasco. This was fully discussed at the Pittsburg Conference. I was able to show the Slovaks how little they were known in the political world and how serious a failure we should have courted had they acted independently. The idea of an independent Slovakia could not be taken seriously though there might be a theoretical possibility of Slovak autonomy under Hungary. But since this possibility was not practical in the circumstances, there remained nothing save union. During the war, all the small peoples were demanding freedom and unity. Both Slovaks and Czechs knew that I had always stood for Slovakia; that, as a Slovak by origin and tradition, my feelings are Slovak, and that I have always worked, not merely talked, for Slovakia. In Bohemia, sympathy for Slovakia has ever been lively. The
- ↑ A prominent Hungarian nobleman of Socialist views. He became Prime Minister of Hungary after the fall of the Hapsburgs.
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