a Government eventually to be constituted at Prague was naturally considered at Geneva. Though the records hitherto published do not show how the question was settled, the unpublished points of the agreement provided that the two Governments should be amalgamated, Dr. Beneš and Štefánik, the two Ministers in the Provisional Government, entering the Prague Government. I ceased to be Prime Minister and Minister of Finance as soon as I had been elected President and the Government had been finally established.
It may be asked why the revolution was not carried through completely on October 28 in the whole field of State and provincial administration. What happened was that on October 28 the National Committee took over the War Wheat Institute, the Lord Lieutenancy, the Provincial Administrative Commission and the Provincial Military Command; or, rather, negotiations were begun for the transfer of the Lord Lieutenancy, and only half, not the whole of the Military Command was taken over. It was no accident that the War Wheat Institute came first. The question of supplies was very weighty, and by securing the Wheat Institute the National Committee got control over the troops which depended upon it. This, I think, was a good plan. On October 29 the police headquarters, the Provincial High Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office were seized. On October 30 both the Lieutenancy and the whole of the Military Command were taken, after the military had attempted to regain control. This was the most dangerous moment in the revolution at home. The dynasty and the Austrian State were founded upon the army, and the military capitulation had therefore great significance. On October 30, too, came the appointment of Tusar, a member of Parliament, to negotiate with Andrássy in Vienna; and the Slovak declaration of union at Turčansky St. Martin. After the return of the delegation from Geneva on November 5 the form of the State was finally settled. As leader of the delegation and chairman of the National Committee, Dr. Kramář announced publicly, in a speech before the railway station, that we should have a free, popular Democratic Republic; but not until November 14 was the revolution formally and materially completed. It took a fortnight to overcome technical difficulties and to bring the whole administration of the State and of the province actually into the hands of the National Committee.
Whenever a full account of the revolution is written, it will need to describe what went on in the various parts of the country. Revolutionary Committees, acting under orders from Prague,
