cases of Poland and Yugoslavia, frontiers were also delimited locally by special commissions. The frontiers of Sub-Carpathian Russia had further to be settled, as well as its constitutional position and its organization as a self-governing territory assigned to us by the Peace Conference in accordance with the wish of its people in America and at home.
Allied Sincerity.
The question is sometimes raised how far Russia and how far the Western Allies contributed to our liberation. From all that I have written it is clear that the Russian share in it was much smaller than that of the West. In saying this I do not forget that, at the beginning, and in 1916 and 1917, Russian armies helped the Allies and us also; as did Serbia who, though a small nation, rendered no less service to the Slav cause. I remember, too, that we were enabled to organize our army in Russia and to bring it into action, though not by merit of Russian policy. The plan of the Central Powers was that Germany should crush France while Austria, with German help, should defeat Russia. In executing it, our Czech and Slovak soldiers were sent to the front against Russia—and thus the subsequent developments were rendered possible. The merit of Russia in them was passive rather than active. Russia was no more able to liberate us than she had been able to free the Serbians and the other Balkan peoples of whom she solemnly proclaimed herself the protectress on the outbreak of war. Like us, the Serbians believed in the Tsar’s promises; and, like us, they and the Southern Slavs were compelled to link their fate closely with that of the Western Allies. Official Tsarist Russia was Byzantine, not Slav. Our liking for Russia was chiefly a liking for the Russian people, and this liking was strengthened, not weakened, by the war.
It was instructive to observe our legionaries in Russia. Contact with Russian officialdom soon dispelled the vague, abstract notions about Russia and the Slavs which had been current among us. But they got to know the Russian people, the Russian peasants, and fell in love with them. They saw the defects, the great defects, of all Russian Governments; yet they saw, too, the natural influence of the huge Russian Empire upon the Russian character. They became acquainted with Southern Slavs, Poles and Ukrainians; they passed, indeed, through a good Slav school. On the other hand, the Russians learned from them that Czechs and Slovaks
