in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood and enI above all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which the men who founded this republic in the days of Washh made great the men who preserved this republic in Abraham Lincoln. of character through the But we have the men of he splendid confidence nd enlarged must show, of life, the od and endeal, which s of Wash republic in THE issues at stake in the World War I the struggle proceeded. When, on August 1, dict XV proposed that the belligerent countri one another on the basis of conditions existi the status quo ante President Wilson answe United States and the Allies, that no acceptal arranged with the autocratic and irresponsi government. On December 2, 1917, the F at Brest-Litovsk brought forward their own p ing the war through a congress of delegate parliament of each country. Then on Janu Lloyd George, in a speech before the Trade at London, set forth more specifically than war aims of the Allies. Permanent peace the British premier declared, until three co filled: first, the sanctity of treaties must second, territorial settlements must be bas of self-determination of nationalities, or the governed; and third, some international orga created to limit the burden of armaments probability of future conflicts. This spee on January 8 by President Wilson's address its Fourteen Points of a program for a just a ment. While the President spoke only for t his statements, with some reservations, were a Britain, France, and Italy as embodying the Allies in the World War. WILSON'S FOURTEEN POINTS, I The program of the world's peace, therefore, i that program, the only possible program, as we s 1 Congressional Record, vol. Ivi, part i, p. 691. Wa quate guarantees given and taken that national armaments ced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. ee, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment al claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle rmining all such questions of sovereignty the interest of ions concerned must have equal weight with the equitof the government whose title is to be determined. evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlequestions affecting Russia as will secure the best and ration of the other nations of the world in obtaining for ampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the indeermination of her own political development and naand assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than assistance also of every kind that she may need and may e. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations s to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their on of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, intelligent and unselfish sympathy. gium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and thout any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she mmon with all other free nations. No other single act this will serve to restore confidence among the nations which they have themselves set and determined for the of their relations with one another. Without this healwhole structure and validity of international law is fored. 1 French territory should be freed and the invaded pord, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states other determined by friendly counsel along historically estab es of allegiance and nationality; and international guarant e political and economic independence and territorial integr e several Balkan states should be entered into. XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman E ould be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nation ich are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undo urity of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of a ous development; and the Dardanelles should be perman ened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all n Her international guarantees. XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected uld include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish ons, which should be assured a free and secure access to th I whose political and economic independence and territorial should be guaranteed by international covenant. XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under s enants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of po ependence and territorial integrity to great and small states In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and asse ight we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the g its and the peoples associated together against the imperi cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We ther until the end. For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to figh ontinue to fight until they are achieved; but only because w right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace such a ecured only by removing the chief provocations to war, program does remove. Paris. The President of the Council, Professor Masaryk, remained in Washington, where he was ach with President Wilson after the United States ized the Czecho-Slovaks on September 2, 1918. following month (October 18), the Provisional Govued a formal Declaration of Independence. This ument breathes the spirit of democracy in every ARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE CZECHO- is grave moment, when the Hohenzollerns are offering er to stop the victorious advance of the allied armies and ne dismemberment of Austria-Hungary and Turkey, and apsburgs are promising the federalization of the empire ny to the dissatisfied nationalities committed to their e Czecho-Slovak National Council, recognized by the American governments as the Provisional Government o-Slovak state and nation, in complete accord with the of the Czech deputies made in Prague on January 6, ealizing that federalization and, still more, autonomy ng under a Hapsburg dynasty, do hereby make and our Declaration of Independence. is because of our belief that no people should be forced r a sovereignty they do not recognize, and because of ge and firm conviction that our nation cannot freely Hapsburg mock federation, which is only a new form of 1 Current History, 1918, vol. viii, pp. 492–494. |