gs. Our nation elected
the Hapsburgs to the throne of Bohemia of its own free will, and by the
same right deposes them. We hereby declare the Hapsburg dynasty
unworthy of leading our nation, and deny all of their claims to rule in
the Czecho-Slovak land, which we here and now declare shall henceforth
be a free and independent people and nation.

"We accept and shall adhere to the ideals of modern democracy, as they
have been the ideals of our nation for centuries. We accept the
American principles as laid down by President Wilson; the principles of
liberated mankind--of the actual equality of nations--and of
Governments deriving all their just power from the consent of the
governed. We, the nation of Comenius, cannot but accept these
principles expressed in the American Declaration of Independence, the
principles of Lincoln, and of the declaration of the rights of man and
of the citizen. For these principles our nation shed its blood in the
memorable Hussite Wars, 500 years ago; and for these same principles,
beside her Allies, our nation is shedding its blood today in Russia,
Italy, and France."

It is said that the Czech soldiers fighting on the French front
received the news of the declaration with wild enthusiasm, rushed
forward, and wrested from the enemy one of the most difficult positions
on the Aisne.

The Czechs were also fighting in Italy, and in Russia, although they
had been first forced into the Austrian army. One Czech battalion
commanded by Austrians and ordered against the Russians, rushed
forward, but killed their officers on the way and surrendered in a body
to the Russians, asking to fight with them against the Austro-Germans.
If the Russian soldiers had held together and followed the invincible
Czechs, Germany would have been driven completely out of Russia.

But the Czechs did not deceive the Austrians. Their hopes and plans
were not secret. They openly warned Austria of their desertion. They
wrote in chalk on the outside of the cars: "With us the Monarchy will
not win."

Upon seeing this declaration, it is reported, the German and Austrian
officers ordered the trainload of men to stand in line, and then shot
every tenth man.

But the rest went on, through terrible and thrilling experiences,
fighting and dying by the hundreds for the sake of the new republic
which at last was born.

The story of the passage through Russia and Siberia of the
Czecho-Slovak troops, who were fightin