Page:The heart of Europe; an address delivered by Charles Pergler in Washington, December 11, 1916, at a conference of oppressed or dependent nationalities (IA heartofeuropeadd00pergrich).pdf/17

ForewordII he Czech demands find expression in a manifesto of the Bohemian (Czech) foreign committee, issued in Paris on the 14th day of November, 1915, from which the following at least should be quoted: “All Bohemian political parties have up to this time been fighting for a qualified independence within the limits of Austria-Hungary. But the events of this terrible war and the reckless violence of Vienna constrain us to claim independence without regard to Austria-Hungary.—We ask for an independent Bohemian-Slovak state.—The Bo-