The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/The new republic on Masaryk

THE NEW REPUBLIC ON MASARYK.

The Czechoslovak state, setting out upon its historical course under the presidency of Masaryk, is another republic that exhibits the instincts of moral greatness. What Professor Masaryk is the world knows. He has fought a life long fight for the liberty of his people. He has been bitterly maligned and cruelly persecuted. He has seen the choicest spirits of his people proscribed; he has felt in his soul the whole measure of the oppression resting upon the masses of his countrymen, whom he loves with a singular intensity of devotion. If any living man has old scores to settle, that man is Masaryk. If a spirit of revenge were justified anywhere, it would be justified in Masaryk. But in his clear spirit there is not a trace of hatred or of revenge, but a single desire to let the dead bury the dead and to let the living work together in building a future of justice and humanity. Czechoslovakia must be full of leaders whose vision is clouded by the sense of ancient and grievous wrongs. By what obscure process does the mantle of leadership pass over such men of hot passion and descend upon a figure of classical serenity and wisdom like Masaryk? The stars in their courses are manifestly fighting for Czecho-Slovakia. Long life to Masaryk, and eternal life to the republic!Nov. 23, 1918.