the resurrection of their independence only from the break-up of Austria:

"We cannot conceive of peace or of the transformation of Europe except
when _on the ruins of the Dual Monarchy_ new national states shall
arise. The German-Magyar misrule must be destroyed."

And when on November 21 Seidler talked about the peace conditions of the
"enemy," Dr. Stransky interrupted him by exclaiming, "Our enemies are here,
in Vienna and in Budapest!"

_(d) During Peace Negotiations with Russia_

When peace negotiations were opened with the Bolsheviks, the
Austro-Hungarian delegations were also summoned, for the first time during
the war, on December 3, 1917. During the speech from the throne the Czechs
demonstratively left the hall. On the same day the Bohemian Union, the
Yugoslav Club and the Ruthenes issued a protest against the government
having published a distorted version of the Russian peace offer. In this
protest the Slav deputies asked:

"How can the government answer for having purposely distorted such a
highly important document as the Russian Note of November 28, and why
did the government suppress just the paragraph out of it containing
guarantees for national self-determination?"

Their declaration naturally exasperated the Germans and the government. The
organ of the Austrian Foreign Office, the _Fremdenblatt_, expressed regret
that the Slav parties in the Reichsrat "place obstacles in the way of
peace." It also regretted that "some parties in the Austrian Parliament
should take up an attitude incompatible with our state's