self-preservation." On the next day, M. Stanek made a declaration in the
delegations in the name of Czechs and Yugoslavs, saying:

"We Czech and Yugoslav delegates declare that it is our deep conviction
as well as the firm will of our respective nations that a lasting peace
is possible only on the ground of the full right of self-determination.
_The Imperial Government deliberately and wilfully distorted the most
important part of the Russian peace offer_, viz. the demand for the
self-determination of nations. It is still more surprising that the
prime ministers in both halves of the monarchy should try to deceive
the public opinion of the world by a false interpretation of the right
of self-determination. The Austrian Premier, Dr. Seidler, declared that
the Viennese Parliament is a forum through which the nations could
obtain self-determination, while the _Hungarian Premier had the
impudence to describe the conditions in Hungary, which are a mockery of
all civilisation, as the ideal of national liberty._ We, therefore,
declare in regard to any peace negotiations: _Our national development
can only then be secured when the right of self-determination of all
nations shall be fully, clearly and unreservedly recognised_ with
binding guarantees of its immediate realisation."

At the same time the Slavs made a proposal in the Austro-Hungarian
Delegations, insisting that the peace negotiations with Russia should be
conducted by a committee selected from both parliaments on the basis of
nationality, and consisting of twelve Germans, ten Magyars, ten
Czecho-Slovaks, seven Yugoslavs, five Poles, four Ruthenes, three Rumanians
and one Italian.

Finally, on December 5, the Czech Socialist deputy Tusar declared in the
Reichsrat: