CZECHOSLOVAKIA: A Trip to Paris

President Thomas G. Masaryk of Czecho-Slovakia, accompanied by Foreign Minister Eduard Benes, arrived at the Station du Bois de Bologne, which was draped into a blaze of gold and red for the historic reception. On the platform were waiting President Millerand of France, Premier Poincaré and a large number of notables. Greetings having been exchanged, the two Presidents entered an eight-horsed state carriage which had not been used since the visit of King George and Queen Mary in April, 1914. Foreign Minister Benes and Premier Poincaré entered another carriage; then the chief of the Czechs and Slovaks was driven up the Avenue du Bois du Bologne and down the Avenue des Champs Elysées, which was lined with troops. Bands, playing national anthems and patriotic airs, French “vives” and Czech “nazdars” rent the air.

President Masaryk, his son and his secretary were lodged in the Palace of the Quai d’Orsay and occupied the Royal apartments, equipped for the first time in history with two bathrooms. Foreign Minister Benes and the rest of the Presidential suite were put up at the Hôtel Crillon on the Place de la Concorde.

One of the first acts of President Masaryk in the French Capital was to lay a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Poilu which lies under the Arc de Triomphe in the Étoile. In the afternoon he paid a state visit to the French President at the Elysée and afterwards both Presidents went to the Hôtel de Ville, where an official reception was held and a toast drunk to the “1,000-year-old friendship of Bohemia and France” and to the rebirth of Bohemia as the Republic of Czecho-Slovakia. Later special military maneuvers were held in honor of the Czecho-Slovak President’s visit.

A number of important political conferences took place while the Chief of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and his able Foreign Minister were in Paris. No details of these conferences were given, but it was reported that the foundations of Franco-Czech military and commercial accord were laid. Strategically Czecho-Slovakia, with her frontiers on five countries (Hungary, Austria, Germany, Poland, Rumania), is of great importance to France. The two new Republics of Eastern Europe (Poland and Czecho-Slovakia) now take the place of Imperial Russia, formerly the counterbalance to a powerful Germany. They are a counterbalance to a weak but turbulent Germany and buffer States between France and Russia. Moreover, Czecho-Slovakia is chief of the Little Entente, upon which France looks with maternal pride. It was rumored that France had agreed to pay 250,000,000 francs ($14,500,000) to the Czecho-Slovak Government as its share of 1,200,000,000 francs ($69,600,000) voted by France as a loan to Poland and members of the Little Entente.* Presumably this payment is to ensure Czecho-Slovak readiness in case of trouble with Monarchist Bavaria in particular or Germany in general. France is also anxious to counteract growing British influence at Prague.

After a stay of four days in France the President and his suite left for Belgium, where the Chief of Czechs and Slovaks received a hearty welcome, conferred with King Albert, Premier Theunis and Foreign Minister Jaspar; then left for England.

The French press was extravagant in praise of the Czech President, comparing him to Abraham Lincoln, and his visit to that of the Tzar in October, 1896, when Félix Faure was President of France. Most of the Paris newspapers contained long eulogies of the President, who started life as a blacksmith and not only became President of his country but was instrumental in bringing about its independence from Austria-Hungary and its creation as the Czecho-Slovak Republic.

The Radical press, however, declaimed a presupposed intention to float a public loan for Czecho-Slovakia and reminded its public that ” Charity begins at home.” L’Oeuvre expressed the hope that “Masaryk will cost less than the late Tzar’s dinners with President Félix Faure.”

* Poland received 400,000,000 francs, Rumania 250,000,000, Yugo-Slavia 300,000,000; total, including Czecho-Slovakia, 1,200,000,000.