Czech nation had chosen for its spokesmen allowed to voice its feelings? Of all the belligerent countries Austria is the only one which has failed to convoke its Parliament, and it was repeatedly admitted that the reason why it was not possible to convoke Parliament was the fear lest the Czechs should speak out. Their true feelings were only too well known to the Austrian Government; one after another the Czech leaders were sent to prison or driven into exile. Dr. Kramarzh, the leader of the Young Czechs—the historic Czech party in the Austrian Parliament—was arrested on a charge of high treason in May, 1915, but the grounds for the accusation were withheld from the public. In June, 1916, Dr. Kramarzh was condemned to death,[1] and still the Austrian authorities remained silent as to the nature of his guilt. No wonder; when at last, on January 4th, 1917, an explanation was attempted of the verdict, it was found to contain not a single fact, real or alleged, which any tribunal outside “Mittel-Europa” would have accepted as sufficient to condemn a man for high treason. He was condemned on general grounds. The blow was struck at him because he is one of the most prominent leaders of the Czech nation. His case was to act as a deterrent for minor men. It was an act of conscious and calculated terrorism, not of justice.
Where a man of the prominence of Dr. Kramarzh—there was a time when he was considered a likely candidate for the post of Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister—where a man of such standing is con-
- ↑ The sentence of death was subsequently commuted to fifteen years’ imprisonment.
