A nation producing the quality of men who never forgot what they were striving for even though the struggle was centuries old arouses the interest of the thinking public. Whence came the strength of purpose of these representatives of so small a country? The Czechoslovak Republic comprises, with the combined areas of the former kingdom of Bohemia, margraviate of Moravia, duchy of Silesia and province of Slovakia but 50,000 square miles of territory and some 12,000,000 of people. Where then is its power? Surely not in the extent of its realm or the number of its inhabitants.
“Not by might, but by the spirit shall ye conquer” is the motto that has been sung by every Czechoslovak poet and writer. Its philosophers have added “Only of free and enlightened individuals, can we make a free and enlightened nation.”
It can truly be said that the writers among the Czechs and Slovaks have been the teachers and saviours of their nation.
In no land has literature as such played a greater part in educating and developing national instinct and ideals. In countries untrammelled by the rigors of a stiff Austrian censorship of every spoken word, it is possible to train patriots in schools, auditoriums, churches. The confiscation of Czech newspapers for even a remote criticism of the Hapsburg government was a regular thing long before the exigencies of war made such a proceeding somewhat excusable.
