of the present time. These men knew nothing of the events of the past, but they felt instinctively that an account of the past would excite men’s minds. No wonder therefore that the government did not further historical studies, and indeed endeavoured to hinder them in every way.’
I should here mention that when Palacký afterwards undertook his great historical work, he, contrary to his original plan, only dealt with the history of Bohemia up to the year 1526, which marks the accession of the Habsburg dynasty to the Bohemian throne. Even this did not, as I shall mention presently, prevent the government authorities from molesting him on various occasions.
The opposition of the Austrian government was not the only obstacle that Palacký found in his path. To a man of scant private means as he was, the probably small number of readers, and the uncertainty caused by the caprices of the ‘censors’ as to when the different volumes could appear, rendered the publication of his great work a very difficult thing. Fortunately the Estates of Bohemia came to his aid. Animated by that tacit antagonism between Vienna and Prague that is one of the great features of Austrian history, they resolved in 1829 to confer on Palacký the title of historiographer of Bohemia, and to attach to it a modest salary. This resolution was, however, vetoed by the authorities of Vienna, but they finally consented, though reluctantly, to allow the Estates of Bohemia to bear the costs of the publication of Palacký’s book. It should be mentioned that ten years later (in 1839) the Austrian government permitted the Estates to confer on Palacký the title of historiographer of Bohemia.
