As late as the dawn of the nineteenth century, faint hearted men in Bohemia freely gave expression to their fears that the Czech race had lost the never ceasing battle with Germanism and that the same fate awaited it which had met the Slav Obodrites, the Polabians north of them—denationalization.
Against the opposition of Vienna, the intrigues of Budapest and the sinister influence of Berlin, the struggle of the Czechs seemed at times a hopeless one.
When the Czechs demanded a second university in Moravia, they were rebuffed with the answer: let the Czechs learn German.
Czech savings banks were stockholders of the Austro-Hungarian Central Bank. Yet, when they insisted upon being represented on the Board of Governors, the system cried out in unison: Banking does not differentiate between Germans and Czechs. Banking is international.
When they urged concession for the use of their native language in the army, the retort was: Do not touch the army! The army must retain a unified (German) command.
When they rebelled against German being raised to the dignity of the official language of the state, the system sought to still all opposition by arguing that the safety of the state demanded it.
Let us try to forget, however, the wrongs which the Austrian and Magyar grandfathers have done to the Czechoslovak grandfathers and let us consider the future.
Does the Czechoslovak of today possess the qualities which one usually attributes to successful state builders? “Our nation”, wrote Charles Velemínský, a Czech pedagogue who visited the United States, “has ever been idealistic, sacrificing all for its ideals. Idealism must be our most precious offering to America. Without ideals even practical America is unthinkable.”
The Czech is a democrat. “We accept and shall adhere to the ideals of modern democracy, as they have been the ideals of our nation for centuries,” says the Declaration of Independence of the Czechoslovak Nation. From Hus to Havlíček he has waged a ceaseless, though at times a losing war, against the sinister power of reaction. In the course of the struggle and directly due to it, his native land has lost its political independence, but the conqueror could not stifle in him the lofty ideals he inherited from his Hussite forebears.
He is self-reliant. Note the names of the deputies in the former Austrian Parliament and those constituting the new government: Dr. Rieger, Dr. Pacák, Dr. Kramář, Mr. Klofáč—all commoners. On the other hand observe, for the sake of comparison, who are and were the spokesmen of the Magyars in the Hungarian Parliament: Count Karolyi, Count Andrassy, Count Batthyany, Count Apponyi. The Czechs lost their nobility in the 17th century. The aristocracy owning estates in Bohemia at the present day was, up to the time of the war, almost without exception Austrian in sentiment, ultramontane in politics, feudal in traditions. Stern necessity has taught the Czech commoner to rely on none save himself, to think and act for himself. It is astonishing what progress in art, literature, commerce few decades of national revival, unaided and industry he has made within the last by aristocracy.
He is intelligent. At Ellis Island he has established two records. Of all the races from Austria-Hungary, Germans and Magyars not excepted, the Czech is lowest in the percentage of illiterates—2%—and the highest in the percentage of skilled labor. If it is true, as their enemies contend, that the Slavs are as yet barbarians, then the Czech who in culture is foremost among the Slavs, can boast of being the first barbarian in Europe.
In the Declaration of Independence above quoted the promise is made that the Church will be separated from the State, that the national minorities shall enjoy equal rights and that the large estates will be redeemed for home colonization.
The separation of the Church from the State will be a policy which is certain to revolutionize the thought and action of the re-born nation. For centuries the Church has been the staunchest prop of the old monarchy. In recognition of the great and faithful services rendered, the Hapsburg rulers were permitted to append to their many titles that of the Apostolic Majesty. With the fall of the old regime will be shorn of power those churchmen who were partners with the government in the work of repressing the national aspirations of the subject races, to the end that the ruling minorities, that is the Germans in Austria and the Magyars in Hungary, might continue in power. Released from the restraint
