its lot with Western civilization, just as the whole of the West had followed in the steps of Hus who had himself been powerfully influenced by England. Our Reformation set up ideals which the West presently realized; for, as Palacký rightly observes, in our Reformation are to be found the germs of all the ideas and movements that developed afterwards in the West. Comenius was bound by spiritual ties to the West; and upon him, as upon Hus, English influence was beneficent.
Notwithstanding the one-sided German pressure to which we were subjected by the rule of Austria, we drew more fruitful inspiration from England and France precisely because we sought it of our own free will; and, at the time of our so-called renascence, we were greatly encouraged by the ideas of the French Revolution, both in the domain of politics and in that of general culture. Thus it was natural and logical that, in the world war, we should side against our oppressors and with France and the Allies generally. We could do no other. Except the Bulgars, all the Slav peoples were likewise on the Allied side—though some of the Poles wavered for a time—and the Southern Slavs, the Poles and the Ruthenes, not we alone, were exposed to Austro-Hungarian and Russian oppression. Like us, too, the other Slav nations tended westwards, towards France in particular, as the history of Polish and Russian culture sufficiently proves.
In our special case, it was chiefly the Monarchy of the Hapsburgs that estranged us from the Central Powers. It had carried through the violent Counter-Reformation, it had broken political faith with our people, restricting their independence, Germanizing them, and becoming, after the French Revolution, the chief inspirer of reaction. Once the proud rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, the Hapsburgs had sunk to the level of being a mere vanguard of the eastward march of pan-Germanism. But German pressure upon the Slavs, and the fact that behind the Hapsburgs stood the Hohenzollerns, contributed also to determine our attitude towards Germany.
Yet, if we owe the restoration of our independence to France, England, America and Italy, our policy is nevertheless untrammelled, particularly in regard to Germany. The relationship between France and Germany is painful, but it will improve. We shall gladly do what we can to end an estrangement which we have no reason to desire. Alsace-Lorraine was and is not the chief and essential cause of Franco-German antagonism, as the pan-Germans themselves recognized when,
