[1] Among them was the famous democrat Dupont de Nemours.
[2] e.g. Austria obtained Bosnia, and Montenegro has been enlarged.
CZARTORYSKI, FRYDERYK MICHAL, PRINCE (1696-1775), Polish statesman, was
born in 1696. Of small means and no position, he owed his elevation in
the world to extraordinary ability, directed by an energetic but
patriotic ambition. After a careful education on the best French models,
which he completed at Paris, Florence and Rome, he attached himself to
the court of Dresden, and through the influence of Count Fleming, the
leading minister there, obtained the vice-chancellorship of Lithuania
and many other dignities. Czartoryski was one of the many Polish nobles
who, when Augustus II. was seriously ill at Bialyvostok in 1727, signed
the secret declaration guaranteeing the Polish succession to his son;
but this did not prevent him from repudiating his obligations when
Stanislaus Leszczynski was placed upon the throne by the influence of
France in 1733. When Stanislaus abdicated in 1735 Czartoryski voted for
Augustus III. (of Saxony), who gladly employed him and his family to
counteract the influence of the irreconcilable Potokis. For the next
forty years Czartoryski was certainly the leading Polish statesman. In
foreign affairs he was the first to favour an alliance with Russia,
Austria and England, as opposed to France and Prussia--a system
difficult to sustain and not always beneficial to Poland or Saxony. In
Poland Czartoryski was at the head of the party of reform. His palace
was the place where the most promising young gentlemen of the day were
educated and sent abroad that they might return as his coadjutors in the
great work. His plan aimed at the restoration of the royal prerogative
and the abolition of the _liberum veto_, an abuse that made any durable
improvement impossible. These patriotic endeavours made the Czartoryskis
very unpopular with the ignorant _szlachta_, but for many years they had
the firm and constant support of the Saxon court, especially after Bruhl
succeeded Fleming.
Czartoryski reached the height of his power in 1752 when he was
entrusted with the great seal of Lithuania; but after that date the
influence of his rival Mniszek began to prevail at Dresden, whereupon
Czartoryski sought a reconciliation with his political opponents at home
and foreign support both in England and Russia. In 1755 he sent his
nephew Stanislaus Poniatowski to St Petersburg as Saxon minister, a
mission which failed completely. Czartoryski's philo-Russian policy had
by this time estranged Bruhl, but he frustrated all the plans of the
Saxon court by dissolving the diets of 1760, 1761 and 1762. In 1763 he
went a step farther and proposed the dethronement of Augustus III., who
died the same year. During the ensuing interregnum the prince chancellor
laboured night and day at the convocation diet of 1764 to reform the
constitution, and it was with displeasure that he saw his incompetent
nephew Stanislaus finally elected king in 1765. But though disgusted
with the weakness of the king and obliged to abandon at last all hope of
the amelioration of his country, Czartoryski continued to hold office
till the last; and as chancellor of Lithuania he sealed all the
partition treaties. He died in the full possession of his faculties and
was considered by the Russian minister Repnin "the soundest head in the
kingdom." It is a mistake, however, to regard Czartoryski as the sole
reforming statesman of his day, and despite his great services there
were occasions when the partisan in him got the better of the statesman.
His foreign policy, moreover, was very vacillating, and he changed his
"system" more frequently perhaps than any contemporary diplomatist. But
when all is said he must remain one of the noblest names in Polish
history.
See the _Correspondence_ of Czartoryski in the Collections of the
Russian Historical Society, vols. 7, 10, 13, 48, 51, 67 (St
Petersburg, 1890, &c.); Wladyslaw Tadeusz Kisielewski, _Reforms of the
Czartorysccy_ (Pol.) (Sambor, 1880); Adalbert Roepell, _Polen um die
Mitte des XVIII. Jahrhunderts_ (Gotha, 1876); Jacques Victor Albert de
Broglie, _Le Secret du roi_ (Paris, 1878); Antoni Waliszewki, _The
Potoccy and the Czartorysccy_ (Pol.); Carl Heinrich Heyking, _Aus
Polens und Kurlands letzten Tagen_ (Berlin, 1897); Ludwik Denbicki,
_Pulawy_ (Pol.) (Lemberg, 1887-1888). (R. N. B.)
CZECH (in Bohemian, _Cech_), a name which signifies an inhabitant of
Cechy, the native designation of Bohemia. The Czechs belong to the
Slavic race, and according to the usually accepted division they form,
together with the Poles and the almost extinct Lusatians, the group of
the Western Slavs. Speaking generally, it can be said that the Czechs
inhabit a large part of Bohemia, a yet larger part of Moravia, parts of
Silesia--both Austrian and Prussian--and extensive districts in northern
Hungary. In the 19th century the Czechs of Hungary--much to their own
detriment--developed a written language that differs slightly from that
used in Bohemia, but as regards their race they are identical with the
Bohemians and Moravians. Beyond the borders of this continuous territory
there are many Czechs in Lower Austria. Vienna in particular has a large
and increasing Czech population. There are also numerous Czechs in
Russia, particularly Volhynia, in the United States--where a large
number of newspapers and periodicals are published in the Czech
language--and in London. Though the statistics are very uncertain and
untrustworthy, it can be stated that the Czechs number about eight
millions.
The period at which the Czechs settled in Bohemia is very uncertain; all
theories, indeed, with regard to the advent of the Slavs in northern and
eastern Europe are merely conjectural. It was formerly generally
accepted as a fact that all Bohemia was originally inhabited by Celtic
tribes, who were succeeded by the Germanic Marcomanni, and later by the
Slavic Czechs. According to a very ancient tradition reproduced in the
book of Cosmas, the earliest Bohemian chronicler, the Czechs arrived in
Bohemia led by their eponymous chief Cechus, and first settled on the
Rip Hill (Georgberg) near Roudnice. It is a strange proof of the intense
obscurity of the earliest Bohemian history that Cosmas, writing at the
beginning of the 12th century, is already unaware of the existence of
pre-Slavic inhabitants of Bohemia. It is historically certain that the
Czechs inhabited parts of Bohemia as early as the 6th century. In the
absence of all historical evidence, modern Czech scholars have
endeavoured by other means to throw some light on the earliest period of
the Czechs. By craniological studies and a thorough examination of the
fields where the dead were burnt (in Czech _zarove pole_), still found
in some parts of Bohemia, they have arrived at the conclusion that parts
of the country were inhabited by Czechs, or at least by Slavs, long
before the Christian era, perhaps about the year 500 B.C.
It is certain that the Slavs at the time when they first appeared in
history had a common language, known as the ancient Slavic
(_praslovansky_) language. When in the course of time the Slavs occupied
various countries, which were often widely apart, different dialects
arose among them, many of which were influenced by the language of the
neighbouring non-Slavic populations. Thus the Czech language from an
early period absorbed many German words. It is probable that the
development of the Czech language as an independent one, was very
gradual. Existent documents, such as the hymn to St Wenceslas, which
belongs to the second half of the 10th century, are written partly in
old-Slavic, partly in Czech. When the Slavs first occupied Bohemia, they
were probably divided into several tribes, of which the Czechs, who
inhabited Prague and the country surrounding it, were the most powerful.
It is probable that these smaller tribes were only gradually subdued by
the Czechs and that some of them had previously to their absorption
adopted special dialects. The Netolice, Lucane, Psovane, Sedlcane appear
to have been among the more important tribes who were forced to
acknowledge the supremacy of the Czechs, and it may be conjectured that
their language for a time differed slightly from that of their
conquerors. The Czech language has, like all Slavic ones, a strong
tendency to develop dialects; this was the case at the time of its first
appearance as an independent language, and has to a certain extent
continued up to the present day. The dialects of Moravia and the
northern districts of Hungary still show variations from the generally
accepted forms of the Czech language, though since the foundation of the
Czech university of Prague this--at least among the educated classes--is
no longer true to the same extent as it formerly was. The Czech language
at the time of its formation naturally remained closest to those other
Slav-speaking countries which were geographically its neighbours, the
Poles and the Lusatians, and it may be said that this is still the case.
The Czech language at the time when in the 12th and 13th centuries it
first appears as a separate and distinct one, differed considerably from
that of the present day. Ancient Czech had several diphthongs, such as:
_ia_, _ie_, _iu_, _uo_ and _au_, that are unknown to the present
language. The letter "_l_" had a threefold sound, and besides the
letters _b_, _p_, _m_, _v_, the softer forms _b'_, _p'_, _m'_, _v'_,
were also in existence. The letter _g_ (as in other Slavic languages)
was often used where modern Czechs employ the letter _h_. Ancient
Bohemian had three numbers, the singular, plural and dual; of the dual
only scant vestiges remain in modern Czech.
Once it had obtained its independence, the Czech language developed
rapidly, and the philosophical and theological writings of Thomas of
Stitny (1331-1401) proved that it could already be used even for dealing
with the most abstract subjects, though Stitny was blamed by the monks
for not writing in Latin, as was then customary. The Czech language is
greatly indebted also to John Hus, whose best and most original works
were written in the language of his country. Hus showed great interest
in the orthography and grammar of his language, and has devoted an
interesting treatise entitled "_Orthographia bohemica_" to it. As
already mentioned, the Czech language had sprung from diverse dialects,
and Hus endeavoured to establish uniformity. To the Bohemian reformer is
also due the system of so-called diacritic marks--such as _c_, _u_,
_y_--which with some modifications are still in use.[1] The Latin
characters which were in the earliest times, as again at the present
day, used when writing Czech, are quite unable to reproduce some sounds
peculiar to Slavic languages. This was remedied by the introduction of
these marks, and Hus's system of orthography became known as the
diacritic one. The Bohemian reformer, zealous for the purity of the
language of his country, often in his sermons inveighed quaintly and
vehemently against those who defiled the Czech language by introducing
numerous "Germanisms." A century later the Czech language was largely
indebted to the then recently founded community of the Bohemian (or as
they were also often called, Moravian) brethren. A member of the
community, Brother John Blakoslav, wrote in 1571 a _Grammatika Ceska_,
that still has considerable philological interest. It contains a full
account of the construction of the Czech language, based on Latin
grammar, with which the writer was thoroughly acquainted. Divines
belonging to the same community also at the end of the 16th century
published at Kralice in Moravia a complete Czech version of the Old and
New Testaments. Together with the _Labyrint Sveta_ (Labyrinth of the
World) of Komensky (Comenius), who was also a member of the brotherhood,
it can be considered a model of the Czech language in the period
immediately preceding its downfall.
The Czechs have always enthusiastically upheld the language of their
country. In ancient Czech, indeed, the same word _jazyk_ denotes both
"nation" and "language." As late as in 1608 a decree of the estates of
Bohemia declared that Czech was the only official and recognized
state-language, and that all who wished to acquire citizenship in the
country should be obliged to acquire the knowledge of it. While all
patriots thus supported the national language, it was greatly disliked
by the absolutists who were opposed to the ancient free constitution of
Bohemia, as well as by all who favoured the Church of Rome. The
overthrow of Bohemian independence at the battle of the White Mountain
(1620) was therefore shortly followed by the decline of the Czech
language. All Czech writings which could be found were destroyed by the
Austrian authorities as being tainted with heresy, while no new books
written in Czech appeared, except occasional prayer-books and almanacs.
For these scanty writings the German so-called "Schwabach" characters
were used, and this custom only ceased in the middle of the 19th
century. The Czech language, for some time entirely excluded from the
schools, all but ceased to be written, and its revival at the beginning
of the 19th century was almost a resurrection.
The first originator of the movement, Joseph Dobrovsky or Doubravsky
(1753-1829) seems himself, at least at the beginning of his life, to
have considered it impossible that Czech should again become a
widely-spoken language, and one whose literature could successfully
compete with that of larger countries. Yet it was the works of this
"patriarch of Slavic philology" which first drew the public attention to
the half-forgotten Czech language. Dobrovsky's work was afterwards
continued by Kolar, Jungmann, Palacky, Safarek, and many others, and
Czech literature has, both as regards its value and its extension,
reached a height that in the middle of the 19th century would have
appeared incredible.
Though met by constant opposition on the part of the Austrian
authorities, the Czechs have succeeded in re-establishing the use of
their language in many of the lower and middle schools of Bohemia and
Moravia, and the foundation of a Czech university at Prague (1882-1884)
has of course contributed very largely to the ever-increasing expansion
of the Czech language. The national language has at all times appeared
to the Bohemians as the palladium of their nationality and independence,
and the movement in favour of the revival of the Czech language
necessarily became a political one, as soon as circumstances permitted.
The friends of the national language at the beginning of the 19th
century were generally known as the _vlastenci_ (patriots), but when in
1848 representatives of many parts of Austria met at Vienna, the
deputies of Bohemia--with the exception of the Germans--formed what was
called the national or Czech party. Parliamentary government did not at
that period long survive, and at the end of the year 1851 absolutism had
been re-established. In 1860 a new attempt to establish constitutional
government in Austria was made, and representatives of the Czech party
appeared at the provincial diet of Prague and the central parliament at
Vienna. The Czech party endeavoured to obtain the re-establishment of
the ancient Bohemian constitution, but, allied as they were with a
large part of the Bohemian nobility, it was their policy to maintain a
somewhat conservative attitude. After having absented themselves for a
considerable time from the parliament of Vienna, the legality of which
they denied, the Czech deputies reappeared in Vienna in 1879, and,
together with the representatives of the Bohemian nobility, formed there
what was known as the Cesky Klub.
While the Czechs for a time continued united at Vienna, a schism among
them had some time previously occurred at Prague. Dissatisfied with the
policy of the Czechs, a new party had been formed in Bohemia which
affected more advanced views and became known as the "Young Czech"
party. The more conservative Czechs were henceforth known as the "Old
Czechs." The "Young Czechs," when the party first became independent in
1872, had thirty-five representatives in the diet of Prague, but at the
elections of 1874 their number was reduced to seven. They continued,
however, to gain in strength, and obtained for a long time a large
majority in the diet, while the Old Czech party for a considerable
period almost disappeared. In Vienna also the Old Czech party gradually
lost ground. Its leader Dr Rieger, indeed, obtained for the Czechs
certain concessions which, underrated at the time, have since proved by
no means valueless. The decision of the Old Czech party to take part at
a conference in Vienna under the presidency of Count Taafe--then
Austrian prime-minister--which was to settle the national differences in
Bohemia, caused its complete downfall. The proposals of the Vienna
conference were rejected with indignation, and the Old Czechs, having
become very unpopular, for a time ceased to contest the elections for
the legislative assemblies of Prague and Vienna. The victorious Young
Czechs, however, soon proved themselves very unskilful politicians.
After very unsuccessfully assuming for a short time an attitude of
intransigeant opposition, they soon became subservient to the government
of Vienna to an extent which the Old Czechs had never ventured. Dr
Kramar, in particular, as leader of the Young Czech party, supported the
foreign policy of Austria even when its tendency was most hostile to the
interests of Bohemia. The Vienna government has, in recent years, as
regards internal affairs, also adopted a policy very unfavourable to the
Czech race. Even the continuance of some of the concessions formerly
obtained by the Old Czechs has become doubtful. At the elections to the
diet of Prague which took place in March 1908, the Young Czechs lost
many seats to the Old Czechs, while the Agrarians, Clericals and
Radicals were also successful.
See J. Dobrovsky, _Geschichte der bohmischen Sprache_ (1818), and
_Lehrgebaude der bohmischen Sprache_ (1819); J. Blahoslav, _Grammatika
Ceska_, printed from MS. (1867); Lippert, _Social-Geschichte Bohmens_
(1896); Gebauer, _Slovnik Starocesky_ (Dictionary of the ancient Czech
language, 1903); I. Herzer, _Bohmisch-deutsches Worterbuch_ (Prague,
1901, &c.); Coufal and Zaba, _Slovnik Cesko-latinsky a Latinsko-cesky_
(Prague, 1904, &c.), and _Historicka Uluonice Jazyka ceskeha_
(Historical grammar of the Czech language, 1904); Morfill, _Grammar of
the Bohemian or Cech Language_ (1899); Bourlier, _Les Tcheques_
(1897). (L.)