[1] The word Czech, which is being freely used in the Anglo-American
press, is a corrupt form of Čech. The German form is Czech, Tscheche,
the French Tchèque. But, inasmuch as Čech is sounded more nearly like
Checkh and not Czech, the form Czech fails utterly of its purpose and
its use should be discontinued. The people themselves prefer to be
called Bohemians, not Czechs, which latter appellation is not generally
known or understood. Some years ago a noted scholar was severely
censured because he named his magazine, edited in the German language,
but Bohemiophile in tendency, “Čechische Revue,” instead of “Böhmische
Revue.” The truth of the matter is that the appellation Czech is an
invention of Vienna journalists, who, by persistent use of the term,
wish to give a warning to the world that Bohemia is not all Čech, but
part German and part Čech.
[2] Silesia was much larger, but Frederick II. of Prussia despoiled
Maria Theresa in 1742 of a major portion of it. Thus was created
Prussian Silesia and Austrian Silesia. In Macaulay’s “Life of Frederick
the Great,” we read why the Prussian King made war on his neighbor. In
manifestoes he might, for form’s sake, insert some idle stories about
his antiquated claim on Silesia; but in his conversations and Memoirs
he took a very different tone. His own words were: “Ambition, interest,
the desire of making people talk about me, carried the day; and I
decided for war.” If there is a rectification of Prussian boundary
after the war, a portion of Prussian Silesia, that is still Bohemian,
should be returned to Austrian Silesia.
[3] Representation in parliament being determinable by the result of
the enumeration, one can at once see of what vital concern it is to
non-Germans to obtain a census free from political bias. As matters
are, the Germans constitute 35 per cent. of the population, yet have 52
per cent. representation in the Reichsrath (parliament), while 24 per
cent. Bohemians are represented in parliament only by 17 per cent.
[4] “The Slavdom: Picture of Its Past and Present,” Prague, 1912.
[5] Now of every 1,000 inhabitants in Bohemia 956.61 profess the
Catholic faith. Due to various reasons--spiritual, political, and
historical--more than one-half of the American Bohemians have seceded
from the Catholic Church. Some have joined various Protestant sects,
but the majority of the secessionists are Free-thinkers.
[6] However, the Patent of Tolerance extended only to Protestants of
the Helvetian and Augsburg Confessions, not to the Bohemian Church,
which latter had been denied recognition.
[7] On February 9, 1748, a bill was introduced in the English
Parliament “to relieve the United Brethren (so-called in Comenius’
time), or Moravians, from military duties and taking oaths.” Among the
speakers was General Oglethorpe, who spoke in support of the bill. “In
the year 1683 a most pathetic account of these brethren was published
by order of Archbishop Sancroft and Bishop Compton,” said Oglethorpe.
“They also addressed the Church of England in the year 1715, being
reduced to a very low ebb in Poland, and his late Majesty, George
I., by the recommendation of the late Archbishop Wake, gave orders
in council for the relief of these Reformed Episcopal Churches, and
letters patent for their support were issued soon after. But since 1724
circumstances have altered for the better, and they have wonderfully
revived, increased and spread in several countries. They have even made
some settlements in America. In the province of Pennsylvania they have
about 800 people to whom the proprietor and Governor gave very good
character.”
[8] When Napoleon sought to weaken Austria’s position at home, he
addressed a patriotic appeal to the Bohemians. “Your union with
Austria,” read Napoleon’s appeal, “has been your misfortune. Your blood
has been shed for her in distant lands, and your dearest interests
have been sacrificed continually to those of the hereditary provinces.
You form the finest portion of her empire, and you are treated as a
mere province to be used as an instrument of passions to which you are
strangers. You have national customs and a national language; you pride
yourself on your ancient and illustrious origin. Assume once more your
position as a nation. Choose a king for yourselves, who shall reign
for you alone, who shall dwell in your midst and be surrounded by your
citizens and your soldiers.”--Napoleon’s proclamation found no echo
among the people for whom it was intended. The sentiment of nationality
was yet too weak to respond.
[9] Francis Palacký (1798-1876), historian, revivalist, and statesman,
is, by common consent, regarded as the greatest Bohemian of our time.
His monumental work, “History of the Bohemian Nation,” on which he
labored some thirty years, will endure as long as the Bohemian language
continues to be spoken. There was a time when not only the outside
world, but Bohemians themselves, believed that the old-time Bohemians
of the stormy days of John Hus or those who revolted against Ferdinand
II. were a band of heretics and rebels. Such has been the official
Austrian version of these events in Bohemia. However, the truth could
not be suppressed for all time. Palacký and others were being born, and
in time the alluvium of Austrian bigotry and of falsehood was removed
from the nation’s past, and to the astonished gaze of Resurrected
Bohemia was revealed a glorious history of which descendants could
be justly proud. Great men, national heroes, hitherto unknown or
misunderstood, emerged from almost every chapter of Palacký’s work.
[10] See page 59.
[11] Karel Havlíček (1821-1856) is in many respects the most noteworthy
Bohemian of the nineteenth century. As a journalist, he had no equal
among his contemporaries. His political articles were models of sound
and mature reasoning and of lucid thinking. When arguments failed
with the black reactionaries, lay and ecclesiastic, Havlíček employed
another weapon with telling effect--ridicule. Bohemians venerate him as
a martyr of their cause. The cultured immigrants to the United States
from Bohemia in the early days were imbued with Havlíček’s spirit
and ideas, and the present-day spread of free-thought among them is
directly traceable to this Thomas Paine of Bohemia.
[12] Friedrich Ferdinand Beust, a Saxon statesman, entered the services
of Austria soon after the disaster at Sadova. It was he who brought to
a successful termination the Settlement between Vienna and Hungary. The
centralists were at first opposed to the division of Austria in two,
but were eventually placated by Beust, he having convinced them that
dualism meant the permanent subjugation of the Slavs. The above remark,
“Die Slaven werden an die Wand gedrückt,” is attributed to him.
[13] “Eingedenkt der Staatsrechtlichen Stellung der Krone Böhmens und
des Glanzes und der Macht bewusst, welche dieselbe Uns und Unseren
Vorfahren verliehen hat, eingedenkt ferner der unerschüttlichen Treue,
mit welchen die Bevölkerung Böhmens jederzeit Unseren Thron stützte,
erkennen wir gerne die Rechte dieses Königreiches an und sind bereit
diese Anerkennung mit Unserem Krönungseide zu erneuern.”
Among the many titles of Francis Josef are those of “Emperor of
Austria,” “King of Hungary,” “King of Bohemia,” etc. Strictly speaking,
Francis Josef has no legal claim to the title “King of Bohemia.” He has
never taken the coronation oath; and, without such an oath, he is no
more King than Woodrow Wilson would be President of the United States
without first taking the oath of office. Logically, therefore, Francis
Josef is an unlawful ruler of the Bohemian Kingdom.
[14] The elusive paragraph fourteen of the constitution (bearing date
December 21, 1867) has been the cause of some of the bitterest fights
in parliament. It virtually nullifies constitutionalism in Austria,
permitting as it does the emperor and his ministers to rule the land
“in case of urgent necessities” without parliament. Past experience has
shown that these “necessities” arise quite often. Paragraph fourteen is
a bulwark of strength to the German party against which the Bohemians
have battled in vain. Under paragraph fourteen the ruler cannot change
the fundamental laws of the realm, contract permanent loans, and
alienate public property. Aside from this there is nothing to curb his
absolutism. Parliament may impeach the ministers for exceeding their
powers, but this safeguard is really no safeguard at all. The German
text of paragraph fourteen is as follows:
“Wenn sich die dringende Nothwendigkeit solchen Anordnungen, zu welchem
verfassungsmässig die Zustimmung des Reichsrathes erforderlich ist,
zu einer Zeit herausstellt, wo dieser nicht versammelt ist, so können
dieselben unter Verantwortung des Gesammtministeriums durch Kaiserliche
Verordnung erlassen werden, in soferne solche keine Abänderung
des Staatsgrundgesetzes bezwecken, keine dauernde Belastung des
Staatschatzes, und keine Veräuserung von Staatsgut betreffen. Solche
Verordnungen haben provisorische Gesetzkraft, wenn sie von sämmtlichen
Ministern unterzeichnet sind, und mit ausdrücklicher Beziehung auf
diese Bestimmung des Staatsgrundgesetzes kundgemacht werden.”
[15] The register of prisoners at Kiev shows 114,000 were taken in the
Carpathian fighting during the two months before the fall of Przemysl,
and some difficulty has been found in preventing racial troubles among
the enormous colony from captives. German Uhlan soldiers, hearing
of the fall of Przemysl, declared that it must have been due to the
treachery of “that Czech Kusmanek,” whereupon a Czech officer struck
him. The fight spread and the participants had to be separated.--_Cable
item from Russia._
[16] The Slavs in Austria-Hungary are divided into the following racial
groups:
1. _The Bohemians._ Inhabit Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. Strong
settlements are found in Austria (the city of Vienna alone being the
home of not less than 300,000, according to some estimates 500,000) and
in Prussian Silesia.
2. _The Slovaks._ Settled in the northwestern part of Hungary and in
Moravia.
Professor Lubor Niederle, who is recognized as an authority on Slavic
matters, computed in 1900 the strength of the Bohemians, together with
the Slovaks, at 9,800,000.
3. _The Poles._ Scattered over the whole of Galicia, intermixing there
with the Ruthenes, but predominating mainly in the westerly part
of it. They also live in Silesia, with settlements in Bukovina and
Moravia. Austrian Poles number almost 5,000,000. All told, the Polish
race in Austria, Germany, and Russia is computed by Niederle (1900) at
17,500,000; Polish statisticians make the total 20,000,000. When the
constitutional era first dawned in Austria, the Poles were put in full
charge of Galicia, in appreciation of which concession they have always
loyally supported the Austrian Government. In Galicia, the Poles are
the aristocracy and the Ruthenes the peasant element. The affection of
Vienna for the Poles, however, is not above suspicion; it is claimed
that hatred of Russia, common to both the Poles and the Austrians, was
more directly responsible for the alliance than any other single cause,
though of course it is undeniable that under Austrian rule the Poles
fared better than either under the Russian or Prussian régimes.
4. _The Slovenes._ Occupy the whole of Carniola, the southern part of
Styria, the major section of Goritz and Gradiska, except a section
in the southwestern part thereof, the outlying villages of Trieste,
the northern end of Istria, which projects on the west into Italian
territory and eastward into Hungary. Niederle’s estimate of the
Slovenes in 1900 was 1,500,000.
5. No Slavic race is more torn up territorially than the
_Serbo-Croatians_. Although really one people by language and origin,
they have divided themselves, or rather were subdivided by their
political masters, into two national units. Their homelands include
a large section of Istria and Dalmatia, together with the adjacent
islands in the Adriatic, the whole of Croatia and Slavonia, a piece
of southern Hungary, and all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides this,
there is, of course, the Serbian Kingdom and Montenegro.
Niederle estimated the Serbo-Croatians in 1900 at 8,550,000.
6. _The Ruthenes_ (Little Russians). Overflow the Russian boundaries
to Galicia, being predominant in east Galicia, strong in western and
northern Bukovina, numerous in several counties in Hungary.
Niederle computed the strength of the Ruthenes in Galicia, Hungary, and
Bukovina in 1900 at 3,500,000.
By religious affiliations the Slavs are divided as follows: To the
Catholic group belong almost wholly the Bohemians, Poles, Slovenes,
Croatians, and Slovaks (of the last named about seven-tenths).
Protestantism finds favor among the Slovaks (24 per cent.), Bohemians
(2.44 per cent.), and Poles living in Silesia (1.81 per cent.). The
Orthodox faith is professed by the Ruthenes in Galicia, Hungary, and
Bukovina, and the Serbians. A fraction of the Russians in Galicia
and Hungary adheres to the Uniate Church, and there are believers in
Mohammedanism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The old-fashioned Austrian diplomacy knew well the value of the
principle “divide and rule” and tried it on its Slavs with success.
There was a time when Bohemians in Moravia were taught by Austrian
officials to believe that they were Moravians, not Bohemians. The
difference between Bohemian and Moravian is as great as the difference
between Bronx English and Brooklyn English, yet this fact did not
discourage the grammarians in Vienna from setting up boundaries where
none existed. Croatia, as pointed out elsewhere, is peopled by a
nation calling itself alternately Croatians and Serbs. Possessing a
common past, the same racial traditions, and speaking one language,
the Serbo-Croatians are clearly one nation, divided only by different
faiths. The Croatians use the Latin letters and adhere, almost to
a man, to the Catholic faith, while the Serbs employ the Cyrillic
alphabet and belong to the Orthodox Church. The busy grammarians in
Vienna and in Budapest did their utmost to keep the Serbo-Croatians
apart, and even incited one against the other, by instilling the
belief in them that two different religions really meant two different
races. Galicia is inhabited by two distinct peoples, the Russians
and the Poles. The name “Russian” sounded badly in Austria. It
constantly reminded the Galician Russians that on the other side of
the yellow-black boundary posts lived a great nation that spoke the
same language and professed the same faith as they. Again the learned
grammarians in Vienna went to work and by dint of hard study discovered
that Austrian Russians were really not what they seemed to be and
promptly they baptized them “Ruthenes.” The ruse, of course, was to
veil the nearness of the relationship of the “Ruthenes” to the Russians
in Russia proper. In the same manner and with the same object in view
the Slovaks of Hungary are encouraged to believe that they are a
separate race and not near relatives of the Bohemians.
[17] For a student of Austrian conditions it is instructive to note how
the war of the Balkan Allies against the Turk divided the sympathies
of the people along racial lines. Save a fraction of the Poles in
Galicia, the Slavs sided heartily and enthusiastically with the Allies.
The Germans and the Magyars wished for the success of the Turks. When
the Bulgars routed the Ottoman army at Kirk Killisé, the Vienna press
ill-concealed its chagrin, while Slavic journals rejoiced as if it had
been their own victory. Imagine the dismay of such a staunch champion
of Austrian public opinion as the Vienna “Neue Freie Presse,” when the
Serbs crushed the Turk at Kumanovo! For many reasons Serbia was for
years looked upon as a kind of barometer of the hopes of the Austrian
Slavs. A clever Bohemian journalist made the interesting prediction
some time before the Balkan War that relief from Austrian thraldom
may be looked for, not from Russia, as many dreamers believed, but
from the small Slavic states in the Balkans. If these were victorious,
prophesied this newspaper writer, the Slavs in the Hapsburg Monarchy
were sure to gain morally from the victory. Official public opinion
frowned on the war relief work among Austrian Slavs in aid of the
Balkan Allies.
[18] Francis L. Rieger (1818-1903), a lawyer, writer, economist, and
statesman, was, despite his German name, an uncompromising patriot who
had spent his whole life in the service of his nation. Modern Bohemia
without Rieger is unthinkable. His name is written large on every
page of his country’s history. As a leader of the Old Bohemian party
he naturally played a prominent rôle in the fight for the historical
rehabilitation of the Bohemian Kingdom. Having married the daughter of
Francis Palacký, the “Father of the Nation,” he was nicknamed by his
political adversaries, “Son-in-law of the Nation.”
[19] Ferdinand, however, took his oath of office January 30, 1527.