BOHEMIA AND THE CZECHS 



175 



The stranger elected in his place, 

 Frederick of the Palatinate, son-in-law 

 of the King of England, however, proves 

 an incompetent weakling. The Czech 

 armies are disorganized, and November 

 8, 1620, the main force of 20,000 is de- 

 feated at Bila Hora, near Prague, by an 

 army of Germans, Spaniards, Walloons, 

 Poles, Cossacks, and Bavarians. 



The following part of the Bohemian 

 history should be read in detail by all its 

 friends — by all friends of humanity. It 

 is a most instructive, though most grue- 

 some, part of the history, not merely of 

 Bohemia, but of Europe, of civilization. 

 In Bohemia itself it is a period of con- 

 centrated fiendishness under the banner 

 of religion, and of suffering, of thirty 

 years duration. Beginning with whole- 

 sale executions, it progresses to the 

 forced exile of over 30,000 of the best 

 families of the country, with confiscation 

 of their property, and to orgies of de- 

 struction of property and life. 



Under the leadership of fanatics, every 

 house, every nook, is searched for books 

 and writings, and these are burned in the 

 public squares "to eradicate the devil" of 

 reformation. Rapine reigns, until there 

 is nothing more to burn, nothing to take, 

 and until three-quarters of the population 

 have gone or perished — a dreary monu- 

 ment to the Habsburg dynasty, to the 

 status of mankind in the 17th century. 



Had not Germany itself been ravaged 

 by the religious wars thus kindled, this 

 period would probably have been the last 

 of the Czechs ; as it was, there were not 

 enough Germans left for colonizing other 

 countries. Yet many came in the course 

 of time, as settlers. German becomes 

 the language of commerce, of courts, of 

 all public transactions ; the university is 

 German, and in schools the native tongue 

 finds barely space in the lowest grades. 



Books have been burnt, educated pa- 

 triotic men and women driven from the 

 country, memories perverted. It would 

 surely seem that the light of the nation 

 would now, if ever, become extinct. And 

 it becomes obscured for generations — yet 

 is not extinguished. The roots of the 

 stock prove too strong and healthy. 



The people sleep for 150 years, but it 

 is a sleep of rest, not death — a sleep heal- 



ing wounds and allowing of a slow gath- 

 ering of new forces. 



BOHEMIA REAWAKENED 



Toward the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury the Czech language is almost wholly 

 that of the untutored peasant. But the 

 time of quickening approaches. First 

 one cell, one nerve, one limb of the pros- 

 trate body revives ; then others. The his- 

 tory of the nation is resurrected and 

 proves an elixir of life ; to learn it is 

 to a Czech enough for a complete awak- 

 ening. But the awakening period be- 

 comes one of constant struggle against 

 all the old forces that would keep him 

 down ; yet step by step he advances, over 

 prisons and gallows. 



Literature, science, art arise again ; 

 journalism begins to develop. The uni- 

 versity is regained ; Prague, the "mother" 

 of Bohemian cities, is regained, and 

 others follow. Education reaches a higher 

 level ultimately than anywhere else in 

 Austria. A great national society of So- 

 kols ("falcons") is formed to elevate the 

 people physically, intellectually, and mor- 

 ally. 



Bohemian literature, music, art, science 

 come against all obstacles to occupy again 

 an honorable position among those of 

 other nations. 



Agricultural and technical training 

 progresses until the country is once more 

 the richest part of the empire. Finally 

 journalism has developed until, just be- 

 fore the war, there are hundreds of Czech 

 periodicals. The Czech language is again 

 heard in the courts, in high circles, in the 

 Austrian Reichstag itself ; and, though 

 still crippled, there is again a Bohemian 

 Diet. 



Where after the Thirty Years' War 

 there were but a few hundred thousands 

 of Czechs left, there are now in Bohemia, 

 Moravia, and Silesia alone seven mil- 

 lions ; besides which there are over two 

 million Slovaks in the adjacent area 

 under Hungary. 



Such is the very brief and imperfect 

 abstract of the history of the Czech peo- 

 ple, who see once more before them the 

 dawn of liberty which they so long cher- 

 ished. 



