Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule

inces of Hungary. There is not uniform agreement among Slovak scholars with reference to the ethnic affinity of this people with the Bohemians. Are the S

ge should be treated as an independent Slavic idiom, precisely in the same way as Polish, Russian, etc. But, though grammarians may disagree about this or that Slovak or Bohemian root or termination of a verb; though they may fancy they see a difference where probably none exists, the people themselves have no quarrels to pick, no disputes to adjust. On the contrary, they have always been good neighbors[20] and loyal friends. As for real differences of speech, these are so slight that a Slovak will understand a Bohemian as readily as an Englishman from Yorkshire will his cousin, the Yank

ere go with the ruling element, and further, were we to add those who are compelled, for various reasons, to conceal their nationality, the actual number would not be far from 3,000,000. Outside of Slovakland Slovaks are scattered throughout Hungary except in Transylvania. There are few districts in

escendants of immigrants from Bohemia who fled to Hungary to escape religious and political persecution. The truth is, however, that their ancestors occupied the Carpathian highlands from the dawn o

d not feel that their national existence had been threatened by the innovation. But when, in 1867, Austria concluded with Hungary the Act of Settlement, whereby the dual system of government was introduced, and the Magyars secured for themselves ascendency over all the other races in the kingdom, the danger became acute, and has been growing steadily since, until now the Slovaks are menaced by denationalization. True, the Law of Nationalitie

condary schools for Pan-Slavic propaganda. Pan-Slavism in the case of these unfortunate youths

on. In countries enjoying the blessing of freedom of speech and press, de facto and not only de jure, the articles which Hungarian prosecuting attorneys construe as seditious, would

s provisions of the Law of Nationalities permitting this procedure, would be prejudi

in any way connected with the government, directly or indirectly, must of necessity renounce his nationality

rnment is abolishing the ancient Slavic nomenclature of villages and towns, replacing it with Magyar names, and t

uring to every race education in its native tongue, Slovaks have been unable to obtain from the authorities consent to the reopening of even one higher school. Think of a nation of two millions and a half, living in the heart of Europe, not having one higher school for the education of its youth! In 1875 the government confiscated the funds of an educational institution, and with the money undertook to publish at Budapest "a patriotic Hungarian journal." At the University of Budapest, the Slovak idiom is studiously ignored by the instructors, though the Slovaks are heavy taxpayers, and

in the unredeemed provinces may look forward to the time when Italy will liberate them from Austrian misrule; even the Serbs in Southern Hungary find new courage in resisting oppression by reason of their nearness to their brothers in the Se

of Magyarland the Government of A

the race, suppress its language, obliterate every evidence of its existence: that is

since times immemorial, the ancestral homelands of the race." That the American Slovaks took the initiative in issuing the memorandum is not hard to understand. "The Slovaks at home are not permitted to approach their king with grievances, the last deputation to him having been denied admittance. Slovaks, therefore, are made to feel that they have no ki

do not complain. It is the Hungarian Go

t of their own, their second choice is to co-operate with the Bohemians toward the establishment of a confederacy that shall include the autonomous states of

as ?

mas ?apek; Racial Problems in Hungary, Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd., London, 190