The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-17
o1sons. nAaTAaS ASD eHaNlNA
the Psrilous hut IntsrestinR Situation 81
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

~ AAA1NN 1aN
sA6htr4n4Hungnty.
Torn Eprron OF THE suE-Siri The repeal
OF Count Badoni's ordinances placing the Ger
man and Czech la~nguaGeson an official EQUALITY
In Bohemia is certainlya great triumph Tor the
German and Magyar opposition. Whether or
no IL will turn out to be q Pyrrhic victory re-
mains TO be seen. 80 far as II helps to remove
tho constitutional deadlock between the two
divisions OF the dual monarchy and insures the
passing OF the Ausgleich at the autumn session
It IL good. But 30 far as Il tends to maketho
Czechs Eravitato toward Russia and encourages
Pan slavism and checks the growth OF federal
ism IL is full Of evil omen for the future OF
Austria Hungary.
The history OF the dispute is peculiar. When
the Czechs OF Bohemia and tho Magyars OF
Hungary offered their crowns 70 the house OF
Habsbure over three hundred years nEo, as n
protection against tho Turks. they did 80 with
the express reservation that their independ-
ence should be respected. Tho HabsburRE
never lived up to their part Of tho contract.
They treated Bohemia and Hungary as though
they were conquered provinces and made tire
less efforts to stamp out the Czech and Magyar
tongues and the very idea Of nationality among
them. In Hungary they were foiled by the per-
eistent vigor Of tho Magyar mobiles, and the
present Emperor was forced In 1907 to restore
to them all their old feudal rights. In Bohemia
the process Of DECENTRALIZATION went further. A
large body Of German ~colonists was planted on
the northern border to hold tho CEechs down
and make them forget they had over had q his
tory and language OF their own. By the end Of
tho eighteenth century Bohemia was to all APP
pearances q German province.
Il was justat that moment when their for
tunes as a race seemed Mt their lowest that the
Czech revival began. A sudden wave ofpatriot-
to1,H ow-nN kk-A...A $500 'Ahnk AAl Ann- %
nearly extinguished. Historians turned with
one instinct to the study Of tho early history Of
Bohemia :archives and libraries were ransacked
for specimens Of Czech literature. and patriotic
poets, like Kollar, sang OF the Rlories Of the
Slav race and called upon their hearers to show
themselves worthy of. their ancestors. For the
past hundred years the Czechs have struggled
for the restoration Of their old kingdom of
Bohemia. Moravia and Silesia. Just as the Irish
have struggled for home rule: and tho German
garrison in the north. like the English ~eolonists
In Ulster. has persistently opposed and de-
feated their demands.
or this struggle the language question forms
an important part. The Germans In Bohemia
lumber 100000 and the Czechs 3.644.000.
Count Badeni's DEGREES put the two languages
on an absolute equality In all Government de.
partments and law courts. and obliged all Bo-
hemian officials after 1901 to know both
tongues. On the face OF It there seems nothing
unreasonable In that. but the Germans point
out that theirs is the language OF a great COM
merce and q great literature. known and spoken
the world over. while Czech is merely a Slav
dialect. confined at the most to 100000 peo-
pie and utterly useless outside Bohemia. Every
educated Czech speaks German. but no Ger
man takes the trouble to learn Czech. any more
than an Englishman employed in Scotland
thinks Of mastering Gaelic. Moreover. there |
are seventy-two administrative divisions In
Bohemia. containing population Of a million
and a half. In which the CEechs are barely'1
per cent. Why should a German letter carrier
In these districts be forced to read and write an
inferior Slavic dialect?
There is point in all these objections. but |
none Of them quite explains the furious oppo-
sition which united the Germans OF all parties
and led to the remarkable scenes in the Relchs-
rath at the end OF last year. What inspired
that opposition was the recognition that the
language DEGREES involved the whole question
of German or Slav supremacy in Bohemia.
Rightly or wrongly. the Germans look down on
the Csechs as an Inferior, irresponsible race. |
who must be kept down in the interests OF civ |
i~liZation. Sooner than stay within the dual
to be overrun by ignorant hordes, |
they would change the Habsburgs for tho
and Join their Prussian kinsmen |
across the border. In their determination to
remain the dominant race in Austria at any |
cost. they are supported by the Hungarian
Magyars. who have their own Slav questions to |
attend to and dread the growth Of Slav iniu- |
ence In any portion Of the monarchy. These
ruling races Joined hands once before
when Francis Joseph was on the very point of
to tho Czech demand for autonomy |
and forced him to 20 back on his pledged
word. Their influence has trIumphed again
and obliged him to repeal the language ordi- |
nances OF 1897.
That the Czechs will continue to agitate till
their old rights are given back to them ia
certain. They are q versatile. imaginative and
persevering race, and their enormous Industrial
political advance during the last fifty or
sixty years makes their final success, In spite
Of the Germans and Magynrs. hardly a matter
Tor doubt. Mr., Gladstone prophesied long ago
that the destiny OF Austria-H Hungary lay In the
OF federalism. and 1t is becoming
more and more obvious that only by equal
OF all the leading, races within It's
borders can the monarchy secure internal peace
Ind strength. 1t is probable that there Is a
rood deal more bark than bite in the German
threat OF secession. Just as there lie in the mp
peals Of the Czechs to Russian sympathy. When
he kingdom Of at. Wenzel Is resurrected and
he dual becomes the triple monarchy. both
aces are likely to find that IL Is to their interest
% live side by side as harmoniously as possible
Ind not seek absorption among their neigh
oors. Until that day comes the German Czech
'eud Is q danger to the whole OF Austria-Hun-
gary. and ~justiaes the worst fears for what may
when the patient wisdom OF Francis
Joseph is no longer a rallying point for his
subjects. D.
NEW YORK. Aug. 10.