Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-27
SlAV TONGUE COUNTRIES
TERRITORY COVERED By RUS
SIAN AND KINDRED SPEECH.
Spoken From the East Coast Of the
Adriatic, Over Asia to
Behring Sea.

From the LONDON Spectator.
In an interesting inset TO Stieler's At
las a sketch is given OF the distribution OF
ofiicial languages throughout the world.
The most pervasive OF all the official
languages Is English. which appears over
a considerable portion OF every continent
and monopolizes one. But next to Eng
lish the languages which cover the most
territory are the Saw, and In one respect
tkeir range Is still more remarkable. as
they are entirely continuous. The Slav
anguages-Russian. Czech. Bulgarian.
Seryfan. Croatian. Polish. and so on. all
closely connected with one another-are
actually spoken over the northern hale
Of Asia and in half Europe. Perhaps the
most graphic way Of stating this fact is
to say that a man thoroughly conversant
with one Of the Slav languages and with
none other. could make himself under
stood in travelling from the east coast OF
the Adriatic across Europe and across
Asia to the Bering sea. Another remark
able fact about the Siavs is the vfgor
Of their expansion during the last hum
dred years. During the early part of the
nineteenth century educated Russians.
following the example and precepts or
Peter the Great. and TO some extent OF
Catherine III. seemed almost ashamed or
their nationality and language. The great
poet Pushkin. for example. affected 10
say that the language OF Europe" vas
more familiar to him than his mother
tongue.
Language Revived.
Again. in Bohemia during the early
years Of the century the Czech language
was almost extinct, so that, with a par
donable exaggeration. the Bohemian pa
triot Palacky. speaking to two OF his
friends said that II the ceiling OF the
room In which they were should fall
upon them and crush them the Czech race
would have ceased living. Even nifty
years ago Bulgars and Servians were
hardly known except to historical stu
dents while the language and national
traditions Of the Poles were depressed
with almost equal severity by Russians.
Prussians and Austrians. Today all Is
changed. The Russians. after being
ruled on German methods, and also large
ly by Germans. for more than century.
seem finally to have advanced to truly
national development. From the middle
of the last century the tenets OF the
Pan-Slavists have entirely modified the
outlook OF the Russian people, who. in
stead of being ashamed Of their bar
barism, have come to look on the Slav
races as the people OF the future. This
process " as largely aided by the policy
Of Alexander II. the car liberator. lit
tie as he himself sympathized with the
Pan Slavist agitators. His emancipation
&C the serfs. and. still more. his cam
paign to liberate the Bulgars. Servians
and Montenegrins from Turkish tyranny.
gave Russia and all the other Slav races
a new conception of their might and their
destiny. This process was continued by
Alexander III, who more than any pre-
vious car since Peter the Great was in
SvrnnafbV with the real nature and Sptrfe
Of his people.
This expansion of Russian and national
self-consciousness has been accompanied
by similar movements in the other SlaV
races. The new strength OF Bulgaria,
Servia and Montenegro. as We have seen,
was largely due TO Russia: but the Poles
also, hitherto oppressed by the other
Slavs, as well as by Germans, have not
only shown that their proud national
spirit is not extinct, but have developed
litical foresight. and, indeed. in q large
province OF the Austro- Hungarian mon
archy have attained the position or a
ruling class. Perhaps how ever. Bohemia
Slav revival This country. which seem-
ed to have had all national spirit crushed
out OF IT by German invaders since the
thirty years war. has entirely recovered
its racial individuality. In Prague itself.
the capital. German. II understood. Is
strong is the feeling against II: ana the
emperor has actually acknowledged the
Bohemian nations claims to separate
treatment. though he has never actually
been crowned as King OF Bohemia IN
Prague, as the Bohemians think would be
the logical result Of this admission.
Causes Of Slav Revival
The causes Of this Slav revival, one OF
the most far-reaching, IL hitherto neglect
ed. developments in European history,
are twofold. One Is the awakening OF
national feeling In Russia. that mysteri-
Gus cloud of power in the north" as
Chatham called IL. with the life which this
ax akening brought for the Balkan Slav
races; the other Is the institution OF the
German empire, with the consequent
OF the Austro-Hungarian
interests from Germany to
all the scattered races In its own orbit.
The casual observer. Influenced no doubt
by the history Of former centuries. still
thinks of Francis Joseph's empire as
German, and secondly Hunga-
rian. with an admixture OF other races
which hardly count numerically or polit:-
cally But as a matter OF fact, or all
the races in the monarchy the SlaVs are
the most numerous In Austria proper.
are only 100000 Germans and about
million Italians and Wallachians. while
the remaining 1900 600 are Slavs.
Even in Hungary. in a population or
over 10. OOO 600, the Slavs account for over
5. 0OO. 600. and the Hungarians do rot
form half tie population. In the whole Of
the monarchy the Germans are only
reckoned at 100000 and the Hunsar!-
ans at $4,000 In view Of these figures
il is at first sight a subject for wonder
that the Slavs have not more influence
in the realm than they at present have
One reason for this Is that they are still
by no means a coherent body. In Galicia.
for example, there are two Slav races.
the Poles and the Ruthenes; and OF these
the Poles being the masters. have driven
the Ruthenes into opposition TO them
The Serbs of the monarchy and the
Croats, closely allied as they are In blood.
are separated by their religions. the
former belonging to the orthodox church,
while the Croats are Roman Catholics.
In fact, the Bohemians, the Poles and
the Greats, now almost dominant races
in their own parts OF the empire, mo
sometimes as much cause for difference
with some Of the other Slav races as
with the Germans and Hungarians.
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