Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-26
BALKANS THE BALANCE POWER /?

Austria: they consider themselves as
captives and also as disdained. II being
understood that the Germans have been
made their governants. their natural
enemies. That state of thing lasted
until 1867. From that time the Mag
vars have not heen oppressed by the
Germans and the Hungarians have In
turn oppressed Slovaks. Russians.
had no further reason TO congratulate
herself on the new dynasty. Except
under the reign of Rudolph. who made
Prague his capital. Bohemia. that is to
say the Czechs. were exploited by the
stranger. Bohemia, which il Will be
borne in mind is Slav. revolted in 1918
and called to the throne Frederic the
Palatin. Bohemia was defeated in the
celebrated battle of the White noun
tains in 1920. since when the Czech ma
ton ceased to exist. But in the last
century there has been a renaissance
OF Slav language and literature and
Prague became the intellectual center
of the Slav world. From Prague have
come the regenerators of the Slav race
Prague possesses an academy. a uni
versity. national theater. Unfortu-
nately the Czechs have no official rep
resentative and are known in Europe
only in the travelling "sokols' gym
nasums which attract attention by
their picturesque costumes.
The Slovenes. the Slavs of Carinthia.
Carniola. Styria. 1stria and Triest, be
, Kingdom of Illyria," name invented
by Napoleon ] when he had conquered
part of the country from Austria
Laybach is the capital and the popula-
ton consists of Slovenes. Croats and
Dalmatians. The Emperor of Austria
still bears the title of King of Bohemia
and also of Illvria. II is also true that
he has the title of King of Jerusalem.
Illyria was governed by Marmonf.
Duke of Raguso. who il is recalled
after the capture of Paris by the allies
retired with his corps d'armee to Es-
sannes. where he secretly treated with
the allies. which rendered Napoleon
bdication inevitable.
So
The Slovenes have language o.
their own. but the intellectual write
in the language OF the
Slovenlc Croats. There is a solidar
r ity among them which ex-
5"s' tends to Albania and the
Adriatic. II some day there should be
question of independence it would be
by Serbo-Croats. The King of Serbia.
in a recent manifesto. declared himself
protector of the Croats and Slovenes."
The population Serbo-Croat. including
Bosnia Herzegovina. is about 5.o00,o0o
souls
Serbs and Croats are distinguished
the one from the other by religious
lines and not ethicallv. Croats are Ro-
man Catholics. Serbs are orthodox:
Croats write in the Latin alphabet; the
Serbs in the Cyrillic which is quite like
the Russian.
Suppose for a moment the three peo-
ples-Slovenes. Croats and Serbs
should unite in one group around Ser
bia for example, what would the Off
cial language be named? There is less
difference between Slovene and
Serb of Montenegro than between a
Piedmontese and a Neapolitan Bosnia
Herzegovina. which Europe presented
as a gift to Austria, possesses a ropu-
lation of 100000 inhabitants. One
third are Roman Catholics: one-third
are orthodox; one-third are Mussulman,
all, including the Mussulmans, are
Slavs.
| The mixture of peoples is so great
/ that their classification is difficult at
times: Croats, Serb. Slovak, Slovene.
Ruthenian, Poles. etc. would have been
more comprehensive under the desig-
nation of "Illyrians" as Napoleon
named them.
The Poles constitute an important
Slav element in Galicia and SNesia-
Cracow, on the Vistula. with 5000 IN
Of the Kings of Poland. Cracow was
erected into an independent repubiic
by the treaty of Vienna. In 1886 II was
seized by Austria. The policy of Ger.
manlZatlOn was trleu al nTSt, uut ldiicu
utterly. Then followed the disastrous
war with Italy, when by the powerful
aid of France Italian unity was
achieved Sadowa came next with tts
dire consequences and forfeiture OF
Austria's dominant place as the CHER
of the Germanic confederation. Since
then Austria has changed her policy
toward Poland. adopting policy or
Cancellation. so much SO indeed that
Austria became of late years the para
disc of Poland.
Ruthenians, who occupy the oriental
side of Galicia, are Russians residing
in the country. They were designated
Rutheni by the Latins and hence ,he
name The fundamental difference be-
tween Russian and Pole is the same as
between Serb and Croat. The Russian
is orthodox: the Pole is Roman Cath
Ollie.