FOOTNOTES:

[97] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1911, pp. 71-74. A digest in English of his conclusions will be found in Ann. Rept. Smiths. Inst., 1910, Washington, 1911, pp. 599-612.

[98] J. Talko-Hryncewicz: Les Polonais du royaume de Pologne d’après les données anthropologiques recueillies jusqu’à présent, Bull. Int. Acad. Sc. Cracovie, Classe des Sc. Math. et Nat. Bull. Sc. Nat., June 1912, pp. 574-582.

[99] Southern Poland was overrun by Mongolians during their third invasion of Europe. The Asiatics were attacked near Szydlow on March 18, 1241, by an army of Polish noblemen recruited from Sandomir and Cracow. The defeat of the Christians enabled the invaders to plunder the latter city, besides opening the way for incursions farther north in the course of which they penetrated into Silesia by way of Ratibor and marched toward Breslau. Near Liegnitz an army of 30,000 Europeans was defeated on April 9th of the same year. These disasters were invariably followed by a westerly spread of the Tatar scourge. Traces of its passage can still be detected among the Poles.

[100] The Poles constitute the majority of the population in many cities of eastern or Russian Galicia. In Niederle’s list Bobrka, Muszyna, Sanok, Lisko, Sambor, Peremysl, Rawaruska, Belz, Zolkiew, Grodek, Ceshanow, Stryj, Kalusz, Stanislawoff, Kolomya, Tarnopol, Husiatyn, Buczacz, Sokal and Trembowla are credited with over 50 per cent Poles in their population. The predominance of German in the cities of Biala, Sczerzec, Dolina, Bolechow, Nadworna, Kossow, Kuty, Zablotow and Brody is attributed by the same authority to the Jewish element present.

[101] E. Reclus: Géogr. Univ., Vol. 3, Europe Centrale, Paris, 1878, p. 396.

[102] E. Romer: Esquisse climatique de l’ancienne Pologne, Bul. de la Soc. Vaud. des Sc. Nat., 5e Sér., Vol. 46, June, 1910, p. 231.

[103] J. Zemrich: Deutsche und Slaven in den österreichischen Südetenländern, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 2, 1903, pp. 1-4.

[104] Limite des civilisations dans les Beskides occidentaux, Ann. de Géogr., Vol. 17, 1908, Feb. 15, pp. 130-132. Cf. also E. Hanslik: Kulturgrenze und Kulturzyklus in den polnischen Westbeskiden, Pet. Mitt., Ergänzungsheft No. 158, 1907.

[105] P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Schlesien, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1906; id.: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Ostpreussen, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1907.

[106] L. Niederle: op. cit., p. 73; but cf. H. Praesent: Russisch Polen, etc., Pet. Mitt., Vol. 60, Dec. 1914, p. 257.

[107] A. C. Haddon: The Wanderings of Peoples, Cambridge, 1912, p. 48.

[108] F. Curschmann: Die deutsche Ortsnamen in nordostdeutschen Kolonialgebiet, Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk., Vol. 19, No. 2, 1910, pp. 91-183.

[109] Marquis de Noailles: Les frontières de la Pologne, Paris, 1915, p. 21.

[110] K. Closterhalfen: Die Polen in niederrheinisch-westfälisch Industriebezirk 1905, 1:200,000. Pl. 16 in Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, 1911.

[111] A. Raahe: Die Abwanderungsbewegung in den östlichen Provinzen Preussens. Einleitung und Teil I. Die Provinz Ost-Preussen. Berlin, 1910.

[112] N. Troïnitsky: Premier recensement général de la population de l’empire de la Russie, 1897. Vols. 1 and 2, Petrograd, 1905.

[113] The Jews cluster especially in the eastern governments of Warsaw, Lomsha and Siedlez, where their percentage varies between 15.6 and 16.4. This ratio is lower in the southern and western administrative divisions. In Kalish it reaches only 7.2 per cent and is reduced to 6.3 per cent in Petrokow. In the cities the Jews constitute on an average slightly over a third of the population, although here again they are more numerous in the east. Cf. D. Aïtoff: Peuples et langues de la Russie, Ann. de Géogr., Vol. 15, May 1909, pp. 9-25.

[114] G. Bienaimé: La Pologne économique, Bull. Soc. de Géogr. Comm. de Paris, Vol. 37, Nos. 4-6, April-June, 1915, pp. 128-164.

[115] G. Bienaimé: op. cit., p. 139.

[116] A law passed in 1908 authorizes the State to acquire land in the administrative circles in which German interests require development of colonization. B. Auerbach: La germanisation de la Pologne Prussienne. La loi d’expropriation, Rev. Polit. et Parlem., Vol. 57, July 1908, pp. 109-125.

[117] P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Schlesien, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1906. P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Ostpreussen, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 2 in Deutsche Erde, 1907. Die Provinzen Posen und Westpreussen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ansiedlungsgüter und Ansiedlung, Staatsdomänen und Staatsforsten nach dem Stande von 1 Januar 1911, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, Taf. 1, 1911.

[118] M. Loesener: Besitzfestigung in der Preussischen Ostmark. Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, 1911, pp. 3-8.

[119] Dalchow: Die Städte des Warthelandes, I. Teil, Ein Beitrag zur Siedlungskunde und zur Landeskunde der Provinz Posen. Leipzig, 1910.

[120] After having been entirely banished from secondary schools, Polish was excluded from elementary schools by a ministerial decree, dated Sept. 7, 1887. Religious instruction alone could be imparted in this language and even this privilege was removed in 1905.

[121] G. Bienaimé: loc. cit.

[122] B. Sands: The Ukraine, London, 1914, p. 8.

[123] H. Rosen: Pet. Mitt., Vol. 61, Sept. 1915, pp. 329-333.

[124] A. Weinrich: Bevölkerungsstatistische und Siedlungsgeographie, Beiträge zur Kunde Ost-Masuriens, vornehmlich der Kreise Oletzko und Lycke. Königsberg, 1911.

[125] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1916, p. 94.

[126] H. Witte: Wendische Bevölkerungsreste in Mecklenburg, Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk., Vol. 16, No. 2, 1907.

[127] Op. cit., pp. 96-97.

[128] Including 40 per cent of Jews.

[129] The Slavs are divided by religion into a main body of about 110,000,000 individuals belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, about 37,000,000 Roman Catholics, 5,000,000 Raskolniks or Sectarians, between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Protestants and over 1,000,000 Mohammedans.

[130] La race slave, Paris, 1911, pp. 3-4.

[131] L. Strzembosz: Tableau des divisions administratives actuelles de la Pologne, Paris, 1915.

[132] Not including the circles of Lembork (Lauenburg), (479 sq. mi., 52,851 inhab.), Bytow (Bütow) (238 sq. mi., 28,151 inhab.), and Drahim land (Draheim) (197 sq. mi., 18,500 inhab.), which were lost in the first partition in 1772.

[133] Not including the circle of Susz (Rosenberg) (407 sq. mi., 54,550 inhab.), and half of that of Kwidzyn (187 sq. mi., 34,213 inhab.), which together made part of ducal Prussia and were lost in 1656.

[134] Given in fief by the Polish kings to the Dukes of Brandenburg and exonerated in 1656 from the oath of vassalage, except the four circles of Braniewo (Braunsberg) (383 sq. mi., 54,613 inhab.), Liebark (Heilsberg) (427 sq. mi., 51,912 inhab.), Olsztyn (Allenstein) (529 sq. mi., 90,996 inhab.) and Reszel (Rössel) (333 sq. mi., 50,472 inhab.), which together under the name of Duchy of Warmie made part of Royal Prussia and were lost at the first partition.

[135] Conferred on the king of Prussia under the name of Grand Duchy of Posen at the time of the partition of the Duchy of Warsaw by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

[136] Former appendages of a branch, extinguished in 1675, of the royal Polish house of Piast.

[137] Part of the former marquisate of Lusace.

[138] Part of the former Polish Silesia, kept by Germany.

[139] The territory of Cracow, made into a republic in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was annexed by Austria in 1846.

[140] Consisting of Poles and natives.

[141] The circle of Bialystok, occupied by the king of Prussia in 1795, was ceded to Russia by the treaty of Tilsit in 1807.

[142] The city of Kijow (Kiev) with its district (773 sq. mi., 560,000 inhab.) was lost in 1686.

[143] R. Baumgarten: Deutsche und Polen in Oberschlesien, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 13, No. 7, 1914-1915, pp. 175-179.

[CHAPTER VII]
BOHEMIAN, MORAVIAN AND SLOVAKIAN

The Bohemians, who with the Moravians form the vanguard of the Slavs in Europe, occupy the mountain-girt plateau of Bohemia in the very heart of the continent. Here, a steady easterly spread of Teutons has prevented expansion of these Slavs along the eastern valleys which provide them with communication with the rest of the continent. Bohemians and Moravians thus found themselves shut within the mountainous rim of their land by the Germans of Silesia and Austria proper.

The German ring surrounding Bohemia is composed of groups belonging to various types of the Teutonic family. A southwestern element consists of descendants of Bavarian settlers. Farmers and woodsmen were introduced into the Böhmerwald, as an inevitable phase of the exploitation of the mountainous area, by religious communities of the thirteenth century. The end of the Thirty Years’ War was marked by a new influx of Germans needed to repopulate the sorely devastated Bohemian districts. The Bavarians, however, never reached the foot of the eastern slopes. Modern Bohemian resistance to their spread toward the plain persists unflinchingly. Northward, the Erzgebirge uplift is also a German ethnographic conquest. For centuries its mineral wealth has attracted artisans from Franconia, Thuringia and Saxony. The mountain slopes re-echo today to the sound of the dialects of these ancient countries. The Saxon element prevails particularly among the inhabitants of the Elbe valley.

Farther east, descendants of Lusatian and Silesian peasants still use the vernacular of their ancestors in the upland formed by the Iser Gebirge and the Riesen Gebirge. In modern times the valleys of these mountains yield a steady stream of German-speaking inhabitants to the industrial towns of the southern plain. The German workingman’s competition with his Bohemian fellow laborer is keen in this district, but it has not been marked by a notable advance of the Teutonic idiom.

Linguistically the Bohemians and Moravians form a unit hemmed in by Germans on all sides except the east, where they abut against their Slovak kinsmen. Community of national aspirations, under the leadership of the Bohemian element, is generally ascribed to these three Slavic groups. The union has been fostered by the lack of a literary language among Moravians, who have adopted the Bohemian alphabet and style. With the Slovaks[144] inferiority of numbers helped the spread of the Bohemian language and literature.

The Czech linguistic area presents homogeneity of composition which is seldom encountered in other parts of Austria-Hungary. Intermingling of Slavic and Teutonic elements has been slight in this advanced strip of Slavdom. Overlapping of German is met in belts generally parallel to the political divide. It is particularly noticeable in the angle formed by the junction of the Böhmerwald and Erzgebirge near the western linguistic divide, where it almost attains the town of Pilsen.[145] Beyond, in a northerly direction, the volcanic area characterized by thermal springs lies within the German line. Reichenberg, a strenuous center of Teutonism, maintains easterly and westerly prongs of German in the Iser-Riesen uplifts and the Elbe valley, respectively. The German of Silesia spreads into Moravia along the Zwittau-Olmütz-Neu Titschen line.

A short stretch of the linguistic boundary coincides with the political frontier in the neighborhood of Taus, but the rest of the southern Böhmerwald overlooking Bohemian levels is German in speech from the crests to the zone in which widening of the valleys becomes established. The disappearance of this mountainous chain, in southern Moravia, coincides with a southerly extension of Czech in the valley of the March. Contact with Slovak dialects begins in the Beskid area.

Celts, Teutons and Slavs have occupied the Bohemian lozenge in turn. The appellation Czechs first appears in the sixth century. National consolidation began with the country’s conversion to Christianity, three hundred years later, and was maintained with varying fortunes until 1620. Bohemian political freedom was annihilated in that year on the battlefield of the White Mountain. After this defeat the land and its inhabitants lapsed into a state of lethargy. The high cultural attainment of a few modern Bohemians was sufficient to rouse the country to a sense of national feeling.[146] Fortunately native poets, historians and scientists were successful in infusing their patriotic ideals in the minds of their countrymen. In particular, the fire of Bohemian patriotism has been kept alive by literary activity.

Successful attempts on the part of Hungarians to assimilate the Slovaks has caused these mountaineers to turn to their Bohemian kinsmen for assistance in the preservation of race and tradition. Merging of national aspirations in this case, was facilitated by close linguistic affinity. A Czecho-Slovak body consisting of 8,410,998 individuals[147] thus came into being within the Dual Monarchy in order to maintain resistance against German and Hungarian encroachments.

The struggle between Teuton and Slav in Bohemia goes back to the obscure period of the country’s early history. As late as the middle of the ninth century Bohemia was mainly a pagan state. German missionaries at that time were endeavoring to convert the natives to Christianity. But the mere nationality of the apostles of the new faith prevented them from gaining adherents. From the heart of Europe the Bohemians looked eastward to the Christians of the Slavic race for religious salvation. We read of envoys being sent to the court of the Byzantine emperor to beseech this ruler to send Christian teachers of the Slavic faith to Bohemia, as the German missionaries could not make themselves intelligible to the natives. These steps were viewed with considerable apprehension by German bishops, especially after the success which attended the proselytizing efforts of Methodus and his colleagues. The Byzantine priests had brought with them a translation of the Bible in the Slavic language of Macedonia. The replacement of Bohemian by German was thus effectively prevented. Bohemia and Moravia definitely became bilingual countries in the thirteenth century as a result of the inflow of German colonists who responded to urgent appeals for settlers made by Bohemian rulers in that period. The belt of German towns which completely encircles Bohemia is a consequence of this policy. The deforested zones of the west and northwest received the largest number of settlers.

In western and northern Bohemia a struggle for supremacy between German and Czech has been carried on for years with unabated vehemence. The scene of contest between the two peoples is often laid in individual communes. Clerical, industrial and educational influences are constantly at work for the extension of the linguistic area with which they side. On the whole the Bohemians, being in command of superior pecuniary resources, appear to be gaining ground, although from special causes the German element shows an advance in certain districts. In those parts where mixture has taken place no definite boundary between pure German and Bohemian (i.e., in over 90 per cent of the respective peoples) can be drawn. As a rule, it is the Bohemians who have of late advanced their outposts into the German sphere, the Germanization of which dates back some two hundred years. Although they have fallen back somewhat in the tongue of land which projected into German ground, north of Mies, they have gained much ground in Pilsen and in the industrial region around Nürschan, west of that town. Fifty years ago only some three or four thousand out of a total population of fourteen thousand in Pilsen were Bohemians, but the influx of population which has since taken place has been almost entirely Bohemian. In 1890 the proportion of Germans in the city only amounted to 16.2 per cent. Nürschan, the chief center of the coal-fields of western Bohemia, boasts a Bohemian majority and if the process now going on is continued the Bohemian population will probably in time join hands with that in Mies.[148]

Further to the northeast similar conditions prevail, though the linguistic frontier is in parts more sharply defined. In the coal-fields of Brüx and Dux the Bohemian element has largely increased on the German side of the normal frontier owing to the influx of Czech miners. In Trebnitz again the Czech language has gained a firm footing, although the town at the end of the nineteenth century was entirely German. In the neighboring town of Lobositz, however, which occupies an important position at the junction of six lines of railway, the prospects from the German point of view are brighter. The accession of Charles IV to the throne of Bohemia in 1346 was an event of the utmost importance in the linguistic history of the country.[149] This sovereign, the successor of German princes who had never allowed Bohemia fair play, showed marked affection for the land he was called upon to rule and set himself to master its language thoroughly. For two hundred years prior to his reign, Bohemian stood in danger of being replaced by German. Other Slav dialects were fast disappearing before the vigorous advance of Teutonic speech. Through its literature alone the Bohemian language was preserved. This literary development was an advantage which was not possessed by the Slav languages, which gave way before German.

As a result of Charles’s benevolent policy Bohemian became the language of the court. Furthermore it was used exclusively in many courts of law, which were re-established through the same influence. It was even decreed that speakers at the assemblies of town magistrates should use the language of their choice and that no one speaking only German could be appointed a judge. In this way equality for the Bohemian language was obtained in the districts in which Germans had settled.[150]

The creation of the Archbishopric of Prague and the foundation of the “new town” of Prague dated also from the reign of King Charles. Bohemian clergymen were encouraged to preach in the vernacular. Their sermons reached the people and stirred them to thought. The national movement against the Roman Church was thus facilitated. But another cause favored the spread of Protestantism in Bohemia. Antagonism to Catholicism was merely a special form of Bohemian objection to German influence in the land. The Hussite movement is therefore an episode in the prolonged struggle between Teuton and Slav.

The enlargement of Prague infused vitality into the Bohemian language. The new town was Bohemian in speech as well as in sentiment. Slavic prevailed exclusively in municipal offices and tribunals. Venceslas, who followed Charles, faithfully maintained his predecessor’s attitude towards Bohemian. A notable advance in favor of the language of the land was made in his reign by a decision according to which all decrees of the court and the government, which hitherto had been rendered in either German or Latin, were to be henceforth published in Bohemian.

The University of Prague, which has always been a center of Bohemian intellectual life, was also affected by these changes. In the middle of the fifteenth century the German element in Bohemia had complete control of the affairs of this institution. Its chairs were filled by Teutons and its dignities awarded to their kinsmen. In 1385, swayed by national aspirations and relying on the predilection shown them in high quarters, Bohemians began to protest against the presence of foreigners in their national seat of learning. Their appeal found a response with the Archbishop of Prague, who ruled that Bohemians were entitled to priority in appointments to university offices, and that only in case of their unfitness was a German to be selected. Complaint of this decision was made by the Germans to the Pope and a compromise reached in virtue of which predominance of Bohemian rights was obtained. The appearance of John Huss on the scene of this struggle was the next step in the task of completely emancipating Bohemia from German rule.

The national movement fostered in this manner was to end disastrously at the battle of the White Mountain in 1620. The treaty of Westphalia removed all probability of the establishment of an autonomous Bohemian nation. But Bohemian patriots have a saying that “as long as the language lives the nation is not dead,” and through all the dark days of the country’s history, in the very heart of continental Europe, cut off from the surrounding lands by a wall of forested slopes, the Bohemian language has held its own, not merely as a vernacular but as a literary language worthy of the nation’s pride.

A period of marked decline intervened, however, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The crushing blow inflicted on Bohemian nationalism in 1620 was speedily followed by a rigid German oversight of the country. Seven years later, Ferdinand inaugurated a series of measures aimed at destroying the cause for which Bohemians had sacrificed their lives. The German language began to supplant the Bohemian. The “renewed ordinance of the land,” issued in 1627, contained provisions for the recognition of German in tribunals and government offices on the same terms as Bohemian. The appointment of Germans to important offices was a policy which marked this period. Its effects became perceptible in the growing use of the conquerors’ language. The seventeenth century is marked by a rapid growth of the Teutonic belt encircling Bohemia. Luditz and Saaz were lost to the Bohemian language in that period. So were the districts of Rokytince and Vichlaby[151] in the eastern section of the country. But since the beginning of the eighteenth century little change has taken place in the German-Bohemian linguistic boundary.

Among the causes which contributed to the decline of the Bohemian language about this time were the land confiscations which were carried out on an extensive scale by the Imperialists.[152] Most of the noblemen of Bohemia were deprived of their estates. As a result about half the landed property of the country was taken away from its Slav owners. This spoliation was carried on by the Catholics, the despoiled and exiled Hussites being replaced by Germans, Spaniards, Walloons and even Irish. This foreign element naturally adopted the German language and Bohemian was abandoned to serfs and peasants.

The humble tillers of Bohemian soil proved faithful custodians of their native speech. They stored the language during two centuries as though they had been gifted with the foreknowledge of the splendid literary revival which was to mark its renaissance at the magic touch of Kolár, Sofarik and Palacký. Coincident with this movement national consciousness was reborn among Bohemians. Writers and poets naturally took the past greatness of their native land as the theme of their compositions. They told their countrymen of the glorious days of Bohemian history. The movement fortunately took place when the wave of liberalism set in motion by the French Revolution was still advancing into the recesses of central Europe. By the year 1840 all Bohemia had awakened to the idea of national independence. Attempts to secure partial autonomy proved abortive, however. Revolutionary outbreaks in 1848 were quickly repressed by Austrian troops, but the struggle between the two elements increased in bitterness as years went by.

At present two-thirds of the inhabitants of Bohemia are Bohemians, and this Slavic element is gradually forcing its way into districts which were formerly occupied exclusively by Germans. The causes of this shifting are economic. The German element, controlling industry and vested with authority, has attained a state of relative prosperity. Even its poorest members are not attracted by the prospect of work held out by Bohemia’s growing industry. The less advanced Bohemians, however, not so content with their lot, are attracted by certain kinds of labor which the German element spurns. Having fewer local ties than their Teutonic countrymen, they easily move from place to place. It thus happens that out of the thirty-six German districts of Bohemia, twenty-two are now fully 5 per cent Bohemian.[153]

The inhabitants of the Margravate of Moravia are also true Bohemians. This state is a crown-land of Bohemia, to the east of which it lies. Its population consists of 1,870,000 Bohemians and 720,000 Germans. Close affiliation with the kingdom of Bohemia is revealed in Moravia’s past history. The two states formed the nucleus of the Bohemian nation. At present Moravia is even more truly Bohemian than her larger sister state, since three-fourths of the landowners of Moravia are Bohemians, while in Bohemia that element holds only about three-fifths of the soil. In spite of the mountainous character of the country, and the isolation produced by it, very slight traces of early tribal differences can be detected among these Bohemians. In Moravia alone three distinct types can be distinguished by their dialects and their physical or ethnographic features. Dress in the last case plays an important part.[154]

The northeastern section of Moravia is known as the Lassko country and is peopled by Lassi Moravians. This group occupies districts mainly around the towns of Moravska-Ostrava and Frydland. South of them a number of Slovak villages are found within the Moravian border. Their inhabitants, sometimes known as Moravian Slovaks, are emigrants from the Hungarian mountains who reached the western Carpathians in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although they speak Bohemian, their customs differ considerably from Bohemian usages. The balance of Moravia is peopled by Hanaks, who are easily distinguished by temperamental differences from the previous two groups. The Hanaks as a rule are calm and inclined to ponderous ways of thought and action, whereas both the Lassi and Slovaks are quick-minded and lively.

German expansion into Moravia is facilitated by the valley of the March, which penetrates into the heart of the Margravate. The Elbe and Moldau in Bohemia play a similar part as agents of Germanization. As in Bohemia, the Germans are confined to the border heights or the towns. In the thirteenth century many German fortified towns existed in Moravia. The rise of a powerful German middle class dates from this period. Intellectually as well as industrially the Teuton element is the more advanced. Racial and linguistic differences are accentuated by religious antagonism, the German element being Roman in creed. The clergy in fact have acted as a powerful agent of Germanization in Moravia.

The Slovaks are dwellers of the northern highland border of Hungary who reached Europe in the sixth century B.C. They are closely related by racial and linguistic affinity to the Bohemians and Moravians. The course of centuries has failed to change their customs or the mode of life they led in the western Carpathians. The Hungarian plain spread out below their rocky habitation without tempting them to forsake the huddled conditions of their native valleys. Their language holds its own as far east as the Laborec valley. Junction with Polish is effected in the Tatra.

Once only in their history did the Slovaks succeed in creating a great nation. In 870 A.D., under the leadership of Svatopuk, they established the short-lived Great Moravian Empire. Unfortunately his successors were unable to maintain the independence of the nation he founded and the empire crumbled to pieces before the repeated attacks of the Hungarians. By the tenth century the political ties between Bohemians and Slovaks were completely severed.

In the fifteenth century the two peoples were drawn to each other by ties of religion. An enthusiastic reception had been given to the teachings of John Huss by the Slovaks. They adopted the Bohemian translation of the Bible. Religious reformation was followed by a literary revival and Bohemian became the language of culture among them. It was mainly among Protestant Slovaks, however, that the influence of Bohemian prevailed. The Catholic clergy opposed the movement by encouraging literary development of Slovakian. This linguistic struggle is maintained to the present day. In spite of opposition, however, Bohemian remains the literary language of the Slovak people. John Kollar, one of the greatest writers of Bohemian poetry, was a Slovak.

The Slovaks number approximately two million souls spread over ten of the “comitats” of northern Hungary. Their occupation of this region antedates the coming of the Magyars. Survivals of ancient Slovak populations are still met in the villages of central and southern Hungary. Bohemian refugees of kindred speech and religion reinforced this autochthonous element after the battle of the White Mountain in 1620. These circumstances perhaps have prevented their assimilation by the conquering race. The aristocracy alone has intermarried with the Hungarians. The masses have no more intercourse with the rulers than they can help. Linguistic and religious differences intensify the breach.

While the Slovaks form compact populations in the mountains of northern Hungary, their colonies are found scattered throughout the southern parts of this country except in the Transylvanian districts. The campaign waged by Hungarians to suppress Slovak national aims renders the lot of these Slavs particularly trying. The ancient names of their villages and towns are being officially replaced by Magyar names, even where most of the inhabitants use Slovakian as their vernacular.

Although Slovak-land is an integral part of the Hungarian kingdom, it has proved an attractive field for German colonization since the ninth century. The comitat of Zips was settled by a large colony of Germans in the middle of the twelfth century. Fifty years later the Teutons began to invade the comitats of Pressburg and Neutra[155] by advancing from the west. In Bars and Hont, to both of which they proceeded from the south, they were not known before the thirteenth century. The Germanization of Slovak districts was particularly intense during the Tatar invasion of this period. Hungary had been grievously affected by this eastern scourge, and its kings offered special inducements to repopulate their devastated provinces. Their call was heeded by numerous families of German peasants. In the first half of the sixteenth century almost every town within Slovak boundaries contained one or two German families at least. The heart of this German colonization was situated in the mining districts of the country. Kremnitz and Nemecke Prava, as well as adjoining districts, attracted heavy contingents of Teuton workers. This movement ended in the seventeenth century when the inflow of German colonists was checked by special legislation and the foreign element was absorbed by either the Slovaks or the Hungarians.

The modern boundary of Slovakian language in Hungary starts according to Niederle at Devinska Novaves near the confluence of the Morva[156] and Danube. From this point it extends southeastward to Novezansky and Leva. Thence it is continued south of Abanj as far as Huta, which is the easternmost Slovak village. The line now turns westward and skirts the Galician frontier as far as the German border.

The area included within these confines is not altogether homogeneous. The comitats of Neutra, Turocz, Bars and Gömö contain enclaves of Germans. Polish and Hungarian settlements are also known between Vrable and Neutra as well as at Abanj, west of Kashau. Many Slovak communities exist, however, beyond the region outlined above. These extra-territorial nuclei more than counterbalance numerically the alien total in Slovak-land.

The most important localities inhabited by Slovaks outside of their native land are Gran, in the comitat of Esztergom, and Budapest. The Hungarian capital probably contains between 25,000 and 40,000 Slovaks. Their number in Vienna is estimated at 50,000. In other parts of Hungary, as for instance at Kerepes and Pilis, highly ancient Slovak communities are believed to represent survivals of the people who lived in Hungary prior to the appearance of the Hungarians.

Bohemia’s national enfranchisement, if carried out on a linguistic basis, will rescue the old lands of the Bohemian crown, namely Bohemia, Moravia and the Slovak districts of northwestern Hungary, from Teutonic rule. The historical validity of Bohemia’s claims to independence and the failure of centuries of Germanization to deprive the Bohemian of his individuality establish the country’s right to a distinct place in a Europe of free and harmonious nations. The Bohemian has his own objects in self-development and the achievement of his independence should be no disparagement of the aims and pursuits of other nations.