vain has Europe learned to know the Slavs and they Europe. I think the Slav languages will become better known than they are now. It is already certain, now that the Muses are establishing their realm in the North. I must endeavour to obtain a few Russian books. . . . Perhaps Count Waldstein[1] will be favourable to the Bohemians, as he knows Slavic languages. God be praised there is another nobleman who is not a German!"
When more peaceful times began, Jungmann's correspondence deals mainly with literary matters, but he continues to uphold the principle of solidarity or mutual intercourse (vzájemnost Slovanská) between the Slavs. On January 3, 1827, Jungmann writes to Marek: "Of what else should I write but of the subject which we both carry in our hearts—Slavic literature. Yes, Slavic literature, I say, for I may at least name in writing to my friend what in print we can scarcely mention. So low have we fallen through the misdeeds of our countrymen,[2] that we scarcely dare openly to profess that we are Slavs. . . . They treat even the word 'Slav' with great suspicion at the censure-office, and Palacký has made it a rule to mention the Slavs as little as possible in the journal of the Museum. . . . How little they love us can be seen by the fact that the censors at Vienna only gave permission to print an ancient Bohemian chronicle on condition that it should be printed in Latin characters and published at a high price, that it may
- ↑ A Bohemian nobleman who owned estates near Leitmeritz.
- ↑ This alludes to the now uncontested fact that countrymen and literary rivals of Jungmann had denounced Jungmann's writings to the Austrian Government, attributing to them a political tendency, from which in reality they were absolutely free.
