degree of autonomy that has been granted to Hungary.” The State, by Woodrow Wilson, Section 589, Edition of 1889, page 338.
The history of the Czech nationality is one of an unparallelled martyrdom. With the exception of the Poles, and at present of the Armenians, it is quite doubtful whether there is any other nation in the world that has ever been subjected to the persecution which followed the unfortunate result of the battle of White Mountain in 1620.
During the fifteenth century, the Czechs fought for the freedom of conscience against the whole of Europe. But following this glorious period came exhaustion, and after the battle of White Mountain in 1620 the Bohemians lost their independence. After this battle, twenty-seven leaders of the Bohemian Rebellion against Ferdinand the Second were executed; many of them tortured and thirty-six thousand families forced to leave their native land, and their property confiscated. Today Bohemians pay more than four hundred million crowns yearly by way of taxes to the Austrian government in Vienna; but all this money stays in Vienna, and is being used for the support of the Austrian Alp lands that are financially passive, while the needs of Bohemia are being neglected.
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