seding the last chapter of the first edition of Bohemia: An Historical Sketch, and that chapter has therefore been omitted.
On the other hand, I have been frequently told that a history of Bohemia which ends in 1620 must necessarily appear disappointing to many readers. It is true that the year of the battle of the White Mountain was long considered as the date which marks the end of Bohemian independence and of the ancient constitution. Yet, as Professor Rezek has ably pointed out, it was only the treaty of Westphalia which rendered the results of the battle of the White Mountain final. During the Thirty Years' War it sometimes—for instance, during the Saxon invasion in 1631—appeared probable that the Bohemians would again obtain autonomy and religious freedom. In 1648 only did the Bohemians abandon all hope. Then only did Komenský (Comenius), the greatest exile and the greatest man of Bohemia, address the Chancellor Oxenstierna in the despairing words: "If there is no help from man, there will be help from God, whose aid is wont to begin where that of men endeth."
It is also worthy of notice that the results of the battle of the White Mountain have not in every way proved as final as they would have appeared to one writing a century, or even fifty years, ago. It has always been an axiom of the Bohemian patriots that "as long as the language lives the nation is not dead." In this respect at least the future of Bohemia is assured, for never has the literature of the country been as extensive and as valuable as at the present moment. The political position of Bohemia also for a time seemed more satisfactory; a certain amount of autonomy was obtained; little more than thirty years ago an imperial decree promised the Bohemians the restoration of their ancient constitution in a modified form.
The fact that the outlook for Bohemia is at the present moment darker than it has been for many a year, does not therefore deter me from devoting the last chapter of this work to a brief outline of the history of Bohemia from the year 1620 up to the present day. This has often been a matter of considerable difficulty, as it is frequently not easy to fix the boundary between those matters that belong to the general history of Austria and Germany, and those that specially concern Bohemia.
October 1909.
