authority much of their individual national sovereignty. Like Libelt, Bakunin did not limit his remarks to the Austrian Slavs, though in the Confession he conceded that the Slavs might have to unite at first without Russia, while awaiting that country’s early liberation from tsarist tyranny. It is not known to what extent, if at all, Palacký seriously consulted Bakunin’s proposal, although Bakunin’s first section markedly resembled passages in Palacký’s final version of the manifesto.32
Much of the interest and controversy regarding the Slav Congress stems from its martyrdom to the cause of Slav unity and the disparate judgments that it has received from both contemporaries and later writers. These polemics have focused in no small measure on Palacký and his leadership of the congress. On two occasions Palacký, who generally refused to be drawn into press polemics, was compelled to defend publicly the congress and his role in it against the criticism of the victorious counterrevolutionary forces.
The first instance concerned the charges of Prince Alfred zu Windischgrätz, the Austrian military commander in Prague, that the congress was part of a far-flung Slav conspiracy and had directly contributed to the June uprising. During the uprising, Palacký had tried to mediate between the insurgents and the military; now, in the aftermath, Windischgrätz directed the Prague municipal police to keep a close watch on Palacký’s activities.33 Palacký, anxious to join his ailing wife in the country, had left Šafařík, Jordan, V.V. Tomek, and Josef Jireček the care of the congress records—those not seized by the military or taken by delegates in their hasty departure—and the task of issuing an account of the congress. But before he left Prague, Palacký wrote to Governor Thun, defending the congress and denying that it had led to the uprising.34 Unfortunately, after the uprising Thun lost much of his influence in Prague and Vienna, and in late July he was replaced as governor. On the other hand, Windischgrätz, whose wife had been killed by a stray bullet on the first day of the uprising, was determined to establish the existence of a conspiracy and to bring the perpetrators to speedy justice. In the main, he centered his investigation on the Czech national party and the congress leadership. His efforts bore little fruit until he discovered among those arrested in the military dragnet an adventurous youth from Slovakia, who, it seemed, could divulge a fascinating tale of conspiracy.
Marcel Turánsky told his interrogators that in 1847, while studying in Prešov, he had become acquainted with several Polish émigrés who took him into their confidence. The Poles were in secret contact with a number of prominent Slavs, including František Palacký. Their common goal was
