to the cause of Czech nationalism after having, as adolescents, suddenly and dramatically rediscovered their Czech heritage.5 But Palacký was twenty-three years older. He belonged to a generation of Czech leaders who began their careers before the nation had fully clarified its goals or even begun to think politically. These circumstances forced them not merely to espouse, but to contribute actively to the development of a culture that was still in its fledgling stage. Thus, while it was a striking personal achievement, Palacký’s History of the Czech People (Dějiny národu českého) had the unique and salutary effect of stimulating an entire nation to rediscover its past. Knowledge of history in turn acquainted Palacký with the intricacies of constitutional law. This enabled him in the early 1840s to become an influential adviser to the Bohemian Estates, particularly on their legal relationship to the Crown.6 By 1848, he had been a leader of his people for some years.
Havlíček, by contrast, was relatively unknown before the mid-century revolutions. A one-time seminarian, he had been expelled for excessive interest in things Slavic and had traveled to Russia (1843–44) to confirm his Russophile outlook. A seventeen-month residence in Moscow, however, dispelled his pro-Russian sympathies. Returning to Prague in 1845, he worked as a literary critic and spoke out intermittently against the Tsarist autocracy.7 But it was only as a journalist in the immediate “pre-March” period that he achieved broad notoriety. By nature contentious, Havlíček engaged in numerous literary and political disputes during his public career. In time he also acquired anti-clerical and anti-aristocratic biases which led him on occasion to identify with the masses. None of these characteristics was present in the more reserved, statesman-like Palacký.
The two men first met in late 1845, through their mutual friend Pavel Josef Šafařík. It was a propitious meeting. Havlíček was seeking the editorship of a newspaper, following his polemics with Josef Kajetan Tyl over the use of patriotism in Czech literature; and it was on Palacký’s recommendation that Havlíček became, in January, 1846, the editor of Pražské noviny (Prague News).8 During the next two years the two men cooperated by opposing the Slovak “linguistic separatists,” led by Ľudovít Štúr.9 Finally, in 1848, what had been an occasional collaboration became a solid partnership based on the program of Austro-Slavism.
The significance of Austro-Slavism as a link between Palacký and Havlíček is that it demonstrates their agreement on a complex and, at the time, controversial point of ideology: that the Czechs had no political future outside Austria. Each man, reflecting largely personal experiences, wrote a classic analysis of the Austro-Slav creed. Havlíček’s appeared
