Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/116

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102
BOHEMIA'S CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE

in order to enable the Czechs to enter into closer contact with the Anglo-Saxons.

On both sides there were many men (like Prof. Mourek, Count Lutzow, C. E. Maurice, Dr W. R. Morfill, H. W. Steed, Prof. Baker, Prof. Monroe, P. Selver, and others) who endeavoured to promote the intellectual relations between the two nations. In Bohemia young people were encouraged in the study of English by these men; in England they wrote the history of Bohemia, published translations from Czech literature and induced specialists to study the Czech Reforms of John Hus, the Moravian Brethren, and Comenius.

The great Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák, became celebrated first in England through his oratoria, and to-day enjoys a well-deserved reputation in that country. The Conservatorium of Music in Prague has had numerous pupils from Great Britain, while our young Protestant theologians come to England to prepare themselves for their work as Protestant pastors. Our municipalities, above all that of the city of Prague, and our "Sokol" Gymnastic Societies, succeeded in entering into close contact with England during the last few years before the war. Thanks to certain English writers the public began to take interest in the political situation of the Czechs, and also of the Slovaks in Hungary (on whom Dr Seton-Watson is an authority), and in the