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31. The Austrophiles defend Austria by pointing specifically to the Czechs and claiming that they reached under Austria that high degree of culture which everywhere is recognised with admiration. We reached that culture through our own initiative and strength, nay, in spite of Austria; Vienna never favoured our nation nor any of her other nations; it was only when its intrigues and oppression failed that at most it ceased for a time to place obstacles in our way. Already in the Middle Ages Bohemia was one of the most highly developed countries. After the disaster caused by the Austrian anti-Reformation, the Czech nation recovered in spite of all Austrian opposition, and continued in its traditions; and if Vienna did not in recent times block the economic development of the Czech lands as it used to formerly, it was moved by financial reasons; the dynasty needs great sums of money for the maintenance of the army and bureaucracy, which lately have become the refuge of the aristocracy. Therefore it permits the Czech nation to develop economically in the interest of the machinery of the State, serving thereby in the first place the interests of the dynasty.
32. Some friends of Austria in the West use also the argument, that we are fighting Germany and its Prussian militarism, and that Germany, therefore, must not be strengthened by being permitted to annex the German provinces of Austria. This is a problem in arithmetic: is 7 greater than 50? Heretofore Germany had at its disposal the whole of Austria—51 million people; through the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary it would get only the German part of it—only 7 or 8 million people. (The German minorities in the Czech lands, in Hungary and elsewhere, would not become a part of Germany.) It is, of course, up to the Habsburgs, whether they will maintain their independence; most likely they will choose to follow the example of the Byzantine emperors; they may remain emperors even after they have lost their territorial empire. That would not matter to Berlin; on the contrary, Berlin would not have to pay any attention and its cries of panem et circenses, and it would no longer be disturbed by the claims of a rival capital. Austria is the strong, yet also the weak, spot of the German body. Without Austria and its non-German nations Germany would be compelled to live like all the other nations—by its own strength. The dismemberment of Austria will be the greatest blow to Prussianized Germany. This should be clear to every one, particularly since the military and political downfall of Russia. A strong Russia was a powerful military and political support to the Western nations. With its military and economic strength weakened, Russia could easily become the prey of Germany, unless Austria-Hungary is dismembered. By the dismemberment of Austria, Russia will be best protected, having lost its principal enemy, and having ceased to share common boundaries with Germany.
33. It is necessary to say a few words about the Magyars and their State.
To-day the Magyars—especially in the West—still thrive politically on the revolution of 1848 and on Kossuth, although even then the Magyars oppressed the other nations of Hungary. This was well perceived by Cavour in his characterisation of the Magyars, when he said that they fought for their own liberty but would not allow liberty to others. The Magyars lack a deeper culture. The Magyar people are in no respect superior to the Slovaks; quite the contrary is evident from the fact that the Magyar language has appropriated from the Slovak quite a number of terms pertaining to agriculture, administration and general culture.
The Magyars are an aristocratic nation, where a numerous nobility and landed gentry making common cause with the capitalistic interest maintain themselves in power through violence. This exploiting Junker class keeps the foreign countries in ignorance as to the true state of affairs. Ignorance of the Magyar language and the impossibility of any
