Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/366

 tives took part in the deliberations of the Austrian parliament that met at Vienna in 1848. They have often been blamed for having done so. Yet it must be remembered that as all liberty had already been suppressed in their own country, the Vienna parliament was the only forum in which they could freely express their views. It should also be noted that the Vienna parliament was a constituent assembly, and the Bohemians could therefore take part in its deliberations without prejudging the question of their autonomy concerning which they had recently received such satisfactory promises from the court.

It has already been mentioned that the Bohemian national movement was at its beginning mainly a literary one. It is therefore natural that there should have been many scholars and men of letters among the deputies whom the Bohemians returned to the parliament of Vienna. We find among them the names of Palacký—who was elected by several constituencies, and became the leader of the party—Tomek the great historian, Havliček, Trojan, and Rieger, who now first gave proofs of his great eloquence. The learned Šafařík, who was also elected, declined to proceed to Vienna. The position of the Bohemian delegates in Vienna was from the first a very difficult, indeed an almost helpless one. The radical majority was thoroughly imbued with the extreme and nebulous views of the German democracy of the year 1848. Their hatred of the Slavic "inferior" race was as great as that with which they viewed all authority and orderly government. An alliance with such men was impossible. The conservative party consisted largely of clericals from the Tyrol and Galicia; the latter, mostly ignorant of the German language, voting according to a signal given by their leader. The short residence of the Bohemians in Vienna was not a pleasant one. They arrived there early in July and on the 18th Rieger was attacked by the mob in the "Graben," the principal street of Vienna. Through the intervention of some German radical deputies he was able to escape with his life. The terrorism of the populace of Vienna increased daily, and the Bohemian delegates decided to leave the city. On October 6, Rieger, whose life had again been menaced by German workmen, succeeded in escaping from Vienna together with his friend Havliček. Shortly afterwards Prince Windischgrätz and his army arrived before Vienna. On October 26 the bombard-