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 the Council of Fifty, Palacký had been recognized as the most eloquent spokesman for the Austrian Slavs’ determination to resist the inclusion of their homelands in a German national state. Palacký’s letter gave political expression to the concept of Austro-Slavism that had evolved from pre-March cultural Pan-Slavism. In his judgment, only an independent, federally structured, and politically reformed Austrian state could protect the smaller Slav nations-positioned between obscurantist tsardom and an alien German nationalist movement-from absorption by these stronger neighbors. For Austria to merge with Germany was in fact asking Austria to commit suicide and the Slavs to forego their quest for national equality.

Palacký took little part in the congress preparations, being preoccupied with the affairs of the Bohemian National Committee which, by May, had acquired considerable political influence with Governor Leo Thun. However, at the suggestion of Pavel Josef Šafařík, who was in Vienna sounding out the official reaction to the congress plans, Palacký wrote a statement addressed to the Austro-Germans and the Magyars. The explanation affirmed the Slavs’ loyalty to the Habsburg monarchy, disclaimed any Pan-Slav, separatist, or Russianist intentions, and emphasized the Slavs’ determination to defend their just national and constitutional rights. Although he closely followed Šafařík’s proposals, Palacký concluded his statement with his own candid assessment of the Slavs’ aims:

Palacky’s Erklärung was widely publicized in the non-Slav press. But whereas this disclaimer of hostile intentions may have helped to reassure cautious officials in Prague and Vienna, it stimulated suspicions of a Slav conspiracy among Austro-German radical nationalists. Nevertheless, Baron Jan Neuberg, vice chairman of the Preparatory Committee, informed Šafařík that Palacký’s statement “should paralyze any talk of Pan-Slavism.”

Grossdeutsch hostility to the congress plans centered especially on the person of Palacký. Since writing his letter of April 11, Palacký was identified as the leader of a band of Austro-Slav separatists who were determined to thwart German unity and “Slavicize” the monarchy with Russian