Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/42

28 have any enthusiasm for this Teuton dream, and would not at any cost be confounded with the German lands of the new Germany.

It was the programme of the Frankfort Parliament that gave rise to the first serious conflict between the Czechs and the Germans of Bohemia: perhaps even to all the Czech struggles in 1843 and subsequent years. The incorporation of the Crown of St Venceslas in the German Union meant for the Czechs, as well as for the Cisleithanian Slavs, the beginning of the end, the loss of their national rights, and the renouncement of all they had gained by their renaissance. It was in direct contradiction to the principles which gave birth to their movement of emancipation, and the Czechs opposed it by virtue of the same principles that were invoked by the Germans, and which were to bring about the realisation of the Pan-German Union.

All the promises made by the German Liberals and the Commission of Fifty of Frankfort did not delude the Czechs, who had now become suspicious. On the other hand the Magyars were favourably disposed towards the German plan, for the inclusion of Cisleithania in the German Union meant the rupture of all ties which held Hungary to Austria, and the complete liberation of the Magyars would inevitably have followed.

This situation was full of danger for the Czechs