Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/96



on the history of the Czech people, we dearly see how tragic has been their situatian, how immense the burden that has always weighed upon them.

For twelve centuries they have faught a hopeless fight against an enemy many times their superior in strength.

The religious Reformation originated with them; they accomplished and survived this great moral crisis.

They rebelled against the dynasty which oppressed them, but were defeated, and underwent a terrible punishment. Their leaders died on the scaffold, and the nation itself was condemned for several centuries to a slow but systematic extermination. For years it appeared moribund or dead. Then a handful of men who lived only for the cause of their country—awaken it.

And when it awakens, it again finds itself 82