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 orders, and also among those not belonging to any religious order.

A new school system was also organized for the gymnasiums and the primary and intermediate schools, which up to this time had been entirely in the hands of the parish priests.

The new school system, although excellent in regard to better methods of instruction, did not prove such a blessing to the Bohemian people, which was due to the fact that German was made compulsory in all the schools.

Joseph II cherished the plan of consolidating the various peoples inhabiting his dominions into one great nation having one common language, that language being the German. This grand plan was to be carried into effect through the medium of schools and public offices. As the country people still clung to their mother tongue, this was a source of great hardship to them; for while a German youth entering the gymnasium had everything taught him in his own language, the Bohemian one was compelled first to master a language foreign to him, and which he often regarded with hatred. The introduction of German into public offices was a source of still greater trouble. All the official papers and legal documents were ordered to be written in German, which the peasants could not understand, and which the haughty officials, creatures of the government, would not deign to explain. As the official was responsible only to Vienna, there was no method of redress, and thus the people were forced to endure innumerable hardships and persecutions.

But as every species of oppression carried to excess