Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/181

 information before he went over in order that he might communicate it to us. He inspires full confidence. Stiny, who has sufficient professional knowledge, gathered with care and system all data that to him appeared of value. His exposé of the prep arations and plans for the offensive is so thorough and complete that we could figure out completely the real plans of the offensive preparations.” As to that let it only be said that Stiny, by his lying reports of the Austro-Hungarian situation at the front and in the rear, only tried to put himself in a good light, as all traitors do. It is characteristic of his statements that he claimed that in case of an offensive the Austro-Hungarian troops would to a large extent surrender, unless they were driven forward by German or Bulgarian bayonets.

The event of that fateful July day in 1914, which suddenly changed nearly all of Europe into a mass of consuming fire, shocked profoundly the large Czech and Slovak population of America. These people, unable longer to endure the inhuman Austrian tyranny, had turned away in mighty numbers from their native land. That land, to be sure, was the richest soil of the Empire; but it was so sapped by greedy misrule that existence had come to mean only want and limitation. They came to America. Here they quickly learned to share in the enjoyment of democracy’s liberty and in the advantage of unlimited opportunities for the satisfying of all human needs. They usually developed into the best of America’s immigrant citizens. They came to stay, but, naturally enough, there came to them many moments of fond recollections of the old home. As it was, however, they seemed to be tinged always by an anxious pity for those who were deprived of the opportunity and privilege of tasting the better life under our starry flag. And thus every such thought enhanced in their hearts the longing to see their native land as free as the land of their adoption. The Czechs, remembering the freedom that once was theirs, never really ceased to hope that a day would dawn when that Empire, so intolerable to the modern mind, should collapse; and when they should win again the independence which in the light of history and in the fair eyes of justice was undeniably theirs.

It was but natural, therefore, that when the awful catastrophe of the world war was precipitated the Czechs both at home and elsewhere, notably those in America, became quickly aware that their hour had struck. They knew at once that then, if ever, dawned at last the day when they could definitely