Page:The Jail, Experiences in 1916.pdf/14

 It can safely be asserted that time after time in the course of the last 300 years our nation was afflicted by persecutions as other countries by earthquakes. A very thorough-going persecution fell to our lot immediately after the battle of the White Mountain; it was a persecution which might be called an imperial one. It was aimed at the rebellious lords, but the Czech nation almost breathed its last as a result of it. And it was the first misfortune,—not for us, since nations always outlive their dynasties,—but for those who carried it out. A river of blood began to flow between them and us,—and such blood never dries up. The persecution which followed it was also interesting, and might be called a religious one. It is interesting because it has been described with considerable vividness by Jirásek in his magnificent work entitled "Temno" (Gloom). Its victims were books and people whose confession of faith was different from that prescribed by the holy Roman Catholic Church; and this again was a misfortune for the Church—the Hussite spirit had always smouldered amongst us under the ashes.—the holy Church made efforts to keep it smouldering. The subsequent persecution which might be compared with a continual earthquake, because it lasted long over a hundred years, was a persecution by the lords, and was directed against the serfs. Jirásek, Svátek and others have also written interesting accounts of it. It is true that it did not fall upon the nation as a whole, but on the other hand, an enormous number of individuals were its victims. The persecution by Metternich was one of the mildest. It was directed not only against us Czechs, but against all the nations in Austria, and indeed, against a large part of Europe. It was milder because