Page:The Slavs among the nations by T G Masaryk.djvu/22

 dition. In the West the Slavs are remarkable for the density of their population and for their intellectual development (the Czechs have fewer illiterates than the Germans of Austria-Hungary), whilst in Northern Europe and Asia we find primitive peoples in a very rudimentary stage of civilisation.

To sum up, Panslavic centralisation is not desirable, either from a geographical point of view or from the point of view of historical evolution. Oppressed by the Germanic nations, we claim political liberty and national independence; and it is quite natural that our sympathies should be guided by linguistic relationship, which facilitates intellectual and even commercial intercourse so much.

Kollar demanded that each Slav should possess a knowledge, according to his degree of education, of one or more, or even all, of the Slav languages. It is easy for us to learn another Slav language, for close acquaintance with any one of them enormously facilitates the study of the others.

At one time there was much talk of choosing a common literary language; it was suggested