Page:The Slavs among the nations by T G Masaryk.djvu/23

 there should be an artificial language—the language of the liturgy, for instance. The question is now settled. Russian has become the inter-Slav language by reason of its literary value and also as the speech of the greatest of the Slav peoples.

III.—In order to avoid the suspicion of giving utterances to arbitrary ideas, I will briefly state the opinions of several Slav thinkers who, from the end of the 18th Century until the present day, have analysed the aspirations of their people. In fact, it is only since the 18th century that Slav historians and philosophers have concerned themselves with the problem of the future of their own and of the other Slav peoples.

In Bohemia, Joseph Dobrovsky, the creator of Slav linguistic science, a convinced Russophile, sought in science to ascertain the essential characteristics of the Czech nation and of the entire Slav world. Shortly afterwards John Kollar devoted himself entirely to the literary and poetical interpretation of Slav thought. His ideal had no political character. Guided by humanitarian ideas, he demanded only a literary