et of Prague. Two years later the central parliament
of Vienna was suspended, and in the following year--1866--the
Austro-Prussian war caused a complete change in the constitutional
position of Bohemia. The congress of Vienna in 1815 had declared that
that country should form part of the newly formed Germanic
Confederation; this was done without consulting the estates of the
country, as had been customary even after the battle of the White Hill
on the occasion of serious constitutional changes. The treaty with
Prussia, signed at Prague on the 23rd of August 1866, excluded from
Germany all lands ruled by the house of Habsburg. As a natural
consequence German influence declined in the Austrian empire, and in
Bohemia in particular. While Hungary now obtained complete independence,
the new constitution of 1867, which applied only to the German and
Slavic parts of the Habsburg empire, maintained the system of
centralization and attempted to maintain the waning German influence.
The Bohemians energetically opposed this new constitution and refused to
send representatives to Vienna.

Renewed struggles of Bohemian nationalism.

In 1871 it appeared probable for a moment that the wishes of the
Bohemians, who desired that their ancient constitution should be
re-established in a modernized form, would be realized. The new Austrian
prime minister, Count Karl Hohenwart, took office with the firm
intention of accomplishing an agreement between Bohemia and the other
parts of the Habsburg empire. Prolonged negotiations ensued, and an
attempt was made to establish a constitutional system which, while
satisfying the claims of the Bohemians, would yet have firmly connected
them with the other lands ruled by the house of Habsburg. An imperial
message addressed to the diet of Prague (September 14, 1871) stated that
the sovereign "in consideration of the former constitutional position of
Bohemia and remembering the power and glory which its crown had given to
his ancestors, and the constant fidelity of its population, gladly
recognized the rights of the kingdom of Bohemia, and was willing to
confirm this assurance by taking the coronation oath." Various
influences caused the failure of this attempt to reconcile Bohemia with
Austria. In 1872 a government with a pronounced German tendency took
office in Vienna, and the Bohemians for a time again refused to attend
the parliamentary assemblies of Vienna and Prague. In 1879 Count Eduard
Taaf