fe became Austrian prime minister, and he succeeded in persuading
the representatives of Bohemia to take part in the deliberations of the
parliament of Vienna. They did so, after stating that they took this
step without prejudice to their view that Bohemia with Moravia and
Silesia constituted a separate state under the rule of the same
sovereign as Austria and Hungary. The government of Count Taaffe, in
recognition of this concession by the Bohemians, consented to remove
some of the grossest anomalies connected with the electoral system of
Bohemia, which had hitherto been grossly partial to the German minority
of the population. The government of Count Taaffe also consented to the
foundation of a Bohemian university at Prague, which greatly contributed
to the intellectual development of the country. On the fall of the
government of Count Taaffe, Prince Alfred Windischgratz became prime
minister. The policy of his short-lived government was hostile to
Bohemia and he was soon replaced by Count Badeni.

The language question.

Badeni again attempted to conciliate Bohemia. He did not indeed consider
it feasible to reopen the question of its autonomy, but he endeavoured
to remedy some of the most serious grievances of the country. In the
beginning of 1897 Count Badeni issued a decree which stated that after a
certain date all government officials who wished to be employed in
Bohemia would have to prove a certain knowledge of the Bohemian as well
as of the German language. This decree met with violent opposition on
the part of the German inhabitants of Austria, and caused the fall of
Count Badeni's cabinet at the end of the year 1897. After a brief
interval he was succeeded by Count Thun and then by Count Clary, whose
government repealed the decrees that had to a certain extent granted
equal rights to the Bohemian language. In consequence troubles broke out
in Prague, and were severely repressed by the Austrian authorities.
During the subsequent ministries of Korber and Gautsch the Bohemians
continued to oppose the central government of Vienna, and to assert
their national rights.

See generally Count Lutzow, _Bohemia, a Historical Sketch_ (London,
1896). The valuable collection of historical documents entitled
_Fontes Rerum Bohemicarum_, published at Prague in the latter part of
the 19th century, has superseded earlier ones such as Freherus
(Marquard Freher), _Rerum Bohemicarum Antiqui Scriptores_. Similarly,