"Allow me to make a personal remark. We were far away from public life, confined in prison, and only very little news reached us. Various events filled us with anxiety and despondency. Bohemia seemed to be like a large, silent and dead churchyard. And all of a sudden we heard that underneath the shroud with which they tried to cover our nation there still was some life. Czech books were read more than ever, and the life of the national soul expressed itself in the performances in the National Theatre. When we heard about the storm of enthusiasm which greeted the prophecy in Smetana's opera _Libusha_, we felt suddenly relieved, and we knew that our sufferings were not in vain. "We placed everything that we want into the prophecy of Libusha--a new life, free, not constrained by disfavour or misunderstanding. _We do not want to remain within the limits prescribed to us by Vienna_ (applause), we want to be entire masters of our national life as a whole. We do not need foreign spirit and foreign advice; our best guide is our past, the great democratic traditions of our nation. We have enough strength and perseverance not to be afraid of anything that threatens us, because _we want the full freedom for the whole nation, including the millions of our oppressed brothers beneath the Tatra Mountains_. (A stormy applause.) "That does not depend on any circumstances outside our scope; it depends entirely upon ourselves, upon our will. _We must show that we are worthy of liberty and of the great future which we are striving for_. It must not be left to the generosity of individuals to support our peoples who under oppressive conditions are awakening national consciousness in their countrymen. _We must mobilise our whole nation_. All of us will be required to assist in the great tasks which are awaiting us. "I think we may confidently look into the future. The war has united us internally, and it has taught us that all party politics which for a long time past have poisoned our life, are insignificant in view of the great issues of our national future which are at stake. We have lived long enough to see our whole people united in the demand for an independent Czecho-Slovak State, although the modern times have deepened class differences. "We recollect our past to-day with a firm hope for a better future. The hearts of all are to-day filled with joyous confidence and expectation that we shall live to see the day when in our National Theatre we shall rejoice over the victory of liberty, justice and self-determination of nations. _Our golden Slav Prague will again become a royal city, and our Czech nation will again be free, strong and glorious_."