"_The real question which puzzles us to-day is: How can Austria exist at all?_ That is the question. And I again repeat solemnly Palacky's word that _Austria may exist only so long as her nations wish for it_, and that _she will cease to exist_ as soon as her nations do not want her to exist. The Slav nations of Austria declared clearly and emphatically their wishes and desires in their proclamations. If instead of working for the conversion of the ruling factor in favour of these wishes Dr. Seidler shows us Gessler's hat of Austria with a German head and backbone, then let him remember that _we shall hate this Austria for all eternity_ (loud cheers and applause) _and we shall fight her, and God willing, we shall in the end smash her to pieces so completely that nothing will remain of her_." _The President:_ "I cannot admit such an expression about this state and I call the deputy to order." _Dr. Stransky_: "Excellency, I really do not deserve such a rebuke. It would be sad if we could not speak freely and with proper emphasis against a state form which has been imposed upon us. "Let Dr. Seidler remember that _we regard Austria, whose integrity according to him must not be questioned, as a centuries-old crime on the liberties of humanity. Let him remember that it is not only our political intention, not only our instinct of self-preservation, but our highest duty and--do not hesitate to say so--our national religion and our greatest moral mission to damage Austria wherever and whenever possible, and that our loyalty to our own nation, to our native country, to our history, to our future and to the Bohemian Crown, prompts us to betray Austria which is backed up by Germany. We are therefore determined faithfully to betray her whenever and wherever we can_. I tell you further, gentlemen, that this state, this Austria which Seidler talks about, is not a state at all. _It is a hideous, centuries-old dream, a nightmare, a beast, and nothing else_. It is a state without a name, it is _a constitutional monarchy without a crown and without a constitution_. For what kind of a constitution is it if it has not the necessary confirmation by oath and won the general approval of nations because it was found to be untenable? _It is a state without patriots and without patriotism_, it is a state which arose by the amalgamation of eight irredents--the German one included--it is a state which had no future and in which the dynasty ... (suppressed) ... in a word, it is a state which is no state at all. _As a matter of fact, Austria no longer exists_, it is an absurdity and an impossibility. If I spoke about Czech regiments which went to embrace their 'enemies,' I must admit that personally I know nothing about them except what I heard from my German colleagues who persist in