The humble tillers of Bohemian soil proved faithful custodians of their native speech. They stored the language during two centuries as though they had been gifted with the foreknowledge of the splendid literary revival which was to mark its renaissance at the magic touch of Kolár, Sofarik and Palacký. Coincident with this movement national consciousness was reborn among Bohemians. Writers and poets naturally took the past greatness of their native land as the theme of their compositions. They told their countrymen of the glorious days of Bohemian history. The movement fortunately took place when the wave of liberalism set in motion by the French Revolution was still advancing into the recesses of central Europe. By the year 1840 all Bohemia had awakened to the idea of national independence. Attempts to secure partial autonomy proved abortive, however. Revolutionary outbreaks in 1848 were quickly repressed by Austrian troops, but the struggle between the two elements increased in bitterness as years went by. At present two-thirds of the inhabitants of Bohemia are Bohemians, and this Slavic element is gradually forcing its way into districts which were formerly occupied exclusively by Germans. The causes of this shifting are economic. The German element, controlling industry and vested with authority, has attained a state of relative prosperity. Even its poorest members are not attracted by the prospect of work held out by Bohemia’s growing industry. The less advanced Bohemians, however, not so content with their lot, are attracted by certain kinds of labor which the German element spurns. Having fewer local ties than their Teutonic countrymen, they easily move from place to place. It thus happens that out of the thirty-six German districts of Bohemia, twenty-two are now fully 5 per cent Bohemian.[153] The inhabitants of the Margravate of Moravia are also true Bohemians. This state is a crown-land of Bohemia, to the east of which it lies. Its population consists of 1,870,000 Bohemians and 720,000 Germans. Close affiliation with the kingdom of Bohemia is revealed in Moravia’s past history. The two states formed the nucleus of the Bohemian nation. At present Moravia is even more truly Bohemian than her larger sister state, since three-fourths of the landowners of Moravia are Bohemians, while in Bohemia that element holds only about three-fifths of the soil. In spite of the mountainous character of the country, and the isolation produced by it, very slight traces of early tribal differences can be detected among these Bohemians. In Moravia alone three distinct types can be distinguished by their dialects and their physical or ethnographic features. Dress in the last case plays an important part.[154]