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_."

After Dr. Kramar had finished, the aged Czech author Jirasek described the
history of the National Theatre during the past fifty years, and concluded:

"To-day as fifty years ago our nation is united without party
distinction. _We form a single front, and follow a single policy. We
all demand our natural and historic rights, and strengthened by the
co-operation of the Yugoslavs, we firmly believe that as we succeeded
in erecting our National Theatre, so shall we also obtain our rights
and be able to rejoice with a song of a full and free life_."