Each state group has its own history, and is convinced that it makes its own contribution to the world’s civilization. The patriot applies to his own country the spirit that was expressed by Mazzini: “Every people has its special mission, which will coöperate towards the fulfillment of the general mission of Humanity. That mission constitutes its nationality. Nationality is sacred.”[121] The sense of having a mission possessed Israel; it possesses Germany; it possesses America. Longfellow wrote to America, “Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate.”[122] In fact, the number of the civilizing missions that the world is favored with is identically equal to the number of countries that have each a national consciousness. The consciousness of being the anointed one sometimes strikes the level of the ludicrous. The following is not an example,--for the New Englander: “As from the first to this day, let New England continue to be an example to the world of the blessings of free government, and of the means and capacity of men to maintain it. And in all times to come, as in all times past, may Boston be among the foremost and boldest to exemplify and uphold whatever constitutes the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory of New England.”[123] The patriotism that justifies itself with the reason that the country is an intrinsic value often expresses itself in a desire for a better country. Patriotism is not exclusively love of country just as it is. It is love of an ideal country. The actual country becomes a subject of criticism. Literary men have often satirized their country at the same time that they loved it. And the criticism may be all the more bitter because the love is great. The country’s shortcomings are felt by those who love it the most. The following lines inflict the faithful wound of a true patriot: “The ever-lustrous name of patriot To no man may be denied because he saw Where in his country’s wholeness lay the flaw, Where, on her whiteness, the unseemly blot. England! thy loyal sons condemn thee.--What! Shall we be meek who from thine own breasts draw Our fierceness? Not ev’n _thou_ shalt overawe Us, thy proud children nowise basely got. Be this the measure of our loyalty-- To feel thee noble and weep thy lapse the more. This truth by thy true servants is confess’d-- Thy sins, who love thee most, do most deplore. Know thou thy faithful! Best they honour thee Who honour in thee only what is best.”[124]