Principles of FreedomMacSwiney, Terence J. (Terence Joseph)
Philosophy
Principles of Freedom
MacSwiney, Terence J. (Terence Joseph)
Home rule -- Ireland; Irish question; Liberty
enemy there is apparently little hope of a transformation that will make
them spiritual, high-minded and generous, we must not abandon our ideal:
while the meanness and tyranny of contemporary England stand forward
against our argument and leave our reasoning cold, we can find a more
subtle appeal in spirit, such an appeal as comes to us in a play of
Shakespeare's, a song of Shelley's, or a picture of Turner's. From the
heart of the enemy Genius cries, bearing witness to our common humanity,
and the yearning for such high comradeship is alive, and the dream
survives to light us on the forward path. We must travel that path
rightly. We can so travel whatever the enemy's mind. More difficult it
will be, but it can be done. That is the great significance and
justification of Nationalism: it is the unanswerable argument to
cosmopolitanism. If the greatness and beauty of life that ought to be
the dream of all nations is denied by all but one, that one may keep
alive the dream within her own frontier till its fascination will arrest
and inspire the world. If this ultimate dream is still floating far off,
in its pursuit there is for us achievement on achievement, and each
brave thing done is in itself a beauty and a joy for ever. For the good
fighter there is always fine recompense; a clear mind, warm blood, quick
imagination, grasp of life and joy in action, and at the end of day
always an eminence won. Yes, and from the height of that eminence will
come ringing down to the last doubter a last word: we may reach the
mountaintops in aspiring to the stars.
CHAPTER V
THE SECRET OF STRENGTH
I
To win our freedom we must be strong. But what is the secret of
strength? It is fundamental to the whole question to understand this
rightly, and, once grasped, make it the mainstay of individual
existence, which is the foundation of national life. So much has the
bodily power of over-riding minorities been made the criterion of
absolute power, that to make clear the truth requires patience, insight,
and a little mental study. But the end is a great end. It is to
reconnoitre the most important battlefield, to discover the dispositions
of the enemy, to measure our own resources and forge our strength link
by link till we put on the armour of invincibility.
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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