stars and planets, must wheel in the heavens under the guidance of
inexorable and inflexible law. Now the State is higher in the scale of
being than the individual, and it should be dominated solely by moral
and intellectual principles. These are not the outcome of passion or
prejudice, but of arduous thought. National ideals must be built up
with the same conscious deliberation of purpose as the architect of the
Parthenon conceived its lofty harmony of shining marble lines, or as the
architect of Rheims Cathedral designed its intricate magnificence and
mystery. Nations which form their ideals and marry them in the hurry of
passion are likely to repent without leisure, and they will not be able
to divorce those ideals without prolonged domestic squabbles and public
cleansing of dirty linen. If we are to build a body for the soul of
Ireland it ought not to be a matter of reckless estimates or jerry-
building. We have been told, during my lifetime at least, not to
criticize leaders, to trust leaders, and so intellectual discussion
ceased and the high principles on which national action should be based
became less and less understood, less and less common possessions. The
nation was not conceived of as a democracy freely discussing its laws
but as a secret society with political chiefs meeting in the dark and
issuing orders. No doubt our political chieftains loved their country,
but love has many degrees of expression from the basest to the highest.
The basest love will wreck everything, even the life of the beloved, to
gratify ignoble desires. The highest love conspires with the
imaginative reason to bring about every beautiful circumstance around
the beloved which will permit of the highest development of its life.
There is no real love apart from this intellectual brooding. Men who
love Ireland ignobly brawl about her in their cups, quarrel about her
with their neighbor, allow no freedom of thought of her or service of
her other than their own, take to the cudgel and the rifle, and join
sectarian orders or lodges to ensure that Ireland will be made in their