true fountain-head of what she has since become.

We have not half a continent to deal with, but size matters nothing.
The Russian Empire, which covers half Europe, and stretches over
the Ural Mountains to the Pacific, would weigh light as a feather
in the balance if we compare its services to humanity with those
of the little State of Attica, which was no larger than Tipperary.
Every State which has come to command the admiration of the world
has had clearly conceived ideals which it realized before it went
the way which all empires, even the greatest, must go; becoming
finally a legend, a fable, or a symbol. We have to lay down the
foundations of a new social order in Ireland, and, if the
possibilities of it are realized, our thousand years of sorrow
and darkness may be followed by as long a cycle of happy effort
and ever-growing prosperity. We shall want all these plans whether
we are ruled from Westminster or College Green. Without an
imaginative conception of what kind of civilization we wish to
create, the best government from either quarter will never avail
to lift us beyond national mediocrity. I write for those who have
joined the ranks of the co-operators without perhaps realizing all
that the movement meant, or all that it tended to. Because we hold
in our hearts and keep holy there the vision of a great future, I
have fought passionately for the entire freedom of our movement
from external control, lest the meddling of politicians or official
persons without any inspiration should deflect, for some petty
purpose or official gratification, the strength of that current
which was flowing and gathering strength unto the realization of
great ideals. Every country has its proportion of little souls
which could find ample room on a threepenny bit, and be majestically
housed in a thimble, who follow out some little minute practice in