Principles of Freedom | Page 4

are happy; we
shall be grandly victorious. If only a few are faithful found they must
be the more steadfast for being but a few. They stand for an individual
right that is inalienable. A majority has no right to annul it, and no
power to destroy it. Tyrannies may persecute, slay, or banish those who

defend it; the thing is indestructible. It does not need legions to protect
it nor genius to proclaim it, though the poets have always glorified it,
and the legions will ultimately acknowledge it. One man alone may
vindicate it, and because that one man has never failed it has never died.
Not, indeed, that Ireland has ever been reduced to a single loyal son.
She never will be. We have not survived the centuries to be conquered
now. But the profound significance of the struggle, of its deep spiritual
appeal, of the imperative need for a motive force as lofty and beautiful,
of the consciousness that worthy winning of freedom is a labour for
human brotherhood; the significance of it all is seen in the obligation it
imposes on everyone to be true, the majority notwithstanding. He is
called to a grave charge who is called to resist the majority. But he will
resist, knowing his victory will lead them to a dearer dream than they
had ever known. He will fight for that ideal in obscurity, little
heeded--in the open, misunderstood; in humble places, still undaunted;
in high places, seizing every vantage point, never crushed, never silent,
never despairing, cheering a few comrades with hope for the morrow.
And should these few sink in the struggle the greatness of the ideal is
proven in the last hour; as they fall their country awakens to their
dream, and he who inspired and sustained them is justified; justified
against the whole race, he who once stood alone against them. In the
hour he falls he is the saviour of his race.


CHAPTER II
SEPARATION.
I
When we plead for separation from the British Empire as the only basis
on which our country can have full development, and on which we can
have final peace with England, we find in opponents a variety of
attitudes, but one attitude invariably absent--a readiness to discuss the
question fairly and refute it, if this can be done. One man will take it

superficially and heatedly, assuming it to be, according to his party, a
censure on Mr. Redmond or Mr. O'Brien. Another will take it
superficially, but, as he thinks, philosophically, and will dismiss it with
a smile. With the followers of Mr. Redmond or Mr. O'Brien we can
hardly argue at present, but we should not lose heart on their account,
for these men move en masse. One day the consciousness of the
country will be electrified with a great deed or a great sacrifice and the
multitude will break from lethargy or prejudice and march with a shout
for freedom in a true, a brave, and a beautiful sense. We must work and
prepare for that hour. Then there is our philosophical friend. I expect
him to hear my arguments. When I am done, he may not agree with me
on all points; he may not agree with me on any point; but if he come
with me, I promise him one thing: this question can no longer be
dismissed with a smile.
II
Our friend's attitude is explained in part by our never having attempted
to show that a separatist policy is great and wise. We have held it as a
right, have fought for it, have made sacrifices for it, and vowed to have
it at any cost; but we have not found for it a definite place in a
philosophy of life. Superficial though he be, our friend has indicated a
need: we must take the question philosophically--but in the great and
true sense. It is a truism of philosophy and science that the world is a
harmonious whole, and that with the increase of knowledge, laws can
be discovered to explain the order and the unity of the universe.
Accordingly, if we are to justify our own position as separatists, we
must show that it will harmonise, unify and develop our national life,
that it will restore us to a place among the nations, enable us to fulfil a
national destiny, a destiny which, through all our struggles, we ever
believe is great, and waiting for us. That must be accepted if we are to
get at the truth of the matter. A great doctrine that dominates our lives,
that lays down a rigid course of action, that involves self-denial, hard
struggles, endurance for years, and possibly death before the goal is
reached--any such doctrine must be capable of having its truth
demonstrated