What must be embodied in State action is the national will
and the national soul, and until that giant being is manifested it is
dangerous to let the pygmies set powers in motion which may enchain us
for centuries to come.
XIV.
It may seem I have spoken lightly of that infant whose birth I referred
to with more solemnity in the opening pages of this book, and indeed I
am a little dubious about that infant. The signature of the Irish mind
is nowhere present in it, and I look upon it with something of the
hesitating loyalty the inhabitant of a new Balkan State night feel for
his imported prince, doubtful whether that sovereign will reflect the
will of his new subjects or whether his policy will not constrain
national character into an alien mould. The signature of the Irish mind
is not apparent anywhere in this new machinery for self-government. Our
politicians seem to have been unaware that they had any wisdom to learn
from the more obvious failures of representative government as they knew
it. So far, as I have knowledge, no Irishman during the past century of
effort for political freedom took the trouble to think out a form of
government befitting Irish circumstance and character.
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