We must not mix the colors of national life until
conflicting interests muddle themselves into a gray drab of human
futility, but strive, so far as possible, to keep them pure and unmixed,
each retaining its own peculiar lustre, so that in their conjunction
with others they will harmonize, as do the pure primary colors, and in
their motion make a light of true intelligence to prevail in the
national being.
XV.
No policy can succeed if it be not in accord with national character. If
I have misjudged that, what is written here is vain. It may be asked,
can any one abstract from the chaos which is Irish history a prevailing
mood or tendency recurring again and again, and assert these are
fundamental? It is difficult to define national character, even in
long-established States whose history lies open to the world; but it is
most difficult in Ireland, which for centuries has not acted by its own
will from its own centre, where national activity was mainly by way of
protest against external domination, or a readjustment of itself to
external power.
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