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 by the discovery of principles that govern and justify it.  Otherwise we cannot yield it our allegiance.  Let us to the examination, then; we shall find it soul-stirring and inspiring.  We must be prepared, however, to abandon many deeply-rooted prejudices; if we are unwilling, we must abandon the truth.  But we will find courage in moving forward, and will triumph in the end, by keeping in mind at all times that the end of freedom is to realise the salvation and happiness of all peoples, to make the world, and not any selfish corner of it, a more beautiful dwelling-place for men.

Treated in this light, the question becomes for all earnest men great and arresting.  Our friend, who may have smiled, will discuss it readily now.  Yet he may not be convinced; he may point his finger over the wasted land and contrast its weakness with its opponents’ strength, and conclude:  “Your philosophy is beautiful, but only a dream.”  He is at least impressed; that is a point gained; and we may induce him to come further and further till he adopts the great principle we defend.

III

His difficulty now is the common error that a man’s work for his country should be based on the assumption that it should bear full effect in his own time.  This is most certainly false; for a man’s life is counted by years, a nation’s by centuries, and as work for the nation should be directed to bringing her to full maturity in the coming time, a man must be prepared to labour for an end that may be realised only in another generation.  Consider how he disposes his plans for his individual life.  His boyhood and youth are directed that his manhood and prime may