, whose ignorance of literature is so great, are yet
flattered by the suggestion that we have treasures of spiritual and
intellectual life which should not be debased by external influences,
and so it comes about that good literature is a thing unpurchasable
except in some half-dozen of the larger towns. Any system which would
suppress the aristocratic, fearless, independent intellect should be
regarded as contrary to the Irish genius and inimical to the national
being.

XVI.

Among the many ways men have sought to create a national consciousness,
a fountain of pride to the individual citizen, is to build a strong body
for the great soul, and it would be an error to overlook--among other
modern uprisings of ancient Irish character--the revival of the military
spirit and its possible development in relation to the national being.
National solidarity may be brought about by pressure from without, or by
the fusion of the diverse elements in a nation by a heat engendered
from within. But to Create national solidarity by war is to attain but
a temporary and unreal unity, a gain like theirs who climb into the
Kingdom not by the straight gate, but over the wall like a robber. When
one nation is threatened by another, great national sacrifices will be
made, and the latent solidarity of its humanity be kindled. But when the
war is over, when the circumstances uniting the people for a time are
past, that spirit rapidly dies, and people begin their old antagonisms
because the social order, in its normal working, does not constantly
promote a consciousness of identity of interest.

Almost all the great European states have fortified their national
being by militarism. Everything almost in their development has been
subordinated to the necessities of national defense, and hence it is
only in times of war there is any real manifestation of national spirit.
It is only then that the citizens of the Iron Age feel a transitory
brotherhood. It is a paradoxical phenomenon, possible only in the Iron
Age, that the highest instances of national sacrifice are evoked by
warfare--the most barbarous of human enterprises. To make normal that
spirit of unity which is now only manifested in abnormal moments in
history should be our aim; and as it is the Iron Age, and material
forces are more powerful than spiritual, we must consider how these
fierce energies can be put in relation with the national being with
least debasement of that