for a saner application of the
principle of nationality" (Clottu).

"In this domain we can and should be conquerors. Owing to the
historical origin of our country, owing to the fact that Switzerland
comprises three races and three tongues, we foreshadow on a small scale
the United States of Europe; in a word, we practise internationalism"
(Patry).

Switzerland champions the right of the nations and champions democratic
thought, as against imperialism, which is, fundamentally, an
aristocratic reaction. Imperialism makes use of democracy, but enslaves
it; it undermines the democratic pillars of modern states; it
centralises all power in the hands of a single government. "We are
reviving the age of the dictators, and there is a tragic irony in this
at a time when the whole world is speaking of liberty and when the whole
world is enslaved.... Down with imperialism, which turns the nations
aside from their true destinies!"

"The size of our country matters little, provided that it has right and
truth on its side.... We know that what New Switzerland has hitherto
done is inadequate.... But a sacred fire is beginning to burn in our
land.... Switzerland is a highway leading towards the future.... We are
animated and united by a sublime conviction, by the feeling that we are
the bearers of a great truth" (Schmidhauser).

PART FIVE.

The Mission of Switzerland.

"Switzerland can achieve greatness through principle alone. The only
conquests permissible to Switzerland, are conquests in the realm of
ideas" (Clottu).

We are not concerned here solely with the duty of a choice group of
intellectuals. The questions at issue affect the people at large, those
to whose service these young men have devoted themselves. A new spirit,
an active faith, are requisite. The war has brought to light the weak
spot in the Swiss character. Touching is the shame felt by these
truehearted youths owing to the attitude of their country at the outset
of the war. They are personally hurt by such surrenders of principle.
In the strongest terms they censure the abdication of the Swiss soul at
the time when Belgium was being invaded, noting with pain the absence of
any national and public protest. But now there is a change of spirit.
"We have a young and virile movement, the movement of those who are not
satisfied with the mere existence of Switzerland, but who desire that
Switzerland should prove herself worthy to exist, by her moral greatness