w carry them in England--but that men were deprived of
the _right_ to carry them. A Nation, an individual, cannot develop his
capacities to the utmost without liberty. And this is recognised
everywhere except in India. As Mazzini truly said:

God has written a line of His thought over the cradle of every
people. That is its special mission. It cannot be cancelled; it
must be freely developed.

For what is a Nation? It is a spark of the Divine Fire, a fragment of
the Divine Life, outbreathed into the world, and gathering round itself
a mass of individuals, men, women and children, whom it binds together
into one. Its qualities, its powers, in a word, its type, depend on the
fragment of the Divine Life embodied in it, the Life which shapes it,
evolves it, colours it, and makes it One. The magic of Nationality is
the feeling of oneness, and the use of Nationality is to serve the world
in the particular way for which its type fits it. This is what Mazzini
called "its special mission," the duty given to it by God in its
birth-hour. Thus India had the duty of spreading the idea of Dharma,
Persia that of Purity, Egypt that of Science, Greece that of Beauty,
Rome that of Law. But to render its full service to Humanity it must
develop along its own lines, and be Self-determined in its evolution. It
must be Itself, and not Another. The whole world suffers where a
Nationality is distorted or suppressed, before its mission to the world
is accomplished.

The Cry for Self-Rule.

Hence the cry of a Nation for Freedom, for Self-Rule, is not a cry of
mere selfishness demanding more Rights that it may enjoy more happiness.
Even in that there is nothing wrong, for happiness means fulness of
life, and to enjoy such fulness is a righteous claim. But the demand for
Self-Rule is a demand for the evolution of its own nature for the
Service of Humanity. It is a demand of the deepest Spirituality, an
expression of the longing to give its very best to the world. Hence
dangers cannot check it, nor threats appal, nor offerings of greater
pleasures lure it to give up its demand for Freedom. In the adapted
words of a Christian Scripture, it passionately cries: "What shall it
profit a Nation if it gain the whole world and lose its own Soul? What
shall a Nation give in exchange for its Soul?" Better hardship and
freedom, than luxury and thraldom. This is the spirit of the Home Rule
movement, and therefore it cannot be crushed, it can