58 DISCOURSES OF FATHER HYACINTHE. 



a nation this only or this chiefly, is to fall into the gross 

 blunder of those who confound the life Avith the exter- 

 nal organs of life. It is political materialism ! 



Is it, underneath these artificial limitations of laws 

 and government, the more natural limitations of the 

 soil — the course of the rivers, the conformation of the 

 seas, the barriers of the mountains ? Tliese tilings may 

 assuredly contribute to the perfect constitution of a na- 

 tion, to its independence and its prosperity ; and I am 

 not one of those who fail to recognize the mysterious 

 but purposed preparation of the globe w4th reference to 

 the nations who were to dwell in it. But this element, 

 also, is secondary. It enters into combination wdth 

 others, or even disappears before them. How many 

 great nations are there in Europe for which tlie natural 

 frontiers have never been drawn ! 



Let us go a little deeper than these geographical or 

 social forms. There is the blood, which gives character 

 to the physical life ; and the language, giving character 

 to the moral life. Is it community of blood and lan- 

 guage which constitutes a nation ? Is it the race-prin- 

 ciple ? It is not for me to discuss the modern notion 

 of nationalities. At this very hour it is condemned ; 

 condemned in tlieory by words full of authority, which 

 have laid bare, from under the truths which it perverts, 

 the error and peril wliich it covers ; condemned in prac- 

 tice l)y the formidalde events whicli have arisen, and 

 Ijefore whicli the earth keeps silence! 



What makes a nation is its soul. There is a soul in 

 nations as in individuals, and this soul is their life. 



A nation is a more or less considerable group of fami- 

 lies, sprung sometimes of most diverse blood, but con- 

 sciously united by one and the same public spirit. This 

 people has a history in the past — not two histories, but 



