Welsh Journals

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THE WELSH OUTLOOK NOTES OF THE MONTH Yr ydym ni, drigolion yn y cyfarfod hwa,—a ni'n gwybod yn dda mai'r un yw lies ein gwlad an lies ninnau, ac fod y rhyddid sy'n tail iddo mown enbydrwydd ©her- wydd gormes ymeroaraeth annhrugarog a fynnai, pe medrai, ein gwaedu'n wyn,— yn fodlon i roddi ein hunain yn hollol in gwlad i'w gwasanaethu yn ol ein gallu, ar dir neu ar for, yn y gweithdy neu ar faes y gad, gan lwyr ymddiried y gwna'r genedl, hithau, ei rhan tuag at y rbai sy'n dibynnu arnam. We, the inhabitants of in meeting assembled, recognizing that the welfare of our country and our own is one and the same and that the liberty on which that welfare is hated is imperilled by the aggression of a merciless power which would bleed us white if it could, are willing to place ourselves unreservedly at the disposal of our country for such services, civil, naval, or military, at we may be able to fulfil, with full confidence that the nation on its part will discharge ita obligations to those who are dependent upon us. A Parallel It is just a hundred years ago since the great philosopher Fichte, in the hour of his country's defeat, delivered his famous Addresses to the German Nation, in which he spoke to Germans as they had not been spoken to since the time of Luther." The Prussian power had been shattered by the French at Jena and Aiierstadt, and though the Peace of Tilsit had been concluded the French were still in occupation of Berlin when Fichte Sunday after Sunday met the audiences who crowded the great hall of the Academy of Sciences. In the midst of disaster Fichte pro- claimed the possibility of moral regeneration for the individual and the State by means of a new system of education which should deliberately aim at drawing closer the links that bind the individual to the community." He appealed for an empire founded on mind and reason in place of the dominion of rudephysical power. "The confused and intricate mixture of sensuous and spiritual impulses shall no longer be permitted to govern the world. Mind alone, pure from all admixture of sense, shall assume the NOVEMBER, 1915 guidance of human affairs. In order that this spirit should have liberty to develop itself. and rise to independent existence, our blood was shed. It lies with you to give a meaning and a justifica- tion to the sacrifice, by establishing this spirit in its destined supremacy. Should this result not ensue, as the ultimate end of all the previous development of our nation, then were our struggles but a vain and forgotten farce, and the freedom of mind and conscience for which we fought an empty word, since neither mind nor conscience should any longer have a place among us Yes I there are in every nation minds who can never believe that the great promises of the human race of a kingdom of law, of reason, of truth, are vain and idle delusions, and who, there- fore, cherish the conviction that the present iron age is but a step towards a better state." Fichte's vision and Ftchte's conviction are ours to-day. We believe that it is the Allies and not the Central Powers who are fighting for the freedom of the human spirit. In ancient days, King George reminds us, the darkest moment has ever produced