Welsh Journals

upon some intellectual appreciation of what is implied by contract "? Granting that authority has been a great feature of modern and historical States, this only means that authority and power vested in a State has been mis-used; it surely does not mean that State, as such, is tyrannical ? Authority surely was so misused in the life of the tribe, and, on occasion, is so misused in the family life-to-day But no one will say that authority in this tyrannical sense is the only feature and an invariably necessary concomitant of the family and tribe or of that of the State in re- lation to the national life. Is it not reasonable to assume in so far as organised relations resulting in various kinds of authority and government are con- cerned, especially in the early stages of development that: the true ground is the acceptance of conditions which came into existence by the sociability inherent in man, and were developed by man's spontaneous search after convenience? Can we not say from this point of view that the State is the nation organised," and so organised for very definite ends? If, as Professor Zimmern main- tains, the nation is a form of corporate conscious- ness," and is bound up with the question of corpor- ate life, corporate growth, and corporate self-respect," and if, as Mr. G. P. Gooch says the nation is an organism, a spiritual entity, then it is not unreason- able to assume the State to be the physical medium through which the organic functions of the nation must manifest themselves. Mr. Gooch admits this when he says, speaking of nationality, where there is a soul there should be a body in which it may dwell." The Swiss philosopher, Bluntschli, also said, inter alia, the State is a great body which is capable of taking into itself the feelings and thoughts of the nation, of uttering them in laws, and realising them in acts." The State is, therefore, according to this view, the organ of the nation's life, the vehicle and organic in- strument of its soul. It seems quite reasonable to suppose, therefore, that we might define the State as a multi-human organism which embodies the national life, possessing a definite territory, and that its various functions would include those duties of Government specialised according to the conceptions prevailing in regard to those duties. It is, of course, clear that each function would require a suitable organ or department," and while such an organ may be the executive, another such may be that which exer- cises the function of Justice, the organ composed of judges and law officers, the. judiciary, while yet another may be that of the medical and nursing pro- fessions, or that of Industry, or Education, or Administration. The national Life must express itself through all these functions, which collectively we may describe as the State. To confine the expression of the national genius to art and literature is certainly not Rousseau. John Morley. Vol. ii.. p. 183. THE INDEX to the contents of The Welsh Outlook for 1921 is now ready. Copies may be obtained for 6d., post free 7d., from the Manager "Outlook Offices, Newtown, Mid Wales, deserving, and goes a long way to show that a nation, say, like Wales, has not fully arrived at the point of development to make .complete sell-expression a full-blooded demand. There is no function in the national life which should be without the charac- teristic national impress and stamp. National growth is not only a matter of intellectual appreciation of the heroic deeds and literary achieve- ments of the past, it is and must be a matter of action, and expression, by action in the present. Growth is the harmonious exercise of each function in the 1. body politic of the nation each life-function and activity being allowed full and free play. The end and aim of all this being the welfare and increasing welfare of the nation. It seems very necessary to call attention to these things to-day, when we are told that the task of the true nationalist is to seek out what is best and highest in the heritage of the past, and mould it into the very fabric of the present," by means of literature, which conveys the thought and deepest feeling of the past of art, which transmits its truest emotions of history, which records its sufferings and achievements." These things are all very well and very necessary, but only a fraction, a minute part of the task of the nationalist is here en- visaged. The man who understands this task merely through a demand for nationalisation in an industrial sense, though perhaps unconsciously, is also failing to see the wood for the trees. But are not all such tasks complementary? When it is pro- posed, for instance, to exclude banking, commercial, and industrial legislation from among the powers to be conferred upon a Welsh Parliament, as in the case of the present Welsh Members Bill," the true nationalist can afford to smile at this ostrich-like effort to become blind to facts and portents I We should not disregard the past and its heritage by any means, but each nation, and especially Wales, has a future-a future great in its inheritance to realise And to make its own. The promise of this inheritance is the sap and life now rising in the tree. Fruitage and harvest are to be the outcome of this energising and effort within our national life-fruit is not a gift from heaven And as each and every branch has to share the energy, so will it bear the fruit! So runs the rune and the Song of the Sap Through ruin'd worlds, through lands laid waste, My clarion sounds, through me men taste The sting of genius-wine that bums, Through every living thing that yearns I rise.. Through heart of man that throbs and aches Mv sacred ichor thrills and takes Within its flow, those thoughts that rise From hells outworn, to heaven's skies I rise."