Page:Brandes - Poland, a Study of the Land, People, and Literature.djvu/60

 48 this national cause is nothing but the universal cause, the cause of humanity.

We love Poland, therefore, not as we love Germany or France or England, but as we love freedom. For what is it to love Poland but to love freedom, to have a deep sympathy with misfortune, and to admire courage and enthusiasm?

Poland is a symbol—a symbol of all which the best of the human race have loved, and for which they have fought. In Poland everything is concentrated, all that is most hateful and despicable, all that is most lovable and most brilliant; here the contrasts of human life are found in bold relief; here the cosmos is concentrated as in an essence.

Everywhere in Europe where there has been any fighting for freedom in this century, the Poles have taken part in it, on all battlefields, on all the barricades. They have sometimes been mistaken in their views of the enterprises to which they lent their arms; but they believed that they were fighting for the good of humanity; they regarded themselves as the bodyguard of freedom, and still look on every one who fights for freedom as a brother.

But conversely, it may also be said that everywhere in Europe where there is any fighting for freedom, there is fighting for Poland. The future fate of Poland is wholly dependent on that of Europe; for if the idea of the right of the people to independence, and the right of every nation to full political freedom continually gains ground in the world, then the hour is drawing near when the resurrection of Poland shall be something more than a hope.