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and a moral solution.  Directly it appeared its practical usefulness became undeniable, and also the fact that, for better or worse, it was impossible to get rid of it again except by the unthinkable way of another carving, of another partition, of another crime.
    Therein lie the strength and the future of the thing so strictly forbidden no farther back than two years or so, of the Polish independence expressed in a Polish State.  It comes into the world morally free, not in virtue of its sufferings, but in virtue of its miraculous rebirth and of its ancient claim for services rendered to Europe.  Not a single one of the combatants of all the fronts of the world has died consciously for Poland’s freedom.  That supreme opportunity was denied even to Poland’s own children.  And it is just as well!  Providence in its inscrutable way had been merciful, for had it been otherwise the load of gratitude would have been too great, the sense of obligation too crushing, the joy of deliverance too fearful for mortals, common sinners with the rest of mankind before the eye of the Most High.  Those who died East and West, leaving so much anguish and so much pride behind them, died neither for the creation of States, nor for empty words, nor yet for the salvation of general ideas.  They died neither for democracy, nor leagues, nor systems, nor yet for abstract justice, which is an unfathomable mystery.  They died for something too deep for words, too mighty for the common standards by which reason measures the advantages of life and death, too sacred for the vain discourses that come and go on the lips of dreamers, fanatics, humanitarians, and statesmen.  They died . . . .
    Poland’s independence springs up from that great immolation, but Poland’s loyalty to Europe will not be rooted in anything so trenchant and burdensome as the sense of an immeasurable indebtedness, of that gratitude which in a worldly sense is sometimes called eternal, but which lies always at the mercy of weariness and is fatally condemned by the instability of human sentiments to end in negation.  Polish loyalty will be rooted in something much more solid and enduring, in something that could never be called eternal, but which is, in fact, life-enduring.  It will be rooted in the national temperament, which is about the only thing on earth that can be trusted.  Men may deteriorate, they may improve too, but they don’t change.  Misfortune is a hard school which may either mature or spoil a national character, but it may be reasonably advanced that the long course of adversity of the most cruel kind has not injured the fundamental characteristics of the Polish nation which has proved its vitality against the most demoralising odds.  The various phases of the Polish sense of self-preservation struggling amongst the menacing forces and the no less threatening chaos of the neighbouring Powers should be judged impartially.  I suggest impartiality and not indulgence simply because, when appraising the Polish question, it is not necessary to invoke the softer emotions.  A little calm reflection on the past and the present is all that is necessary on the part of the Western world to judge the movements of a community whose ideals are the same, but whose situation is unique.  This situation was brought vividly home to me in the course of an argument more than eighteen months ago.  “Don’t forget,” I was told, “that Poland has got to live in contact with Germany and Russia to the end of time.  Do you understand the force of that expression: ‘To the end of time’?  Facts must be taken into account, and especially appalling facts, such as this, to which there is no possible remedy on earth.  For reasons which are, properly speaking, physiological, a prospect of friendship with Germans or Russians even in the most distant future is unthinkable.  Any alliance of heart and mind would be a monstrous thing, and monsters, as we all know, cannot live.  You can’t base your conduct on a monstrous conception.  We are either worth or not worth preserving, but the horrible psychology of the situation is enough to drive the national mind to distraction.  Yet under a destructive pressure, of which Western Europe can have no notion, applied by forces that were not only crushing but corrupting, we have preserved our sanity.  Therefore there can be no fear of our losing our minds simply because the pressure is removed.  We have neither lost