Page:Historical Lectures and Addresses.djvu/327

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direct human endeavour, or because they express it? Is the great man to be regarded as a pioneer or as a capable official? The moment we begin to make apologies for him, we tend to degrade him from the former of these positions to the latter. There are always rulers, ministers and generals. Sometimes things have to be done, and the man who happens to have to do them at that time happens to succeed. After all, in a conflict there are only two parties—one must win, the other must lose. It is no such great merit that any given man was on the winning side. The merit does not lie in the individual leader, but in the nation or cause which he leads. It is obvious that a man's position in affairs was due, in the first instance, to his choice of a profession; his rise was due to his capacity in discharging the work of daily routine till this proved capacity secured him the foremost place. This is the history of the official. Wherein lies his responsibility? What is his contribution to human welfare? If he only does the thing that is expected of him, as opportunity arises; if he merely obeys current sentiment, it is clear that no great merit attaches to him personally. The moving force is the desire of the community, of which he has simply been the mouthpiece and the executor. But this sceptical position can scarcely be maintained concerning any leader in times when great decisions had to be taken. Those decisions were always prompted by one or more men endowed with clear vision and steadfast faith, inspired by a profound belief in the destinies of their country and in the necessity of maintaining it in a position to fulfil that