place, has to become subservient to a nation which may possess for its inheritance but few qualities besides those of expansiveness and force.  The small nation is forced to submit, to develop on lines entirely alien to its original potencies, and to labour with might and main to fill the coffers of the rich nation.  The old calm and peace, as well as the originality of the small nations have thus too often been cruelly uprooted; the characteristics of working on their own original lines, and of producing something of essential value in the history of the world, have been largely shorn of their initiative and freedom in the case of several of the small nations of Europe.  Superficiality and indifference to deep national and spiritual traits become the primary things, and the life of the small nations, as time passes, tends to become mechanical and servile.

When we survey the work of the small nations of the Western world, we discover achievements which have been of immense [p.230] value in the civilisation, culture, morals, and religion of Europe.  And what a distressing sight it is to witness the attempts of larger nations to crush the spirituality of the smaller ones!  The attitude of Russia towards Finland and Poland is known to all.  A greed for territory and a passion for ready-made values are characteristics which are only too evident to-day in the case of some of the Great Powers of Europe.  We need, as Eucken points out,[83] a new standard of valuing the national characteristics and the relationship of nation with nation.  Such standard must include moral judgments and human sympathy.  It is the presence of spiritual powers such as these which constitute the really deep and durable elements in a nation’s progress.  “When righteousness goes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the earth.”  Eucken’s philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense interest in mankind and its spiritual development.  He goes, indeed, so far as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is to create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the race.  Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect to-day.  Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in most of them.  Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not succeeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the intelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until the deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects of psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.

Eucken’s personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its spiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his championing of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their original spiritual characteristics.  These qualities are pearls of too great a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what possesses the highest value.