Excerpt from The Western and Eastern Questions of Europe, Vol. 1
The hyperbole of popular comparisons or measurements may exaggerate contrasts, but they make them impressive. It is common to hear even a poor man say this or that "is worth its weight in gold," sometimes even when the this or that is his bright and active boy of fifteen years, and weighing a hundred pounds avoirdupois. This simile exaggerates the relative value of the two things compared, but the estimate expressed is clear and impressive. The same simile reversed may be applied even more truthfully to entities in the political world, which have been held at a higher price than they are worth to themselves or to mankind. By the simile reversed, I mean that there are several small nationalities in Europe which cost their weight in gold, though they are worth virtually nothing to themselves as political communities, and less than nothing to the great family of nations. And this vast cost of their worthless being is not borne by themselves, but by outside Powers and peoples. Their present political existence is of no more value to their own subjects than each of seven kingdoms would be to its subjects if England were again resolved into the old Saxon heptarchy, or if France were reparceled into as many independent States.
Let us glance at the status of these small nationalities as they appear in the scale of dignity. They are the "unprotected females" in the community of European nations. They themselves no more pretend to the ability of self-standing and self-defending powers than does a lone and defenceless woman sojourning or traveling among rude and stalwart men. Her very weakness is her safety. She feels and trusts it as such. She believes it will enlist some stout and gallant champion in her defense, should she be assaulted by a ruffian. This weakness may be safety, but it is not dignity. And this weakness is not the raison d'etre, but the pouvoir d'etre, of these small nationalities.
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