I am aware that many of my contemporaries maintain that nations are never their own masters here below, and that they necessarily obey some insurmountable and unintelligent power, arising from anterior events, from their race, or from the soil and climate of their country.
Badakit nire garaikideetako hainbatek pentsatzen duela herriak inoiz ez direla hemen behean beren buruaren jabe izaten, eta aurreko gertakari, arraza, lurzoru edo klimatik sortzen den ez dakit zer-nolako indar gaindigaitz eta itsuari obeditzen diotela.