"There are national pursuits which are thought by the nation itself to be of universal significance, which, nevertheless, have no international value. Only what is of universal value can affect the cause of universal history. What seems great, and even of eternal moment at home, may seem contemptibly small and despicably selfish when viewed from a foreign shore. A people may be so absorbed by its own petty world that the world deems that people so little as to be unworthy of notice."