cleaner and better than the politics of the early days of the Republic. With the liberalization of ideas has come a liberalization of politics; not yet perfectly, for there is yet much in our politics that needs reform. Upon the individual citizen rests the responsibility of purity in elections, purity in party politics and honesty in the administration of government.

264. Liberty Enlightening the World. In the harbor of the city of New York may be seen the statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World," a splendid gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. At night the uplifted torch, held high for the guidance of vessels, casts its friendly light for many leagues far out to sea. Typical of the friendship of two powerful nations of modern times, it is typical also of that sublime aspiration now so universal in the world, the love of liberty. Standing in the highway of the world's commerce, it suggests the spirit which controls the worldwide interests of the people of the United States and the interests of the other civilized nations of modern times. One touch of human brotherhood makes the world akin; one simple word of English speech signifies the sublime purpose of the foundation of popular government in this Western World. Faithful to the traditions of the past, mindful of the teachings of our fathers, keenly vigilant to the dangers that beset us, conservative in our thoughts and in our ways, faithful to each other, to ourselves and to God, we, the people of the United States, may transmit to our posterity a Government which shall continue to the latest day of the children of men.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE NATION.

265. The Elements of the Nation are the People and the Land. The Nation has human nature for its foundation-men in political, industrial, moral and social association. The Nation is a moral organic whole, not a confederation of individuals as a heap of sand is an accumulation of individual grains. The Nation is distinct from a mob, a party, a faction, or an association of individuals. It is distinct from the offices required for the formal expression of its government. It is distinct from its constitutions and its treaties. It is the people, not merely as enumerated in the census, but as a moral unity. One race, one land, one law, make a Nation.

266. The Nation Different from the State.-The State is a political division of the Nation: it is a part of the whole political life of the people. Each State has local interests equal in importance with those of other States, but limited chiefly to the people of that State. The interests of the Nation are unrestricted by State boundaries, and are comprehensive. The rights of the Nation are true of all its citizens, the political people; the rights of the State are true strictly of the people who comprise that State. Therefore the Nation has a broader foundation than the State, because its rights are the most comprehensive rights of the people. The sovereignty of the State is local; the sovereignty of the Nation is general. There need be no collision of these two authorities: each of them is an expression of the will of the people. The two sovereignties are two expressions of the association of

rights and interests. Nor are these interests of State and of Nation far remote from each other; they unite in the citizen. As a citizen of a State I am interested in things immediately near me; I am interested in the choice of local officers, in the honesty of the assessor of taxes and in his sound judgment; in the construction of strong bridges and durable roads in the township in which I live; or, if I live in a city, I am interested in having an abundance of pure water, in having clean streets and sanitary drainage, in the protection of property from fire and flood, and in many other local matters.

As a citizen of the Nation I am interested in the general welfare of the whole land; in the policy of the Federal Government; in the survey of the public domain; in the uniformity of the currency, in banking operations, in postal facilities, and in the political rights of all citizens of the United States. I am interested in our relations with foreign nations, as in trade, commerce, social intercourse, the peace of nations and the civilization of man.

As a citizen of the State I am bound by local ties; as a citizen of the Nation I partake of one of the highest of sovereignties and am one of a company of sovereigns. This national sovereignty becomes of highest concern to us as Americans, because it is founded upon free men; it exists by the consent and with the constant aid of a free people. The Nation thus becomes a personality moving in a larger field than the State. It becomes the embodiment of rights, of freedom, of law, of individuality, of the family, of morality.

As a

267. The Sovereignty of the Nation.-The Nation alone is sovereign. Its will is expressed from time to time by its chosen representatives acting together in convention. The Nation is older than the written Constitution. sovereign it determines for itself its aim and its object in history. It declares its will and embodies its spirit in its institutions. Its sovereign rights are those of self-preserva

tion, the power to declare war and to conclude peace, to enter into treaties with other nations, to coin money and to exercise the right of eminent domain. No powers can be greater than these. They identify the Nation as a conscious moral being. As a sovereign the Nation enters into relations with other nations by treaty. A treaty thus made becomes a part of the supreme law of the land. International law is thus made possible by the comity of nations, and individuals may partake of the benefits thus conferred by solemn agreements between the sovereigns.

268. The Nation and the Citizen.-The existence of the citizen is necessary to the existence of the Nation, and the Nation is necessary to the existence of the citizen. The Nation is not apart from the citizen; he is in and of the Nation. In it and through it he realizes his rights and is protected in them. The individual is a moral person; so is the Nation. Each has a law peculiar to its own being. Both have an origin by the will of God, and each moves in the world as a moral power. Society is thus composed of moral elements; "Man is born a citizen." The citizen has his own destiny to work out consistent with the moral order of the world. All he can realize is made possible to him by his own nature, and he is responsible for the exercise of his own powers. When every citizen, conscious of his industrial, his political, his social and his moral responsibilities, lives consistent with the laws of his moral nature, then, and not till then, has the Nation its full strength and the citizen a realization of a complete life. The Nation complements the moral activities of the citizen, and institutes and maintains for his benefit a field for his reasonable activities and his moral development. The Nation is thus bound to educate the citizen harmoniously, offering him opportunities for industrial, political, social and moral training. It has as a constant function the placing within his reach the realization of his loftiest hopes and his moral purposes, and to exalt his manhood and ennoble human