h an inquiry into the condition of its
government. It is not easy to say what constitutes that entity which we
call a State; nor is the discussion much advanced by any theory with
regard to it. To my mind it seems a topic fit for the old schoolmen or a
modern debating society; and yet, considering the part it has already
played in this discussion, I shall be pardoned for a brief allusion to
it.

There are well-known words which ask and answer the question, "What
constitutes _a State_?" But the scholarly poet was not thinking of a
"State" of the American Union. Indeed, this term is various in its use.
Sometimes it stands for civil society itself. Sometimes it is the
general name for a political community, not unlike "nation" or
"country,"--as where our fathers, in the Resolution of Independence,
which preceded the Declaration, spoke of "the _State_ of Great Britain."
Sometimes it stands for the government,--as when Louis XIV., at the
height of his power, exclaimed, "The _State_, it is I"; or when Sir
Christopher Hatton, in the famous farce of "The Critic," ejaculates,--

"Oh, pardon me, if my conjecture's rash,
But I surmise--_the State_--
Some danger apprehends."

Among us the term is most known as the technical name for one of the
political societies which compose our Union. Of course, when used in the
latter restricted sense, it must not be confounded with the same term
when used in a different and broader sense. But it is obvious that some
persons attribute to the one something of the qualities which can belong
only to the other. Nobody has suggested, I presume, that any "State" of
our Union has, through rebellion, ceased to exist as a _civil society_,
or even as a _political community_. It is only as a _State of the
Union_, armed with State rights, or at least as a _local government_,
which annually renews itself, as the snake its skin, that it can be
called in question. But it is vain to challenge for the technical
"State," or for the annual government, that immortality which belongs to
civil society. The one is an artificial body, the other is a natural
body; and while the first, overwhelmed by insurrection or war, may
change or die, the latter can change or die only with the extinction of
the community itself, whatever may be its name or its form.

It is because of confusion in the use of this term that there has been
so much confusion in the political controversies where it has been
employed. Bu