New-York tribune., 1870-11-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MIu,FORD'S NATION.


prehensive volume has hitherto appeared in the ht
erature Of hs country II is nat To be regarded as
mere political treatise discussing the relative merits
of different forms OF government, and ther adapta-
tion 10 specific conditions Of society; nor as an e'
cal discourse treating of the phic duties OF the CIV
izen IN respect to the community OF when ne .S
member. The scope Of the volume has a more eN'c"
sive Jange and deals with the Development Oh P'i.-
eiples that have deeper foundation IN the n'Ce9o
ties of civil existence. Its theme may pe s'l uonI
.s tho connection of ethics and politics, ana III "o
elucidatiOn Of his great argument the au'noI -
the urinary conditions of national fe 10 'ne 's' "
.nrofonnd and subtle analysis His equipment ior "
.aiscnsson of euch pregnant meneni coiss'e n'' ~
,orob =, tbe familiar ACQUAINTANCE which ne oeua!s
with the great modern writers or the phh""p"A VI
,oIitics as in the habit Of earnest Tehecloh ana 'oH
sscnt;ve Thought with which he grapples with the
aiAscpIties of the subject We EecognHe III MN d
bicb order Of the critical faculty siudgment az once
.erene and infexible and the command OF stringent
and inexorable logic He has followed an admirable
,etbod in the arrangement oi his topics; ms
language lie usually simple and appropriate to the
occasion; he unfolds his ideas with precision and
elearpess although the form in which they are pre-
seDted exhibits such an air of repose and confidence
IN the expression of truth, perhaps "a he htte
aistasteful 10 readers who are studiouS OF the
charms of literary embelshment.
The first point which the author undertakes TO
establish in the commencement Of hls work is the
original basis of the nation iii the nature oi man.
The nation is the normal condition Of human exist
ence In the individual, considered in state OF
isolation, the idea of human nature rs not mani
tested. The nation in its collective integral char
acr is an essential condition Of the fulfllment of
human destiny. II is. accordingly. no artificial
device for the attainment cf certain temporary
n ba uafiCp ic iIp 70 the
genius of an individual nor is it the invention
of a separate age. II is not 70 be accounted among
the achievem of human wisdom, hut Is tie
immediate product of the Divine Order III the
constitution of man. The origin of the State Is
not in any speculative theory. II does not grow ont
of any formal scheme. through reflective process,
or by an act of personal volion. Men do not enter
into the nation from some other outward condition,
but they members of il lay birth and in It's per
vadng atmosphere first attain consciousness Of Their
personal existence Nor is the nation confined to
any single period Of time. 1t il not composed Of
is present occupants alone but embraces III its con
tinuous grasp the offspring Of many generations 1t
reaches backward to the fathers and onward 10 the
children inspiring reverence for the one and hope
for the other Il cannot anticipate time when 1t
shall be resolved into IFS elements, hut contends.
with the intensity Of life. against ever! force which
threatens It's dissolution. single generation
achieves hut little in comparison with the long line
of the generations in the nation and if Oh any is laid
the necessity Of battle the holiest triumph is that
which maintains the continuous life of the nation.
Tie nation, moreover, is determined by an organic
law and possesses an organic unity. II is shaped by
no external force but 10y an inner law; it's changes
are those of development; il is not confused col
lection If separate atoms grains Of sand in heap,
and it, increase is not through their accumulation;
il has the uuity Of organism, not the aggregation
of a mass an identity Of structure peTvades the
whole ana if part he severed il ceases TO exist.
But although the nation il organic, ii is not limited
to the conditions of physical organism. Mr.. Mul-
ford does not accept the analoges which have been
Get forth by many eminent writer's, between the
State and a living creature as If the nation hike the
individual passes through the necessary periods Of
youth, manhood and age. its bloom and maturity
being followed by inevitable decay. He coin.
cides rather with the criticism of Won Mohl that
"these conceptions of the State and its correspond
enoes based upon physical science appear from time
to time, partly through an altogether sickly ten
dency Of thought and partly through ystcal ant
fanciful conceit.'
The life Of the nation involves the element of con
sciousness. II knows its own objects and purposes
it's action does not proceed from mere impulse
II directed by aimless energy; il is moved by th
conscious spirit which takes cognizance Of il
manifested in the spirit with which it invests it
members, and those who are called 10 sustain il
official responsibilities Roman consul sur
rounded by certain majesty which often ennoble
apersOn of ordinary character So the representa-
tive of people is clothed with power which ma
lift him above the divisions of party and the interest
Of factions, placing him III a living relation TO tn
nation Of whose work he is the instrument. The con
sciOus life of nation appears also in ifs teratur
and arts. its manners and laws, which form tru
expression of the individual life of the nation. They
bear the impress of its peculiar type. Their growtl
is dependent on the national life. The spirit of
national culture survive in 10 other people The
Turks gain possession of Greece and the French o.
Egypt, but they cannot continue the mOnument'
which were the outgrowth of a different order ol
civilization from their own. All that England can
do with the Elgin marbles is TO place them in a
museum.
But the supreme thesis which Mr.. MulfoId aims to
sustsn and illustrate in this volume, is that the
ton if a moral organism, transcending all physical
conditions and finding the elements of its existence
in freedom, and law and order in the conscious ,fll-
fllment Of a purpose and vocation. Its members are
persons united in the relationship of humanity with
whom the moral life of the individual il apprehended
- the lIfe which is truly human. The nation is not
constituted IN the necessary process Of the physical
world but in the order Of moral world. Its course
If defined in law as controlling the action Of men as
moral agents The essence Of ethical organism is
the law Of freedom, which is the condition Of moral
action Each member has in itself necessary sig
nhcance; its destiny if lthat Of the whole and for
that the whole exists. Each member exists in his
own identity, and is related TO the whole that il
may be said with equal truth that the individual has
his type IN the whole, or the whole his type in the