It is true, beyond question, that the Acts of Secession are all inoperative and void against the Constitution of the United States.  Though matured in successive conventions, sanctioned in various forms, and maintained ever since by bloody war, these acts—­no matter by what name they may be called—­are all equally impotent to withdraw an acre of territory or a single inhabitant from the rightful jurisdiction of the United States.  But while thus impotent against the United States, it does not follow that they were equally impotent in the work of self-destruction.  Clearly, the Rebels, by utmost efforts, could not impair the National jurisdiction; but it remains to be seen if their enmity did not act back with fatal rebound upon those very State Rights in behalf of which they commenced their treason.

STATE SUICIDE.

It is sometimes said that the States themselves committed suicide, so that as States they ceased to exist, leaving their whole jurisdiction open to the occupation of the United States under the Constitution.  This assumption is founded on the fact, that, whatever may be the existing governments in these States, they are in no respect constitutional, and since the State itself is known by the government, with which its life is intertwined, it must cease to exist constitutionally when its government no longer exists constitutionally.  Perhaps, however, it would be better to avoid the whole question of the life or death of the State, and to content ourselves with 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.”