240 



and, as we liave seen, has thus given rise to the equally nonsen- 

 sical, but pernicious, doctrine of absolute sovereignty and other mis- 

 leading notions. But the expression, "the conscience of the Slate," or 

 the equivalent expression, " the conscience of the community," or — as I 

 prefer to call it— the "general conscience," while perhaps equally 

 misunderstood, is not susceptible of being perverted to evil uses; 

 and, indeed, its literal sense so strongly suggests the actual fact or phe- 

 nomenon to which it refers, and which it is designed to express— namely, 

 the received or positive morality of the community — that its use has been 

 almost purely beneficial. 



Hence — to conclude — while we may not say that the State is an 

 *' organism," or an "organic being" — for this seems to assert, not as a 

 convenient fiction, but as an actual fact, that the State is an animal — 

 yet we may, without impropriety, say that it is organic in its nature — 

 meaning thereby, tliat its genesis and development, though partly arti- 

 ficial, are, to a large extent, natural, or governed by natural laws ; and 

 that its functions, though partly performed by the conscious agency of 

 the men intrusted with government, are also, to a large extent, automatic. 

 And, indeed, I know of no other way to express, in brief terms, these 

 conspicuous and important characteristics of the State. Only, in con- 

 forming to this usage, it is always to be remembered that the organic 

 nature of the State is sui gemris ; and especially that it is essentially 

 difterent from that of an organism or living being ; with which it has 

 nothing of essential nature in common. 



Thus defined, the proposition, lliat the State is organic in its nature, 

 expresses a profound truth. For, though the State is organic oaly in the 

 peculiar sense we have defined, and although, even in this sense, the pro- 

 position is only partially true, yet it may be that, in some more advanced 

 state of social civilization, it may become wholly so, and that the per- 

 formance of the functions of the State may become wholly automatic 

 and government be dispensed wi„h. 



NOTES. 



(a) The advocates of the doctrine of governmental absolutism fully realize the truth of 

 the observation of Rousseau, tliat " the strongest is not strong enough to continue always 

 master, unless he transforms his power into a right .... and obedience into a duty " 

 (Social Contract, Chap, iii) ; and that for this purpose no method is so efTeciive as the 

 fallacy in question. 



(6) Supra, pp. 195, 193. See also Politics, by William W. Crane and Bernard Moses, Ph.D., 

 Professor of Political Economy in the University of California ; who follow Bluntschli 

 and Mulford in this definition. 



This use of the term "organism " and the adjective "organic" is purely metaphorical. 

 Provided this be understood, there is no objection to this use of tlie terms, and tliey may 

 perhaps be used with advantage, as is done by Krause to dlstinguisli what, as will be 

 seen, I take to be the true theory of the nature of tlie State. In thus using the term, 

 however, it must be understood that it is used in an entirely new sense, and one essentially 



