nds from
the two Houses of Congress are not to be referred to--but it is a
good thing for the rest of us who use words sometimes carelessly,
to see how Mr. Grant White says some of them should be used, and
what they really do mean. On page 100 of his recent work on
"Words and their Uses," which, so far as I know, has received the
highest commendation of the critics--in speaking of this term
"citizen," and how it is used, or rather how it is misused, says:

Citizen is used by some newspaper writers with what seems
like an affectation of the French usage of _citoyen_ in the
First Republic. For instance, "Gen. A. is a well-known
citizen." "Several citizens carried the sufferer," etc. The
writer might as well have said that the sufferer was carried
off by several church members or several "Freemasons." Now
mark, he says, that "a citizen is a person who has certain
political rights, and the word is properly used only to
imply or suggest the possession of those rights."

That is what we should use the term "citizen" for--apply it to a
naturalized person in possession of certain political franchises,
rights, and privileges. Thanking Mr. Grant White for that, let
us, in its light, read the first clause of the XIV. Amendment,
and see what it does say and mean. "Sec. 1st. All persons;" not
all male persons, nor all white persons, but "all persons born or
naturalized in the United States, subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, _are citizens_ of the United States, and of the States
where they reside." That is what they are. They are citizens.
That is, "persons," are "citizens," which means naturalized
persons, clothed and permeated with, surrounded by, and put in
possession of, citizenship. The term is used in the sense in
which Mr. White uses it. It is no new meaning; no new use of the
word.

Now turn to Webster's Unabridged, where citizen is defined:
"Citizen--a person," [in the United States,]--for he inserts in
brackets the expressive "U. S." to indicate what he
means,--"native or naturalized, who has the privilege of voting
for public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the
gift of the people."

Worcester says of "citizen":--"An inhabitant of a Republic who
enjoys the rights of a