orman
conquest of England; and France owes infinitely less to St. Louis than
to Louis XI., Richelieu, and Napoleon, who, though no saints, were
statesmen. What is specially needed in statesmen is public spirit,
intelligence, foresight, broad views, manly feelings, wisdom, energy,
resolution; and when statesmen with these qualities are placed at the
head of affairs, the state, if not already lost, can, however far gone
it may be, be recovered, restored, reinvigorated, advanced, and private
vice and corruption disappear in the splendor of public virtue.
Providence is always present in the affairs of nations, but not to work
miracles to counteract the natural effects of the ignorance, ineptness,
short-sightedness, narrow views, public stupidity, and imbecility of
rulers, because they are irreproachable and saintly in their private
characters and relations, as was Henry VI. of England, or, in some
respects, Louis XVI. of France. Providence is God intervening through
the laws he by his creative act gives to creatures, not their
suspension or abrogation. It was the corruption of the statesmen, in
substituting the barbaric element for the proper Roman, to which no one
contributed more than Constantine, the first Christian emperor, that
was the real cause of the downfall of Rome, and the centuries of
barbarism that followed, relieved only by the superhuman zeal and
charity of the church to save souls and restore civilization.

But in the constitution of the government, as distinguished from the
state, the nation is freer and more truly sovereign. The constitution
of the state is that which gives to the people of a given territory
political existence, unity, and individuality, and renders it capable
of political action. It creates political or national solidarity, in
imitation of the solidarity of the race, in which it has its root. It
is the providential charter of national existence, and that which gives
to each nation its peculiar character, and distinguishes it from every
other nation. The constitution of government is the constitution by the
sovereign authority of the nation of an agency or ministry for the
management of its affairs, and the letter of instructions according to
which the agent or minister is to act and conduct the matters intrusted
to him. The distinction which the English make between the sovereign
and the ministry is analogous to that between the state and the
government, only they understand by the