CITIZENSHIP.
Citizenship is derived from the Latin word _civitas_, the state, and
comprehends the duties that are binding upon us as members of the
state. The first question then that arises in considering these is,
What do we mean by the state?
The state may be defined as the larger family.--The family is the
origin of the state. (_a_) In early times government was of the simple
kind that prevails in a family. The father was the head of the
household and ruled over his children. As these grew up and had
families of their own, they naturally looked to the aged head of the
family, listened to his counsels, and were guided by his wisdom. Hence
the first form of the state was the tribe or clan, and the first form
of government was _patriarchal_. The head of the family governed the
tribe. (_b_) On the death of the patriarch it was necessary that a
successor should be appointed. Sometimes he was the son of the
patriarch or his nearest descendant. Sometimes he was chosen by the
tribe as the strongest and bravest man and most competent to lead them
against their enemies. Often tribes combined for mutual protection.
Thus nations were formed, and the government passed from the
patriarchal to the _monarchical_ form. The head was called the _king_,
which literally means the "father of a people." We trace this growth
in government in the history of the Israelites. First, we have the
family of Israel in immediate relation with the patriarchs. As the
Israelites grew and multiplied, they came under the leadership of
Moses, who governed the tribes. Finally, when they settled in the land
of Canaan, they became a nation, and were governed by a king. The
kingdom was the expansion of the family. (_c_) In modern times there
has been a further development. Government by a king or monarch was in
the first instance _despotic_. It is so in some cases--as in Russia at
the present day. The will of the sovereign is the law by which the
people are ruled. But just as a wise father relaxes his control over
his full-grown sons, and admits them to a share in the government of
the household with himself, so the people have in modern times been
permitted to exercise power in the state. The head of the state
remains, but the main power of government lies with the people. This
form of government is called _constitutional_. In Great Britain we
have a _limited monarchy_; the power of the sovereign is controlled by
the will of the people, who have a large share in making the laws. In
the United States of America, in France, and in other countries, we
have _republics_, where the voice of the people is supreme, though at
the head of the state is a president, elected by the people, and bound
to carry out their wishes.
As the state is the larger family, the duties of those who compose it
correspond with those belonging to the members of a household.
1. There is the duty of loyalty or patriotism. The first duty of the
member of a family is love of home and of those who belong to it.
However poor or humble it may be, he feels bound to it by no ordinary
ties. He defends its interests. Above all other households, he loves
his own the best. The first duty of the citizen is of the same kind.
He loves his land; his own country is dearer to him than any other on
earth. He is ready to defend it even with his life. The words of Sir
Walter Scott, as of many another poet, express this patriotic feeling:
Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land,
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned,
From wandering on a foreign strand.
Many have died for their country's sake, and in all ages this has been
thought a specially noble death. History records with affection the
names of such men as Wallace, Bruce, William Tell, and Garibaldi, who
sacrificed very much for the land they loved. And as "peace has its
victories no less renowned than those of war," it has been the pride of
others to serve their country by guarding its liberties, increasing its
happiness, diminishing its evils, reforming its laws. The _flag_ of a
country is the symbol, to those who belong to it, of their common
inheritance. Brave men will follow it through the shot and shell of
battle. Men have wrapt it round their breasts, and have dyed its folds
with their heart's blood to save it from the hands of the enemy; and
wherever it waves it calls forth feelings of loyalty and allegiance.
2. Another primary duty of citizenship is obedience to the law. Here
again we have the rule of the family extended to the state. The child
is bound to obey his parents unless they bid him do what his conscience
clearly tells him is wrong; so, a good citizen will obey the laws of
his country, unless these laws are so evidently unjust that the good of
all demands that they should be resisted. Whatever the law is, he will
endeavor to respect and obey it. If he believes it to be an unjust or
unrighteous law, he will do his best to get it amended or abolished.
It is only in an extreme case, though this opens a subject on which we
cannot enter, that he can be justified in refusing obedience. "Let
every soul," says Scripture, "be subject unto the higher powers. For
there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves condemnation.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. . . .
Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for
conscience sake."
3. It is a duty of citizenship to see that the laws are reasonable and
just. In a family, the grown-up members will use their legitimate
influence to promote the wise regulation of the household, that there
may be peace and harmony. The same desire will animate the members of
the state. (_a_) This is specially incumbent upon those who, like
ourselves, live under constitutional government. With us, government
is not the prerogative of the Crown, or of a few families; or of men of
rank or wealth. It is not _despotic_, or _aristocratic_, or
_plutocratic_, but _democratic_--that is to say, it is in the hands of
the people, or of those of the people to whom it has been entrusted,
and who form a large proportion of the male inhabitants of the country;
on them devolves the making of the laws by which the country is
governed. They are bound to do their best to see that these laws are
what they should be--equitable and righteous, and for the interest of
the whole community. (_b_) This they can only do through their
representatives. We could conceive of a state so small that each of
its members could take a direct part in its government. That is not
the case with us, and the people can only exercise their control
through those they authorise to represent them. These they elect, and
in electing them are bound to see that they are men who are worthy of
the trust committed to them, who will make laws good for every class.
This applies not only to the election of members of Parliament, but
wherever the representative principle is carried out, as in the case of
councils, school boards, and other forms of local government. Wherever
a man exercises the privilege of choosing a representative, he is bound
to do so conscientiously, and with an earnest desire to perform what is
right. It is a maxim in law that what we do by another we do
ourselves. We are responsible for those whom we choose to make our
laws, and if we help to choose unworthy men we cannot be held blameless
of the consequences that may follow. (_c_) As it is our duty to
exercise this privilege of citizenship rightly, we are also bound not
to refrain from exercising it. We hear people say sometimes that they
have nothing to do with politics. But by keeping altogether aloof they
cannot rid themselves of their responsibility. By abstaining they may
do almost as much to further the views they disapprove of as by taking
an active part in promoting them. If there are evils in connection
with government, the best way to get rid of them is for good men to
take a part in public life, and try to bring about a better state of
things. In a free country no man can shake off his obligations by
refraining from taking part in public affairs. The talent that is
entrusted to us we are bound to use for the glory of God and the good
of man. Our political power, however small, is such a talent, and we
are responsible for its proper employment.
4. It is a duty of citizenship to take direct part in all that we
believe is for the good of the state. We say a direct part, as
distinguished from the indirect part we take in government through
representatives. A man's duty as citizen does not end with the
ballot-box, or with the election of members either to the national or
local council. A great part of the business of the nation is carried
on by the voluntary efforts of its members. There are men and women
that have no part in representative government, who yet can discharge
nobly the duties of citizenship. (_a_) All can take a part in forming
a healthy public opinion. This is done in all free countries in
various ways: through the press, through public meetings, and by means
of the speech and communications of everyday life. If our views are
those of a minority, we may help, by our influence, our example, the
fearless expression of our convictions, to turn the minority into a
majority; and in a democratic country the views of the majority will
ultimately prevail. (_b_) We can also take direct part in promoting
objects that tend to the well-being of society. Much is left by the
state to voluntary effort by its members. The state undertakes the
defence of the country by the army and navy, the relief of the poor,
and the elementary education of the people; but beyond these and other
instances of direct state action there is much left to be done by the
people themselves, and for themselves. The Volunteer movement, in
which men take part of their own free will, and which has been of so
much benefit to the country; the erection and support of hospitals,
libraries, art galleries, colleges and universities; the furnishing of
the people with amusement and recreation--are illustrations of what may
be done by members of the community directly. All such efforts tend to
the welfare of the state. All its members reap benefit from them. He
who does not help and encourage them is as mean as the man who would go
to an hotel and take its entertainment, and then sneak away without
paying the reckoning. Whatever we can do to benefit society benefits
ourselves, and in throwing ourselves heart and soul into any of those
enterprises that benefit society we are discharging in a very special
way the duties of good citizenship.
It only remains to say in a word that our citizenship should be the
outcome of our religion. Without that, citizenship loses its high
position. He who fears God will honor the king, and he who "renders to
God the things that are God's" will "render to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's." He will give "to all their dues: tribute to whom
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom
honor." Religion thus becomes the strength of the state, and
"righteousness exalteth a nation."
APPENDIX.
The following is the list of the best hundred books referred to in
Chapter XIII. It is by Professor Blackie, Edinburgh, author of
Self-Culture, and is given with his kind consent.
I.
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
The Bible.
Homer.
Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians.
Max Von Dunche's History of the Ancient World.
Plutarch's Lives.
Herodotus.
History of Greece--_Grote_ or _Curtius_.
History of Rome--_Arnold_ or _Mommsen_.
Menzel's History of the Germans.
Green's History of the English People.
Life of Charlemagne.
Life of Pope Hildebrand.
The Crusades.
Sismondi's History of the Italian Republics.
Prescott's America.
Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella.
Italy, by _Professor Spalding_.
Chronicles, by _Froissart_.
The Normans--_Freeman_ and _Thierry_.
Motley's Dutch Republic.
Life of Gustavus Adolphus.
The French Revolution--_Thiers, Carlyle, Alison_.
Bourrienne's Life of Napoleon.
Wellington's Peninsular Campaign.
Southey's Life of Nelson.
America--_Bancroft_.
The Stuart Rising of 1745, by _Robert Chambers_.
Carlyle's Life of Cromwell.
Foster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth.
Life of Arnold--_Stanley_.
Life of Dr. Norman Macleod.
Life of Baron Bunsen.
Neander's Church History.
Life of Luther.
History of Scottish Covenanters--_Dodds_.
Dean Stanley's Jewish Church.
Milman's Latin Christianity.
II.
RELIGION AND MORALS.
The Bible.
Socrates or Plato and Xenophon.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus' Meditations.
Epictetus Seneca.
The Hitopadion and Dialogues of Krishna.
St. Augustine's Confessions.
Jeremy Taylor.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
Martineau.
Aesop's Fables.
III.
POETRY AND FICTION.
Homer.
Virgil.
Dante.
The Niebelungen Lay.
The Morte D'Arthur.
Chaucer.
Shakespeare.
Spenser.
Goethe--Faust, Meister, and Eckermann's Conversations.
Milton.
Pope.
Cowper.
Campbell.
Wordsworth.
Walter Scott.
Burns.
Charles Lamb.
Dean Swift, "Tale of a Tub" and "Gulliver's Travels."
Tennyson.
Browning.
Don Quixote.
Goldsmith, "Vicar of Wakefield."
George Eliot.
Dickens.
Robinson Crusoe.
Andersen's Fairy Tales, "Mother Bunch."
Grimm's Popular Songs and Ballads, especially
Scotch, English, Irish and German.
IV.
FINE ARTS.
Ferguson's History of Architecture.
Ruskin.
Tyrwhitt.
V.
POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY.
De Tocqueville.
John Stuart Mill.
Fawcett.
Laveleye.
Adam Smith.
Cornewall Lewis.
Lord Brougham.
Sir J. Lubbock.
VI.
SCIENCE AND PHILOLOGY.
J. G. Wood's Books on Natural History.
White's Natural History of Selbourne.
Geology--_Hugh Miller, Ramsey, Geikie, Ansted_.
Botany--General Elements of British.
Science of Language--_Trench_ and _Farrar, Max Müller_.
Taylor's Words and Places.
VII.
VOYAGES AND TRAVEL.
In every variety; especially the old collections.
LIST OF WORKS.
The following is a list of works upon topics treated in this text-book,
which have been consulted in its preparation, and which may be useful
to students:
_Self-Culture_, by John Stuart Blackie. Edinburgh: David Douglas.
Twentieth edition. 1892.
_Plain Living and High Thinking, or Practical Self-Culture--Moral,
Mental and Physical_, by W. H. Davenport Adams. London: John Hogg,
Paternoster Row. 1880.
_The Secret of Success_, by W. H. Davenport Adams. London: John Hogg,
Paternoster Row. 1880.
_The Threshold of Life_, by W. H. Davenport Adams. T. Nelson & Sons,
Paternoster Row. 1876.
_On the Threshold_, by Theodore T. Munger. London: Ward, Lock & Co.
1888.
_Beginning Life_, by John Tulloch, D.D. London: Chas. Burnet & Co.
1883.
_Life: a Book for Young Men_, by J. Cunninghame Geikie. London:
Strahan & Co. 1870.
_The Gentle Life_, by J. Hain Friswell. London: Sampson Low & Marston.
1870.
_Self-Culture_, by James Freeman Clarke. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co.
1881.
_Life Questions_, by M. J. Savage. Boston: Lockwood, Brooks & Co.
1879.
_Elements of Morality, for Home and School Teaching_, by Mrs. Chas.
Bray. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1863.
_The Family and its Duties_, by Robert Lee, D.D. London: Longmans,
Green & Co. 1863.
_Christianity in its Relation to Social Life_, by Rev. Stephen J.
Davis. London: Religious Tract Society.
_Home Life_, by Marianne Farningham. London: James Clarke & Co.
_The Domestic Circle_, by the Rev. John Thomson. London: Swan
Sonnenschein & Co. 1886.