But where find a nation in
this the primitive sense of the word? Migration, conquest, and
intermarriage, have so broken up and intermingled the primitive
races, that it is more than doubtful if a single nation, tribe,
or family of unmixed blood now exists on the face of the earth.
A Frenchman, Italian, Spaniard, German, or Englishman, may have
the blood of a hundred different races coursing in his veins.
The nation is the people inhabiting the same country, and united
under one and the same government, it is further answered. The
nation, then, is not purely personal, but also territorial.
Then, again, the question comes up, who or what determines the
territory? The government? But not before it is constituted,
and it cannot be constituted till its territorial limits are
determined. The tribe doubtless occupies territory, but is not
fixed to it, and derives no jurisdiction from it, and therefore
is not territorial. But a nation, in the modern or civilized
sense, is fixed to the territory, and derives from it its
jurisdiction, or sovereignty; and, therefore, till the territory
is determined, the nation is not and cannot be determined.
The question is not an idle question. It is one of great
practical importance; for, till it is settled, we can neither
determine who are the sovereign people, nor who are united under
one and the same government.
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