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Chapter XIXThe Drive towards Centralisationand Uniformity — Administrationand Control of Foreign AffairsSUPPOSING the free grouping of the nations according totheir natural affinities, sentiments, sense of economic andother convenience to be the final basis of a stable worldunion,the next question that arises is what precisely would bethe status of these nation-units in the larger and more complexunity of mankind. Would they possess only a nominalseparateness and become parts of a machine or retain a realand living individuality and an effective freedom and organiclife? Practically, this comes to the question whether the ideal ofhuman unity points to the forcible or at least forceful fusing andwelding of mankind into a single vast nation and centralisedworld-state with many provinces or to its aggregation under amore complex, loose and flexible system into a world-union offree nationalities. If the former more rigorous idea or tendencyor need dominated, we must have a period of compression,constriction, negation of national and individual liberties as inthe second of the three historical stages of national formationin Europe. This process would end, if entirely successful, ina centralised world-government which would impose its uniformrule and law, uniform administration, uniform economicand educational system, one culture, one social principle, onecivilisation, perhaps even one language and one religion on allmankind. Centralised, it would delegate some of its powers tonational authorities and councils, but only as the centralisedFrench government — Parliament and bureaucracy — delegatesome of their powers to the departmental prefects and councilsand their subordinate officials and communes.Such a state of things seems a sufficiently far-off dream and