PDF-file (The same edition. Another cover. 2.2 Mb)

466 The Ideal of Human Unitythis central and common governing body, at least in their source— powers military, administrative, judicial, economic, legislative,social, educational — would be indispensable. And as analmost inevitable result there would be an increasing uniformityof human life throughout the world in all these departments,even perhaps to the choice or creation of one common anduniversal language. This, indeed, is the dream of a unified worldwhich Utopian thinkers have been more and more moved toplace before us. The difficulties in the way of arriving at thisresult are at present obvious, but they are perhaps not so greatas they seem at first sight and none of them are insoluble. It isno longer a Utopia that can be put aside as the impracticabledream of the ideal thinker.The first difficulty would be the character and compositionof this governing body, a problem beset with doubts and perils.In ancient times it was solved readily enough in smaller limitsby the absolutist and monarchical solution with the rule of aconquering race as the starting-point, as in the Persian and Romanempires. But that resource is no longer as easily open to usin the new conditions of human society, whatever dreams mayin the past have entered into the minds of powerful nations ortheir Czars and Kaisers. The monarchical idea itself is beginningto pass away after a brief and fallacious attempt at persistenceand revival. Almost it seems to be nearing its final agony; theseal of the night is upon it. Contemporary appearances are oftenenough deceptive, but they are less likely to be so in the presentinstance than in many others, because the force which makesfor the disappearance of the still-surviving monarchies is strong,radical and ever increasing. The social aggregates have ripenedinto self-conscious maturity and no longer stand in need of ahereditary kingship to do their governing work for them or evento stand for them — except perhaps in certain exceptional casessuch as the British Empire — as the symbol of their unity. Eitherthen the monarchy can only survive in name, — as in Englandwhere the king has less power even, if that be possible, thanthe French President and infinitely less than the heads of theAmerican republics, — or else it becomes a source of offence,