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470 The Ideal of Human Unityforce in the world, were to become the nucleus or the patternof the future unification, there might be some chance ofthe monarchical element surviving in the figure — and even anempty figure is sometimes useful as a support and centre forfuture potentialities to grow and fill with life. But against thisstands the fixed republican sentiment of the whole of Americaand the increasing spread of the republican form; there is littlechance that even a nominal kingship representing one elementof a very heterogeneous whole would be accepted by the rest inany form of general unification. In the past, at least, this has onlyhappened under the stress of conquest. Even if the World-Statefound it convenient as the result of experience to introduce orto reintroduce the monarchical element into its constitution, itcould only be in some quite new form of a democratic kingship.But a democratic kingship, as opposed to a passive figure ofmonarchy, the modern world has not succeeded in evolving.The two determining facts in modern conditions which alterthe whole problem are that in this kind of unification nationstake the place of individuals and that these nations are matureself-conscious societies, predestined therefore to pass throughpronounced forms of social democracy or some other form ofsocialism. It is reasonable to suppose that the World-State willtend to strive after the same principle of formation as that whichobtains in the separate societies which are to constitute it. Theproblem would be simpler if we could suppose the difficultiescreated by conflicting national temperaments, interests and culturesto be either eliminated or successfully subordinated andminimised by the depression of separative nationalistic feelingand the growth of a cosmopolitan internationalism. That solutionis not altogether impossible in spite of the serious check tointernationalism and the strong growth of nationalistic feelingdeveloped by the world war. For, conceivably, internationalismmay revive with a redoubled force after the stress of the feelingscreated by the war has passed. In that case, the tendency ofunification may look to the ideal of a world-wide Republic withthe nations as provinces, though at first very sharply distinctprovinces, and governed by a council or parliament responsible