Conception of a United World
There are common factors of civilisation shared by nations themselves, through which many contradictions disappear. The religious civilisations of Christianity, Mohammedanism, Judaism, Buddhism and Confucianism have been the determining factors of the intellectual and emotional life, even influencing the course of events, in vast regions. And thus it is also comprehensible that in the judicial life of nations there is an endeavour for a closer approach, and also the existence of equalising tendencies. In spite of countless variations in detail, there is a certain unity of law in the entire Mohammedan world; and although the hope of establishing the unity of Roman canonistic law over the whole of Christendom has not been realised none the less it was a tremendous idea: that of a universal empire founded on the Roman law of the imperators, and placed under the rule of the German emperor, thus ensuring the continuance of the law of the Roman people—an idea that swayed the intellects of the Middle Ages up to the fourteenth, even to the fifteenth century, and according to which the emperor would have been the head of all Europe, the other sovereigns merely his vassals or fief-holders. This idea, once advocated by such a great spirit as that of Dante, has, like many others, passed into oblivion; and in its place has arisen the conception of independent laws of nations. Yet the original idea has had great influence: it has led to a close union of Christian peoples; it opened a way for Roman law to become universal law, although, to be sure, English law, completely independent of that of Rome, has grown to unparalleled proportions as a universal system, entirely by reason of the marvellous success of the English people as colonists. Likewise international commerce will of itself lead to a unification of mercantile, admiralty, copyright, and patent law.
Then the idea of an international league must develop, arising from the idea of the unity of Christian nations. We have advanced a great distance beyond the time when every foreigner was considered an enemy, and when all foreign phenomena were looked upon as strange or with antipathy. Rules for international commerce are developed; state alliances are entered into for the furtherance of common interests and for the preservation of peace. Many tasks which in former times would have been executed by the empire are now undertaken by international associations; and the time for the establishment of international courts of arbitration for the adjustment of differences between states is already approaching.
Common Interests of Mankind
It also seems probable that states will unite to form political organisations, wholly or partially renouncing their separate positions. Thus nations will be replaced by a federal state, and a multitude of unifying ideas which would otherwise be accomplished with difficulty will come to easy realisation. Federal states were already in existence during the times of patriarchal communities: an especially striking example is that of the admirably constituted federation of the Iroquois nations.
Universal Transmission of Culture
The vision of no man may pierce through to the ultimate end of the processes of history, and to advance hypotheses is a vain endeavour—quite as vain as it would be to expect Plato to have foretold the life of modern civilisation or the imperial idea of mediæval times, or Dante to have foreseen modern industrialism or the character of industrial peoples. To-day we are more certain than ever that no process of development, however simple it may have been, has ever taken place according to a fixed model; all developments have had their own individualities according to place and to time. Thus we must forego discussion of the future.
However, there is another point of view. Development of nations as well as of individuals leads either to progress or to decay. No people may hope to live eternally; and how many acquisitions already gained will be lost in the future it is impossible to say. If a nation declines, it either becomes extinct or is annihilated by another state; it becomes identified with the newer nation, and disappears with its own character; thus its civilisation may also disappear. This is a serious possibility. It is the Medusa head of the world’s history which we must face—and without stiffening to stone.
Influence of Peoples on One Another