THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF PROGRESS 181 



family relations of j)rimitive tribes self-interest 

 simply yields to the authority of the father. A little 

 later in history the individual yields his interest not 

 simply to the father of the family but also to the 

 family patriarch, a man whose influence extends 

 over several connected families. Later still individ- 

 ual interests yield to the chieftain, whose influence 

 extends more widely and includes numerous collected 

 families. Subordination to the feudal lord of the 

 Middle Ages was essentially the same thing, for here 

 the lord of the manor held control over a large 

 number of families who comprised his vassals. As 

 centralization increased it became a king who ob- 

 tained the allegiance of the chieftains, and, through 

 them, of their vassals. As his power increased a 

 wider and wider extent of territory became sub- 

 servient to the central leader. The most striking 

 phase of this yielding to central authority is seen in 

 the relation of Europe to the Eoman Church. Com- 

 mon people, chieftains, and even kings and emperors 

 were, by a series of incidents, brought wholly under 

 the control of that church, which became the one 

 central force ; and willingly or unwillingly, all grades 

 of mediaeval society came to yield self-interest to 

 this one gigantic centralizing power. Later, in most 

 European nations, the king and the church have, for 

 various reasons, lost some of this blind allegiance of 

 the subjects, but this simply means the transference 

 of that allegiance elsewhere. To-day it has become 

 commonly a fictitious something to which man yields 

 obedience. The idea of a nation is, of course, purely 

 a matter of imagination. The nation can experience 

 no pleasure or sorrow at the allegiance of its citizens ; 

 but nevertheless in our modern days the interests of 



