28o SOCIAL PROGRESS 



or political is in fact the history of the develop- 

 ment of modern society. 



The earliest of these conceptions is that of 

 blood brotherhood. This was the foundation of 

 the tribe. It was assumed that the members of a 

 tribe were descended from a common ancestor ; 

 outsiders might be admitted, but only by a formal 

 adoption ceremony which had the mystic effect 

 of a rebirth. From the tribe sympathy broad- 

 ened to the nation, or group of tribes, unified 

 by the possession of a single government, but 

 not effectually compacted until the right of 

 inter-marriage was generally conceded. Or, sym- 

 pathetic conceptions might take a different course 

 and collect around ideas, not of relationship but 

 of neighbourhood. Thus the village, the town, 

 the country became, so to speak, endowed with a 

 consciousness, a patriotism, of its own, which 

 might at times be in conflict with tribal sym- 

 pathies. Within the State men became collected 

 into groups by the notions of fellowship which 

 originated in similarity of occupation : the Indian 

 caste system, originally tribal, has been reinforced 

 by these notions : the solidarity of guilds, and 

 trade unions, illustrates their force ; indeed, 

 traders and artisans who follow the same line or 

 calling have tended to congregate together in the 

 same quarter of the town. Endless, indeed, are 

 the ideas which, like centres of magnetic 

 attraction, draw men into clusters within the 

 circle of the State. There is an esprit de corps of 

 the class, of the political party, ol the club, of the 

 regiment; and the community may be honey- 

 combed with secret societies, which to some races 

 are irresistibly fascinating. So attractive may be 

 these partisan interests that they may undermine 

 the sympathy of the nation as a whole. Patriotism 

 may be choked by them. This needs a unity of 



