CHAPTER I.

The Roman idea and the English idea.

When did the Roman Empire come to an end? ... 1-3

Meaning of Odovakar’s work ... 3

The Holy Roman Empire ... 4, 5

Gradual shifting of primacy from the men who spoke Latin, and their descendants, to the men who speak English ... 6-8

Political history is the history of nation-making ... 8, 9

The Oriental method of nation-making; conquest without incorporation ... 9

Illustrations from eastern despotisms ... 10

And from the Moors in Spain ... 11

The Roman method of nation-making; conquest with incorporation, but without representation ... 12

Its slow development ... 13

Vices in the Roman system. ... 14

Its fundamental defect ... 15

It knew nothing of political power delegated by the people to representatives ... 16

And therefore the expansion of its dominion ended in a centralized
Despotism ... 16

Which entailed the danger that human life might come to stagnate in
Europe, as it had done in Asia ... 17

The danger was warded off by the Germanic invasions, which, however, threatened to undo the work which the Empire had done in organizing European society ... 17

But such disintegration was prevented by the sway which the Roman Church had come to exercise over the European mind ... 18

The wonderful thirteenth century ... 19

The English method of nation-making; incorporation with representation ... 20

Pacific tendencies of federalism ... 21

Failure of Greek attempts at federation ... 22

Fallacy of the notion that republics must be small ... 23

“It is not the business of a government to support its people, but of the people to support their government” ... 24

Teutonic March-meetings and representative assemblies ... 25

Peculiarity of the Teutonic conquest of Britain ... 26, 27

Survival and development of the Teutonic representative assembly in
England ... 28

Primitive Teutonic institutions less modified in England than in Germany ... 29

Some effects of the Norman conquest of England ... 30

The Barons’ War and the first House of Commons ... 31

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty ... 32

Conflict between Roman Idea and English Idea begins to become clearly visible in the thirteenth century ... 33

Decline of mediaeval Empire and Church with the growth of modern nationalities ... 34

Overthrow of feudalism, and increasing power of the crown ... 35

Formidable strength of the Roman Idea ... 36

Had it not been for the Puritans, political liberty would probably have disappeared from the world ... 37