The key word is "seemed." Compare Charles Gould phrasing his letter so as to appeal to Holroyd's vanity. In Part One of the novel, Unity was also based on subjective error or concealment, like Charles Gould gaining Holroyd's support by letting himself be comprehended into Holroyd's grand idealism. Here in Part Three, we have been through a cycle of disillusionment, and the subjectivity of Union has a new flavor of deliberate, cynical manipulation.