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diff --git a/35184-0.txt b/35184-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b84418c --- /dev/null +++ b/35184-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,912 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35184 *** + +THE CHARACTER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE + +BY + +RAMSAY MUIR + + +PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER + + +NEW YORK + +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + +MCMXVII + + + + +THE CHARACTER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE + + +NOTE.--_The following essay is based mainly upon a book by the same +author entitled "The Expansion of Europe," in which an attempt is made +to estimate the part played by various nations in extending the +civilisation of Europe over the whole world. A few references are +therefore given to the fuller treatment of various aspects of the +subject contained in the book._ + + + + + +I + + +Nearly all the great self-governing nations of the world are now +combined in a desperate struggle against the scarcely-veiled military +despotism of the Central European Powers, and the object of the struggle +has been well denned by President Wilson as the securing of freedom for +democracy, so that it shall be safe from the threats of militarist and +conquering empires. + +In the forefront of the group of States engaged in the defence of +democracy stands the British Empire, the greatest dominion that has ever +existed in history, which covers a quarter of the earth's surface, and +in which a quarter of the earth's population is subject (at any rate, in +form) to the rule of two small European islands. + +The very existence of this huge Empire seems to many people to stultify +in some degree the cause for which the world's democracies are fighting. +It seems, at first sight, to be simply the greatest example of that +spirit of conquest and of military dominion against which we are +striving. This is the view taken by some neutrals. "Imperialism is the +enemy," says one Swiss writer; "whatever form it takes, German or +Russian, British or French, it is equally the foe of free government." +The Germans themselves make great play with this notion. They describe +the British Empire as a vast, greedy tyranny, built up by fraud. They +invite us to free the oppressed millions of India before we talk +hypocritically about liberty. They assert that the naval supremacy of +Britain is far more dangerous to the freedom of the world than the +military power of Germany could ever be. Some people even in the allied +countries are affected by doubts of this kind. The Russian Socialists, +for whom imperialism has in the past meant nothing but a hideous +repression of freedom, are ready to assume that the British Empire, +because it is called an empire, must mean the same ugly things. And +criticism of the same kind can sometimes be heard in France, in Italy, +in the United States, and in Britain herself. + +Our purpose, in this short paper, is to examine the truth of these +superficial impressions. But before we do so there are two preliminary +observations worth making. + +The first is that men's minds are extraordinarily easily influenced by +mere _words_. The word "Empire" suggests, to many, conquest and dominion +over unwilling subjects. In so far as it does so, it begs the question. +As we shall try to show, this word is really misapplied to the British +realms. The character of their government and of the bond which holds +them together would be much better expressed by a phrase which is now +being widely used in Britain--the British _Commonwealth of Nations_. Of +course, that title also begs the question in a way. But the reader is +asked, at the outset, to keep in his mind, while he reads, the question, +"Is the title 'Empire,' or the title 'Commonwealth of Nations,' the +truer description of this extraordinary aggregate of lands and peoples?" + +The second preliminary observation which we shall make is, that there +are certain outstanding features of the war which must have thrown a +striking light upon the character of the British Empire. + +Over a million volunteer soldiers have come from the great +self-governing Colonies of the British Empire without any compulsion +being imposed upon them. The princes and peoples of India have vied with +one another in their generous and spontaneous gifts to the cause, while +Indian forces have fought gallantly in all parts of the world, and at +the same time India has been almost denuded of British troops. That is +not the sort of thing which happens when the masters of a tyrannical +dominion find themselves fighting for their very life. Apart from the +unhappy troubles in Ireland (which were the work of a small minority) +and the rebellion in South Africa (which was promptly put down by the +South African Dutch themselves), there has been no serious disturbance +in all the vast realms of this Empire during the three years' strain of +war. Even the most recently subdued of African tribes have shown no +desire to seize this opportunity for throwing off "the foreign yoke." On +the contrary, they have sent touching gifts, and offers of aid, and +expressions of good-will. It appears, then, that the subjects of this +"Empire" have, for the most part, no quarrel with its government, but +are well content that it should survive. + + + + +II + + +The creation of the British Empire has been simply a part (though, +perhaps, the greatest part) of that outpouring of the European peoples +which has, during the last four centuries, brought the whole world +under the influence of western civilisation. That is a great +achievement, and it has brought in sight the establishment of a real +world-order. It is merely foolish to condemn the "lust of conquest" +which has driven the European peoples to subdue the rest of the world, +though, of course, we ought to condemn the cruelties and injustices by +which it has sometimes been accompanied. But without it North and South +America, Australia, and South Africa would have remained deserts, +inhabited by scattered bands of savages. Without it India would have +been sentenced to the eternal continuance of the sterile and fruitless +wars between despotic conquerors which made up her history until the +British power was established. Without it the backward peoples of the +earth would have stagnated for ever in the barbarism in which they have +remained since the beginning. The "imperialism" of the European nations +has brought great results to the world. It has made possible that +unification of the political and economic interests of the whole globe +which we see beginning to-day. It is one of the fine aspects of this +grim and horrible war that it affects the interests of the whole world, +and that the whole world knows this. + +The giant's part which has been played by Britain in the conquest of the +world by Western civilisation, and the peculiar character of her work, +have been due to two things--British institutions and the British Navy. + +It ought never to be forgotten that down to the nineteenth century (that +is, during all the earlier part of the process of European expansion) +Britain was the only one of the greater European States which possessed +self-governing institutions. She has been, in truth (this is not a +boast, but a mere statement of indisputable historical fact), the +inventor of political liberty on the scale of the great nation-state, as +Greece was the inventor of political liberty on the scale of the little +city-state. And wherever free institutions exist to-day, they have been +derived from Britain, either by inheritance, as in America and the +self-governing British colonies, or by imitation, as in all other cases. + +When the outpouring of Europe into the rest of the world began, the +British peoples alone had the habit and instinct of self-government in +their very blood and bones. And the result was that, wherever they went, +they carried self-government with them. _Every_ colony of British +settlers, from the very first, was endowed with self-governing +institutions. _No_ colony ever planted by any other nation ever obtained +corresponding rights.[1] That is one of the outstanding features of +British expansion. In the eighteenth century, and even in the middle of +the nineteenth century, Britain herself and the young nations that had +sprung from her loins were _almost the only free States existing in the +world_. It was because they were free that they throve so greatly. They +expanded on their own account, they threw out fresh settlements into the +empty lands wherein they were planted, often against the wish of the +Mother Country. And this spontaneous growth of vigorous free communities +has been one of the principal causes of the immense extension of the +British Empire. + +Now one of the results of the universal existence of self-governing +rights in British colonies was that the colonists were far more prompt +to resent and resist any improper exercise of authority by the Mother +Country than were the settlers in the colonies of other countries, which +had no self-governing rights at all. It was this independent spirit, +nurtured by self-government, which led to the revolt of the American +colonies in 1775, and to the foundation of the United States as an +independent nation. In that great controversy an immensely important +question was raised, which was new to human history. It was the +question whether unity could be combined with the highest degree of +freedom; whether it was possible to create a sort of fellowship or +brotherhood of free communities, in which each should be master of its +own destinies, and yet all combine for common interests. But the +question (being so new) was not understood on either side of the +Atlantic. Naturally, Britain thought most of the need of maintaining +unity; she thought it unfair that the whole burden of the common defence +should fall upon her, and she committed many foolish blunders in trying +to enforce her view. Equally naturally the colonists thought primarily +of their own self-governing rights, which they very justly demanded +should be increased rather than restricted. The result was the unhappy +war, which broke up the only family of free peoples that had yet existed +in the world, and caused a most unfortunate alienation between them, +whereby the cause of liberty in the world was greatly weakened.[2] + +Britain learned many valuable lessons from the American Revolution. In +the new empire which she began to build up as soon as the old one was +lost, it might have been expected that she would have fought shy of +those principles of self-government which no other State had ever tried +to apply in its over-sea dominions, and which seemed to have led (from +the imperialistic point of view) to such disastrous results in America. +But she did not do so; the habits of self-government were too deeply +rooted in her sons to make it possible for her to deny them +self-governing rights in their new homes. On the contrary, she learnt, +during the nineteenth century, to welcome and facilitate every expansion +of their freedom,[3] and she gradually felt her way towards a means of +realising a partnership of free peoples whereby freedom should be +combined with unity. Its success (although it must still undergo much +development) has been strikingly shown in the Great War. + +Thus British institutions--the institutions of national self-government, +which are peculiarly British in origin--have played a main part both in +determining the character of the British Empire and in bringing about +its wonderful expansion. The more the British Empire has grown the more +freedom has been established on the face of the earth. + +The second great factor in the growth of the British Empire has been the +power of the British Navy, which has been the greatest sea power of the +world practically since the overthrow of the Spanish Armada in 1588. + +It is a striking fact that in all her history Britain has never +possessed a large army, until the necessities of this war suddenly +forced her (as they are now forcing America) to perform the miracle of +calling her whole manhood from the pursuits of peace to arms, of +training them, and of equipping them, all within two years. In 1775 it +was the fact that she possessed only a tiny armed force (some 40,000 men +for the defence of all her dominions), which made it necessary for her, +for example, to hire Hessian troops in a hurry for the purposes of the +American War of Independence. Is not this an astounding paradox, that +the power which has acquired dominion over one-quarter of the earth has +done it without ever possessing a large army? And does it not suggest +that the process by which this empire was acquired must have been very +different from the ordinary processes of military conquest? This is a +paradox which those who speak of the British Empire as if it were a mere +military dominion must somehow explain. + +But there has been the supreme British fleet. It has made the creation +and preservation of the Empire possible by securing the free transit not +merely of soldiers, but, far more important, of settlers, merchants, +administrators, organisers, and missionaries. Scattered as it is over +all the seas of the world, the British Empire would undoubtedly be +broken into fragments if the security of the ocean high-roads by which +it is united were ever to be lost. But although the British Navy has +made the growth of the Empire possible, and has held it together, it has +not conquered it. A fleet _cannot_ conquer great areas of land; it +_cannot_ hold masses of discontented subjects in an unwilling obedience; +it _cannot_ threaten the freedom or independence of any land-power. It +is strong only for defence, not for offence. + +There are two aspects of the work of the British Navy during the last +three centuries which deserve to be noted, because they also help to +indicate the character of the work done by the British Empire during +this period. + +In the first place, the British naval power has never been used to +threaten the freedom of any independent State. On the contrary, it has +been employed time and again as the last bulwark of freedom against +great military Powers which have threatened to overwhelm the freedom of +their neighbours by mere brute strength. That was so in the sixteenth +century, when Spain seemed to be within an ace of making herself the +mistress of the world. It was so a hundred years later, when the +highly-organised power of Louis XIV. threatened the liberties of Europe. +It was so again, a century later, when Napoleon's might overshadowed the +world. It is so once more to-day, when the German peril menaces the +liberty of nations. During each of these desperate crises the British +Navy has seemed to neutrals to be interfering unduly with their trade, +in so far as their trade helped the enemy. In this connection it is +worth noting that it has been for two centuries the invariable rule of +the British Navy that in no circumstances must a neutral vessel ever be +sunk, and in no circumstances must the lives of non-combatants be +sacrificed. But is it not reasonable to say that in each of these great +wars the theoretic rights of neutral trade were justly subordinated to +the struggle for the preservation of liberty? In all the great crises of +modern European history, then, British naval power has been the ultimate +bulwark of liberty. + +But how has this power been used in times of peace? The Spanish naval +power, which preceded the British, enforced for its people a monopoly of +the use of all the oceans of the world except the North Atlantic. The +Dutch naval power, which carried on an equal rivalry with the British +during the seventeenth century, established a practical monopoly for +Dutch trade in all the waters east of the Straits of Malacca. But the +British naval power has never for a moment been used to restrict the +free movement of the ships of all nations in times of peace in any of +the seas of the world. This, again, is not a boast, but a plain +statement of undeniable historical fact. The freedom of the seas in +times of peace (which is much more important than the freedom of the +seas in times of war) has only existed during the period of British +naval supremacy, but it has existed so fully that we have got into the +habit of taking it for granted, and of assuming, rather rashly, that it +can never be impaired. What is more, it has been entirely during the +period of British naval supremacy, and mainly by the work of the British +fleet, that the remoter seas have been charted and that piracy has been +brought to an end, and the perils of the sailor reduced to the natural +perils of wind and wave. This also is a contribution to the freedom of +the seas. + +British institutions, the institutions of self-government, and the +British Navy, which has at all times been a bulwark of liberty, and has +never interfered in times of peace with the use of the seas by any +nation--these have been the main explanations of the fabulous growth of +the British Empire. We cannot here attempt to trace the story of this +growth, but must be content to survey the completed structure and +consider on what principles it is governed. + + +[1] See "The Expansion of Europe," Chapters II. and III. + +[2] See "The Expansion of Europe," Chapter IV., where this view of the +American Revolution is developed. + +[3] See "The Expansion of Europe," Chapter VI., where the +"Transformation of the British Empire" during the nineteenth century is +analysed. + + + + +III + + +The vast realms of the British Empire fall naturally into three groups: +the great self-governing dominions, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New +Zealand, and Newfoundland; the lands of ancient civilisation, India and +Egypt; and the wide protectorates (mainly in Africa, but also in Asia +and the Pacific) which are inhabited by backward and primitive peoples. +There are other regions also, such as the West Indian Islands, or the +military posts and calling stations like Gibraltar, Malta, and Aden, +which do not fall into any of these three categories. But they are of +relatively minor importance, and it will be convenient to concentrate +our attention upon each of the three main groups in turn. + +Regarding the self-governing dominions, the intelligent reader scarcely +needs to be told that they are to all intents and purposes entirely free +States, which remain in association with the Mother Country only by +their own free will. If they were to claim complete independence, there +would certainly be no attempt made by Britain to force them to remain in +partnership, though the breach would be a great sorrow to the Mother +Country. They make their own laws; they appoint all their own officials +(except the Governors, who perform almost purely formal functions, +corresponding to those performed by the King in the "crowned republic" +of Britain); they levy their own taxes, and both may and do impose any +duties they think fit upon imports from Britain equally with those +coming from other States. They pay not a farthing of tribute to the +Mother Country. They are not even required to contribute to the cost of +the Navy, which protects them all, though some of them make voluntary +contributions. The only restriction upon their political independence is +that they do not pursue an independent foreign policy or maintain +ambassadors or consuls of their own in foreign countries. The +responsibility (and the total cost) of this function falls upon Britain. +If Britain should be drawn into war, the great dominions are also +technically at war, and if Britain were to pursue a warlike or +aggressive policy, this would soon alienate some or all of these young +democracies. But it is only by their own free will that they take any +part in a war in which Britain is involved, and the Mother Country has +neither the right nor the power to demand military aid from them. Yet we +have seen what whole-hearted and generous aid they have all given. Would +it have been as great, or as valuable, if it had been compulsory? +Gradually they are beginning, through their Prime Ministers or other +representatives, to take a more and more effective part in the direction +of the common policy of the Empire. The meetings of what was called the +"Imperial War Cabinet" in the spring of 1917 marked a definite stage in +this development, and incidentally afforded a very striking proof of the +elasticity and adaptability of the British system of government. It is +certain that this method of co-operation will be carried still further +in the future. + +Clearly, so far as concerns the great dominions, the British Empire is +far from being a military domination imposed by force. It is a voluntary +partnership or brotherhood of free peoples, a Commonwealth of Nations. +It is a wonderful achievement in the combination of unity and freedom, +an experiment in the unforced co-operation of free States such as has +never before been seen in human history. If _that_ is the meaning of +Imperialism, who will cavil at it? + +Only one series of events has prevented a large part of the world from +realising that this was the spirit in which the British Empire was +governed. The South African War made Britain appear, in the eyes of most +of the world, a vast, greedy, tyrannical power, which, not content with +an already immense dominion, must fall upon and devour two tiny, free +republics, merely because they contained gold! But the world did not +appreciate the real meaning of the South African War.[1] In the British +South African colonies (the Cape and Natal) the fullest equality of +political rights was enjoyed by Dutch and British residents alike, and +their institutions were the same as those of other British dominions. +But in the semi-independent Dutch republics of the Transvaal and the +Orange Free State (especially the former) no such equality of rights +existed. The ideal they aimed at was that of Dutch predominance, and +some of their leaders hoped in time to drive the British out of Africa, +and to establish there an exclusively Dutch supremacy. This did not +matter so long as the inhabitants of these lands were only a few Dutch +farmers. But when the discovery of gold and diamonds brought an immense +inrush of British and other settlers, who henceforth produced nearly all +the wealth of the country, this denial of equality of rights became +serious, and the programme of Dutch conquest, prepared for mainly at the +cost of the new settlers, began to seem dangerous. This was the real +cause of the South African War. It might, perhaps, have been avoided, +and, if so, those who precipitated it unnecessarily were much to blame, +whether they were Boers or Britons. There were faults on both sides. But +essentially the war was, on Britain's side, a war for equality of +rights. What were its results? So far as Britain was concerned, the +bones of thousands of her sons lay on the African veldt, and her public +debt was vastly increased. She made no direct material gains of any +sort: the gold-mines remained in exactly the same hands as before. But +so far as South Africa was concerned, the result was that in a very few +years the conquered republics were given full self-governing powers, on +the basis of equal rights for both races, and a few years later they and +the older British colonies combined in the Union of South Africa, a +great, free, federal state, in whose affairs Dutch and British have +equal rights, and in which a new nation, formed by the blending of the +two races, can grow up. _That_ was what British imperialism led to in +South Africa. + +And now observe the sequel. When the great war began (scarcely more than +a dozen years from the time when Dutch and Britons were fighting +bitterly) the Germans tried to bring about a revolt among the more +ignorant Dutch. It was put down by the forces of the Union, mainly +Dutch, led by Louis Botha, who had once been the commander-in-chief of +the Transvaal army, and was now the prime minister of a self-governing +dominion within the British Empire. And then, still led by Botha, a +combined force of Dutch and Britons proceeded to the conquest of German +South-West Africa, suffering casualties which, by a happy chance, were +exactly equally divided between the two races. And then a South African +contingent was sent to East Africa, and the supreme command over them, +and over British regulars and Indian regiments and native levies, was +assumed by the Dutch General Smuts, once a formidable leader against the +British. And, lastly, General Smuts came to England to join in the +deliberations of the Imperial War Cabinet, and to make speeches of +profound foresight and political wisdom to the British people, in which +he sang the praises of the British Commonwealth of free nations as +something that deserved every sacrifice from the peoples enrolled under +its sheltering ægis. + +Is there any parallel to these events in the history of the world? And +is the Empire whose spirit leads to such results to be spoken of as if +it were a mere, ruthless military dominion? + + +[1] See "The Expansion of Europe," Chapters VI. and VIII., for an +analysis of British policy in South Africa. + + + + +IV + + +The second great group of British dominions consists of those ancient +and populous lands, notably India and Egypt, which, though they have +been able to develop remarkable civilisations, have never in all their +history succeeded in establishing the rule of a just and equal law, or +known any form of government save arbitrary despotism. + +It is impossible to trace here, even in the baldest out-line, the steps +by which Britain acquired the sovereignty over India and Egypt.[1] They +form two of the most curious and romantic episodes in history, for the +strange thing is that in both cases British intervention was begun with +no thought of conquest, and in both cases the responsibility of +political control was assumed by Britain with very great reluctance. +This may sound incredible, but it is an indisputable historical fact. We +must content ourselves with a very brief analysis of the character and +results of the British dominion. + +What, then, has the establishment of British power meant in India? Until +the British power was established, India had in all her long history +never known political unity. She had seen nothing but an almost +uninterrupted succession of wars, an endless series of conquests and +evanescent dominions. Always Might had been Right; Law had represented +only the will of the master, and the law courts only the instruments of +his arbitrary authority, so that the lover of righteousness could only +pursue it by cutting himself off from all the ties of society and living +the life of the ascetic. India was the most deeply divided land in the +world--divided not only by differences of race and tongue (there are 38 +distinct languages in India to-day, and some of them differ more widely +than Russian and Spanish), but divided still more deeply by bitter +conflicts of creed and, most sharply of all, by the unchanging, +impermeable barriers of caste, which had arisen in the first instance +from the determination of conquering peoples to keep themselves free +from any intermixture with their subjects. Nowhere in the world are +there to be seen, cheek by jowl, such profound contrasts between +distinct grades of civilisation as are represented by the difference +between (say) the almost savage Bhils or the out-caste sweepers, and the +high-bred Brahmin, Rajput or Mahomedan chiefs. One result of these +time-worn distinctions is that through all the ages the ruling castes +and races have been accustomed to expect, and the mass of humble men to +offer, the most abject submission; so that British administrators have +often had to complain that the chief difficulty was, not to make laws +for the protection of the humble, but rather to persuade those for whose +benefit they were made to take advantage of them. + +To this divided land the British rule has brought three inestimable +boons: a firmly organised political unity; the impartial administration +of a just and equal system of law, based on a codification of Indian +usages; and the maintenance of a long, unbroken peace. To this may be +added the introduction not only of the material boons of western +civilisation--railways, roads, irrigation, postal facilities, and so +forth--but of western learning. This has had to be conveyed through the +vehicle of English, because it was impossible to create, in all the 38 +vernaculars, a whole literature of modern knowledge. And the consequence +is, that all the members of the large and growing class of +University-trained students, whose existence for the first time creates +an instructed public opinion in India, are able freely to communicate +with one another, and to share a common body of ideas, to an extent that +has never before been possible in all the earlier history of India. Out +of all these causes, due to the British rule, there has begun to arise +in this deeply divided land a sentiment of national unity, and an +aspiration after self-government. This sentiment and this aspiration are +in themselves excellent things; their danger is that they may lead to a +demand for a too rapid advance. For national unity _cannot_ be created +by merely asserting that it exists. It will not be fully established +until the deeply-rooted differences which are only beginning to be +obliterated have largely ceased to determine men's thoughts and actions, +as they still do in India. And self-government, on the amplest scale of +modern democracy, cannot be achieved until the traditionally ascendant +classes, and the traditionally subject classes, have alike learned to +recognise the equality of their rights before the law. But the +foundations have been made of advance towards both of these aims; they +are the result of British rule. + +There are discontents in India; there is much sharp criticism of the +methods of the supreme Government, especially--almost exclusively--among +the new class of western-educated men. But the criticism has not gone so +far, except with a very few fanatics, as to assert that British rule is +itself unjust or evil; on the contrary, all the best opinion in India +desires to see that great land steadily progressing towards greater +national unity and greater political liberty under the guidance and +protection of British rule; all the best opinion in India recognises +that the progress already made has been due to British rule, and that +its continuance depends upon the continuance of British rule; all the +best opinion in India desires that India, even when she becomes, as she +will steadily become, more fully self-governing, should remain a partner +in the British Commonwealth of Nations. It was a real satisfaction of +one of the aspirations of India when three representatives of the Indian +Government, an Indian prince, an Indian lawyer, and an Anglo-Indian +administrator, came to London in the spring of 1917 to take part in the +councils of the Empire during the crisis of its destiny. Criticism and +discontent exist. But their existence is a sign of life; and the freedom +with which they are expressed is a proof that the Government of India +does not follow a merely repressive policy, and that the peoples of +India have at last been helped to escape, in a large degree, from that +complete docility and submissiveness which are the unhappy signs that a +people is enslaved body and soul. + +India does not pay one penny of tribute to Britain. She pays the cost of +the small, efficient army which guards her frontiers, but if any part of +it is borrowed for service elsewhere, the cost falls upon the British +Treasury. This rule was, indeed, broken in regard to the first Indian +contingents in the present war, but only at the request of the Indian +members of the Viceroy's Legislative Council. India contributes not a +penny towards the upkeep of the British fleet, which guards her shores; +nor does she defray any part of the cost of the consuls and ambassadors +in all parts of the world who protect the interests of her travelling +citizens. She is a self-dependent state, all of whose resources are +expended on the development of her own prosperity, and expended with +the most scrupulous honesty and economy. Her ports are open, of course, +to British traders, but they are open on precisely the same terms to the +traders of all other countries; there is no special privilege for the +British merchant. Recently she has entered upon a policy of fiscal +protection, with a view to the development of cotton manufactures. This +policy was directed primarily against Lancashire. But because Indian +opinion demanded it, it has not been resisted, in spite of the fact that +the bulk of British opinion holds such a policy to be economically +unsound. Nor have British citizens any special privileges in other +respects. It was laid down as long ago as 1833, as an "indisputable +principle," that "the interests of the native subjects are to be +consulted in preference to those of Europeans, wherever the two come in +competition." Where will you find a parallel to that statement of policy +by the supreme government of a ruling race? + +India, in short, is governed, under the terms of a code of law based +upon Indian custom, by a small number of picked British officials, only +about 3,000 in all, among whom highly-trained Indians are increasingly +taking their place, and who work in detail through an army of minor +officials, nearly all Indians, and selected without respect to race, +caste, or creed. She is a self-contained country, whose resources are +devoted to her own needs. She is prospering to a degree unexampled in +history. She has achieved a political unity never before known to her. +She has been given the supreme gift of a just and impartial law, +administered without fear or favour. She has enjoyed a long period of +peace, unbroken by any attack from external foes. Here, as fully as in +the self-governing Colonies, membership of the British Empire does not +mean subjection to the selfish dominion of a master, or the +subordination to that master's interests of the vital interests of the +community. It means the establishment among a vast population of the +essential gifts of western civilisation--rational law, and the liberty +which exists under its shelter. + +What has been said of India might equally be said of Egypt, _mutatis +mutandis_, but space does not permit of any detail on this theme. Enough +to say that the achievements of the short period since 1882, when the +British occupation began, in the rescuing of the country from +bankruptcy, in the abolition of the hideous tyranny under which the mass +of the peasantry had long groaned, in the development of the natural +resources of the country, in the introduction of western methods of +government and education, in the removal of the peril of returning +barbarism which threatened from the Soudan, and in the establishment of +a just and equal system of law, is something which it would be hard to +match in the records of history.[2] + +Both in India and in Egypt lands of ancient civilisation have been +rescued from a state of chaos and set upon the path which leads to unity +and freedom. And in both countries, if the kind of political liberty +which consists in the universal diffusion of a share in the control of +government has not yet been established, it is because the peoples of +these countries are not yet ready for that, and because the premature +establishment of it, by enthroning afresh the old ruling castes, would +endanger the far more real gifts of liberty which _have_ been +secured--liberty of thought and speech, liberty to enjoy the fruits of a +man's own labour, freedom from subjection to merely arbitrary superiors, +and the establishment of the elementary rights of the poor as securely +as those of the powerful. + +Empires, like men, are to be judged by their fruits. + + +[1] India is dealt with in Chapters III., IV., VI., and Egypt in Chapter +VIII. of "The Expansion of Europe." + +[2] The causes of the British occupation of Egypt, and the development +of Egypt under British control, are discussed in "The Expansion of +Europe," Chapter VIII. + + + + +V + + +Lastly, we come to the vast regions inhabited wholly or mainly by +backward or primitive peoples. Most of these are territories of +comparatively recent acquisition. And it is here, and practically here +alone, that the British Empire comes into comparison with the recently +created empires of other European states, France, Germany, Italy and +Belgium; none of which possess any self-governing colonies, or any +extensive lands of ancient civilisation like India, unless the French +colonies of Algeria and Annam are to be regarded as falling within the +latter category. + +The establishment of European control over most of the backward regions +of the world has been, for the most part, a very recent and a very rapid +development.[1] + +The rush for extra-European territory which has taken place since 1878 +is frequently regarded as a merely sordid exhibition of greed and of the +lust for power; and indeed, some features of it deserve condemnation. +But it ought to be recognised that this huge movement was, in the main, +both necessary and beneficial. It was necessary because modern +scientific industry needed the raw materials produced in these lands, +and the primitive savagery of their occupants could not permanently +stand in the way of the triumphant march of material progress. And it +was (or was capable of being made) highly advantageous, not only to the +industrial world, but to the backward peoples themselves, who, apart +from it, might never have emerged from the unchanging barbarism in which +they have mostly rested since the beginning of time. Whether that was to +be so or not, depended, of course, upon the spirit in which the task was +undertaken. We have seen some hideous examples of depraved cruelty in +the treatment of backward peoples, as in Leopold of Saxe-Coburg's +administration of the Congo (which improved beyond recognition as soon +as it was taken over by the Belgian Parliament), or as in the ruthless +German slaughter of the Hereros in South-West Africa. But on the whole, +and with exceptions, the establishment of European control has been as +beneficial to its primitive subjects as it has been advantageous to the +development of modern industry. + +In spite of the vast extent of her Empire in other regions, Britain has +taken a far larger share of this work than any other single power; +perhaps, all things considered, she has taken as great a share as all +the rest put together. What are the reasons for this? + +The first reason is that Britain had begun long before any of the other +powers. Both in Africa and in the islands of the Pacific, the work of +exploration was mainly done by British travellers; British traders had +almost alone been known to the native populations; and British +missionaries, who were extraordinarily active during the nineteenth +century, had planted themselves everywhere, and played an immensely +important part in civilising their simple flocks. Wherever the +missionary went, he undertook the defence of the primitive peoples to +whom he preached, against the sometimes unscrupulous exploitation of the +trader. It was the constant cry of the missionaries that the British +Government ought to assume control, in order to keep the traders in +order. They, and the powerful religious bodies at home which supported +them, did much to establish the principle that it was the duty of +government to protect the rights of native races, while at the same time +putting an end to such barbarous usages as cannibalism, slavery, and +human sacrifice, where they survived. Often, too, native chieftains +begged to be taken under British protection; while the better type of +traders were anxious to see civilised administration set up, because it +is only under civilised administration that trade can permanently +thrive. Thus the British Government was under continual pressure from +all sides, while the governments of other European countries as yet took +no interest in colonial questions. The British Government was extremely +loth to assume additional responsibilities, and did its best to avoid +them. But some annexations it could not avoid. + +Thus before the great European rush for colonies began, Britain, and +Britain alone, had acquired a very wide experience in the government of +backward peoples, and had worked out fairly clearly defined principles +for the government of such peoples. What is more, in all the regions of +this type which she controlled--indeed, throughout her whole Empire, +everywhere save in the self-governing Colonies--it had become the +practice of Britain to throw open all her ports and markets to the trade +of all nations on exactly the same terms as to her own merchants. She +is, in fact, the only great colonising Power which has adopted this +principle. If a British merchant goes to the Philippines, or to +Madagascar, or to Togoland, he finds that he has to compete with his +American, French, or German rival on unequal terms, because a tariff +discriminates between the citizen of the ruling people and the foreign +trader. But if an American, French, or German merchant goes to India, or +to any British Crown Colony or protectorate, he is admitted on exactly +the same terms as the Briton. That distinction had already been +established before 1878, though it has been accentuated since that date. + +The British method of administering backward regions as worked out +before 1878 was therefore based upon two principles, first the +protection of native rights, and secondly the open door to all trading +nations; and Britain may fairly be said to have learnt to regard +herself as being, in these regions, a trustee--a trustee on behalf of +her subjects, and on behalf of the civilised world. Is it not true that +if these principles had been universally adopted, half the bitterness +which has been due to the rivalry of the European Powers for colonial +possessions would have been obviated? To-day these principles are being +advocated by many earnest men as representing the only mode by which the +supremacy of western civilisation throughout the world can be reconciled +with the avoidance of bitter rivalry and war between the civilised +states; and they are preached as if they were a new doctrine of +salvation. Yet they have been consistently practised by Britain during +the greater part of the nineteenth century, and they are still practised +by her to-day. + +When the great rush began, the main object of the European states which +took part in it was to obtain a monopoly-control of the regions which +they annexed. But in all the available regions of the world, British +trade had hitherto been preponderant. British traders saw before them +the prospect of being absolutely excluded from lines of traffic which +had hitherto been mainly in their hands, and they were naturally urgent +that the only means of protection available should be taken, and that +the areas in which they had been most active should be brought under +British administration. If the new colonising Powers had been prepared +to follow the policy of the open door, to which Britain had so long +adhered, there would have been no reason to fear their annexations; +rather there would have been every reason to rejoice that other nations +were taking their share in the work of giving civilised government to +these regions. But since their object was monopoly and exclusion, it was +inevitable that Britain should undertake great new responsibilities. Her +doing so was, indeed, the only practicable way of preserving the +trading rights, not merely of her own subjects, but also of all the +other trading Powers which had not themselves joined in the rush, or had +only a small part in it. Yet even now the British Government was +extremely unwilling to take action, or to expand still further the +already vast domains for whose good governance it was responsible. It +had to be forced into action, mainly through the activity of trading +companies. + +In the vast new acquisitions of the period since 1878 (which were mainly +in Africa), as in the earlier acquisitions, the old principles long +pursued by Britain in the government of these backward regions were +still maintained--protection of native rights and the open door. And +thus it has come about that to-day these British realms present almost +the only undeveloped fields to which all nations may resort on equal +terms and in whose development all may take a share. The Germans have +made a very large use of these opportunities. + +Another point ought to be made. Immense as these regions are, and +recently as they have been turned from barbarism, order and peace are +maintained within them by extraordinarily small military forces: only +the absolute necessary minimum. Yet they have been on the whole +extraordinarily free from unrest or rebellion, such as has repeatedly +disturbed the German colonies in Africa. There has been in their history +no episode like the ruthless slaughter of the whole Herero race in +German South-West Africa, after long, desperate, dragging campaigns. And +while it would be absurd to claim that no abuses of the power of the +white man over his coloured subjects have been known in them, at least +there have been no outstanding or notorious atrocities. Their subjects +are loyal, and are reconciled to peace, because they recognise that they +are justly treated. That, it may fairly be claimed, is what the British +Empire has meant in the backward regions of the earth. And if it be +true that the institution of civilised government in these regions was +necessary in the interests at once of modern industry and of the +backward peoples themselves, it is equally true that there are no other +backward regions in which the interests of the native subjects have been +more solicitously considered, and none in which the interests of all the +industrial nations, and not merely of a single dominant race, have been +so steadily held in view, as in these regions of the British Empire. + + +[1] On these events see "The Expansion of Europe," Chapter VII. + + + + +VI + + +If we now turn to consider as a whole the character of this vast +Empire,[1] whose principal regions we have been examining, the first +thing that must strike us is that, while it is by far the biggest of all +the world-dominions which have come into existence in modern times, it +is also the most loosely organised of them all. It is rather a +partnership of a multitude of states in every grade of civilisation and +every stage of development than an organised and consolidated dominion. +Five of its chief members are completely self-governing, and share in +the common burdens only by their own free will. All the remaining +members are organised as distinct units, though subject to the general +control of the home government. The resources of each unit are employed +exclusively for the development of its own welfare. They pay no tribute; +they are not required to provide any soldiers beyond the minimum +necessary for their own defence and the maintenance of internal order. + +This Empire, in short, is not in any degree organised for military +purposes. It is strong for defence so long as it is sure of the command +of the sea, since it is open to attack at singularly few points by land. +But it is incapable, by its very nature and system of organisation, of +threatening the existence of any of its rivals or of making a bid for +world-supremacy. For, vast though its population and resources are, they +_cannot_ be made available for war except under the impulse of a great +enthusiasm simultaneously dominating all its members, like that which +has led them all to share in this war; and if its directors were to +undertake an aggressive and conquering policy, not only could they not +count upon general support, but they would probably bring about the +disruption of the Empire. + +The life-blood of this Empire is trade; its supreme interest is +manifestly peace. The conception of the meaning of empire which is +indicated by its history is not a conception of dominion for dominion's +sake, imposed by brute force. On the contrary, it has come to be +regarded as a trust, a trust to be administered in the interests of the +subjects primarily, and secondarily in the interests of the whole +civilised world. That this is not the assertion of a boast or of an +unrealised ideal, but of a fact and a practice, is sufficiently +demonstrated by two unquestionable facts, to which we have already +referred, but which cannot be too often repeated. The first is the fact +that the units of this empire are not only free from all tribute in +money or men, but are not even required to make any contribution to the +upkeep of the fleet, upon which the safety of all depends. The second is +the fact that every port and every market in this vast empire, so far as +they are under the control of the central government, are thrown open as +freely to the citizens of all other States as to its own. + +Finally, in this empire there has never been any attempt to impose a +uniformity of method or even of laws upon the infinitely various +societies which it embraces; it not only permits, it cultivates and +admires, varieties of type, and to the maximum practical degree it +believes in self-government. It includes among its population +representatives of almost every human race and religion, from the +Australian Bushman to the subtle and philosophic Brahmin, from the +African dwarf to the master of modern industry or the scholar of +universities. Almost every form of social organisation known to man is +represented in its complex and many-hued fabric. It embodies some of the +most democratic communities which the world has known. It finds place +for the highly organised caste system by which the teeming millions of +India are held together. It preserves the simple tribal organisation of +the African clans. To different elements among its subjects this empire +appears in different aspects. To the self-governing dominions it is a +brotherhood of free nations, co-operating for the defence and diffusion +of the ideas and institutions of freedom. To the ancient civilisations +of India or Egypt it is a power which, in spite of all its mistakes and +limitations, has brought peace instead of turmoil, law instead of +arbitrary might, unity instead of chaos, justice instead of oppression, +freedom for the development of the capacities and characteristic ideas +of their peoples, and the prospect of a steady growth of national unity +and political responsibility. To the backward races it has meant the +suppression of unending slaughter, the disappearance of slavery, the +protection of the rights and usages of primitive and simple folk against +reckless exploitation, and the chance of gradual improvement and +emancipation from barbarism. But to all alike, to one-quarter of the +inhabitants of the globe, it has meant the establishment of the Reign of +Law and of the Liberty which can only exist under its shelter. In some +degree, though imperfectly as yet, it has realised within its own body +all the three great political ideals of the modern world. It has +fostered the rise of a sense of _nationality_ in the young communities +of the new lands, and in the old and once decaying civilisations of the +most ancient historic countries. It has given a freedom of development +to _self-government_ in a variety of forms, to which there is no sort of +parallel in any other empire that has ever existed. And by linking +together so many diverse and contrasted peoples in a common peace it has +already realised, for a quarter of the globe, the ideal of +_internationalism_ on a scale undreamt of by the most sanguine prophets +of Europe. + +Long ago, in the crisis of the American Revolution, when the +faithfulness of Britain to her tradition of liberty was for an unhappy +moment wavering in the balance, the great orator Burke spoke some +glowing sentences on the character of the British Empire as he conceived +it. They read like a prophetic vision of the Empire of to-day, linked by +ties which, in his words, "though light as air, are strong as links of +iron," yet joining in an heroic comradeship to defend the threatened +shrine of freedom. "As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign +authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple +consecrated to our common faith, wherever the sons of England worship +freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, +the more friends you will have; the more ardently they love liberty, the +more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It +is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they +may have it from Prussia. But freedom they can have only from you. This +is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. Deny them +this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond, which +originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do +not dream that your letters of office, and your instructions, and your +suspending clauses, are the things that hold together the great +contexture of the mysterious whole. These things do not make your +government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the +spirit of the English Constitution that gives all their life and +efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, +infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, +vivifies every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest member." + +The spirit of Burke was wounded in 1775; it is rejoicing to-day. + + +[1] The passages in this section are mainly quoted directly from "The +Expansion of Europe." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35184 *** |