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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4326-h.zip b/4326-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad54f51 --- /dev/null +++ b/4326-h.zip diff --git a/4326-h/4326-h.htm b/4326-h/4326-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..537008a --- /dev/null +++ b/4326-h/4326-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7952 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Expansion of Europe, by Ramsay Muir +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80% ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expansion of Europe, by Ramsay Muir + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Expansion of Europe + The Culmination of Modern History + +Author: Ramsay Muir + +Posting Date: August 11, 2009 [EBook #4326] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 5, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CULMINATION OF MODERN HISTORY +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY RAMSAY MUIR +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SECOND EDITION +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO MY MOTHER +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="preface"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +The purpose of this book is twofold. +</P> + +<P> +We realise to-day, as never before, that the fortunes of the world, and +of every individual in it, are deeply affected by the problems of +world-politics and by the imperial expansion and the imperial rivalries +of the greater states of Western civilisation. But when men who have +given no special attention to the history of these questions try to +form a sound judgment on them, they find themselves handicapped by the +lack of any brief and clear resume of the subject. I have tried, in +this book, to provide such a summary, in the form of a broad survey, +unencumbered with detail, but becoming fuller as it comes nearer to our +own time. That is my first purpose. In fulfilling it I have had to +cover much well-trodden ground. But I hope I have avoided the aridity +of a mere compendium of facts. +</P> + +<P> +My second purpose is rather more ambitious. In the course of my +narrative I have tried to deal with ideas rather than with mere facts. +I have tried to bring out the political ideas which are implicit in, or +which result from, the conquest of the world by Western civilisation; +and to show how the ideas of the West have affected the outer world, +how far they have been modified to meet its needs, and how they have +developed in the process. In particular I have endeavoured to direct +attention to the significant new political form which we have seen +coming into existence, and of which the British Empire is the oldest +and the most highly developed example—the world-state, embracing +peoples of many different types, with a Western nation-state as its +nucleus. The study of this new form seems to me to be a neglected +branch of political science, and one of vital importance. Whether or +not it is to be a lasting form, time alone will show. Finally I have +tried to display, in this long imperialist conflict, the strife of two +rival conceptions of empire: the old, sterile, and ugly conception +which thinks of empire as mere domination, ruthlessly pursued for the +sole advantage of the master, and which seems to me to be most fully +exemplified by Germany; and the nobler conception which regards empire +as a trusteeship, and which is to be seen gradually emerging and +struggling towards victory over the more brutal view, more clearly and +in more varied forms in the story of the British Empire than in perhaps +any other part of human history. That is why I have given a perhaps +disproportionate attention to the British Empire. The war is +determining, among other great issues, which of these conceptions is to +dominate the future. +</P> + +<P> +In its first form this book was completed in the autumn of 1916; and it +contained, as I am bound to confess, some rather acidulated sentences +in the passages which deal with the attitude of America towards +European problems. These sentences were due to the deep disappointment +which most Englishmen and most Frenchmen felt with the attitude of +aloofness which America seemed to have adopted towards the greatest +struggle for freedom and justice ever waged in history. It was an +indescribable satisfaction to be forced by events to recognise that I +was wrong, and that these passages of my book ought not to have been +written as I wrote them. There is a sort of solemn joy in feeling that +America, France, and Britain, the three nations which have contributed +more than all the rest of the world put together to the establishment +of liberty and justice on the earth, are now comrades in arms, fighting +a supreme battle for these great causes. May this comradeship never be +broken. May it bring about such a decision of the present conflict as +will open a new era in the history of the world—a world now unified, +as never before, by the final victory of Western civilisation which it +is the purpose of this book to describe. +</P> + +<P> +Besides rewriting and expanding the passages on America, I have seized +the opportunity of this new issue to alter and enlarge certain other +sections of the book, notably the chapter on the vital period +1878-1900, which was too slightly dealt with in the original edition. +In this work, which has considerably increased the size of the book, I +have been much assisted by the criticisms and suggestions of some of my +reviewers, whom I wish to thank. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps I ought to add that though this book is complete in itself, it +is also a sort of sequel to a little book entitled Nationalism and +Internationalism, and was originally designed to be printed along with +it: that is the explanation of sundry footnote references. The two +volumes are to be followed by a third, on National Self-government, and +it is my hope that the complete series may form a useful general survey +of the development of the main political factors in modern history. +</P> + +<P> +In its first form the book had the advantage of being read by my friend +Major W. L. Grant, Professor of Colonial History at Queen's University +Kingston, Ontario. The pressure of the military duties in which he is +engaged has made it impossible for me to ask his aid in the revision of +the book. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. M. July 1917 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<PRE> + <A HREF="#preface">Preface</A> + I. <A HREF="#chap01">The Meaning and the Motives of Imperialism</A> + II. <A HREF="#chap02">The Era of Iberian Monopoly</A> + III. <A HREF="#chap03">The Rivalry of the Dutch, the French, and the English, 1588-1763</A> + (a) <A HREF="#chap03a">The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660</A> + (b) <A HREF="#chap03b">The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713</A> + (c) <A HREF="#chap03c">The Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763</A> + IV. <A HREF="#chap04">The Era of Revolution, 1763-1825</A> + V. <A HREF="#chap05">Europe and the Non-European World, 1815-1878</A> + VI. <A HREF="#chap06">The Transformation of the British Empire, 1815-1878</A> + VII. <A HREF="#chap07">The Era of the World States, 1878-1900</A> + VIII. <A HREF="#chap08">The British Empire amid the World-Powers, 1878-1914</A> + IX. <A HREF="#chap09">The Great Challenge, 1900-1914</A> + X. <A HREF="#chap10">What of the Night?</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MEANING AND THE MOTIVES OF IMPERIALISM +</H3> + +<P> +One of the most remarkable features of the modern age has been the +extension of the influence of European civilisation over the whole +world. This process has formed a very important element in the history +of the last four centuries, and it has been strangely undervalued by +most historians, whose attention has been too exclusively centred upon +the domestic politics, diplomacies, and wars of Europe. It has been +brought about by the creation of a succession of 'Empires' by the +European nations, some of which have broken up, while others survive, +but all of which have contributed their share to the general result; +and for that reason the term 'Imperialism' is commonly employed to +describe the spirit which has led to this astonishing and +world-embracing movement of the modern age. +</P> + +<P> +The terms 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' are in some respects unfortunate, +because of the suggestion of purely military dominion which they +convey; and their habitual employment has led to some unhappy results. +It has led men of one school of thought to condemn and repudiate the +whole movement, as an immoral product of brute force, regardless of the +rights of conquered peoples. They have refused to study it, and have +made no endeavour to understand it; not realising that the movement +they were condemning was as inevitable and as irresistible as the +movement of the tides—and as capable of being turned to beneficent +ends. On the other hand, the implications of these terms have perhaps +helped to foster in men of another type of mind an unhealthy spirit of +pride in mere domination, as if that were an end in itself, and have +led them to exult in the extension of national power, without closely +enough considering the purposes for which it was to be used. Both +attitudes are deplorable, and in so far as the words 'Empire,' +'Imperial,' and 'Imperialism' tend to encourage them, they are +unfortunate words. They certainly do not adequately express the full +significance of the process whereby the civilisation of Europe has been +made into the civilisation of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless the words have to be used, because there are no others +which at all cover the facts. And, after all, they are in some ways +entirely appropriate. A great part of the world's area is inhabited by +peoples who are still in a condition of barbarism, and seem to have +rested in that condition for untold centuries. For such peoples the +only chance of improvement was that they should pass under the dominion +of more highly developed peoples; and to them a European 'Empire' +brought, for the first time, not merely law and justice, but even the +rudiments of the only kind of liberty which is worth having, the +liberty which rests upon law. Another vast section of the world's +population consists of peoples who have in some respects reached a high +stage of civilisation, but who have failed to achieve for themselves a +mode of organisation which could give them secure order and equal laws. +For such peoples also the 'Empire' of Western civilisation, even when +it is imposed and maintained by force, may bring advantages which will +far outweigh its defects. In these cases the word 'Empire' can be used +without violence to its original significance, and yet without apology; +and these cases cover by far the greater part of the world. +</P> + +<P> +The words 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' come to us from ancient Rome; and +the analogy between the conquering and organising work of Rome and the +empire-building work of the modern nation-states is a suggestive and +stimulating analogy. The imperialism of Rome extended the modes of a +single civilisation, and the Reign of Law which was its essence, over +all the Mediterranean lands. The imperialism of the nations to which +the torch of Rome has been handed on, has made the Reign of Law, and +the modes of a single civilisation, the common possession of the whole +world. Rome made the common life of Europe possible. The imperial +expansion of the European nations has alone made possible the +vision—nay, the certainty—of a future world-order. For these reasons +we may rightly and without hesitation continue to employ these terms, +provided that we remember always that the justification of any dominion +imposed by a more advanced upon a backward or disorganised people is to +be found, not in the extension of mere brute power, but in the +enlargement and diffusion, under the shelter of power, of those vital +elements in the life of Western civilisation which have been the +secrets of its strength, and the greatest of its gifts to the world: +the sovereignty of a just and rational system of law, liberty of +person, of thought, and of speech, and, finally, where the conditions +are favourable, the practice of self-government and the growth of that +sentiment of common interest which we call the national spirit. These +are the features of Western civilisation which have justified its +conquest of the world[1]; and it must be for its success or failure in +attaining these ends that we shall commend or condemn the imperial work +of each of the nations which have shared in this vast achievement. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] See the first essay in Nationalism and Internationalism, in which +an attempt is made to work out this idea. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Four main motives can be perceived at work in all the imperial +activities of the European peoples during the last four centuries. The +first, and perhaps the most potent, has been the spirit of national +pride, seeking to express itself in the establishment of its dominion +over less highly organised peoples. In the exultation which follows the +achievement of national unity each of the nation-states in turn, if the +circumstances were at all favourable, has been tempted to impose its +power upon its neighbours,[2] or even to seek the mastery of the world. +From these attempts have sprung the greatest of the European wars. From +them also have arisen all the colonial empires of the European states. +It is no mere coincidence that all the great colonising powers have +been unified nation-states, and that their imperial activities have +been most vigorous when the national sentiment was at its strongest +among them. Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland, Russia: these +are the great imperial powers, and they are also the great +nation-states. Denmark and Sweden have played a more modest part, in +extra-European as in European affairs. Germany and Italy only began to +conceive imperial ambitions after their tardy unification in the +nineteenth century. Austria, which has never been a nation-state, never +became a colonising power. Nationalism, then, with its eagerness for +dominion, may be regarded as the chief source of imperialism; and if +its effects are unhappy when it tries to express itself at the expense +of peoples in whom the potentiality of nationhood exists, they are not +necessarily unhappy in other cases. When it takes the form of the +settlement of unpeopled lands, or the organisation and development of +primitive barbaric peoples, or the reinvigoration and strengthening of +old and decadent societies, it may prove itself a beneficent force. But +it is beneficent only in so far as it leads to an enlargement of law +and liberty. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[2] Nationalism and Imperialism, pp. 60, 64, 104. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The second of the blended motives of imperial expansion has been the +desire for commercial profits; and this motive has played so prominent +a part, especially in our own time, that we are apt to exaggerate its +force, and to think of it as the sole motive. No doubt it has always +been present in some degree in all imperial adventures. But until the +nineteenth century it probably formed the predominant motive only in +regard to the acquisition of tropical lands. So long as Europe +continued to be able to produce as much as she needed of the food and +the raw materials for industry that her soil and climate were capable +of yielding, the commercial motive for acquiring territories in the +temperate zone, which could produce only commodities of the same type, +was comparatively weak; and the European settlements in these areas, +which we have come to regard as the most important products of the +imperialist movement, must in their origin and early settlement be +mainly attributed to other than commercial motives. But Europe has +always depended for most of her luxuries upon the tropics: gold and +ivory and gems, spices and sugar and fine woven stuffs, from a very +early age found their way into Europe from India and the East, coming +by slow and devious caravan routes to the shores of the Black Sea and +the Mediterranean. Until the end of the fifteenth century the European +trader had no direct contact with the sources of these precious +commodities; the supply of them was scanty and the price high. The +desire to gain a more direct access to the sources of this traffic, and +to obtain control of the supply, formed the principal motive for the +great explorations. But these, in their turn, disclosed fresh tropical +areas worth exploiting, and introduced new luxuries, such as tobacco +and tea, which soon took rank as necessities. They also brought a +colossal increment of wealth to the countries which had undertaken +them. Hence the acquisition of a share in, or a monopoly of, these +lucrative lines of trade became a primary object of ambition to all the +great states. In the nineteenth century Europe began to be unable to +supply her own needs in regard to the products of the temperate zone, +and therefore to desire control over other areas of this type; but +until then it was mainly in regard to the tropical or sub-tropical +areas that the commercial motive formed the predominant element in the +imperial rivalries of the nation-states. And even to-day it is over +these areas that their conflicts are most acute. +</P> + +<P> +A third motive for imperial expansion, which must not be overlooked, is +the zeal for propaganda: the eagerness of virile peoples to propagate +the religious and political ideas which they have adopted. But this is +only another way of saying that nations are impelled upon the imperial +career by the desire to extend the influence of their conception of +civilisation, their Kultur. In one form or another this motive has +always been present. At first it took the form of religious zeal. The +spirit of the Crusaders was inherited by the Portuguese and the +Spaniards, whose whole history had been one long crusade against the +Moors. When the Portuguese started upon the exploration of the African +coast, they could scarcely have sustained to the end that long and +arduous task if they had been allured by no other prospect than the +distant hope of finding a new route to the East. They were buoyed up +also by the desire to strike a blow for Christianity. They expected to +find the mythical Christian empire of Prester John, and to join hands +with him in overthrowing the infidel. When Columbus persuaded Queen +Isabella of Castile to supply the means for his madcap adventure, it +was by a double inducement that he won her assent: she was to gain +access to the wealth of the Indies, but she was also to be the means of +converting the heathen to a knowledge of Christianity; and this double +motive continually recurs in the early history of the Spanish Empire. +France could scarcely, perhaps, have persisted in maintaining her far +from profitable settlements on the barren shores of the St. Lawrence if +the missionary motive had not existed alongside of the motives of +national pride and the desire for profits: her great work of +exploration in the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley +was due quite as much to the zeal of the heroic missionaries of the +Jesuit and other orders as to the enterprise of trappers and traders. +In English colonisation, indeed, the missionary motive was never, until +the nineteenth century, so strongly marked. But its place was taken by +a parallel political motive. The belief that they were diffusing the +free institutions in which they took so much pride certainly formed an +element in the colonial activities of the English. It is both foolish +and unscientific to disregard this element of propaganda in the +imperialist movement, still more to treat the assertion of it by the +colonising powers as mere hypocrisy. The motives of imperial expansion, +as of other human activities, are mixed, and the loftier elements in +them are not often predominant. But the loftier elements are always +present. It is hypocrisy to pretend that they are alone or even chiefly +operative. But it is cynicism wholly to deny their influence. And of +the two sins cynicism is the worse, because by over-emphasising it +strengthens and cultivates the lower among the mixed motives by which +men are ruled. +</P> + +<P> +The fourth of the governing motives of imperial expansion is the need +of finding new homes for the surplus population of the colonising +people. This was not in any country a very powerful motive until the +nineteenth century, for over-population did not exist in any serious +degree in any of the European states until that age. Many of the +political writers in seventeenth-century England, indeed, regarded the +whole movement of colonisation with alarm, because it seemed to be +drawing off men who could not be spared. But if the population was +nowhere excessive, there were in all countries certain classes for +which emigration to new lands offered a desired opportunity. There were +the men bitten with the spirit of adventure, to whom the work of the +pioneer presented an irresistible attraction. Such men are always +numerous in virile communities, and when in any society their numbers +begin to diminish, its decay is at hand. The imperial activities of the +modern age have more than anything else kept the breed alive in all +European countries, and above all in Britain. To this type belonged the +conquistadores of Spain, the Elizabethan seamen, the French explorers +of North America, the daring Dutch navigators. Again, there were the +younger sons of good family for whom the homeland presented small +opportunities, but who found in colonial settlements the chance of +creating estates like those of their fathers at home, and carried out +with them bands of followers drawn from among the sons of their +fathers' tenantry. To this class belonged most of the planter-settlers +of Virginia, the seigneurs of French Canada, the lords of the great +Portuguese feudal holdings in Brazil, and the dominant class in all the +Spanish colonies. Again, there were the 'undesirables' of whom the home +government wanted to be rid—convicts, paupers, political prisoners; +they were drafted out in great numbers to the new lands, often as +indentured servants, to endure servitude for a period of years and then +to be merged in the colonial population. When the loss of the American +colonies deprived Britain of her dumping-ground for convicts, she had +to find a new region in which to dispose of them; and this led to the +first settlement of Australia, six years after the establishment of +American independence. Finally, in the age of bitter religious +controversy there was a constant stream of religious exiles seeking new +homes in which they could freely follow their own forms of worship. The +Puritan settlers of New England are the outstanding example of this +type. But they were only one group among many. Huguenots from France, +Moravians from Austria, persecuted 'Palatines' and Salzburgers from +Germany, poured forth in an almost unbroken stream. It was natural that +they should take refuge in the only lands where full religious freedom +was offered to them; and these were especially some of the British +settlements in America, and the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. +</P> + +<P> +It is often said that the overflow of Europe over the world has been a +sort of renewal of the folk-wandering of primitive ages. That is a +misleading view: the movement has been far more deliberate and +organised, and far less due to the pressure of external circumstances, +than the early movements of peoples in the Old World. Not until the +nineteenth century, when the industrial transformation of Europe +brought about a really acute pressure of population, can it be said +that the mere pressure of need, and the shortage of sustenance in their +older homes, has sent large bodies of settlers into the new lands. +Until that period the imperial movement has been due to voluntary and +purposive action in a far higher degree than any of the blind early +wanderings of peoples. The will-to-dominion of virile nations exulting +in their nationhood; the desire to obtain a more abundant supply of +luxuries than had earlier been available, and to make profits +therefrom; the zeal of peoples to impose their mode of civilisation +upon as large a part of the world as possible; the existence in the +Western world of many elements of restlessness and dissatisfaction, +adventurers, portionless younger sons, or religious enthusiasts: these +have been the main operative causes of this huge movement during the +greater part of the four centuries over which it has extended. And as +it has sprung from such diverse and conflicting causes, it has assumed +an infinite variety of forms; and both deserves and demands a more +respectful study as a whole than has generally been given to it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ERA OF IBERIAN MONOPOLY +</H3> + +<P> +During the Middle Ages the contact of Europe with the rest of the world +was but slight. It was shut off by the great barrier of the Islamic +Empire, upon which the Crusades made no permanent impression; and +although the goods of the East came by caravan to the Black Sea ports, +to Constantinople, to the ports of Syria, and to Egypt, where they were +picked up by the Italian traders, these traders had no direct knowledge +of the countries which were the sources of their wealth. The threat of +the Empire of Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century aroused the +interest of Europe, and the bold friars, Carpini and Rubruquis, made +their way to the centres of that barbaric sovereign's power in the +remote East, and brought back stories of what they had seen; later the +Poli, especially the great Marco, undertook still more daring and +long-continued journeys, which made India and Cathay less unreal to +Europeans, and stimulated the desire for further knowledge. The later +mediaeval maps of the world, like that of Fra Mauro (1459),[3] which +incorporate this knowledge, are less wildly imaginative than their +predecessors, and show a vague notion of the general configuration of +the main land-masses in the Old World. But beyond the fringes of the +Mediterranean the world was still in the main unknown to, and +unaffected by, European civilisation down to the middle of the +fifteenth century. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[3] Simplified reproductions of this and the other early maps alluded +to are printed in Philip's Students' Atlas of Modern History, which +also contains a long series of maps illustrating the extra-Europeans +activities of the European states. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Then, suddenly, came the great era of explorations, which were made +possible by the improvements in navigation worked out during the +fifteenth century, and which in two generations incredibly transformed +the aspect of the world. The marvellous character of this revelation +can perhaps be illustrated by the comparison of two maps, that of +Behaim, published in 1492, and that of Schoener, published in 1523. +Apart from its adoption of the theory that the earth was globular, not +round and flat, Behaim's map shows little advance upon Fra Mauro, +except that it gives a clearer idea of the shape of Africa, due to the +earlier explorations of the Portuguese. But Schoener's map shows that +the broad outlines of the distribution of the land-masses of both +hemispheres were already in 1523 pretty clearly understood. This +astonishing advance was due to the daring and enterprise of the +Portuguese explorers, Diaz, Da Gama, Cabral, and of the adventurers in +the service of Spain, Columbus, Balboa, Vespucci, and—greatest of them +all—Magellan. +</P> + +<P> +These astonishing discoveries placed for a time the destinies of the +outer world in the hands of Spain and Portugal, and the first period of +European imperialism is the period of Iberian monopoly, extending to +1588. A Papal award in 1493 confirmed the division of the non-European +world between the two powers, by a judgment which the orthodox were +bound to accept, and did accept for two generations. All the oceans, +except the North Atlantic, were closed to the navigators of other +nations; and these two peoples were given, for a century, the +opportunity of showing in what guise they would introduce the +civilisation of Europe to the rest of the globe. Pioneers as they were +in the work of imperial development, it is not surprising that they +should have made great blunders; and in the end their foreign dominions +weakened rather than strengthened the home countries, and contributed +to drag them down from the high place which they had taken among the +nations. +</P> + +<P> +The Portuguese power in the East was never more than a commercial +dominion. Except in Goa, on the west coast of India, no considerable +number of settlers established themselves at any point; and the Goanese +settlement is the only instance of the formation of a mixed race, half +Indian and half European. Wherever the Portuguese power was +established, it proved itself hard and intolerant; for the spirit of +the Crusader was ill-adapted to the establishment of good relations +with the non-Christian peoples. The rivalry of Arab traders in the +Indian Ocean was mercilessly destroyed, and there was as little mercy +for the Italian merchants, who found the stream of goods that the Arabs +had sent them by way of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf almost wholly +intercepted. No doubt any other people, finding itself in the position +which the Portuguese occupied in the early sixteenth century, would +have been tempted to use their power in the same way to establish a +complete monopoly; but the success with which the Portuguese attained +their aim was in the end disastrous to them. It was followed by, if it +did not cause, a rapid deterioration of the ability with which their +affairs were directed; and when other European traders began to appear +in the field, they were readily welcomed by the princes of India and +the chieftains of the Spice Islands. In the West the Portuguese +settlement in Brazil was a genuine colony, or branch of the Portuguese +nation, because here there existed no earlier civilised people to be +dominated. But both in East and West the activities of the Portuguese +were from the first subjected to an over-rigid control by the home +government. Eager to make the most of a great opportunity for the +national advantage, the rulers of Portugal allowed no freedom to the +enterprise of individuals. The result was that in Portugal itself, in +the East, and in Brazil, initiative was destroyed, and the brilliant +energy which this gallant little nation had displayed evaporated within +a century. It was finally destroyed when, in 1580, Portugal and her +empire fell under the dominion of Spain, and under all the reactionary +influences of the government of Philip II. By the time this heavy yoke +was shaken off, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the +Portuguese dominion had fallen into decay. To-day nothing of it remains +save 'spheres of influence' on the western and eastern coasts of +Africa, two or three ports on the coast of India, the Azores, and the +island of Magao off the coast of China. +</P> + +<P> +The Spanish dominion in Central and South America was of a different +character. When once they had realised that it was not a new route to +Asia, but a new world, that Columbus had discovered for them, the +Spaniards sought no longer mainly for the riches to be derived from +traffic, but for the precious metals, which they unhappily discovered +in slight quantities in Hispaniola, but in immense abundance in Mexico +and Peru. It is impossible to exaggerate the heroic valour and daring +of Cortez, Pizarro, Hernando de Soto, Orellana, and the rest of the +conquistadores who carved out in a single generation the vast Spanish +empire in Central and South America; but it is equally impossible to +exaggerate their cruelty, which was born in part of the fact that they +were a handful among myriads, in part of the fierce traditions of +crusading warfare against the infidel. Yet without undervaluing their +daring, it must be recognised that they had a comparatively easy task +in conquering the peoples of these tropical lands. In the greater +islands of the West Indies they found a gentle and yielding people, who +rapidly died out under the forced labour of the mines and plantations, +and had to be replaced by negro slave-labour imported from Africa. In +Mexico and Peru they found civilisations which on the material side +were developed to a comparatively high point, and which collapsed +suddenly when their governments and capitals had been overthrown; while +their peoples, habituated to slavery, readily submitted to a new +servitude. It must be recognised, to the honour of the government of +Charles V. and his successors, that they honestly attempted to +safeguard the usages and possessions of the conquered peoples, and to +protect them in some degree against the exploitation of their +conquerors. But it was the protection of a subject race doomed to the +condition of Helotage; they were protected, as the Jews were protected +by the kings of mediaeval England, because they were a valuable asset +of the crown. The policy of the Spanish government did not avail to +prevent an intermixture of the races, because the Spaniards themselves +came from a sub-tropical country, and the Mexicans and Peruvians +especially were separated from them by no impassable gulf such as +separates the negro or the Australian bushman from the white man. +Central and Southern America thus came to be peopled by a hybrid race, +speaking Spanish, large elements of which were conscious of their own +inferiority. This in itself would perhaps have been a barrier to +progress. But the concentration of attention upon the precious metals, +and the neglect of industry due to this cause and to the employment of +slave-labour, formed a further obstacle. And in addition to all, the +Spanish government, partly with a view to the execution of its native +policy, partly because it regarded the precious metals as the chief +product of these lands and wished to maintain close control over them, +and partly because centralised autocracy was carried to its highest +pitch in Spain, allowed little freedom of action to the local +governments, and almost none to the settlers. It treated the trade of +these lands as a monopoly of the home country, to be carried on under +the most rigid control. It did little or nothing to develop the natural +resources of the empire, but rather discouraged them lest they should +compete with the labours of the mine; and in what concerned the +intellectual welfare of its subjects, it limited itself, as in Spain, +to ensuring that no infection of heresy or freethought should reach any +part of its dominions. All this had a deadening effect; and the +surprising thing is, not that the Spanish Empire should have fallen +into an early decrepitude, but that it should have shown such +comparative vigour, tenacity, and power of expansion as it actually +exhibited. Not until the nineteenth century did the vast natural +resources of these regions begin to undergo any rapid development; that +is to say, not until most of the settlements had discarded the +connection with Spain; and even then, the defects bred into the people +by three centuries of reactionary and unenlightened government produced +in them an incapacity to use their newly won freedom, and condemned +these lands to a long period of anarchy. It would be too strong to say +that it would have been better had the Spaniards never come to America; +for, when all is said, they have done more than any other people, save +the British, to plant European modes of life in the non-European world. +But it is undeniable that their dominion afforded a far from happy +illustration of the working of Western civilisation in a new field, and +exercised a very unfortunate reaction upon the life of the +mother-country. +</P> + +<P> +The conquest of Portugal and her empire by Philip II., in 1580, turned +Spain into a Colossus bestriding the world, and it was inevitable that +this world-dominion should be challenged by the other European states +which faced upon the Atlantic. The challenge was taken up by three +nations, the English, the French, and the Dutch, all the more readily +because the very existence of all three and the religion of two of them +were threatened by the apparently overwhelming strength of Spain in +Europe. As in so many later instances, the European conflict was +inevitably extended to the non-European world. From the middle of the +sixteenth century onwards these three peoples attempted, with +increasing daring, to circumvent or to undermine the Spanish power, and +to invade the sources of the wealth which made it dangerous to them; +but the attempt, so far as it was made on the seas and beyond them, was +in the main, and for a long time, due to the spontaneous energies of +volunteers, not to the action of governments. Francis I. of France sent +out the Venetian Verazzano to explore the American shores of the North +Atlantic, as Henry VII. of England had earlier sent the Genoese Cabots. +But nothing came of these official enterprises. More effective were the +pirate adventurers who preyed upon the commerce between Spain and her +possessions in the Netherlands as it passed through the Narrow Seas, +running the gauntlet of English, French, and Dutch. More effective +still were the attempts to find new routes to the East, not barred by +the Spanish dominions, by a north-east or a north-west passage; for +some of the earlier of these adventures led to fruitful unintended +consequences, as when the Englishman Chancellor, seeking for a +north-east passage, found the route to Archangel and opened up a trade +with Russia, or as when the Frenchman Cartier, seeking for a north-west +passage, hit upon the great estuary of the St. Lawrence, and marked out +a claim for France to the possession of the area which it drained. Most +effective of all were the smuggling and piratical raids into the +reserved waters of West Africa and the West Indies, and later into the +innermost penetralia of the Pacific Ocean, which were undertaken with +rapidly increasing boldness by the navigators of all three nations, but +above all by the English. Drake is the supreme exponent of these +methods; and his career illustrates in the clearest fashion the steady +diminution of Spanish prestige under these attacks, and the growing +boldness and maritime skill of its attackers. +</P> + +<P> +From the time of Drake's voyage round the world (1577) and its +insulting defiance of the Spanish power on the west coast of South +America, it became plain that the maintenance of Spanish monopoly could +not last much longer. It came to its end, finally and unmistakably, in +the defeat of the Grand Armada. That supreme victory threw the ocean +roads of trade open, not to the English only, but to the sailors of all +nations. In its first great triumph the English navy had established +the Freedom of the Seas, of which it has ever since been the chief +defender. Since 1588 no power has dreamt of claiming the exclusive +right of traversing any of the open seas of the world, as until that +date Spain and Portugal had claimed the exclusive right of using the +South Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. +</P> + +<P> +So ends the first period in the imperial expansion of the Western +peoples, the period of Spanish and Portuguese monopoly. Meanwhile, +unnoticed in the West, a remarkable eastward expansion was being +effected by the Russian people. By insensible stages they had passed +the unreal barrier between Europe and Asia, and spread themselves +thinly over the vast spaces of Siberia, subduing and assimilating the +few and scattered tribes whom they met; by the end of the seventeenth +century they had already reached the Pacific Ocean. It was a conquest +marked by no great struggles or victories, an insensible permeation of +half a continent. This process was made the easier for the Russians, +because in their own stock were blended elements of the Mongol race +which they found scattered over Siberia: they were only reversing the +process which Genghis Khan had so easily accomplished in the thirteenth +century. And as the Russians had scarcely yet begun to be affected by +Western civilisation, there was no great cleavage or contrast between +them and their new subjects, and the process of assimilation took place +easily. But the settlement of Siberia was very gradual. At the +beginning of the eighteenth century the total population of this vast +area amounted to not more than 300,000 souls, and it was not until the +nineteenth century that there was any rapid increase. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RIVALRY OF THE DUTCH, THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH, 1588-1763 +</H3> + +<P> +The second period of European imperialism was filled with the rivalries +of the three nations which had in different degrees contributed to the +breakdown of the Spanish monopoly, the Dutch, the French, and the +English; and we have next to inquire how far, and why, these peoples +were more successful than the Spaniards in planting in the non-European +world the essentials of European civilisation. The long era of their +rivalry extended from 1588 to 1763, and it can be most conveniently +divided into three sections. The first of these extended from 1588 to +about 1660, and may be called the period of experiment and settlement; +during its course the leadership fell to the Dutch. The second extended +from 1660 to 1713, and may be called the period of systematic colonial +policy, and of growing rivalry between France and England. The third, +from 1713 to 1763, was dominated by the intense rivalry of these two +countries, decadent Spain joining in the conflict on the side of +France, while the declining power of the Dutch was on the whole ranged +on the side of Britain; and it ended with the complete ascendancy of +Britain, supreme at once in the West and in the East. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap03a"></A> +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +(a) The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660 +</H4> + +<P> +The special interest of the first half of the seventeenth century is +that in the trading and colonial experiments of this period the +character of the work which was to be done by the three new candidates +for extra-European empire was already very clearly and instructively +displayed. They met as rivals in every field: in the archipelago of the +West Indies, and the closely connected slaving establishments of West +Africa, in the almost empty lands of North America, and in the trading +enterprises of the far East; and everywhere a difference of spirit and +method appeared. +</P> + +<P> +The Dutch, who made a far more systematic and more immediately +profitable use of the opportunity than either of their rivals, regarded +the whole enterprise as a great national commercial venture. It was +conducted by two powerful trading corporations, the Company of the East +Indies and the Company of the West Indies; but though directed by the +merchants of Amsterdam, these were genuinely national enterprises; +their shareholders were drawn from every province and every class; and +they were backed by all the influence which the States-General of the +United Provinces—controlled during this period mainly by the +commercial interest—was able to wield. +</P> + +<P> +The Company of the East Indies was the richer and the more powerful of +the two, because the trade of the Far East was beyond comparison the +most lucrative in the world. Aiming straight at the source of the +greatest profits—the trade in spices—the Dutch strove to establish a +monopoly control over the Spice Islands and, in general, over the Malay +Archipelago; and they were so successful that their influence remains +to-day predominant in this region. Their first task was to overthrow +the ascendancy of the Portuguese, and in this they were willing to +co-operate with the English traders. But the bulk of the work was done +by the Dutch, for the English East India Company was poor in comparison +with the Dutch, was far less efficiently organised, and, in especial, +could not count upon the steady support of the national government. It +was mainly the Dutch who built forts and organised factories, because +they alone had sufficient capital to maintain heavy standing charges. +Not unnaturally they did not see why the English should reap any part +of the advantage of their work, and set themselves to establish a +monopoly. In the end the English were driven out with violence. After +the Massacre of Amboyna (1623) their traders disappeared from these +seas, and the Dutch supremacy remained unchallenged until the +nineteenth century. +</P> + +<P> +It was a quite intolerant commercial monopoly which they had +instituted, but from the commercial point of view it was administered +with great intelligence. Commercial control brought in its train +territorial sovereignty, over Java and many of the neighbouring +islands; and this sovereignty was exercised by the directors of the +company primarily with a view to trade interests. It was a trade +despotism, but a trade despotism wisely administered, which gave +justice and order to its native subjects. On the mainland of India the +Dutch never attained a comparable degree of power, because the native +states were strong enough to hold them in check. But in this period +their factories were more numerous and more prosperous than those of +the English, their chief rivals; and over the island of Ceylon they +established an ascendancy almost as complete as that which they had +created in the archipelago. +</P> + +<P> +They were intelligent enough also to see the importance of good +calling-stations on the route to the East. For this purpose they +planted a settlement in Mauritius, and another at the Cape of Good +Hope. But these settlements were never regarded as colonies. They were +stations belonging to a trading company; they remained under its +complete control, and were allowed no freedom of development, still +less any semblance of self-government. If Cape Colony grew into a +genuine colony, or offshoot of the mother-country, it was in spite of +the company, not by reason of its encouragement, and from first to last +the company's relations with the settlers were of the most unhappy +kind. For the company would do nothing at the Cape that was not +necessary for the Eastern trade, which was its supreme interest, and +the colonists naturally did not take the same view. It was this +concentration upon purely commercial aims which also prevented the +Dutch from making any use of the superb field for European settlement +opened up by the enterprise of their explorers in Australia and New +Zealand. These fair lands were left unpeopled, largely because they +promised no immediate trade profits. +</P> + +<P> +In the West the enterprises of the Dutch were only less vigorous than +in the East, and they were marked by the same feature of an intense +concentration upon the purely commercial aspect. While the English and +(still more) the French adventurers made use of the lesser West Indian +islands, unoccupied by Spain, as bases for piratical attacks upon the +Spanish trade, the Dutch, with a shrewd instinct, early deserted this +purely destructive game for the more lucrative business of carrying on +a smuggling trade with the Spanish mainland; and the islands which they +acquired (such as Curayoa) were, unlike the French and English islands, +especially well placed for this purpose. They established a sugar +colony in Guiana. But their main venture in this region was the +conquest of a large part of Northern Brazil from the Portuguese (1624); +and here their exploitation was so merciless, under the direction of +the Company of the West Indies, that the inhabitants, though they had +been dissatisfied with the Portuguese government, and had at first +welcomed the Dutch conquerors, soon revolted against them, and after +twenty years drove them out. +</P> + +<P> +On the mainland of North America the Dutch planted a single colony—the +New Netherlands, with its capital at New Amsterdam, later New York. +Their commercial instinct had once more guided them wisely. They had +found the natural centre for the trade of North America; for by way of +the river Hudson and its affluent, the Mohawk, New York commands the +only clear path through the mountain belt which everywhere shuts off +the Atlantic coast region from the central plain of America. Founded +and controlled by the Company of the West Indies, this settlement was +intended to be, not primarily the home of a branch of the Dutch nation +beyond the seas, but a trading-station for collecting the furs and +other products of the inland regions. At Orange (Albany), which stands +at the junction of the Mohawk and the Hudson, the Dutch traders +collected the furs brought in by Indian trappers from west and north; +New Amsterdam was the port of export; and if settlers were encouraged, +it was only that they might supply the men and the means and the food +for carrying on this traffic. The Company of the West Indies +administered the colony purely from this point of view. No powers of +self-government were allowed to the settlers; and, as in Cape Colony, +the relations between the colonists and the governing company were +never satisfactory, because the colonists felt that their interests +were wholly subordinated. +</P> + +<P> +The distinguishing feature of French imperial activity during this +period was its dependence upon the support and direction of the home +government, which was the natural result of the highly centralised +regime established in France during the modern era. Only in one +direction was French activity successfully maintained by private +enterprise, and this was in the not very reputable field of West Indian +buccaneering, in which the French were even more active than their +principal rivals and comrades, the English. The word 'buccaneer' itself +comes from the French: boucan means the wood-fire at which the pirates +dried and smoked their meat, and these fires, blazing on deserted +islands, must often have warned merchant vessels to avoid an +ever-present danger. The island of Tortuga, which commands the passage +between Cuba and Hispaniola through which the bulk of the Spanish +traffic passed on its way from Mexico to Europe, was the most important +of the buccaneering bases, and although it was at first used by the +buccaneers of all nations, it soon became a purely French possession, +as did, later, the adjoining portion of the island of Hispaniola (San +Domingo). The French did, indeed, like the English, plant sugar +colonies in some of the lesser Antilles; but during the first half of +the seventeenth century they attained no great prosperity. +</P> + +<P> +For the greater enterprises of trade in the East and colonisation in +the West, the French relied almost wholly upon government assistance, +and although both Henry IV. in the first years of the century, and +Richelieu in its second quarter, were anxious to give what help they +could, internal dissensions were of such frequent occurrence in France +during this period that no systematic or continuous governmental aid +was available. Hence the French enterprises both in the East and in the +West were on a small scale, and achieved little success. The French +East India Company was all but extinct when Colbert took it in hand in +1664; it was never able to compete with its Dutch or even its English +rival. +</P> + +<P> +But the period saw the establishment of two French colonies in North +America: Acadia (Nova Scotia) on the coast, and Canada, with Quebec as +its centre, in the St. Lawrence valley, separated from one another on +land by an almost impassable barrier of forest and mountain. These two +colonies were founded, the first in 1605 and the second in 1608, almost +at the same moment as the first English settlement on the American +continent. They had a hard struggle during the first fifty years of +their existence; for the number of settlers was very small, the soil +was barren, the climate severe, and the Red Indians, especially the +ferocious Iroquois towards the south, were far more formidable enemies +than those who bordered on the English colonies. +</P> + +<P> +There is no part of the history of European colonisation more full of +romance and of heroism than the early history of French Canada; an +incomparable atmosphere of gallantry and devotion seems to overhang it. +From the first, despite their small numbers and their difficulties, +these settlers showed a daring in exploration which was only equalled +by the Spaniards, and to which there is no parallel in the records of +the English colonies. At the very outset the great explorer Champlain +mapped out the greater part of the Great Lakes, and thus reached +farther into the continent than any Englishman before the end of the +eighteenth century; and although this is partly explained by the fact +that the St. Lawrence and the lakes afforded an easy approach to the +interior, while farther south the forest-clad ranges of the Alleghanies +constituted a very serious barrier, this does not diminish the French +pre-eminence in exploration. Nor can anything in the history of +European colonisation surpass the heroism of the French missionaries +among the Indians, who faced and endured incredible tortures in order +to bring Christianity to the barbarians. No serious missionary +enterprise was ever undertaken by the English colonists; this +difference was in part due to the fact that the missionary aim was +definitely encouraged by the home government in France. From the +outset, then, poverty, paucity of numbers, gallantry, and missionary +zeal formed marked features of the French North American colonies. +</P> + +<P> +In other respects they very clearly reproduced some of the features of +the motherland. Their organisation was strictly feudal in character. +The real unit of settlement and government was the seigneurie, an +estate owned by a Frenchman of birth, and cultivated by his vassals, +who found refuge from an Indian raid, or other danger, in the stockaded +house which took the place of a chateau, much as their remote ancestors +had taken refuge from the raids of the Northmen in the castles of their +seigneur's ancestors. And over this feudal society was set, as in +France, a highly centralised government wielding despotic power, and in +its turn absolutely subject to the mandate of the Crown at home. This +despotic government had the right to require the services of all its +subjects in case of need; and it was only the centralised government of +the colony, and the warlike and adventurous character of its small +feudalised society, which enabled it to hold its own for so long +against the superior numbers but laxer organisation of its English +neighbours. A despotic central power, a feudal organisation, and an +entire dependence upon the will of the King of France and upon his +support, form, therefore, the second group of characteristics which +marked the French colonies. They were colonies in the strictest sense, +all the more because they reproduced the main features of the home +system. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could have differed more profoundly from this system than the +methods which the English were contemporaneously applying, without plan +or clearly defined aim, and guided only by immediate practical needs, +and by the rooted traditions of a self-governing people. Their +enterprises received from the home government little direct assistance, +but they throve better without it; and if there was little assistance, +there was also little interference. In the East the English East India +Company had to yield to the Dutch the monopoly of the Malayan trade, +and bitterly complained of the lack of government support; but it +succeeded in establishing several modest factories on the coast of +India, and was on the whole prosperous. But it was in the West that the +distinctive work of the English was achieved during this period, by the +establishment of a series of colonies unlike any other European +settlements which had yet been instituted. Their distinctive feature +was self-government, to which they owed their steadily increasing +prosperity. No other European colonies were thus managed on the +principle of autonomy. Indeed, these English settlements were in 1650 +the only self-governing lands in the world, apart from England herself, +the United Provinces, and Switzerland. +</P> + +<P> +The first English colony, Virginia, was planted in 1608 by a trading +company organised for the purpose, whose subscribers included nearly +all the London City Companies, and about seven hundred private +individuals of all ranks. Their motives were partly political ('to put +a bit in the ancient enemy's (Spain's) mouth'), and partly commercial, +for they hoped to find gold, and to render England independent of the +marine supplies which came from the Baltic. But profit was not their +sole aim; they were moved also by the desire to plant a new England +beyond the seas. They made, in fact, no profits; but they did create a +branch of the English stock, and the young squires' and yeomen's sons +who formed the backbone of the colony showed themselves to be +Englishmen by their unwillingness to submit to an uncontrolled +direction of their affairs. In 1619, acting on instructions received +from England, the company's governor summoned an assembly of +representatives, one from each township, to consult on the needs of the +colony. This was the first representative body that had ever existed +outside Europe, and it indicated what was to be the character of +English colonisation. Henceforth the normal English method of governing +a colony was through a governor and an executive council appointed by +the Crown or its delegate, and a representative assembly, which wielded +full control over local legislation and taxation. 'Our present +happiness,' said the Virginian Assembly in 1640, 'is exemplified by the +freedom of annual assemblies and by legal trials by juries in all civil +and criminal causes.' +</P> + +<P> +The second group of English colonies, those of New England, far to the +north of Virginia, reproduced in an intensified form this note of +self-government. Founded in the years following 1620, these settlements +were the outcome of Puritan discontents in England. The commercial +motive was altogether subsidiary in their establishment; they existed +in order that the doctrine and discipline of Puritanism might find a +home where its ascendancy would be secure. It was indeed under the +guise of a commercial company that the chief of these settlements was +made, but the company was organised as a means of safe-guarding the +colonists from Crown interference, and at an early date its +headquarters were transferred to New England itself. Far from desiring +to restrict this freedom, the Crown up to a point encouraged it. +Winthrop, one of the leading colonists, tells us that he had learnt +from members of the Privy Council 'that his Majesty did not intend to +impose the ceremonies of the Church of England upon us; for that it was +considered that it was the freedom from such things that made people +come over to us.' The contrast between this licence and the rigid +orthodoxy enforced upon French Canada or Spanish America is very +instructive. It meant that the New World, so far as it was controlled +by England, was to be open as a place of refuge for those who disliked +the restrictions thought necessary at home. The same note is to be +found in the colony of Maryland, planted by the Roman Catholic Lord +Baltimore in 1632, largely as a place of refuge for his +co-religionists. He was encouraged by the government of Charles I. in +this idea, and the second Lord Baltimore reports that his father 'had +absolute liberty to carry over any from his Majesty's Dominions willing +to go. But he found very few but such as ... could not conform to the +laws of England relating to religion. These declared themselves willing +to plant in this province, if they might have a general toleration +settled by law.' Maryland, therefore, became the first place in the +world of Western civilisation in which full religious toleration was +allowed; for the aim of the New Englanders was not religious freedom, +but a free field for the rigid enforcement of their own shade of +orthodoxy. +</P> + +<P> +Thus, in these first English settlements, the deliberate encouragement +of varieties of type was from the outset a distinguishing note, and the +home authorities neither desired nor attempted to impose a strict +uniformity with the rules and methods existing in England. There was as +great a variety in social and economic organisation as in religious +beliefs between the aristocratic planter colonies of the south and the +democratic agricultural settlements of New England. In one thing only +was there uniformity: every settlement possessed self-governing +institutions, and prized them beyond all other privileges. None, +indeed, carried self-government to so great an extent as the New +Englanders. They came out organised as religious congregations, in +which every member possessed equal rights, and they took the +congregational system as the basis of their local government, and +church membership as the test of citizenship; nor did any other +colonies attain the right, long exercised by the New Englanders, of +electing their own governors. But there was no English settlement, not +even the little slave-worked plantations in the West Indian islands, +like Barbados, which did not set up, as a matter of course, a +representative body to deal with problems of legislation and taxation, +and the home government never dreamt of interfering with this practice. +Already in 1650, the English empire was sharply differentiated from the +Spanish, the Dutch, and the French empires by the fact that it +consisted of a scattered group of self-governing communities, varying +widely in type, but united especially by the common possession of free +institutions, and thriving very largely because these institutions +enabled local needs to be duly considered and attracted settlers of +many types. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap03b"></A> +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +(b) The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713 +</H4> + +<P> +The second half of the seventeenth century was a period of systematic +imperial policy on the part of both England and France; for both +countries now realised that in the profitable field of commerce, at any +rate, the Dutch had won a great advantage over them. +</P> + +<P> +France, after many internal troubles and many foreign wars, had at last +achieved, under the government of Louis XIV., the boon of firmly +established order. She was now beyond all rivalry the greatest of the +European states, and her king and his great finance minister, Colbert, +resolved to win for her also supremacy in trade and colonisation. But +this was to be done absolutely under the control and direction of the +central government. Until the establishment of the German Empire, there +has never been so marked an instance of the centralised organisation of +the whole national activity as France presented in this period. The +French East India Company was revived under government direction, and +began for the first time to be a serious competitor for Indian trade. +An attempt was made to conquer Madagascar as a useful base for Eastern +enterprises. The sugar industry in the French West Indian islands was +scientifically encouraged and developed, though the full results of +this work were not apparent until the next century. France began to +take an active share in the West African trade in slaves and other +commodities. In Canada a new era of prosperity began; the population +was rapidly increased by the dispatch of carefully selected parties of +emigrants, and the French activity in missionary work and in +exploration became bolder than ever. Pere Marquette and the Sieur de la +Salle traced out the courses of the Ohio and the Mississippi; French +trading-stations began to arise among the scattered Indian tribes who +alone occupied the vast central plain; and a strong French claim was +established to the possession of this vital area, which was not only +the most valuable part of the American continent, but would have shut +off the English coastal settlements from any possibility of westward +expansion. These remarkable explorations led, in 1717, to the +foundation of New Orleans at the mouth of the great river, and the +organisation of the colony of Louisiana. But the whole of the intense +and systematic imperial activity of the French during this period +depended upon the support and direction of government; and when Colbert +died in 1683, and soon afterwards all the resources of France were +strained by the pressure of two great European wars, the rapid +development which Colbert's zeal had brought about was checked for a +generation. Centralised administration may produce remarkable immediate +results, but it does not encourage natural and steady growth. Meanwhile +the English had awakened to the fact that England had, almost by a +series of accidents, become the centre of an empire, and to the +necessity of giving to this empire some sort of systematic +organisation. It was the statesmen of the Commonwealth who first began +to grope after an imperial system. The aspect of the situation which +most impressed them was that the enterprising Dutch were reaping most +of the trading profits which arose from the creation of the English +colonies: it was said that ten Dutch ships called at Barbados for every +English ship. To deal with this they passed the Navigation Act of 1651, +which provided that the trade of England and the colonies should be +carried only in English or colonial ships. They thus gave a logical +expression to the policy of imperial trade monopoly which had been in +the minds of those who were interested in colonial questions from the +outset; and they also opened a period of acute trade rivalry and war +with the Dutch. The first of the Dutch wars, which was waged by the +Commonwealth, was a very even struggle, but it secured the success of +the Navigation Act. Cromwell, though he hastened to make peace with the +Dutch, was a still stronger imperialist than his parliamentary +predecessors; he may justly be described as the first of the Jingoes. +He demanded compensation from the Dutch for the half-forgotten outrage +of Amboyna in 1623. He made a quite unprovoked attack upon the Spanish +island of Hispaniola, and though he failed to conquer it, gained a +compensation in the seizure of Jamaica (1655). And he insisted upon the +obedience of the colonies to the home government with a severity never +earlier shown. With him imperial aims may be said to have become, for +the first time, one of the ruling ends of the English government. +</P> + +<P> +But it was the reign of Charles II. which saw the definite organisation +of a clearly conceived imperial policy; in the history of English +imperialism there are few periods more important. The chief statesmen +and courtiers of the reign, Prince Rupert, Clarendon, Shaftesbury, +Albemarle, were all enthusiasts for the imperial idea. They had a +special committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations,[4] +and appointed John Locke, the ablest political thinker of the age, to +be its secretary. They pushed home the struggle against the maritime +ascendancy of the Dutch, and fought two Dutch wars; and though the +history-books, influenced by the Whig prejudice against Charles II., +always treat these wars as humiliating and disgraceful, while they +treat the Dutch war of the Commonwealth as just and glorious, the plain +fact is that the first Dutch war of Charles II. led to the conquest of +the Dutch North American colony of the New Netherlands (1667), and so +bridged the gap between the New England and the southern colonies. They +engaged in systematic colonisation, founding the new colony of Carolina +to the south of Virginia, while out of their Dutch conquests they +organised the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware; and the +end of the reign saw the establishment of the interesting and admirably +managed Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. They started the Hudson Bay +Company, which engaged in the trade in furs to the north of the French +colonies. They systematically encouraged the East India Company, which +now began to be more prosperous than at any earlier period, and +obtained in Bombay its first territorial possession in India. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[4] It was not till 1696, however, that this Board became permanent. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +More important, they worked out a new colonial policy, which was to +remain, in its main features, the accepted British policy down to the +loss of the American colonies in 1782. The theory at the base of this +policy was that while the mother-country must be responsible for the +defence of all the scattered settlements, which in their weakness were +exposed to attack from many sides, in she might reasonably expect to be +put in possession of definite trade advantages. Hence the Navigation +Act of 1660 provided not only that inter-imperial trade should be +carried in English or colonial vessels, but that certain 'enumerated +articles,' including some of the most important colonial products, +should be sent only to England, so that English merchants should have +the profits of selling them to other countries, and the English +government the proceeds of duties upon them; and another Act provided +that imports to the colonies should only come from, or through, +England. In other words, England was to be the commercial entrepot of +the whole empire; and the regulation of imperial trade as a whole was +to belong to the English government and parliament. To the English +government also must necessarily fall the conduct of the relations of +the empire as a whole with other powers. This commercial system was +not, however, purely one-sided. If the colonies were to send their +chief products only to England, they were at the same time to have a +monopoly, or a marked advantage, in English markets. Tobacco-growing +had been for a time a promising industry in England; it was prohibited +in order that it might not compete with the colonial product; and +differential duties were levied on the competing products of other +countries and their colonies. In short, the new policy was one of +Imperial Preference; it aimed at turning the empire into an economic +unit, of which England should be the administrative and distributing +centre. So far the English policy did not differ in kind from the +contemporary colonial policy of other countries, though it left to the +colonies a greater freedom of trade (for example, in the +'non-enumerated articles') than was ever allowed by Spain or France, or +by the two great trading companies which controlled the foreign +possessions of Holland. +</P> + +<P> +But there is one respect in which the authors of this system differed +very widely from the colonial statesmen of other countries. Though they +were anxious to organise and consolidate the empire on the basis of a +trade system, they had no desire or intention of altering its +self-governing character, or of discouraging the growth of a healthy +diversity of type and method. Every one of the new colonies of this +period was provided with the accustomed machinery of representative +government: in the case of Carolina, the philosopher, John Locke, was +invited to draw up a model constitution, and although his scheme was +quite unworkable, the fact that he was asked to make it affords a +striking proof of the seriousness with which the problems of colonial +government were regarded. In several of the West Indian settlements +self-governing institutions were organised during these years. In the +Frame of Government which Penn set forth on the foundation of +Pennsylvania, in 1682, he laid it down that 'any government is free +where the laws rule, and where the people are a party to these rules,' +and on this basis proceeded to organise his system. According to this +definition all the English colonies were free, and they were almost the +only free communities in the world. And though it is true that there +was an almost unceasing conflict between the government and the New +England colonies, no one who studies the story of these quarrels can +fail to see that the demands of the New Englanders were often +unreasonable and inconsistent with the maintenance of imperial unity, +while the home government was extremely patient and moderate. Above +all, almost the most marked feature of the colonial policy of Charles +II. was the uniform insistence upon complete religious toleration in +the colonies. Every new charter contained a clause securing this vital +condition. +</P> + +<P> +It has long been our habit to condemn the old colonial system as it was +defined in this period, and to attribute to it the disruption of the +empire in the eighteenth century. But the judgment is not a fair one; +it is due to those Whig prejudices by which so much of the modern +history of England has been distorted. The colonial policy of +Shaftesbury and his colleagues was incomparably more enlightened than +that of any contemporary government. It was an interesting +experiment—the first, perhaps, in modern history—in the +reconciliation of unity and freedom. And it was undeniably successful: +under it the English colonies grew and throve in a very striking way. +Everything, indeed, goes to show that this system was well designed for +the needs of a group of colonies which were still in a state of +weakness, still gravely under-peopled and undeveloped. Evil results +only began to show themselves in the next age, when the colonies were +growing stronger and more independent, and when the self-complacent +Whigs, instead of revising the system to meet new conditions, actually +enlarged and emphasised its most objectionable features. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap03c"></A> +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +(c) The Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763 +</H4> + +<P> +While France and England were defining and developing their sharply +contrasted imperial systems, the Dutch had fallen into the background, +content with the rich dominion which they had already acquired; and the +Spanish and Portuguese empires had both fallen into stagnation. New +competitors, indeed, now began to press into the field: the wildly +exaggerated notions of the wealth to be made from colonial ventures +which led to the frenzied speculations of the early eighteenth century, +John Law's schemes, and the South Sea Bubble, induced other powers to +try to obtain a share of this wealth; and Austria, Brandenburg, and +Denmark made fitful endeavours to become colonising powers. But the +enterprises of these states were never of serious importance. The +future of the non-European world seemed to depend mainly upon France +and England; and it was yet to be determined which of the two systems, +centralised autocracy enforcing uniformity, or self-government +encouraging variety of type, would prove the more successful and would +play the greater part. Two bodies of ideas so sharply contrasted were +bound to come into conflict. In the two great wars between England and +Louis XIV. (1688-1713), though the questions at issue were primarily +European, the conflict inevitably spread to the colonial field; and in +the result France was forced to cede in 1713 the province of Acadia +(which had twice before been in English hands), the vast basin of +Hudson's Bay, and the island of Newfoundland, to which the fishermen of +both nations had resorted, though the English had always claimed it. +But these were only preliminaries, and the main conflict was fought out +during the half-century following the Peace of Utrecht, 1713-63. +</P> + +<P> +During this half-century Britain was under the rule of the Whig +oligarchy, which had no clearly conceived ideas on imperial policy. +Under the influence of the mercantile class the Whigs increased the +severity of the restrictions on colonial trade, and prohibited the rise +of industries likely to compete with those of the mother-country. But +under the influence of laziness and timidity, and of the desire quieta +non movere, they made no attempt seriously to enforce either the new or +the old restrictions, and in these circumstances smuggling trade +between the New England colonies and the French West Indies, in +defiance of the Navigation Act and its companions, grew to such +dimensions that any serious interference with it would be felt as a +real grievance. The Whigs and their friends later took credit for their +neglect. George Grenville, they said, lost the colonies because he read +the American dispatches; he would have done much better to leave the +dispatches and the colonies alone. But this is a damning apology. If +the old colonial system, whose severity, on paper, the Whigs had +greatly increased, was no longer workable, it should have been revised; +but no Whig showed any sign of a sense that change was necessary. Yet +the prevalence of smuggling was not the only proof of the need for +change. There was during the period a long succession of disputes +between colonial governors and their assemblies, which showed that the +restrictions upon their political freedom, as well as those upon their +economic freedom, were beginning to irk the colonists; and that +self-government was following its universal and inevitable course, and +demanding its own fulfilment. But the Whigs made no sort of attempt to +consider the question whether the self-government of the colonies could +be increased without impairing the unity of the empire. The single +device of their statesmanship was—not to read the dispatches. And, in +the meanwhile, no evil results followed, because the loyalty of the +colonists was ensured by the imminence of the French danger. The +mother-country was still responsible for the provision of defence, +though she was largely cheated of the commercial advantages which were +to have been its recompense. +</P> + +<P> +After 1713 there was a comparatively long interval of peace between +Britain and France, but it was occupied by an acute commercial rivalry, +in which, on the whole, the French seemed to be getting the upper hand. +Their sugar islands in the West Indies were more productive than the +British; their traders were rapidly increasing their hold over the +central plain of North America, to the alarm of the British colonists; +their intrigues kept alive a perpetual unrest in the recently conquered +province of Acadia; and away in India, under the spirited direction of +Francois Dupleix, their East India Company became a more formidable +competitor for the Indian trade than it had hitherto been. Hence the +imperial problem presented itself to the statesmen of that generation +as a problem of power rather than as a problem of organisation; and the +intense rivalry with France dwarfed and obscured the need for a +reconsideration of colonial relations. At length this rivalry flamed +out into two wars. The first of these was fought, on both sides, in a +strangely half-hearted and lackadaisical way. But in the second (the +Seven Years' War, 1756-63) the British cause, after two years of +disaster, fell under the confident and daring leadership of Pitt, which +brought a series of unexampled successes. The French flag was almost +swept from the seas. The French settlements in Canada were overrun and +conquered. With the fall of Quebec it was determined that the system of +self-government, and not that of autocracy, should control the +destinies of the North American continent; and Britain emerged in 1763 +the supreme colonial power of the world. The problem of power had been +settled in her favour; but the problem of organisation remained +unsolved. It emerged in an acute and menacing form as soon as the war +was over. +</P> + +<P> +During the course of these two wars, and in the interval between them, +an extraordinary series of events had opened a new scene for the +rivalry of the two great imperial powers, and a new world began to be +exposed to the influence of the political ideas of Europe. The vast and +populous land of India, where the Europeans had hitherto been content +to play the part of modest traders, under the protection and control of +great native rulers, had suddenly been displayed as a field for the +imperial ambitions of the European peoples. Ever since the first +appearance of the Dutch, the English, and the French in these regions, +Northern India had formed a consolidated empire ruled from Delhi by the +great Mogul dynasty; the shadow of its power was also cast over the +lesser princes of Southern India. But after 1709, and still more after +1739, the Mogul Empire collapsed, and the whole of India, north and +south, rapidly fell into a condition of complete anarchy. A multitude +of petty rulers, nominal satraps of the powerless Mogul, roving +adventurers, or bands of Mahratta raiders, put an end to all order and +security; and to protect themselves and maintain their trade the +European traders must needs enlist considerable bodies of Indian +troops. It had long been proved that a comparatively small number of +troops, disciplined in the European fashion, could hold their own +against the loose and disorderly mobs who followed the standards of +Indian rulers. And it now occurred to the ambitious mind of the +Frenchman Dupleix that it should be possible, by the use of this +military superiority, to intervene with effect in the unceasing strife +of the Indian princes, to turn the scale on one side or the other, and +to obtain over the princes whose cause he embraced a commanding +influence, which would enable him to secure the expulsion of his +English rivals, and the establishment of a French trade monopoly based +upon political influence. +</P> + +<P> +This daring project was at first triumphantly successful. The English +had to follow suit in self-defence, but could not equal the ability of +Dupleix. In 1750 a French protege occupied the most important throne of +Southern India at Hyderabad, and was protected and kept loyal by a +force of French sepoys under the Marquis de Bussy, whose expenses were +met out of the revenues of large provinces (the Northern Sarkars) +placed under French administration; while in the Carnatic, the coastal +region where all the European traders had their south-eastern +headquarters, a second French protege had almost succeeded in crushing +his rival, whom the English company supported. But the genius of Clive +reversed the situation with dramatic swiftness; the French authorities +at home, alarmed at these dangerous adventures, repudiated and recalled +Dupleix (1754), and the British power was left to apply the methods +which he had invented. When the Seven Years' War broke out (1756), the +French, repenting of their earlier decision, sent a substantial force +to restore their lost influence in the Carnatic, but the result was +complete failure. A British protege henceforward ruled in the Carnatic; +a British force replaced the French at Hyderabad; and the revenues of +the Northern Sarkars, formerly assigned for the maintenance of the +French force, were handed over to its successor. Meanwhile in the rich +province of Bengal a still more dramatic revolution had taken place. +Attacked by the young Nawab, Siraj-uddaula, the British traders at +Calcutta had been forced to evacuate that prosperous centre (1756). But +Clive, coming up with a fleet and an army from Madras, applied the +lessons he had learnt in the Carnatic, set up a rival claimant to the +throne of Bengal, and at Plassey (1757) won for his puppet a complete +victory. From 1757 onwards the British East India Company was the real +master in Bengal, even more completely than in the Carnatic. It had +not, in either region, conquered any territory; it had only supported +successfully a claimant to the native throne. The native government, in +theory, continued as before; the company, in theory, was its subject +and vassal. But in practice these great and rich provinces lay at its +mercy, and if it did not yet choose to undertake their government, this +was only because it preferred to devote itself to its original business +of trade. +</P> + +<P> +Thus by 1763 the British power had achieved a dazzling double triumph. +It had destroyed the power of its chief rival both in the East and in +the West. It had established the supremacy of the British peoples and +of British methods of government throughout the whole continent of +North America; and it had entered, blindly and without any conception +of what the future was to bring forth, upon the path which was to lead +to dominion over the vast continent of India, and upon the tremendous +task of grafting the ideas of the West upon the East. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the outcome of the first two periods in the history of +European imperialism. It left Central and South America under the +stagnant and reactionary government of Spain and Portugal; the eastern +coast of North America under the control of groups of self-governing +Englishmen; Canada, still inhabited by Frenchmen, under British +dominance; Java and the Spice Islands, together with the small +settlement of Cape Colony, in the hands of the Dutch; a medley of +European settlements in the West Indian islands, and a string of +European factories along the coast of West Africa; and the beginning of +an anomalous British dominion established at two points on the coast of +India. But of all the European nations which had taken part in this +vast process of expansion, one alone, the British, still retained its +vitality and its expansive power. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ERA OF REVOLUTION, 1763-1825 +</H3> + +<P> +'Colonies are like fruits,' said Turgot, the eighteenth-century French +economist and statesman: 'they cling to the mother-tree only until they +are ripe.' This generalisation, which represented a view very widely +held during that and the next age, seemed to be borne out in the most +conclusive way by the events of the sixty years following the Seven +Years' War. In 1763 the French had lost almost the whole of the empire +which they had toilsomely built up during a century and a half. Within +twenty years their triumphant British rivals were forced to recognise +the independence of the American colonies, and thus lost the bulk of +what may be called the first British Empire. They still retained the +recently conquered province of French Canada, but it seemed unlikely +that the French Canadians would long be content to live under an alien +dominion: if they had not joined in the American Revolution, it was not +because they loved the British, but because they hated the Americans. +The French Revolutionary wars brought further changes. One result of +these wars was that the Dutch lost Cape Colony, Ceylon, and Java, +though Java was restored to them in 1815. A second result was that when +Napoleon made himself master of Spain in 1808, the Spanish colonies in +Central and South America ceased to be governed from the +mother-country; and having tasted the sweets of independence, and still +more, the advantages of unrestricted trade, could never again be +brought into subordination. By 1825 nothing was left of the vast +Spanish Empire save the Canaries, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine +Islands; nothing was left of the Portuguese Empire save a few decaying +posts on the coasts of Africa and India; nothing was left of the Dutch +Empire save Java and its dependencies, restored in 1815; nothing was +left of the French Empire save a few West Indian islands; and what had +been the British American colonies were now the United States, a great +power declaring to Europe, through the mouth of President Monroe, that +she would resist any attempt of the European powers to restore the old +regime in South America. It appeared that the political control of +European states over non-European regions must be short-lived and full +of trouble; and that the influence of Europe upon the non-European +world would henceforth be exercised mainly through new independent +states imbued with European ideas. Imperial aspirations thus seemed to +that and the next generation at once futile and costly. +</P> + +<P> +Of all these colonial revolutions the most striking was that which tore +away the American colonies from Britain (1764-82); not only because it +led to the creation of one of the great powers of the world, and was to +afford the single instance which has yet arisen of a daughter-nation +outnumbering its mother-country, but still more because it seemed to +prove that not even the grant of extensive powers of self-government +would secure the permanent loyalty of colonies. Indeed, from the +standpoint of Realpolitik, it might be argued that in the case of +America self-government was shown to be a dangerous gift; for the +American colonies, which alone among European settlements had obtained +this supreme endowment, were the first, and indeed the only, European +settlements to throw off deliberately their connection with the +mother-country. France and Holland lost their colonies by war, and even +the Spanish colonies would probably never have thought of severing +their relations with Spain but for the anomalous conditions created by +the Napoleonic conquest. +</P> + +<P> +The American Revolution is, then, an event unique at once in its +causes, its character, and its consequences; and it throws a most +important illumination upon some of the problems of imperialism. It +cannot be pretended that the revolt of the colonists was due to +oppression or to serious misgovernment. The paltry taxes which were its +immediate provoking cause would have formed a quite negligible burden +upon a very prosperous population; they were to have been spent +exclusively within the colonies themselves, and would have been mainly +used to meet a part of the cost of colonial defence, the bulk of which +was still to be borne by the mother-country. If the colonists had been +willing to suggest any other means of raising the required funds, their +suggestions would have been readily accepted. This was made plain at +several stages in the course of the discussion, but the invitation to +suggest alternative methods of raising money met with no response. The +plain fact is that Britain, already heavily loaded with debt, was +bearing practically the whole burden of colonial defence, and was much +less able than the colonies themselves to endure the strain. As for the +long-established restrictions on colonial trade, which in fact though +not in form contributed as largely as the proposals of direct taxation +to cause the revolt, they were far less severe, even if they had been +strictly enforced, than the restrictions imposed upon the trade of +other European settlements. +</P> + +<P> +It is equally misleading to attribute the blame of the revolt wholly to +George III. and the ministers by whom he was served during the critical +years. No doubt it is possible to imagine a more tactful man than +George Grenville, a more far-seeing and courageous statesman than Lord +North, a less obstinate prince than George III. himself. But it may be +doubted whether any change of men would have done more than postpone +the inevitable. The great Whig apologists who have dictated the +accepted view of British history in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries have laboured to create the impression that if only Burke, +Chatham, and Charles Fox had had the handling of the issue, the tragedy +of disruption would have been avoided. But there is no evidence that +any of these men, except perhaps Burke, appreciated the magnitude and +difficulty of the questions that had been inevitably raised in 1764, +and must have been raised whoever had been in power; or that they would +have been able to suggest a workable new scheme of colonial government +which would have met the difficulty. If they had put forward such a +scheme, it would have been wrecked on the resistance of British +opinion, which was still dominated by the theories and traditions of +the old colonial system; and even if it had overcome this obstacle, it +would very likely have been ruined by the captious and litigious spirit +to which events had given birth among the colonists, especially in New +England. +</P> + +<P> +The root of the matter was that the old colonial system, which had +suited well enough the needs of the colonies as they were when it was +devised by the statesmen of Charles II.'s reign, was no longer suitable +to their condition now that they had become great and prosperous +communities of freemen. They enjoyed self-government on a scale more +generous than any other communities in the world outside of Britain; +indeed, in one sense they enjoyed it on a more generous scale than +Britain herself, since political rights were much more widely exercised +in the colonies, owing to the natural conditions of a new and +prosperous land, than they were to be, or could be, in Britain until +nearly a century later. No direct taxation had as yet been imposed upon +them without their own consent. They made the laws by which their own +lives were regulated. They were called upon to pay no tribute to the +home government, except the very indirect levy on goods passing through +England to or from their ports, and this was nearly balanced by the +advantages which they enjoyed in the British market, and far more than +balanced by the protection afforded to them by the British fleet. They +were not even required to raise troops for the defence of their own +frontiers except of their own free will, and the main burden of +defending even their landward frontier was borne by the mother-country. +But being British they had the instinct of self-government in their +blood and bones, and they found that the control of their own affairs +was qualified or limited in two principal ways. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place, the executive and judicial officers who carried out +the laws were not appointed by them but by the Crown in England: the +colonies were not responsible for the administration of their own laws. +In the second place, the regulations by which their foreign trade was +governed were determined, not by themselves, but by the British +parliament: they were not responsible for the control of their own +traffic with the outside world. It is true that the salaries of the +executive officials and the judges depended upon their grant, and that +any governor who acted in the teeth of colonial opinion would find his +position quite untenable, so that the colonists exercised a real if +indirect control over administration. It is true also that they +accepted the general principles of the commercial system, and had +reaped great benefits from it. +</P> + +<P> +But it is the unfailing instinct of the citizens in a self-governing +community to be dissatisfied unless they feel that they have a full and +equal share in the control of their own destinies. Denied +responsibility, they are apt to become irresponsible; and when all +allowance has been made for the stupidities of governors and for the +mistakes of the home authorities, it must be recognised that the +thirteen American colonial legislatures often behaved in a very +irresponsible way, and were extremely difficult to handle. They refused +to vote fixed salaries to their judges in order to make their power +felt, simply because the judges were appointed by the Crown, although +in doing so they were dangerously undermining judicial independence. +They refused in many cases to supply anything like adequate contingents +for the war against the French and their Indian allies, partly because +each legislature was afraid of being more generous than the others, +partly because they could trust to the home government to make good +their deficiencies. Yet at the same time they did nothing to check, but +rather encouraged, the wholesale smuggling by which the trade +regulations were reduced to a nullity, though these regulations were +not only accepted in principle by themselves, but afforded the only +compensation to the mother-country for the cost of colonial defence. It +is as unscientific to blame the colonists and their legislatures for +this kind of action, as it is to blame the British statesmen for their +proposals. It was the almost inevitable result of the conditions among +a free, prosperous, and extremely self-confident people; it was, +indeed, the proof that in this young people the greatest political +ideal of western civilisation, the ideal of self-government, had taken +firm root. The denial of responsibility was producing irresponsibility; +and even if the Stamp Act and the Tea Duties had never been proposed, +this state of things was bound to lead to increasing friction. Nor must +it be forgotten that this friction was accentuated by the contrast +between the democratic conditions of colonial life, and the +aristocratic organisation of English society. +</P> + +<P> +It ought to have been obvious, long before Grenville initiated his new +policy in 1764, that the colonial system was not working well; and the +one circumstance which had prevented serious conflict was the danger +which threatened the colonists in the aggressive attitude of the French +to the north and west. Since the individual colonies refused to raise +adequate forces for their own defence, or to co-operate with one +another in a common scheme, they were dependent for their security upon +the mother-country. But as soon as the danger was removed, as it was in +1763, this reason for restraint vanished; and although the great +majority of the colonists were quite sincerely desirous of retaining +their membership of the British commonwealth, the conditions would +inevitably have produced a state of intensifying friction, unless the +whole colonial system had been drastically reconstructed. +</P> + +<P> +Reconstruction was therefore inevitable in 1764. The Whig policy of +simply ignoring the issue and 'not reading the dispatches' could no +longer be pursued; it was indeed largely responsible for the mischief. +George III. and Grenville deserve the credit of seeing this. But their +scheme of reconstruction not unnaturally amounted to little more than a +tightening-up of the old system. The trade laws were to be more +strictly enforced. The governors and the judges were to be made more +independent of the assemblies by being given fixed salaries. The +colonists were to bear a larger share of the cost of defence, which +fell so unfairly on the mother-country. If the necessary funds could be +raised by means approved by the colonists themselves, well and good; +but if not, then they must be raised by the authority of the imperial +parliament. For the existing system manifestly could not continue +indefinitely, and it was better to have the issue clearly raised, even +at the risk of conflict, than to go on merely drifting. +</P> + +<P> +When the colonists (without suggesting any alternative proposals) +contented themselves with repudiating the right of parliament to tax +them, and proceeded to outrageous insults to the king's authority, and +the most open defiance of the trade regulations, indignation grew in +Britain. It seemed, to the average Englishman, that the colonists +proposed to leave every public burden, even the cost of judges' +salaries, on the shoulders of the mother-country, already loaded with a +debt which had been largely incurred in defence of the colonies; but to +disregard every obligation imposed upon themselves. A system whereunder +the colony has all rights and no enforcible duties, the mother-country +all duties and no enforcible rights, obviously could not work. That was +the system which, in the view of the gentlemen of England, the +colonists were bent upon establishing; and, taking this view, they +cannot be blamed for refusing to accept such a conclusion. There was no +one, either in Britain or in America, capable of grasping the +essentials of the problem, which were that, once established, +self-government inevitably strives after its own fulfilment; that these +British settlers, in whom the British tradition of self-government had +been strengthened by the freedom of a new land, would never be content +until they enjoyed a full share in the control of their own affairs; +and that although they seemed, even to themselves, to be fighting about +legal minutiae, about the difference between internal and external +duties, about the legality of writs of assistance, and so forth, the +real issue was the deeper one of the fulfilment of self-government. +Could fully responsible self-government be reconciled with imperial +unity? Could any means be devised whereby the units in a fellowship of +free states might retain full control over their own affairs, and at +the same time effectively combine for common purposes? That was and is +the ultimate problem of British imperial organisation, as it was and is +the ultimate problem of international relations. But the problem, +though it now presented itself in a comparatively simple form, was +never fairly faced on either side of the Atlantic. For the mother and +her daughters too quickly reached the point of arguing about their +legal rights against one another, and when friends begin to argue about +their legal rights, the breach of their friendship is at hand. So the +dreary argument, which lasted for eleven years (1764-75), led to the +still more dreary war, which lasted for seven years (1775-82); and the +only family of free self-governing communities existing in the world +was broken up in bitterness. This was indeed a tragedy. For if the +great partnership of freedom could have been reorganised on conditions +that would have enabled it to hold together, the cause of liberty in +the world would have been made infinitely more secure. +</P> + +<P> +The Revolution gave to the Americans the glory of establishing the +first fully democratic system of government on a national scale that +had yet existed in the world, and of demonstrating that by the +machinery of self-government a number of distinct and jealous +communities could be united for common purposes. The new American +Commonwealth became an inspiration for eager Liberals in the old world +as well as in the new, and its successful establishment formed the +strongest of arguments for the democratic idea in all lands. Unhappily +the pride of this great achievement helped to persuade the Americans +that they were different from the rest of the world, and unaffected by +its fortunes. They were apt to think of themselves as the inventors and +monopolists of political liberty. Cut off by a vast stretch of ocean +from the Old World, and having lost that contact with its affairs which +the relation with Britain had hitherto maintained, they followed but +dimly, and without much comprehension, the obscure and complex +struggles wherein the spirit of liberty was working out a new Europe, +in the face of difficulties vastly greater than any with which the +Americans had ever had to contend. They had been alienated from +Britain, the one great free state of Europe, and had been persuaded by +their reading of their own experience that she was a tyrant-power; and +they thus found it hard to recognise her for what, with all her faults, +she genuinely was—the mother of free institutions in the modern world, +the founder and shaper of their own prized liberties. All these things +combined to persuade the great new republic that she not only might, +but ought to, stand aloof from the political problems of the rest of +the world, and take no interest in its concerns. This attitude, the +natural product of the conditions, was to last for more than a century, +and was to weaken greatly the cause of liberty in the world. +</P> + +<P> +Although the most obvious features of the half-century following the +great British triumph of 1763 were the revolt of the American colonies +and the apparently universal collapse of the imperialist ambitions of +the European nations, a more deeply impressive feature of the period +was that, in spite of the tragedy and humiliation of the great +disruption, the imperial impetus continued to work potently in Britain, +alone among the European nations; and to such effect that at the end of +the period she found herself in control of a new empire more extensive +than that which she had lost, and far more various in its character. +Having failed to solve one great imperial problem, she promptly +addressed herself to a whole series of others even more difficult, and +for these she was to find more hopeful solutions. +</P> + +<P> +When the American revolt began, the Canadian colonies to the north were +in an insecure and unorganised state. On the coast, in Nova Scotia and +Newfoundland, there was a small British population; but the riverine +colony of Canada proper, with its centre at Quebec, was still purely +French, and was ruled by martial law. Accustomed to a despotic system, +and not yet reconciled to the British supremacy, the French settlers +were obviously unready for self-government. But the Quebec Act of 1774, +by securing the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion and of +French civil law, ensured the loyalty of the French; and this Act is +also noteworthy as the first formal expression of willingness to admit +or even welcome the existence, within the hospitable limits of the +Empire, of a variety of types of civilisation. In the new British +Empire there was to be no uniformity of Kultur. +</P> + +<P> +The close of the American struggle, however, brought a new problem. +Many thousands of exiles from the revolting colonies, willing to +sacrifice everything in order to retain their British citizenship, +poured over the borders into the Canadian lands. They settled for the +first time the rich province of Ontario, greatly increased the +population of Nova Scotia, and started the settlement of New Brunswick. +To these exiles Britain felt that she owed much, and, despite her own +financial distress, expended large sums in providing them with the +means to make a good beginning in their new homes. But it was +impossible to deny these British settlers, and the emigrants from +Britain who soon began to join them, the rights of self-government, to +which they were accustomed. Their advent, however, in a hitherto French +province, raised the very difficult problem of racial relationship. +They might have been used as a means for Anglicising the earlier French +settlers and for forcing them into a British mould; it may fairly be +said that most European governments would have used them in this way, +and many of the settlers would willingly have fallen in with such a +programme. But that would have been out of accord with the genius of +the British system, which believes in freedom and variety. Accordingly, +by the Act of 1791, the purely French region of Quebec or Lower Canada +was separated from the British region of Ontario or Upper Canada, and +both districts, as well as the coastal settlements, were endowed with +self-governing institutions of the familiar pattern—an elected +assembly controlling legislation and taxation, a nominated governor and +council directing the executive. Thus within eighteen years of their +conquest the French colonists were introduced to self-government. And +within nine years of the loss of the American colonies, a new group of +self-governing American colonies had been organised. They were +sufficiently content with the system to resist with vigour and success +an American invasion in 1812. While the American controversy was +proceeding, one of the greatest of British navigators, Captain Cook, +was busy with his remarkable explorations. He was the first to survey +the archipelagoes of the Pacific; more important, he was the real +discoverer of Australia and New Zealand; for though the Dutch explorers +had found these lands more than a century earlier, they had never +troubled to complete their explorations. Thus a vast new field, +eminently suitable for European settlement, was placed at the disposal +of Britain. It was utilised with extraordinary promptitude. The loss of +the American colonies had deprived Britain of her chief dumping-ground +for convicts. In 1788, six years after the recognition of their +independence, she decided to use the new continent for this purpose, +and the penal settlement of Botany Bay began (under unfavourable +auspices) the colonisation of Australia. +</P> + +<P> +But the most important, and the most amazing, achievement of Britain in +this period was the establishment and extension of her empire in India, +and the planting within it of the first great gift of Western +civilisation, the sovereignty of a just and impartial law. This was a +novel and a very difficult task, such as no European people had yet +undertaken; and it is not surprising that there should have been a +period of bewildered misgovernment before it was achieved. That it +should have been achieved at all is one of the greatest miracles of +European imperialism. +</P> + +<P> +By 1763 the East India Company had established a controlling influence +over the Nawabs of two important regions, Bengal and the Carnatic, and +had shown, in a series of struggles, that its control was not to be +shaken off. But the company had not annexed any territory, or assumed +any responsibility for the government of these rich provinces. Its +agents in the East, who were too far from London to be effectively +controlled, enjoyed power without responsibility. They were privileged +traders, upon whom the native governments dared not impose +restrictions, and (as any body of average men would have done under +similar circumstances) they gravely abused their position to build up +huge fortunes for themselves. During the fifteen years following the +battle of Plassey (1757) there is no denying that the political power +of the British in India was a mere curse to the native population, and +led to the complete disorganisation of the already decrepit native +system of government in the provinces affected. It was vain for the +directors at home to scold their servants. There were only two ways out +of the difficulty. One was that the company should abandon India, which +was not to be expected. The other was that, possessing power, of which +it was now impossible to strip themselves, they should assume the +responsibility for its exercise, and create for their subjects a just +and efficient system of government. But the company would not see this. +They had never desired political power, but had drifted into the +possession of it in spite of themselves. They honestly disliked the +idea of establishing by force an alien domination over subject peoples, +and this feeling was yet more strongly held by the most influential +political circles in England. The company desired nothing but trade. +Their business was that of traders, and they wanted only to be left +free to mind their business. So the evils arising from power without +responsibility continued, and half-hearted attempts to amend them in +1765 and in 1769 only made the conditions worse. The events of the +years from 1757 to 1772 showed that when the superior organisation of +the West came in contact with the East, mere trading exploitation led +to even worse results than a forcibly imposed dominion; and the only +solution lay in the wise adaptation of western methods of government to +eastern conditions. +</P> + +<P> +Thus Britain found herself faced with an imperial problem of apparently +insuperable difficulty, which reached its most acute stage just at the +time when the American trouble was at its height. The British +parliament and government intervened, and in 1773 for the first time +assumed some responsibility for the affairs of the East India Company. +But they did not understand the Indian problem—how, indeed, should +they?—and their first solution was a failure. By a happy fortune, +however, the East India Company had conferred the governorship of +Bengal (1772) upon the greatest Englishman of the eighteenth century, +Warren Hastings. Hastings pensioned off the Nawab, took over direct +responsibility for the government of Bengal, and organised a system of +justice which, though far from perfect, established for the first time +the Reign of Law in an Indian realm. His firm and straightforward +dealings with the other Indian powers still further strengthened the +position of the company; and when in the midst of the American war, at +a moment when no aid could be expected from Britain, a combination of +the most formidable Indian powers, backed by a French fleet, threatened +the downfall of the company's authority, Hastings' resourceful and +inspiring leadership was equal to every emergency. He not only brought +the company with heightened prestige out of the war, but throughout its +course no hostile army was ever allowed to cross the frontiers of +Bengal. In the midst of the unceasing and desolating wars of India, the +territories under direct British rule formed an island of secure peace +and of justice. That was Hastings' supreme contribution: it was the +foundation upon which arose the fabric of the Indian Empire. Hastings +was not a great conqueror or annexer of territory; the only important +acquisition made during his regime was effected, in defiance of his +protests, by the hostile majority which for a time overrode him in his +own council, and which condemned him for ambition. His work was to make +the British rule mean security and justice in place of tyranny; and it +was because it had come to mean this that it grew, after his time, with +extraordinary rapidity. +</P> + +<P> +It was not by the desire of the directors or the home government that +it grew. They did everything in their power to check its growth, for +they shrank from any increase to their responsibilities. They even +prohibited by law all annexations, or the making of alliances with +Indian powers.[5] But fate was too strong for them. Even a governor +like Lord Cornwallis, a convinced supporter of the policy of +non-expansion and non-intervention, found himself forced into war, and +compelled to annex territories; because non-intervention was +interpreted by the Indian powers as a confession of weakness and an +invitation to attack. Non-intervention also gave openings to the +French, who, since the outbreak of the Revolution, had revived their +old Indian ambitions; and while Bonaparte was engaged in the conquest +of Egypt as a half-way house to India (1797), French agents were busy +building up a new combination of Indian powers against the company. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[5] India Act of 1784 +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This formidable coalition was about to come to a head when, in 1798, +there landed in India a second man of genius, sent by fate at the +critical moment. In five years, by an amazing series of swiftly +successful wars and brilliantly conceived treaties, the Marquess +Wellesley broke the power of every member of the hostile coalitions, +except two of the Mahratta princes. The area of British territory was +quadrupled; the most important of the Indian princes became vassals of +the company; and the Great Mogul of Delhi himself, powerless now, but +always a symbol of the over-lordship of India, passed under British +protection. When Wellesley left India in 1805, the East India Company +was already the paramount power in India south-east of the Sutlej and +the Indus. The Mahratta princes, indeed, still retained a restricted +independence, and for an interval the home authorities declined to +permit any interference with them, even though they were manifestly +giving protection to bands of armed raiders who terrorised and +devastated territories which were under British protection. But the +time came when the Mahrattas themselves broke the peace. Then their +power also was broken; and in 1818 Britain stood forth as the sovereign +ruler of India. +</P> + +<P> +This was only sixty years after the battle of Plassey had established +British influence, though not British rule, in a single province of +India; only a little over thirty years after Warren Hastings returned +to England, leaving behind him an empire still almost limited to that +single province. There is nothing in history that can be compared with +the swiftness of this achievement, which is all the more remarkable +when we remember that almost every step in the advance was taken with +extreme unwillingness. But the most impressive thing about this +astounding fabric of power, which extended over an area equal to half +of Europe and inhabited by perhaps one-sixth of the human race, was not +the swiftness with which it was created, but the results which flowed +from it. It had begun in corruption and oppression, but it had grown +because it had come to stand for justice, order, and peace. In 1818 it +could already be claimed for the British rule in India that it had +brought to the numerous and conflicting races, religions, and castes of +that vast and ancient land, three boons of the highest value: political +unity such as they had never known before; security from the hitherto +unceasing ravages of internal turbulence and war; and, above all, the +supreme gift which the West had to offer to the East, the substitution +of an unvarying Reign of Law for the capricious wills of innumerable +and shifting despots. This is an achievement unexampled in history, and +it alone justified the imposition of the rule of the West over the +East, which had at first seemed to produce nothing but evil. It took +place during the age of Revolution, when the external empires of Europe +were on all sides falling into ruin; and it passed at the time almost +unregarded, because it was overshadowed by the drama of the +Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. +</P> + +<P> +The construction of the Indian Empire would of itself suffice to make +an age memorable, but it does not end the catalogue of the achievements +of British imperialism in this tremendous period. As a result of the +participation of Holland in the war on the side of France, the Dutch +colony at the Cape of Good Hope was occupied by Britain. It was first +occupied in 1798, restored for a brief period in 1801, reoccupied in +1806, and finally retained under the treaty settlement of 1815. The +Cape was, in fact, the most important acquisition secured to Britain by +that treaty; and it is worth noting that while the other great powers +who had joined in the final overthrow of Napoleon helped themselves +without hesitation to immense and valuable territories, Britain, which +had alone maintained the struggle from beginning to end without +flagging, actually paid the sum of 2,000,000 pounds to Holland as a +compensation for this thinly peopled settlement. She retained it mainly +because of its value as a calling-station on the way to India. But it +imposed upon her an imperial problem of a very difficult kind. As in +Canada, she had to deal here with an alien race of European origin and +proud traditions; but this racial problem was accentuated by the +further problem of dealing with a preponderant and growing negro +population. How were justice, peace, liberty, and equality of rights to +be established in such a field? +</P> + +<P> +It was, then, an astonishing new empire which had grown up round +Britain during the period when the world was becoming convinced that +colonial empires were not worth acquiring, because they could not last. +It was an empire of continents or sub-continents—Canada, Australia, +India, South Africa—not to speak of innumerable scattered islands and +trading-posts dotted over all the seas of the world, which had either +survived from an earlier period, or been acquired in order that they +might serve as naval bases. It was spread round the whole globe; it +included almost every variety of soil, products, and climate; it was +inhabited by peoples of the most varying types; it presented an +infinite variety of political and racial problems. In 1825 this empire +was the only extra-European empire of importance still controlled by +any of the historic imperial powers of Western Europe. And at the +opening of the nineteenth century, when extra-European empires seemed +to have gone out of fashion, the greatest of all imperial questions was +the question whether the political capacity of the British peoples, +having failed to solve the comparatively simple problem of finding a +mode of organisation which could hold together communities so closely +akin as those of America and the parent islands, would be capable of +achieving any land of effective organisation for this new astounding +fabric, while at the same time securing to all its members that liberty +and variety of development which in the case of America had only been +fully secured at the cost of disruption. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EUROPE AND THE NON-EUROPEAN WORLD 1815-1878 +</H3> + +<P> +When the European peoples settled down, in 1815, after the long wars of +the French Revolution, they found themselves faced by many problems, +but there were few Europeans who would have included among these +problems the extension of Western civilisation over the as yet +unsubjugated portions of the world. Men's hearts were set upon the +organisation of permanent peace: that seemed the greatest of all +questions, and, for a time, it appeared to have obtained a satisfactory +solution with the organisation of the great League of Peace of 1815. +But the peace was to be short-lived, because it was threatened by the +emergence of a number of other problems of great complexity. First +among these stood the problem of nationality: the increasingly +clamorous demand of divided or subject peoples for unity and freedom. +Alongside of this arose the sister-problem of liberalism: the demand +raised from all sides, among peoples who had never known political +liberty, for the institutions of self-government which had been proved +practicable by the British peoples, and turned into the object of a +fervent belief by the preachings of the French. These two causes were +to plunge Europe into many wars, and to vex and divide the peoples of +every European country, throughout the period 1815-78. And to add to +the complexity, there was growing in intensity during all these years +the problem of Industrialism—the transformation of the very bases of +life in all civilised communities, and the consequent development of +wholly new, and terribly difficult, social issues. Preoccupied with all +these questions, the statesmen and the peoples of most European states +had no attention to spare for the non-European world. They neglected it +all the more readily because the events of the preceding period seemed +to demonstrate that colonial empires were not worth the cost and labour +necessary for their attainment, since they seemed doomed to fall +asunder as soon as they began to be valuable. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the period 1815-78 was to see an extension of European civilisation +in the non-European world more remarkable than that of any previous +age. The main part in this extension was played by Britain, who found +herself left free, without serious rivalry in any part of the globe, to +expand and develop the extraordinary empire which she possessed in +1815, and to deal with the bewildering problems which it presented. So +marked was the British predominance in colonial activity during this +age that it has been called the age of British monopoly, and so far as +trans-oceanic activities were concerned, this phrase very nearly +represents the truth. But there were other developments of the period +almost as remarkable as the growth and reorganisation of the British +Empire; and it will be convenient to survey these in the first instance +before turning to the British achievement. +</P> + +<P> +The place of honour, as always in any great story of European +civilisation, belongs to France. Undeterred by the loss of her earlier +empire, and unexhausted by the strain of the great ordeal through which +she had just passed, France began in these years the creation of her +second colonial empire, which was to be in many ways more splendid than +the first. Within fifteen years of the fall of Napoleon, the French +flag was flying in Algiers. +</P> + +<P> +The northern coast of Africa, from the Gulf of Syrtis to the Atlantic, +which has been in modern times divided into the three districts of +Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, forms essentially a single region, whose +character is determined by the numerous chains of the Atlas Mountains. +This region, shut off from the rest of Africa not only by the Atlas but +by the most impassable of all geographical barriers, the great Sahara +desert, really belongs to Europe rather than to the continent of which +it forms a part. Its fertile valleys were once the homes of brilliant +civilisations: they were the seat of the Carthaginian Empire, and at a +later date they constituted one of the richest and most civilised +provinces of the Roman Empire. Their civilisation was wrecked by that +barbarous German tribe, the Vandals, in the fifth century. It received +only a partial and temporary revival after the Mahomedan conquest at +the end of the seventh century, and since that date this once happy +region has gradually lapsed into barbarism. During the modern age it +was chiefly known as the home of ruthless and destructive pirates, +whose chief headquarters were at Algiers, and who owned a merely +nominal allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. Ever since the time of +Khair-ed-din Barbarossa, in the early sixteenth century, the powers of +Europe have striven in vain to keep the Barbary corsairs in check. +Charles V., Philip II., Louis XIV. attacked them with only temporary +success: they continued to terrorise the trade of the Mediterranean, to +seize trading-ships, to pillage the shores of Spain and Italy, and to +carry off thousands of Christians into a cruel slavery; Robinson +Crusoe, it may be recalled, was one of their victims. The powers at +Vienna endeavoured to concert action against them in 1815. They were +attacked by a British fleet in 1816, and by a combined British and +French fleet in 1819. But all such temporary measures were +insufficient. The only cure for the ill was that the headquarters of +the pirate chiefs should be conquered, and brought under civilised +government. +</P> + +<P> +This task France was rather reluctantly drawn into undertaking, as the +result of a series of insults offered by the pirates to the French flag +between 1827 and 1830. At first the aim of the conquerors was merely to +occupy and administer the few ports which formed the chief centres of +piracy. But experience showed that this was futile, since it involved +endless wars with the unruly clansmen of the interior. Gradually, +therefore, the whole of Algeria was systematically conquered and +organised. The process took nearly twenty years, and was not completed +until 1848. In all the records of European imperialism there has been +no conquest more completely justified both by the events which led up +to it and by the results which have followed from it. Peace and Law +reign throughout a country which had for centuries been given over to +anarchy. The wild tribesmen are unlearning the habits of disorder, and +being taught to accept the conditions of a civilised life. The great +natural resources of the country are being developed as never since the +days of Roman rule. No praise can be too high for the work of the +French administrators who have achieved these results. And it is worth +noting that, alone among the provinces conquered by the European +peoples, Algeria has been actually incorporated in the mother-country; +it is part of the French Republic, and its elected representatives sit +in the French Parliament. +</P> + +<P> +In the nature of things the conquest of Algeria could not stand alone. +Algeria is separated by merely artificial lines from Tunis on the east +and Morocco on the west, where the old conditions of anarchy still +survived; and the establishment of order and peace in the middle area +of this single natural region was difficult, so long as the areas on +either side remained in disorder and war. In 1844 France found it +necessary to make war upon Morocco because of the support which it had +afforded to a rebellious Algerian chief, and this episode illustrated +the close connection of the two regions. But the troops were withdrawn +as soon as the immediate purpose was served. France had not yet begun +to think of extending her dominion over the areas to the east and west +of Algeria. That was to be the work of the next period. +</P> + +<P> +Further south in Africa, France retained, as a relic of her older +empire, a few posts on the coast of West Africa, notably Senegal. From +these her intrepid explorers and traders began to extend their +influence, and the dream of a great French empire in Northern Africa +began to attract French minds. But the realisation of this dream also +belongs to the next period. In the Far East, too, this was a period of +beginnings. Ever since 1787—before the Revolution—the French had +possessed a foothold on the coast of Annam, from which French +missionaries carried on their labours among the peoples of Indo-China. +Maltreatment of these missionaries led to a war with Annam in 1858, and +in 1862 the extreme south of the Annamese Empire—the province of +Cochin-China—was ceded to France. Lastly, the French obtained a +foothold in the Pacific, by the annexation of Tahiti and the Marquesas +Islands in 1842, and of New Caledonia in 1855. But in 1878 the French +dominions in the non-European world were, apart from Algeria, of slight +importance. They were quite insignificant in comparison with the +far-spreading realms of her ancient rival, Britain. +</P> + +<P> +On a much greater scale than the expansion of France was the expansion +of the already vast Russian Empire during this period. The history of +Russia in the nineteenth century is made up of a series of alternations +between a regime of comparative liberalism, when the interest of +government and people was chiefly turned towards the west, and a regime +of reaction, when the government endeavoured to pursue what was called +a 'national' or purely Russian policy, and to exclude all Western +influences. During these long intervals of reaction, attention was +turned eastward; and it was in the reactionary periods, mainly, that +the Russian power was rapidly extended in three directions—over the +Caucasus, over Central Asia, and in the Far East. +</P> + +<P> +Before this advance, the huge Russian Empire had been (everywhere +except on the west, in the region of Poland) marked off by very clearly +defined barriers. The Caucasus presented a formidable obstacle between +Russia and the Turkish and Persian Empires; the deserts of Central Asia +separated her from the Moslem peoples of Khiva, Bokhara and Turkestan; +the huge range of the Altai Mountains and the desert of Gobi cut off +her thinly peopled province of Eastern Siberia from the Chinese Empire; +while in the remote East her shores verged upon ice-bound and +inhospitable seas. Hers was thus an extraordinarily isolated and +self-contained empire, except on the side of Europe; and even on the +side of Europe she was more inaccessible than any other state, being +all but land-locked, and divided from Central Europe by a belt of +forests and marshes. +</P> + +<P> +The part she had played in the Napoleonic Wars, and in the events which +followed them, had brought her more fully into contact with Europe than +she had ever been before. The acquisition of Poland and Finland, which +she obtained by the treaties of 1815, had increased this contact, for +both of these states were much influenced by Western ideas. Russia had +promised that their distinct national existence, and their national +institutions, should be preserved; and this seemed to suggest that the +Russian Empire might develop into a partnership of nations of varying +types, not altogether unlike the form into which the British Empire was +developing. But this conception had no attraction for the Russian mind, +or at any rate for the Russian government; and the reactionary or +pure-Russian school, which strove to exclude all alien influences, was +inevitably hostile to it. Hence the period of reaction, and of eastward +conquest, saw also the denial of the promises made in 1815. Poland +preserved her distinct national organisation, in any full degree, only +for fifteen years; even in the faintest degree, it was preserved for +less than fifty years. Finland was allowed a longer grace, but only, +perhaps, because she was isolated and had but a small population: her +turn for 'Russification' was to come in due course. The exclusion of +Western influence, the segregation of Russia from the rest of the +world, and the repudiation of liberty and of varieties of type thus +form the main features of the reactionary periods which filled the +greater part of this age; and the activity of Russia in eastward +expansion was in part intended to forward this policy, by diverting the +attention of the Russian people from the west towards the east, and by +substituting the pride of dominion for the desire for liberty. Hence +imperialism came to be identified, for the Russian people, with the +denial of liberty. +</P> + +<P> +But it is a very striking fact that each of the three main lines of +territorial advance followed by Russia in Asia during this period led +her to overstep the natural barriers which had made her an isolated and +self-dependent empire, brought her into relation with other +civilisations, and compelled her to play her part as one of the factors +in world-politics. +</P> + +<P> +Russia had begun the conquest of the wild Caucasus region as early as +1802; after a long series of wars, she completed it by the acquisition +of the region of Kars in 1878. The mastery of the Caucasus brought her +into immediate relation with the Armenian province of the Turkish +Empire, which she henceforward threatened from the east as well as from +the west. It brought her into contact also with the Persian Empire, +over whose policy, from 1835 onwards, she wielded a growing influence, +to the perturbation of Britain. And besides bringing her into far +closer relations with the two greatest Mahomedan powers, it gave her a +considerable number of Mahomedan subjects, since some of the Caucasus +tribes belonged to that faith. +</P> + +<P> +Again, the conquest of Central Asia led her to overstep the barrier of +the Kirghiz deserts. The wandering Kirghiz and Turkoman tribes of this +barren region lived largely upon the pillage of caravans, and upon +raids into neighbouring countries; they disposed of their spoil (which +often included Russian captives) mainly in the bazars of Bokhara, +Khiva, Samarkand and Khokand—Mahomedan Khanates which occupied the +more fertile areas in the southern and south-eastern part of the desert +region. The attempt to control the Turkoman raiders brought Russia into +conflict with these outposts of Islam. Almost the whole of this region +was conquered in a long series of campaigns between 1848 and 1876. +These conquests (which covered an area 1200 miles from east to west and +600 miles from north to south) made Russia a great Mahomedan power. +They also brought her into direct contact with Afghanistan. Russian +agents were at work in Afghanistan from 1838 onwards. The shadow of her +vast power, looming over Persia and the Persian Gulf on the one hand, +and over the mountain frontiers of India on the other, naturally +appeared highly menacing to Britain. It was the direct cause of the +advance of the British power from the Indus over North-Western India, +until it could rest upon the natural frontier of the mountains—an +advance which took place mainly during the years 1839-49. And it formed +the chief source of the undying suspicion of Russia which was the +dominant note of British foreign policy throughout the period. +</P> + +<P> +Another feature of these conquests was that, taken in conjunction with +the French conquest of Algeria and the British conquest of India, they +constituted the first serious impact of European civilisation upon the +vast realm of Islam. Until now the regions of the Middle East which had +been subjugated by the followers of Mahomed had repelled every attack +of the West. More definite in its creed, and more exacting in its +demands upon the allegiance of its adherents, than any other religion, +Mahomedanism had for more than a thousand years been able to resist +with extraordinary success the influence of other civilisations; and it +had been, from the time of the Crusades onwards, the most formidable +opponent of the civilisation of the West. Under the rule of the Turk +the Mahomedan world had become stagnant and sterile, and it had shut +out not merely the direct control of the West (which would have been +legitimate enough), but the influence of Western ideas. All the +innumerable schemes of reform which were based upon the retention of +the old regime in the Turkish Empire have hopelessly broken down; and +the only chance for an awakening in these lands of ancient civilisation +seemed to depend upon the breakdown of the old system under the impact +of Western imperialism or insurgent nationalism. It has only been +during the nineteenth century, as a result of Russian, French, and +British imperialism, that the resisting power of Islam has begun to +give way to the influence of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The third line of Russian advance was on the Pacific coast, where in +the years 1858 and 1860 Russia obtained from China the Amur province, +with the valuable harbour of Vladivostok. It was an almost empty land, +but its acquisition made Russia a Pacific power, and brought her into +very close neighbourhood with China, into whose reserved markets, at +the same period, the maritime powers of the West were forcing an +entrance. At the same time Russian relations with Japan, which were to +have such pregnant consequences, were beginning: in 1875 the Japanese +were forced to cede the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, and +perhaps we may date from this year the suspicion of Russia which +dominated Japanese policy for a long time to come. +</P> + +<P> +Thus, while in Europe Russia was trying to shut herself off from +contact with the world, her advances in Asia had brought her at three +points into the full stream of world-politics. Her vast empire, though +for the most part very thinly peopled, formed beyond all comparison the +greatest continuous area ever brought under a single rule, since it +amounted to between eight and nine million square miles; and when the +next age, the age of rivalry for world-power, began, this colossal +fabric of power haunted and dominated the imaginations of men. +</P> + +<P> +A demonstration of the growing power of Western civilisation, even more +impressive than the expansion of the Russian Empire, was afforded +during these years by the opening to Western influence of the ancient, +pot-bound empires of the Far East, China and Japan. The opening of +China began with the Anglo-Chinese War of 1840, which led to the +acquisition of Hong-Kong and the opening of a group of treaty ports to +European trade. It was carried further by the combined Franco-British +war of 1857-58, which was ended by a treaty permitting the free access +of European travellers, traders, and missionaries to the interior, and +providing for the permanent residence of ambassadors of the signatory +powers at the court of Pekin. All the European states rushed to share +these privileges, and the Westernising of China had begun. It did not +take place rapidly or completely, and it was accompanied by grave +disturbances, notably the Taiping rebellion, which was only suppressed +by the aid of the British General Gordon, in command of a Chinese army. +But though the process was slow, it was fully at work by 1878. The +external trade of China, nearly all in European hands, had assumed +great proportions. The missionaries and schoolmasters of Europe and +America were busily at work in the most populous provinces. Shanghai +had become a European city, and one of the great trade-centres of the +world. In a lame and incompetent way the Chinese government was +attempting to organise its army on the European model, and to create a +navy after the European style. Steamboats were plying on the +Yang-tse-kiang, and the first few miles of railway were open. Chinese +students were beginning to resort to the universities and schools of +the West; and although the conservatism of the Chinese mind was very +slow to make the plunge, it was already plain that this vast hive of +patient, clever, and industrious men was bound to enter the orbit of +Western civilisation. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, after a longer and stiffer resistance, Japan had made up her +mind to a great change with amazing suddenness and completeness. There +had been some preliminary relations with the Western peoples, beginning +with the visits of the American Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and a +few ports had been opened to European trade. But then came a sudden, +violent reaction (1862). The British embassy was attacked; a number of +British subjects were murdered; a mixed fleet of British, French, +Dutch, and American ships proved the power of Western arms, and Japan +began to awaken to the necessity of adopting, in self-defence, the +methods of these intrusive foreigners. The story of the internal +revolution in Japan, which began in 1866, cannot be told here; enough +that it led to the most astounding change in history. Emerging from her +age-long isolation and from her contentment with her ancient, +unchanging modes of life, Japan realised that the future lay with the +restless and progressive civilisation of the West; and with a national +resolve to which there is no sort of parallel or analogy in history, +decided that she must not wait to be brought under subjection, but must +adopt the new methods and ideas for herself, if possible without +shedding too much of her ancient traditions. By a deliberate exercise +of the will and an extraordinary effort of organisation, she became +industrial without ceasing to be artistic; she adopted parliamentary +institutions without abandoning her religious veneration for the person +of the Mikado; she borrowed the military methods of the West without +losing the chivalrous and fatalist devotion of her warrior-caste; and +devised a Western educational system without disturbing the deep +orientalism of her mind. It was a transformation almost terrifying, and +to any Western quite bewildering, in its deliberation, rapidity, and +completeness. Europe long remained unconvinced of its reality. But in +1878 the work was, in its essentials, already achieved, and the one +state of non-European origin which has been able calmly to choose what +she would accept and what she would reject among the systems and +methods of the West, stood ready to play an equal part with the +European nations in the later stages of the long imperial struggle. +</P> + +<P> +One last sphere of activity remains to be surveyed before we turn to +consider the development of the new British Empire: the expansion of +the independent states which had arisen on the ruins of the first +colonial empires in the New World. Of the Spanish and Portuguese states +of Central and South America it is not necessary to say much. They had +established their independence between 1815 and 1825. But the unhappy +traditions of the long Spanish ascendancy had rendered them incapable +of using freedom well, and Central and South America became the scene +of ceaseless and futile revolutions. The influence of the American +Monroe Doctrine forbade, perhaps fortunately, the intervention of any +of the European states to put an end to this confusion, and America +herself made no serious attempt to restrain it. It was not until the +later years of our period that any large stream of immigration began to +flow into these lands from other European countries than Spain and +Portugal, and that their vast natural resources began to be developed +by the energy and capital of Europe. But by 1878 the more fertile of +these states, Argentina, Brazil, and Chili, were being enriched by +these means, were becoming highly important elements in the +trade-system of the world, and were consequently beginning to achieve a +more stable and settled civilisation. In some regards this work (though +it belongs mainly to the period after 1878) constitutes one of the +happiest results of the extra-European activities of the European +peoples during the nineteenth century. It was carried on, in the main, +not by governments or under government encouragement, but by the +private enterprises of merchants and capitalists; and while a very +large part in these enterprises was played by British and American +traders and settlers, one of the most notable features of the growth of +South America was that it gave play to some of the European peoples, +notably the Germans and the Italians, whose part in the political +division of the world was relatively small. +</P> + +<P> +Far more impressive was the almost miraculous expansion which came to +the United States during this period. When the United States started +upon their career as an independent nation in 1782, their territory was +limited to the lands east of the Mississippi, excluding Florida, which +was still retained by Spain. Only the eastern margin of this area was +at all fully settled; and the population numbered at most 2,000,000, +predominantly of British blood. In 1803, by a treaty with Napoleon, the +French colony of Louisiana, with vast and ill-defined claims to the +territory west of the Mississippi, was purchased from France. Meanwhile +the stream of immigrants from the eastern states, and in a less degree +from Europe, was pouring over the Alleghany Mountains and occupying the +great central plain; and by 1815 the population had risen to almost +9,000,000, still mainly of British stock, though it also included +substantial French and German elements, as well as large numbers of +negro slaves. In 1819 Florida was acquired by purchase from Spain. In +1845-48 a revolution in Texas (then part of Mexico), followed by two +Mexican wars, led to the annexation of a vast area extending from the +Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific coast, including the paradise of +California; while treaties with Britain in 1818 and 1846 determined the +northern boundary of the States, and secured their control over the +regions of Washington and Oregon. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the imperialist spirit was working as irresistibly in the +democratic communities of the New World as in the monarchies of Europe. +Not content with the possession of vast and almost unpeopled areas, +they had spread their dominion from ocean to ocean, and built up an +empire less extensive indeed than that of Russia, but even more +compact, far richer in resources, and far better suited to be the home +of a highly civilised people. Into this enormous area there began to +pour a mighty flood of immigration from Europe, as soon as the +Napoleonic wars were over. By 1878 the population of the States had +risen to about 50,000,000, and was greater than that of any European +state save Russia. A new world-state of the first rank had arisen. It +was made up of contributions from all the European peoples. Those of +British stock, especially the Irish, still predominated throughout this +period, but the Germans and the Scandinavians were becoming +increasingly numerous, and the Italians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, Russian +Jews, and other stocks were beginning to form very substantial +elements. It was a melting-pot of races, which had to be somehow welded +into a nation by the moulding-power of the traditions implanted by the +earlier British settlers. It may fairly be said that no community has +ever had imposed upon it a more difficult task than the task imposed by +Fate upon the American people of creating a national unity out of this +heterogeneous material. The great experiment was, during this period, +singularly successful. The strength of the national sentiment and of +the tradition of freedom was very powerfully exhibited in the strain of +the great Civil War (1861-65) which maintained at a great cost the +threatened unity of the republic, and brought about the emancipation of +the negro slaves. And the Civil War produced in Abraham Lincoln a +national hero, and an exponent of the national character and ideals, +worthy to be set beside Washington. The America of Lincoln manifestly +stood for Liberty and Justice, the fundamental ideals of Western +civilisation. +</P> + +<P> +But in this great moulding tradition of freedom there was one dubious +and narrowing element. Accustomed to regard herself as having achieved +liberty by shaking off her connection with the Old World, America was +tempted to think of this liberty as something peculiar to herself, +something which the 'effete monarchies' of the Old World did not, and +could not, fully understand or share, something which exempted her from +responsibility for the non-American world, and from the duty of aiding +and defending liberty beyond her own limits. In the abounding +prosperity of this fortunate land, liberty was apt to be too readily +identified merely with the opportunity of securing material prosperity, +and the love of liberty was apt to become, what indeed it too often is +everywhere, a purely self-regarding emotion. The distance of the +republic from Europe and its controversies, its economic +self-sufficiency, its apparent security against all attack, fostered +and strengthened this feeling. While the peoples of the Old World +strove with agony and travail towards freedom and justice, or wrestled +with the task of sharing their own civilisation with the backward races +of the globe, the echo of their strivings penetrated but faintly into +the mind of America, like the noises of the street dimly heard through +the shuttered windows of a warmed and lighted room. To the citizens of +the Middle West and the Far West, especially, busy as they were with +the development of vast untapped resources, the affairs of the outer +world necessarily appeared remote and insignificant. Even their +newspapers told them little about these far-off events. Naturally it +appeared that the function of the republic in the progress of the world +was to till its own garden, and to afford a haven of refuge to the +oppressed and impoverished who poured in from all lands; and this idea +was strengthened by the great number of immigrants who were driven to +the New World by the failure of the successive European revolutions of +the nineteenth century, and by the oppressive tyranny of the Habsburg +monarchy and the Russian despots. +</P> + +<P> +This attitude of aloofness from, and contempt, or, at the best, +indifference, to the Old World was further encouraged by the +traditional treatment of American history. The outstanding event of +that story was, of course, the breach with Britain, with which the +independent existence of the Republic began, and which constituted also +almost its only direct contact with the politics of the Old World. The +view of this conflict which was driven into the national mind by the +school-books, by the annual celebrations of the Fourth of July, and by +incessant newspaper writing, represented the great quarrel not as a +dispute in a family of free communities, in which a new and very +difficult problem was raised, and in which there were faults on both +sides, but as one in which all the right was on one side, as a heroic +resistance of free men against malevolent tyranny. This view has been +profoundly modified by the work of American historians, whose +researches during the last generation have transformed the treatment of +the American Revolution. To-day the old one-sided view finds +expression, in books of serious pretensions, only in England; and it is +to American scholars that we must have recourse for a more scientific +and impartial treatment. But the new and saner view has scarcely yet +made its way into the school-books and the newspapers. If Britain, the +mother of political liberty in the modern world, the land from which +these freemen had inherited their own liberties and the spirit which +made them insist upon their enlargement, was made to appear a tyrant +power, how could it be expected that the mass of Americans, unversed in +world-politics, should follow with sympathy the progress of liberty +beyond the limits of their own republic? It was in the light of this +traditional attitude that the bulk of Americans regarded not only the +wars and controversies of Europe, but the vast process of European +expansion. All these things did not appear to concern them; they seemed +to be caused by motives and ideas which the great republic had +outgrown, though, as we have already seen, and shall see again, the +republic had by no means outgrown them. The strength of this +traditional attitude, fostered as it was by every circumstance, +naturally made the bulk of the American people slow to realise, when +the great challenge of Germany was forced upon the world, that the +problems of world-politics were as vitally important for them as for +all other peoples, and that no free nation could afford to be +indifferent to the fate of liberty upon the earth. +</P> + +<P> +At one moment, indeed, almost at the beginning of the period, it +appeared as if this narrow outlook was about to be abandoned. The +League of Peace of the great European powers of 1815[6] had, by 1822, +developed into a league of despots for the suppression of revolutionary +tendencies. They had intervened to crush revolutionary outbreaks in +Naples and Piedmont; they had authorised France to enter Spain in order +to destroy the democratic system which had been set up in that country +in 1820. Britain alone protested against these interventions, claiming +that every state ought to be left free to fix its own form of +government; and in 1822 Canning had practically withdrawn from the +League of Peace, because it was being turned into an engine of +oppression. It was notorious that, Spain once subjugated, the monarchs +desired to go on to the reconquest of the revolting Spanish colonies in +South America. Britain could not undertake a war on the Continent +against all the Continental powers combined, but she could prevent +their intervention in America, and Canning made it plain that the +British fleet would forbid any such action. To strengthen his hands, he +suggested to the American ambassador that the United States might take +common action in this sense. The result was the famous message of +President Monroe to Congress in December 1823, which declared that the +United States accepted the doctrine of non-intervention, and that they +would resist any attempt on the part of the European monarchs to +establish their reactionary system in the New World. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[6] See "Nationalism and Internationalism," p. 155 ff. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In effect this was a declaration of support for Britain. It was so +regarded by Monroe's most influential adviser, Thomas Jefferson. 'Great +Britain,' he wrote, 'is the nation which can do us the most harm of any +one, or all, on earth, and with her on our side we need not fear the +whole world. With her, then, we should the most sedulously cherish a +cordial friendship; and nothing would tend more to knit our affection +than to be fighting once more side by side hi the same cause.' To be +fighting side by side with Britain in the same cause—the cause of the +secure establishment of freedom in the world—this seemed to the +Democrat Jefferson an object worth aiming at; and the promise of this +seemed to be the main recommendation of the Monroe Doctrine. It was +intended as an alliance for the defence of freedom, not as a +proclamation of aloofness; and thus America seemed to be taking her +natural place as one of the powers concerned to strengthen law and +liberty, not only within her own borders, but throughout the world. +</P> + +<P> +The Monroe Doctrine was rapidly accepted as expressing the fundamental +principle of American foreign policy. But under the influence of the +powerful tradition which we have attempted to analyse, its significance +was gradually changed; and instead of being interpreted as a +proclamation that the great republic could not be indifferent to the +fate of liberty, and would co-operate to defend it from attack in all +cases where such co-operation was reasonably practicable, it came to be +interpreted by average public opinion as meaning that America had no +concern with the politics of the Old World, and that the states of the +Old World must not be allowed to meddle in any of the affairs of either +American continent. The world of civilisation was to be divided into +water-tight compartments; as if it were not indissolubly one. Yet even +in this rather narrow form, the Monroe doctrine has on the whole been +productive of good; it has helped to save South America from becoming +one of the fields of rivalry of the European powers. +</P> + +<P> +But it may be doubted whether the mere enunciation of the doctrine, +even in this precise and definite form, has of itself been sufficient +to secure this end. There is good reason to believe that the doctrine +would not have been safe from challenge if it had not been safeguarded +by the supremacy of the British Fleet. For throughout the last +half-century all the world has known that any defiance of this +doctrine, and any attack upon America, would bring Britain into the +field. During all this period one of the factors of world-politics has +been the existence of an informal and one-sided alliance between +Britain and America. The alliance has been informal, because it has not +rested upon any treaty or even upon any definite understanding. It has +been one-sided, because while average opinion in America has been +distrustful of Britain, has been apt to put unfavourable constructions +upon British policy, and has generally failed to appreciate the value +and significance of the work which Britain has done in the outer world, +Britain, on the other hand, has always known that America stood for +justice and freedom; and therefore, however difficult the relations +between the two powers might occasionally become, Britain has +steadfastly refused to consider the possibility of a breach with +America, and with rare exceptions has steadily given her support to +American policy. The action of the British squadron off the Philippines +in 1898, in quietly interposing itself between the threatening German +guns and the American Fleet, has, in fact, been broadly typical of the +British attitude. This factor has not only helped to preserve the +Monroe Doctrine from challenge, it has indirectly contributed to deepen +the American conviction that it was possible, even in the changed +conditions of the modern world, to maintain a complete isolation from +the political controversies of the powers. +</P> + +<P> +During the period 1815-1878, then, while the greater part of Europe was +still indifferent to extra-European affairs, America had developed into +a vast state wherein freedom and law were enthroned, a huge melting-pot +wherein diverse peoples were being gradually unified and turned into a +new nation under the moulding power of a great tradition of liberty. +But her geographical position, and certain elements in her tradition, +had hitherto led her to abstain from, and even to repudiate, that great +part in the shaping of the common destinies of civilisation to which +she was manifestly called by her wealth, her numbers, her freedom, and +her share in the traditions of all the European peoples. In the nature +of things, whatever some Americans might think, this voluntary +isolation could not continue for ever. It was to be brought to an end +by the fevered developments of the next era, and by the great challenge +to the liberties of the world in which it culminated. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1815-1878 +</H3> + +<P> +Mighty as had been the achievements of other lands which have been +surveyed in the last section, the main part in the expansion of +European civilisation over the world during the first three-quarters of +the nineteenth century was played by Britain. For she was engaged in +opening out new continents and sub-continents; and she was giving an +altogether new significance to the word 'Empire.' Above all, she was +half-blindly laying the foundations of a system whereby freedom and the +enriching sense of national unity might be realised at once in the new +and vacant lands of the earth, and among its oldest civilised peoples; +she was feeling her way towards a mode of linking diverse and free +states in a common brotherhood of peace and mutual respect. There is no +section of the history of European imperialism more interesting than +the story of the growth and organisation of the heterogeneous and +disparate empire with which Britain entered upon the new age. +</P> + +<P> +This development appeared, on the surface, to be quite haphazard, and +to be governed by no clearly grasped theories or policy. It is indeed +true that at all times British policy has not been governed by theory, +but by the moulding force of a tradition of ordered freedom. The period +produced in Britain no imperialist statesman of the first rank, nor did +imperial questions play a leading part in the deliberations of +parliament. In fact, the growth of the British Empire and its +organisation were alike spontaneous and unsystematic; their only guide +(but it proved to be a good guide) was the spirit of self-government, +existing in every scattered section of the people; and the part played +by the colonists themselves, and by the administrative officers in +India and elsewhere, was throughout more important than the part played +by colonial secretaries, East Indian directors, parliamentarians and +publicists at home. For that reason the story is not easily handled in +a broad and simple way. +</P> + +<P> +Enjoying almost a monopoly of oversea activity, Britain was free, in +most parts of the world, to expand her dominions as she thought fit. +Her statesmen, however, were far from desiring further expansion: they +rightly felt that the responsibilities already assumed were great +enough to tax the resources of any state, however rich and populous. +But, try as they would, they could not prevent the inevitable process +of expansion. Several causes contributed to produce this result. +Perhaps the most important was the unexampled growth of British trade, +which during these years dominated the whole world; and the flag is apt +to follow trade. A second cause was the pressure of economic distress +and the extraordinarily rapid increase of population at home, leading +to wholesale emigration; in the early years of the century an +extravagantly severe penal code, which inflicted the penalty of death, +commonly commuted into transportation, for an incredible number of +offences, gave an artificial impetus to this movement. The restless and +adventurous spirit of the settlers in huge and unexplored new countries +contributed another motive for expansion. And in some cases, notably in +India, political necessity seemed to demand annexations. Over a +movement thus stimulated, the home authorities found themselves, with +the best will in the world, unable to exercise any effective restraint; +and the already colossal British Empire continued to grow. It is no +doubt to be regretted that other European nations were not able during +this period to take part in the development of the non-European world +in a more direct way than by sending emigrants to America or the +British lands. But it is quite certain that the growth of British +territory is not to be attributed in any degree to the deliberate +policy, or to the greed, of the home government, which did everything +in its power to check it. +</P> + +<P> +In India the Russian menace seemed to necessitate the adoption of a +policy towards the independent states of the North-West which brought +an extension of the frontier, between 1839 and 1849, to the great +mountain ranges which form the natural boundary of India in this +direction; while a succession of intolerable and quite unprovoked +aggressions by the Burmese led to a series of wars which resulted in +the annexation of very great territories in the east and north-east: +Assam, Aracan, and Tenasserim hi 1825; Pegu and Rangoon in 1853; +finally, in 1885-86, the whole remainder of the Burmese Empire. In +North America settlers found their way across the Rocky Mountains or +over the Isthmus of Panama into the region of British Columbia, which +was given a distinct colonial organisation in 1858; and the +colonisation of the Red River Settlement, 1811-18, which became hi 1870 +the province of Manitoba, began the development of the great central +plain. In South Africa frontier wars with the Kaffirs, and the restless +movements of Boer trekkers, brought about an expansion of the limits of +Cape Colony, the annexation of Natal, and the temporary annexation of +the Orange River Settlement and the Transvaal; but all these additions +were most reluctantly accepted; the Orange River Settlement and the +Transvaal soon had their independence restored, though the former, at +any rate, accepted it unwillingly. In Australia, drafts of new settlers +planting themselves at new points led to the organisation of six +distinct colonies between 1825 and 1859; and this implied the definite +annexation of the whole continent. New Zealand was annexed in 1839, but +only because British traders had already established themselves in the +islands, were in unhappy relations with the natives, and had to be +brought under control. +</P> + +<P> +But it was not the territorial expansion of the British Empire which +gave significance to this period in its history, but, in a far higher +degree, the new principles of government which were developed during +its course. The new colonial policy which gradually shaped itself +during this age was so complete a departure from every precedent of the +past, and represented so remarkable an experiment in imperial +government, that its sources deserve a careful analysis. It was brought +into being by a number of distinct factors and currents of opinion +which were at work both in Britain and in the colonies. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place, there existed in Britain, as in other European +countries, a large body of opinion which held that all colonies were +sure to demand and obtain their independence as soon as they became +strong enough to desire it; that as independent states they could be +quite as profitable to the mother-country as they could ever be while +they remained attached to her, more especially if the parting took +place without bitterness; and that the wisest policy for Britain to +pursue was therefore to facilitate their development, to place no +barrier in the way of the increase of their self-government, and to +enable them at the earliest moment to start as free nations on their +own account. This was not, indeed, the universal, nor perhaps even the +preponderant, attitude in regard to the colonies in the middle of the +nineteenth century. But it was pretty common. It appeared in the most +unexpected quarters, as when Disraeli said that the colonies were +'millstones about our necks,' or as when The Times advocated in a +leading article the cession of Canada to the United States, on the +ground that annexation to the great Republic was the inevitable destiny +of that colony, and that it was much better that it should be carried +out in a peaceable and friendly way than after a conflict. It is +difficult to-day to realise that men could ever have entertained such +opinions. But they were widely held; and it must at least be obvious +that the prevalence of these views is quite inconsistent with the idea +that Britain was deliberately following a policy of expansion and +annexation in this age. Men who held these opinions (and they were to +be found in every party) regarded with resentment and alarm every +addition to what seemed to them the useless burdens assumed by the +nation, and required to be satisfied that every new annexation of +territory was not merely justifiable, but inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +A second factor which contributed to the change of attitude towards the +colonies was the growing influence of a new school of economic thought, +the school of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus. Their ideas had begun +to affect national policy as early as the twenties, when Huskisson took +the first steps on the way to free trade. In the thirties the bulk of +the trading and industrial classes had become converts to these ideas, +which won their definite victories in the budgets of Sir Robert Peel, +1843-46, and in those of his disciple Gladstone. The essence of this +doctrine, as it affected colonial policy, was that the regulation of +trade by government, which had been the main object of the old colonial +policy, brought no advantages, but only checked its free development. +And for a country in the position which Britain then occupied, this was +undeniably true; so overwhelming was her preponderance in world-trade +that every current seemed to set in her direction, and the removal of +artificial barriers, originally designed to train the current towards +her shores, allowed it to follow its natural course. The only +considerable opposition to this body of economic doctrine came from +those who desired to protect British agriculture; but this motive had +(at this period) no bearing upon colonial trade. The triumph of the +doctrine of free trade meant that the principal motive which had +earlier led to restrictions upon the self-government of the +colonies—the desire to secure commercial advantages for the +mother-country—was no longer operative. The central idea of the old +colonial system was destroyed by the disciples of Adam Smith; and there +no longer remained any apparent reason why the mother-country should +desire to control the fiscal policy of the colonies. An even more +important result of the adoption of this new economic doctrine was that +it destroyed every motive which would lead the British government to +endeavour to secure for British traders a monopoly of the traffic with +British possessions. Henceforth all territories administered under the +direct control of the home government were thrown open as freely to the +merchants of other countries as to those of Britain herself. The part +which Britain now undertook in the undeveloped regions of her empire +(except in so far as they were controlled by fully self-governing +colonies) was simply that of maintaining peace and law; and in these +regions she adopted an attitude which may fairly be described as the +attitude, not of a monopolist, but of a trustee for civilisation. It +was this policy which explains the small degree of jealousy with which +the rapid expansion of her territory was regarded by the rest of the +civilised world. If the same policy had been followed, not necessarily +at home, but in their colonial possessions, by all the colonising +powers, the motives for colonial rivalry would have been materially +diminished, and the claims of various states to colonial territories, +when the period of rivalry began, would have been far more easily +adjusted. +</P> + +<P> +These were negative forces, leading merely to the abandonment of the +older colonial theories. But there were also positive and constructive +forces at work. First among them may be noted a new body of definite +theory as to the function which colonies ought to play in the general +economy of the civilised world. It was held to be their function not +(as in the older theory) to afford lucrative opportunities for trade to +the mother-country: so far as trade was concerned it seemed to matter +little whether a country was a colony or an independent state. But the +main object of colonisation was, on this view, the systematic +draining-off of the surplus population of the older lands. This, it was +felt, could not safely be left to the operation of mere chance; and one +of the great advantages of colonial possessions was that they enabled +the country which controlled them to deal in a scientific way with its +surplus population, and to prevent the reproduction of unhealthy +conditions in the new communities, which was apt to result if emigrants +were allowed to drift aimlessly wheresoever chance took them, and +received no guidance as to the proper modes of establishing themselves +in their new homes. The great apostle of this body of colonial theory +was Edward Gibbon Wakefield; and his book, A View of the Art of +Colonisation (1847), deserves to be noted as one of the classics of the +history of imperialism. He did not confine himself to theory, but was +tireless in organising practical experiments. They were carried out, in +a curious revival of the methods of the seventeenth century, by means +of a series of colonising companies which Wakefield promoted. The +settlement of South Australia, the first considerable settlement in the +North Island of New Zealand, and the two admirably designed and +executed settlements of Canterbury and Otago in the South Island of New +Zealand, were all examples of his methods: with the exception of the +North Island settlement, they were all very successful. Nor were these +the only instances of organised and assisted emigration. In 1820 a +substantial settlement, financed by government, was made in the eastern +part of Cape Colony, in the region of Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, +and this brought the first considerable body of British inhabitants +into South Africa, hitherto almost exclusively Dutch. An unsuccessful +plantation at Swan River in West Australia may also be noted. +Systematic and scientific colonisation was thus being studied in +Britain during this period as never before. In the view of its +advocates Britain was the trustee of civilisation for the +administration of the most valuable unpeopled regions of the earth, and +it was her duty to see that they were skilfully utilised. So high a +degree of success attended some of their efforts that it is impossible +not to regret that they were not carried further. But they depended +upon Crown control of undeveloped lands. With the growth of full +self-government in the colonies the exercise of these Crown functions +was transferred from the ministry and parliament of Britain to the +ministries and parliaments of the colonies; and this transference put +an end to the possibility of a centralised organisation and direction +of emigration. +</P> + +<P> +A second constructive factor very potently at work during this age was +the humanitarian spirit, which had become a powerful factor in British +life during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It had +received perhaps its most practical expression in the abolition of the +slave-trade in 1806, and the campaign against the slave-trade in the +rest of the world became an important object of British policy from +that time onwards. Having abolished the slave-trade, the humanitarians +proceeded to advocate the complete abolition of negro slavery +throughout the British Empire. They won their victory in 1833, when the +British parliament declared slavery illegal throughout the Empire, and +voted 20,000,000 pounds—at a time when British finance was still +suffering from the burdens of the Napoleonic War—to purchase from +their masters the freedom of all the slaves then existing in the +Empire. It was a noble deed, but it was perhaps carried out a little +too suddenly, and it led to grave difficulties, especially in the West +Indies, whose prosperity was seriously impaired, and in South Africa, +where it brought about acute friction with the slave-owning Boer +farmers. But it gave evidence of the adoption of a new attitude towards +the backward races, hitherto mercilessly exploited by all the +imperialist powers. One expression of this attitude had already been +afforded by the organisation (1787) of the colony of Sierra Leone, on +the West African coast, as a place of refuge for freed slaves desiring +to return to the land of their fathers. +</P> + +<P> +It was principally through the activity of missionaries that this new +point of view was expressed and cultivated. Organised missionary +activity in Britain dates from the end of the eighteenth century, but +its range grew with extraordinary rapidity throughout the period. And +wherever the missionaries went, they constituted themselves the +protectors and advocates of the native races among whom they worked. +Often enough they got themselves into bad odour with the European +traders and settlers with whom they came in contact. But through their +powerful home organisations they exercised very great influence over +public opinion and over government policy. The power of 'Exeter Hall,' +where the religious bodies and the missionary societies held their +meetings in London, was at its height in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and politicians could not afford to disregard it, even if they +had desired to do so. This influence, supporting the trend of +humanitarian opinion, succeeded in establishing it as one of the +principles of British imperial policy that it was the duty of the +British government to protect the native races against the exploitation +of the European settlers, and to guide them gently into a civilised way +of life. It is a sound and noble principle, and it may fairly be said +that it has been honestly carried out, so far as the powers of the home +government rendered possible. No government in the world controls a +greater number or variety of subjects belonging to the backward races +than the British; no trading nation has had greater opportunities for +the oppressive exploitation of defenceless subjects. Yet the grave +abuse of these opportunities has been infrequent. There have been in +the history of modern British imperialism sporadic instances of +injustice, like the forced labour of Kanakas in the Pacific. But there +have been no Congo outrages, no Putumayo atrocities, no Pequena slave +scandals, no merciless slaughter like that of the Hereros in German +South-West Africa. +</P> + +<P> +The principle of the protection of backward peoples has, however, +sometimes had an unfortunate influence upon colonial policy; and there +was no colony in which it exercised a more unhappy effect than South +Africa. Here the Boer farmers still retained towards their native +neighbours the attitude which had been characteristic of all the +European peoples in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: they +regarded the negro as a natural inferior, born to servitude. It is not +surprising that no love was lost between the Boers and the +missionaries, who appeared as the protectors of the negroes, and whose +representations turned British opinion violently against the whole Boer +community. This was in itself a sufficiently unfortunate result: it +lies largely at the base of the prolonged disharmony which divided the +two peoples in South Africa. The belief that the Boers could not be +trusted to deal fairly with the natives formed, for a long period, the +chief reason which urged the British Government to retain their control +over the Boers, even when they had trekked away from the Cape (1836) +and established themselves beyond the Orange and the Vaal rivers; and +the conflict of this motive with the desire to avoid any increase of +colonial responsibilities, and with the feeling that if the Boers +disliked the British system, they had better be left in freedom to +organise themselves in their own way, accounts for the curious +vacillation in the policy of the period on this question. At first the +trekkers were left to themselves; then the lands which they had +occupied were annexed; then their independence was recognised; and +finally, when, at the end of the period, they seemed to be causing a +dangerous excitement among the Zulus and other native tribes, the +Transvaal was once more annexed; with the result that revolt broke out, +and the Majuba campaign had to be fought. +</P> + +<P> +Again, tenderness for the natives led to several curious and not very +successful experiments in organisation. The annexation of Natal was +long delayed because it was held that this area ought to form a native +reserve, and fruitless attempts were made to restrict the settlement of +Europeans in this empty and fertile land. An attempt was also made to +set up a series of native areas under British protection, from which +the white settler was excluded. British Kaffraria, Griqualand East and +Griqualand West were examples of this policy, which is still +represented, not unsuccessfully, by the great protected area of +Basutoland. But, on the whole, these experiments in the handling of the +native problem in South Africa did more harm than good. They were +unsuccessful mainly because South Africa was a white man's country, +into which the most vigorous of the native races, those of the Bantu +stock (Kaffirs, Zulus, Matabili, etc.), were more recent immigrants +than the white men themselves. Owing to their warlike character and +rapidly growing numbers they constituted for a long time a very +formidable danger; and neither the missionaries nor the home +authorities sufficiently recognised these facts. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the most unhappy result of this friction over the native +question, apart from the alienation of Boer and Briton which it +produced, was the fact that it was the principal cause of the long +delay in establishing self-governing institutions in South Africa. The +home government hesitated to give to the colonists full control over +their own affairs, because it distrusted the use which they were likely +to make of their powers over the natives; even the normal institutions +of all British colonies were not established in Cape Colony till 1854, +and in Natal till 1883. But although in this case the new attitude +towards the backward races led to some unhappy results, the spirit +which inspired it was altogether admirable, and its growing strength +accounts in part for the real degree of success which has been achieved +by British administrators in the government of regions not suited for +the settlement of Europeans in large numbers. Indeed, this spirit has +come to be one of the outstanding features of modern British +imperialism. +</P> + +<P> +It was not only in the treatment of backward races that the +humanitarian spirit made itself felt. It was at work also in the +government of the highly developed civilisations of India, where, +during this period, British power began to be boldly used to put an end +to barbarous or inhumane practices which were supported or tolerated by +the religious beliefs or immemorial social usages of India. Such +practices as thagi, or meria sacrifices, or female infanticide, or, +above all, sati, had been left undisturbed by the earlier rulers of +British India, because they feared that interference with them would be +resented as an infraction of Indian custom or religion. They were now +boldly attacked, and practically abolished, without evil result. +</P> + +<P> +Alongside of this new courage in measures that seemed to be dictated by +the moral ideas of the West, there was to be seen growing throughout +this period a new temper of respect for Indian civilisation and a +desire to study and understand it, and to safeguard its best features. +The study of early Indian literature, law, and religious philosophy had +indeed been begun in the eighteenth century by Sir William Jones and +Nathaniel Halhed, with the ardent encouragement of Warren Hastings. But +in this as in other respects Hastings was ahead of the political +opinion of his time; the prevalent idea was that the best thing for +India would be the introduction, so far as possible, of British +methods. This led to the absurdities of the Supreme Court, established +in 1773 to administer English law to Indians. It led also to the great +blunder of Cornwallis's settlement of the land question in Bengal, +which was an attempt to assimilate the Indian land-system to that of +England, and resulted in an unhappy weakening of the village +communities, the most healthy features of Indian rural life. In the +nineteenth century this attitude was replaced by a spirit of respect +for Indian traditions and methods of organisation, and by a desire to +retain and strengthen their best features. The new attitude was perhaps +to be seen at its best in the work of Mountstuart Elphinstone, a great +administrator who was also a profound student of Indian history, and a +very sympathetic observer and friend of Indian customs and modes of +life. But the same spirit was exemplified by the whole of the +remarkable generation of statesmen of whom Elphinstone was one. They +established the view that it was the duty of the British power to +reorganise India, indeed, but to reorganise it on lines in accordance +with its own traditions. Above all, the principle was in this +generation very definitely established that India, like other great +dependencies, must be administered in the interests of its own people, +and not in the interests of the ruling race. That seems to us to-day a +platitude. It would not have seemed a platitude in the eighteenth +century. It would not seem a platitude in modern Germany. And it may +safely be said that the enunciation of such a doctrine would have +seemed merely absurd in any of the earlier historical empires. In 1833 +an official report laid before the British parliament contained these +remarkable words: 'It is recognised 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.' In all +the records of imperialism it would be hard to find a parallel to this +formal statement of policy by the supreme government of a ruling race. +When such a statement could be made, it is manifest that the meaning of +the word Empire had undergone a remarkable transformation. No one can +read the history of British rule in India during this period without +feeling that, in spite of occasional lapses, this was its real spirit. +</P> + +<P> +But the most powerful constructive element in the shaping of the new +imperial policy of Britain was the strength of the belief in the idea +of self-government, as not only morally desirable but practically +efficacious, which was to be perceived at work in the political circles +of Britain during this age. Self-government had throughout the modern +age been a matter of habit and practice with the British peoples; now +it became a matter of theory and belief. And from this resulted a great +change of attitude towards the problems of colonial administration. The +American problem in the eighteenth century had arisen ultimately out of +the demand of the Americans for unqualified and responsible control +over their own affairs: the attitude of the Englishman in reply to this +demand (though he never clearly analysed it) was, in effect, that +self-government was a good and desirable thing, but that on the scale +on which the Americans claimed it, it would be fatal to the unity of +the Empire, and the unity of the Empire must come first. Faced by +similar problems in the nineteenth century, the Englishman's response +generally was that self-government on the fullest scale was the right +of all who were fit to exercise it, and the most satisfactory working +solution of political problems. Therefore the right must be granted; +and the unity of the Empire must take care of itself. No doubt this +attitude was more readily adopted because of the widespread belief that +in fact the colonies would all sooner or later cut their connection +with the mother-country. But it was fully shared by men who did not +hold this view, and who believed strongly in the possibility and +desirability of maintaining imperial unity. It was shared, for example, +by Wakefield, a convinced imperialist if ever there was one, and by +that great colonial administrator, Sir George Grey. It was shared by +Lord Durham and by Lord John Russell, who were largely responsible for +the adoption of the new policy. Their belief and hope was that the +common possession of free institutions of kindred types would in fact +form the most effective tie between the lands which enjoyed them. This +hope obtained an eloquent expression in the speech in which, in 1852, +Russell introduced the bill for granting to the Australian colonies +self-government on such a scale as amounted almost to independence. It +is not true, as is sometimes said, that the self-governing institutions +of the colonies were established during this period owing to the +indifference of the home authorities, and their readiness to put an end +to the connection. The new policy of these years was deliberately +adopted; and although its acceptance by parliament was rendered easier +by the prevalence of disbelief in the permanence of the imperial tie, +yet, on the part of the responsible men, it was due to far-sighted +statesmanship. +</P> + +<P> +The critical test of the new colonial policy, and the most dramatic +demonstration of its efficacy, were afforded by Canada, where, during +the thirties, the conditions which preceded the revolt of the American +colonies were being reproduced with curious exactness. The +self-governing institutions established in the Canadian colonies in +1791 very closely resembled those of the American colonies before the +revolution: they gave to the representative houses control over +taxation and legislation, but neither control over, nor responsibility +for, the executive. And the same results were following. Incomplete +self-government was striving after its own fulfilment: the denial of +responsibility was producing irresponsibility. These was the same +unceasing friction between governors and their councils on the one +hand, and the representative bodies on the other hand; and the +assemblies were showing the same unreasonableness in refusing to meet +manifest public obligations. This state of things was becoming steadily +more acute in all the colonies, but it was at its worst in the province +of Quebec, where the constitutional friction was embittered by a racial +conflict, the executive body being British, while the great majority of +the assembly was French; and the conflict was producing a very +dangerous alienation between the two peoples. The French colonists had +quite forgotten the gratitude they had once felt for the maintenance of +their religion and of their social organisation, and there was a strong +party among them who were bent upon open revolt, and hoped to be able +to establish a little isolated French community upon the St. Lawrence. +This party of hotheads got the upper hand, and their agitation +culminated in the rebellion of Papineau in 1837. In the other colonies, +and especially in Upper Canada, the conditions were almost equally +ominous; when Papineau revolted in Quebec, William Mackenzie led a +sympathetic rising in Ontario. The situation was quite as alarming as +the situation in the American colonies had been in 1775. It is true +that the risings were easily put down. But mere repression formed no +solution, any more than a British victory in 1775 would have formed a +solution of the American question. +</P> + +<P> +Realising this, the Whig government sent out Lord Durham, one of their +own number, to report on the whole situation. Durham was one of the +most advanced Liberals in Britain, a convinced believer in the virtues +of self-government, and he took out with him two of the ablest +advocates of scientific colonisation, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and +Charles Buller. Durham's administrative work was not a success: his +high-handed deportation of some of the rebel leaders was strongly +condemned, and he was very quickly recalled. But he had had time to +study and understand the situation, and he presented a masterly Report +on Canada, which is one of the classics in the history of British +imperialism. His explanation of the unhappy condition of Canadian +politics was not (as some were tempted to say) that the colonists had +been given too much liberty, but that they had not been given enough. +They must be made to feel their responsibility for the working of the +laws which they adopted, and for the welfare of the whole community. As +for the conflict of races, its only cure was that both should be made +to feel their common responsibility for the destinies of the community +in which both must remain partners. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Durham's recommendations were fully carried into effect, partly in +the Canada Act of 1840, but more especially by a simple instruction +issued to governors, that their ministries must henceforward be chosen, +in the British fashion, on the ground that they commanded the support +of a majority in the elected house; and that the governors themselves +must be guided by their advice. A crucial test of this new policy came +in 1849, when the ministers and the parliamentary majority proposed to +vote compensation for property destroyed in 1837. This to many seemed +compensation for rebels, and the indignant loyalists were urgent that +the governor, Lord Elgin, should veto it. He firmly declined to do so; +and thus gave an invaluable lesson to both parties. The Canadian +people, acting through their representatives, were now responsible for +their actions. If they chose to vote for irresponsible and dangerous +devices, they must henceforward realise that they must themselves +answer for the consequences. +</P> + +<P> +Thus, within a few years of the outbreak of rebellion in two provinces, +full power had been entrusted to the rebels themselves. It was a daring +policy, only to be justified by a very confident belief in the virtues +of self-government. But it was completely and triumphantly successful. +Henceforward friction between the Canadian colonies and the +mother-country ceased: if there were grounds for complaint in the state +of Canadian affairs, the Canadians must now blame their own ministers, +and the remedy lay in their own hands. And what was the outcome? Twenty +years later the various colonies, once as full of mutual jealousies as +the American colonies had been before 1775, began to discuss the +possibility of federation. With the cordial approval and co-operation +of the home government, they drew up a scheme for the formation of a +united Dominion of Canada, including distant British Columbia and the +coastal colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward +Island; and the adoption of this scheme, in 1867, turned Canada from a +bundle of separate settlements into a great state. To this state the +home government later made over the control of all the vast and rich +lands of the North-West, and so the destinies of half a continent +passed under its direction. It was a charge, the magnitude and +challenge of which could not but bring forth all that there was of +statesmanship among the Canadian people; and it has not failed to do so. +</P> + +<P> +One feature of Canadian constitutional development remains to be noted. +It might have been expected that the Canadians would have been tempted +to follow the political model of their great neighbour the United +States; and if their development had been the outcome of friction with +the mother-country, no doubt they would have done so. But they +preferred to follow the British model. The keynote of the American +system is division of power: division between the federal government +and the state governments, which form mutual checks upon one another; +division between the executive and the legislature, which are +independent of one another at once in the states and in the federal +government, both being directly elected by popular vote. The keynote of +the British system is concentration of responsibility by the +subordination of the executive to the legislature. The Canadians +adopted the British principle: what had formerly been distinct colonies +became, not 'states' but 'provinces,' definitely subordinated to the +supreme central government; and whether in the federal or in the +provincial system, the control of government by the representative body +was finally established. This concord with the British system is a fact +of real import. It means that the political usages of the home-country +and the great Dominion are so closely assimilated that political +co-operation between them is far easier than it otherwise might be; it +increases the possibility of a future link more intimate than that of +mere co-operation. +</P> + +<P> +Not less whole-hearted or generous than the treatment of the problems +of Canadian government was the treatment of the same problem in +Australia. Here, as a matter of course, all the colonies had been +endowed, at the earliest possible date, with the familiar system of +representative but not responsible government. No such acute friction +as had occurred in Canada had yet shown itself, though signs of its +development were not lacking. But in 1852 an astonishing step was taken +by the British parliament: the various Australian colonies were +empowered to elect single-chamber constituent assemblies to decide the +forms of government under which they wished to live. They decided in +every case to reproduce as nearly as possible the British system: +legislatures of two chambers, with ministries responsible to them. +Thus, in Australia as in Canada, the daughter-peoples were made to feel +the community of their institutions with those of the mother-country, +and the possibility of intimate and easy co-operation was increased. +Two years later, in 1854, New Zealand was endowed with the same system. +Among all the British realms in which the white man was predominant, +only South Africa was as yet excluded from this remarkable development. +The reasons for this exclusion we have already noted: its consequences +will occupy our attention in later pages. +</P> + +<P> +Very manifestly the empire which was developing on such lines was not +an empire in the old sense—a dominion imposed by force upon unwilling +subjects. That old word, which has been used in so many senses, was +being given a wholly new connotation. It was being made to mean a free +partnership of self-governing peoples, held together not by force, but +in part by common interests, and in a still higher degree by common +sentiment and the possession of the same institutions of liberty. +</P> + +<P> +In the fullest sense, however, this new conception of empire applied +only to the group of the great self-governing colonies. There were many +other regions, even before 1878, included within the British Empire, +though as yet it had not incorporated those vast protectorates over +regions peopled by backward races which have been added during the last +generation. There were tropical settlements like British Honduras, +British Guiana, Sierra Leone, and Cape Coast Castle; there were many +West Indian Islands, and scattered possessions like Mauritius and +Hong-Kong and Singapore and the Straits Settlements; there were +garrison towns or coaling-stations like Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, St. +Helena. To none of these were the institutions of full responsible +self-government granted. Some of them possessed representative +institutions without responsible ministries; in others the governor was +assisted by a nominated council, intended to express local opinion, but +not elected by the inhabitants; in yet others the governor ruled +autocratically. But in all these cases the ultimate control of policy +was retained by the home government. And in this general category, as +yet, the South African colonies were included. Why were these +distinctions drawn? Why did the generation of British statesmen, who +had dealt so generously with the demand for self-government in Canada +and Australia, stop short and refuse to carry out their principles in +these other cases? +</P> + +<P> +It is characteristic of British politics that they are never merely or +fully logical, and that even when political doctrines seem to enjoy the +most complete ascendancy, they are never put into effect without +qualifications or exceptions. The exceptions already named to the +establishment of full self-government were due to many and varying +causes. In the first place, there was in most of these cases no +effective demand for full self-government; and it may safely be +asserted that any community in which there is no demand for +self-governing institutions is probably not in a condition to work them +with effect. Some of these possessions were purely military posts, like +Gibraltar and Aden, and were necessarily administered as such. Others +were too small and weak to dream of assuming the full privileges. But +in the majority of cases one outstanding common feature will appear on +closer analysis. Nearly all these territories were tropical or +semi-tropical lands, whose British inhabitants were not permanent +settlers, but were present solely for the purposes of trade or other +exploitation, while the bulk of the population consisted of backward +peoples, whose traditions and civilisation rendered their effective +participation in public affairs quite impracticable. In such cases, to +have given full political power to the small and generally shifting +minority of white men would have been to give scope to many evils; and +to have enfranchised, on a mere theory, the mass of the population +would have been to produce still worse results. It would have sentenced +these communities to the sort of fate which has befallen the beautiful +island of Hayti, where the self-government of a population of +emancipated negro slaves has brought nothing but anarchy and +degradation. In such conditions the steady Reign of Law is the greatest +boon that can be given to white settlers and coloured subjects alike; +and the final authority is rightly retained by the home government, +inspired, as British opinion has long required that it should be, by +the principle that the rights of the backward peoples must be +safeguarded. Under this system, both law and a real degree of liberty +are made possible; whereas under a doctrinaire application of the +theory of self-government, both would vanish. +</P> + +<P> +But there remains the vast dominion of India, which falls neither into +the one category nor into the other. Though there are many primitive +and backward elements among its vast population, there are also peoples +and castes whose members are intellectually capable of meeting on equal +terms the members of any of the ruling races of the West. Yet during +this age, when self-government on the amplest scale was being extended +to the chief regions of the British Empire, India, the greatest +dominion of them all, did not obtain the gift of representative +institutions even on the most modest scale. Why was this? +</P> + +<P> +It was not because the ruling race was hostile to the idea, or desired +merely to retain its own ascendancy. On the contrary, both in Britain +and among the best of the British administrators in India, it was +increasingly held that the only ultimate justification for the British +power in India would be that under its guidance the Indian peoples +should be gradually enabled to govern themselves. As early as 1824, +when in Europe sheer reaction was at its height, this view was being +strongly urged by one of the greatest of Anglo-Indian administrators, +Sir Thomas Munro, a soldier of distinction, then serving as governor of +Madras. 'We should look upon India,' he wrote, 'not as a temporary +possession, but as one which is to be maintained permanently, until the +natives shall have abandoned most of their superstitions and +prejudices, and become sufficiently enlightened to frame a regular +government for themselves, and to conduct and preserve it. Whenever +such a time shall arrive, it will probably be best for both countries +that the British control over India should be gradually withdrawn. That +the desirable change contemplated may in some after age be effected in +India, there is no cause to despair. Such a change was at one time in +Britain itself at least as hopeless as it is here. When we reflect how +much the character of nations has always been influenced by that of +governments, and that some, once the most cultivated, have sunk into +barbarism, while others, formerly the rudest, have attained the highest +point of civilisation, we shall see no reason to doubt that if we +pursue steadily the proper measures, we shall in time so far improve +the character of our Indian subjects as to make them able to govern and +protect themselves.' +</P> + +<P> +In other words, self-government was the desirable end to be pursued in +India as elsewhere; but in India there were many and grave obstacles to +its efficient working, which could only slowly be overcome. In the +first place, India is more deeply divided in race, language, and +religion than any other region of the world. Nowhere else is there such +a medley of peoples of every grade of development, from the almost +savage Bhil to the cultivated and high-bred Brahmin or Rajput or +Mahomedan chief. There are sharp regional differences, as great as +those between the European countries; but cutting across these there +are everywhere the rigid and impermeable distinctions of caste, which +have no parallel anywhere else in the world. The experience of the +Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose confusion of races is simplicity itself +in comparison with the chaos of India, affords a significant +demonstration of the fact that parliamentary institutions, if they are +established among deeply divided peoples, must almost inevitably be +exploited for the purpose of racial ascendancy by the most vigorous or +the best-organised elements among the people; and a very ugly tyranny +is apt to result, as it has resulted in Austro-Hungary. This +consequence would almost certainly follow the establishment of a full +representative system in India. In the cities of mediaeval Italy, when +the conflict of parties became so acute that neither side could expect +justice from the other, the practice grew up of electing a podesta from +some foreign city to act as an impartial arbiter. The British power in +India has played the part of a podesta in restraining and mediating +between the conflicting peoples and religions of India. +</P> + +<P> +But again (and this is even more fundamental), for thousands of years +the history of India has been one long story of conquests and tyrannies +by successive ruling races. Always Might has been Right, so that the +lover of righteousness could only pursue it, like the mediaeval +ascetic, by cutting himself off from the world, abjuring all social +ties, and immolating the flesh in order to live by the spirit. Always +Law had been, in the last resort, the Will of the Stronger, not the +decree of impartial justice. Always the master-races, the predatory +bands, the ruling castes, had expected to receive, and the mass of the +people had been accustomed to give, the most abject submission; and +these habits were difficult to overcome. 'In England,' says Sir Thomas +Munro, 'the people resist oppression, and it is their spirit which +gives efficacy to the law: in India the people rarely resist +oppression, and the law intended to secure them from it can therefore +derive no aid from themselves. ... It is in vain to caution them +against paying by telling them that the law is on their side, and will +support them in refusing to comply with unauthorised demands. All +exhortations on this head are thrown away, and after listening to them +they will the very next day submit to extortion as quietly as before.' +How could representative institutions be expected to work under such +conditions? They would have lacked the very foundation upon which alone +they can firmly rest: respect for law, and public co-operation in the +enforcement of it. Thus the supreme service which the government of +India could render to its people was the establishment and maintenance +of the Reign of Law, and of the liberty which it shelters. In such +conditions representative government would be liable to bring, not +liberty, but anarchy and the renewal of lawless oppression. +</P> + +<P> +But although the extension of the representative system to India +neither was nor could be attempted in this age, very remarkable +advances were made towards turning India in a real sense into a +self-governing country. It ceased to be regarded or treated as a +subject dominion existing solely for the advantage of its conquerors. +That had always been its fate in all the long centuries of its history; +and in the first period of British rule the trading company which had +acquired this amazing empire had naturally regarded it as primarily a +source of profit. In 1833 the company was forbidden to engage in trade, +and the profit-making motive disappeared. The shareholders still +continued to receive a fixed dividend out of the Indian revenues, but +this may be compared to a fixed debt-charge, an annual payment for +capital expended in the past; and it came to an end when the company +was abolished in 1858. Apart from this dividend, no sort of tribute was +exacted from India by the ruling power. India was not even required to +contribute to the upkeep of the navy, which protected her equally with +the rest of the Empire, or of the diplomatic service, which was often +concerned with her interests. She paid for the small army which guarded +her frontiers; but if any part of it was borrowed for service abroad, +its whole pay and charges were met by Britain. She paid the salaries +and pensions of the handful of British administrators who conducted her +government, but this was a very small charge in comparison with the +lavish outlay of the native princes whom they had replaced. India had +become a self-contained state, whose whole resources were expended +exclusively upon her own needs, and expended with the most scrupulous +honesty, and under the most elaborate safeguards. +</P> + +<P> +They were expended, moreover, especially during the later part of this +period, largely in equipping her with the material apparatus of modern +civilisation. Efficient police, great roads, a postal service cheaper +than that of any other country, a well-planned railway system, and, +above all, a gigantic system of irrigation which brought under +cultivation vast regions hitherto desert—these were some of the boons +acquired by India during the period. They were rendered possible partly +by the economical management of her finances, partly by the liberal +expenditure of British capital. Above all, the period saw the beginning +of a system of popular education, of which the English language became +the main vehicle, because none of the thirty-eight recognised +vernacular tongues of India either possessed the necessary literature, +or could be used as a medium for instruction in modern science. In 1858 +three universities were established; and although their system was +ill-devised, under the malign influence of the analogy of London +University, a very large and increasing number of young graduates, +trained for modern occupations, began to filter into Indian society, +and to modify its point of view. All speaking and writing English, and +all trained in much the same body of ideas, they possessed a similarity +of outlook and a vehicle of communication such as had never before +linked together the various races and castes of India. This large and +growing class, educated in some measure in the learning of the West, +formed already, at the end of the period, a very important new element +in the life of India. They were capable of criticising the work of +their government; they were not without standards of comparison by +which to measure its achievements; and, aided by the large freedom +granted to the press under the British system, they were able to begin +the creation of an intelligent public opinion, which was apt, in its +first movements, to be ill-guided and rash, but which was nevertheless +a healthy development. That this newly created class of educated men +should produce a continual stream of criticism, and that it should even +stimulate into existence public discontents, is by no means a +condemnation of the system of government which has made these +developments possible. On the contrary, it is a proof that the system +has had an invigorating effect. For the existence and the expression of +discontent is a sign of life; it means that there is an end of that +utter docility which marks a people enslaved body and soul. India has +never been more prosperous than she is to-day; she has never before +known so impartial a system of justice as she now possesses; and these +are legitimate grounds of pride to her rulers. But they may even more +justly pride themselves upon the fact that in all her history India has +never been so frankly and incessantly critical of her government as she +is to-day; never so bold in the aspirations for the future which her +sons entertain. +</P> + +<P> +The creation of the new class of Western-educated Indians also +facilitated another development which the British government definitely +aimed at encouraging: the participation of Indians in the conduct of +administration in their own land. The Act of 1833 had laid it down as a +fundamental principle that 'no native of the said territories ... shall +by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, or any of +them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment.' The +great majority of the minor administrative posts had always been held +by Indians; but until 1833 it had been held that the maintenance of +British supremacy required that the higher offices should be reserved +to members of the ruling race. This restriction was now abolished; but +it was not until the development of the educational system had produced +a body of sufficiently trained men that the new principle could produce +appreciable results; and even then, the deficiencies of an undeveloped +system of training, combined with the racial and religious jealousies +which the government of India must always keep in mind, imposed +limitations upon the rapid increase of the number of Indians holding +the higher posts. Still, the principle had been laid down, and was +being acted upon. And that also constituted a great step towards +self-government. +</P> + +<P> +India in 1878 was governed, under the terms of a code of law based upon +Indian custom, by a small body of British officials, among whom leading +Indians were gradually taking their place, and who worked in detail +through an army of minor officials, nearly all of Indian birth, and +selected without regard to race or creed. She was a self-contained +country whose whole resources were devoted to her own needs. She was +prospering to a degree unexampled in her history; she had achieved a +political unity never before known to her; she had been given the +supreme boon of a just and impartial law, administered without fear or +favour; and she had enjoyed a long period of peace, unbroken by any +attack from external foes. Here also, as fully as in the self-governing +colonies, membership of the British Empire did 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 meant the +establishment among a vast population of the essential gifts of Western +civilisation, rational law, and the liberty which exists under its +shelter. Empire had come to mean, not merely domination pursued for its +own sake, but trusteeship for the extension of civilisation. +</P> + +<P> +The period of practical British monopoly, 1815-1878, had thus brought +about a very remarkable transformation in the character of the British +Empire. It had greatly increased in extent, and by every test of area, +population, and natural resources, it was beyond comparison the +greatest power that had ever existed in the world. But its organisation +was of an extreme laxity; it possessed no real common government; and +its principal members were united rather by a community of institutions +and ideas than by any formal ties. Moreover, it presented a more +amazing diversity of racial types, of religions, and of grades of +civilisation, than any other political fabric which had existed in +history. Its development had assuredly brought about a very great +expansion of the ideas of Western civilisation over the face of the +globe, and, above all, a remarkable diffusion of the institutions of +political liberty. But it remained to be proved whether this loosely +compacted bundle of states possessed any real unity, or would be +capable of standing any severe strain. The majority of observers, both +in Britain itself and throughout the world, would have been inclined, +in 1878, to give a negative answer to these questions. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ERA OF THE WORLD-STATES, 1878-1900 +</H3> + +<P> +The Congress of Berlin in 1878 marks the close of the era of +nationalist revolutions and wars in Europe. By the same date all the +European states had attained to a certain stability in their +constitutional systems. With equal definiteness this year may be said +to mark the opening of a new era in the history of European +imperialism; an era of eager competition for the control of the still +unoccupied regions of the world, in which the concerns of remote lands +suddenly became matters of supreme moment to the great European powers, +and the peace of the world was endangered by questions arising in China +or Siam, in Morocco or the Soudan, or the islands of the Pacific. The +control of Europe over the non-European world was in a single +generation completed and confirmed. And the most important of the many +questions raised by this development was the question whether the +spirit in which this world-supremacy of Europe was to be wielded should +be the spirit which long experience had inspired in the oldest of the +colonising nations, the spirit of trusteeship on behalf of +civilisation; or whether it was to be the old, brutal, and sterile +spirit of mere domination for its own sake. +</P> + +<P> +On a superficial view the most obvious feature of this strenuous period +was that all the remaining unexploited regions of the world were either +annexed by one or other of the great Western states, or were driven to +adopt, with greater or less success, the modes of organisation of the +West. But what was far more important than any new demarcation of the +map was that not only the newly annexed lands, but also the +half-developed territories of earlier European dominions, were with an +extraordinary devouring energy penetrated during this generation by +European traders and administrators, equipped with railways, +steam-boats, and all the material apparatus of modern life, and in +general organised and exploited for the purposes of industry and trade. +This astonishing achievement was almost as thorough as it was swift. +And its result was, not merely that the political control of Europe +over the backward regions of the world was strengthened and secured by +these means, but that the whole world was turned into a single economic +and political unit, no part of which could henceforth dwell in +isolation. This might have meant that we should have been brought +nearer to some sort of world-order; but unhappily the spirit in which +the great work was undertaken by some, at least, of the nations which +participated in it has turned this wonderful achievement into a source +of bitterness and enmity, and led the world in the end to the tragedy +and agony of the Great War. +</P> + +<P> +The causes of this gigantic outpouring of energy were manifold. The +main impelling forces were perhaps economic rather than political. But +the economic needs of this strenuous age might have been satisfied +without resort to the brutal arbitrament of war: their satisfaction +might even have been made the means of diminishing the danger of war. +It was the interpretation of these economic needs in terms of an +unhappy political theory which has led to the final catastrophe. +</P> + +<P> +On a broad view, the final conquest of the world by European +civilisation was made possible, and indeed inevitable, by the amazing +development of the material aspects of that civilisation during the +nineteenth century; by the progressive command over the forces of +nature which the advance of science had placed in the hands of man, by +the application of science to industry in the development of +manufacturing methods and of new modes of communication, and by the +intricate and flexible organisation of modern finance. These changes +were already in progress before 1878, and were already transforming the +face of the world. Since 1878 they have gone forward with such +accelerating speed that we have been unable to appreciate the +significance of the revolution they were effecting. We have been +carried off our feet; and have found it impossible to adjust our moral +and political ideas to the new conditions. +</P> + +<P> +The great material achievements of the last two generations have been +mainly due to an intense concentration and specialisation of functions +among both men of thought and men of action. But the result of this has +been that there have been few to attempt the vitally important task of +appreciating the movement of our civilisation as a whole, and of +endeavouring to determine how far the political conceptions inherited +from an earlier age were valid in the new conditions. For under the +pressure of the great transformation political forces also have been +transformed, and in all countries political thought is baffled and +bewildered by the complexity of the problems by which it is faced. To +this in part we owe the dimness of vision which overtook us as we went +whirling together towards the great catastrophe. It is only in the +glare of a world-conflagration that we begin to perceive, in something +like their true proportions, the great forces and events which have +been shaping our destinies. In the future, if the huge soulless +mechanism which man has created is not to get out of hand and destroy +him, we must abandon that contempt for the philosopher and the +political thinker which we have latterly been too ready to express, and +we must recognise that the task of analysing and relating to one +another the achievements of the past and the problems of the present is +at least as important as the increase of our knowledge and of our +dangerous powers by intense and narrow concentration within very +limited fields of thought and work. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime we must observe (however briefly and inadequately), how +the dazzling advances of science and industry have affected the +conquest of the world by European civilisation, and why it has come +about that instead of leading to amity and happiness, they have brought +us to the most hideous catastrophe in human history. +</P> + +<P> +Science and industry, in the first place, made the conquest and +organisation of the world easy. In the first stages of the expansion of +Europe the material superiority of the West had unquestionably afforded +the means whereby its political ideas and institutions could be made +operative in new fields. The invention of ocean-going ships, the use of +the mariner's compass, the discovery of the rotundity of the earth, the +development of firearms—these were the things which made possible the +creation of the first European empires; though these purely material +advantages could have led to no stable results unless they had been +wielded by peoples possessing a real political capacity. In the same +way the brilliant triumphs of modern engineering have alone rendered +possible the rapid conquest and organisation of huge undeveloped areas; +the deadly precision of Western weapons has made the Western peoples +irresistible; the wonderful progress of medical science has largely +overcome the barriers of disease which long excluded the white man from +great regions of the earth; and the methods of modern finance, +organising and making available the combined credit of whole +communities, have provided the means for vast enterprises which without +them could never have been undertaken. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in the next place, science has found uses for many commodities +which were previously of little value, and many of which are mainly +produced in the undeveloped regions of the earth. Some of these, like +rubber, or nitrates, or mineral and vegetable oils, have rapidly become +quite indispensable materials, consumed by the industrial countries on +an immense scale. Accordingly, the more highly industrialised a country +is, the more dependent it must be upon supplies drawn from all parts of +the world; not only supplies of food for the maintenance of its teeming +population, but, even more, supplies of material for its industries. +The days when Europe, or even America, was self-sufficient are gone for +ever. And in order that these essential supplies may be available, it +has become necessary that all the regions which produce them should be +brought under efficient administration. The anarchy of primitive +barbarism cannot be allowed to stand in the way of access to these +vital necessities of the new world-economy. It is merely futile for +well-meaning sentimentalists to talk of the wickedness of invading the +inalienable rights of the primitive occupants of these lands: for good +or for ill, the world has become a single economic unit, and its +progress cannot be stopped out of consideration for the time-honoured +usages of uncivilised and backward tribes. Of course it is our duty to +ensure that these simple folks are justly treated, led gently into +civilisation, and protected from the iniquities of a mere ruthless +exploitation, such as, in some regions, we have been compelled to +witness. But Western civilisation has seized the reins of the world, +and it will not be denied. Its economic needs drive it to undertake the +organisation of the whole world. What we have to secure is that its +political principles shall be such as will ensure that its control will +be a benefit to its subjects as well as to itself. But the development +of scientific industry has made European control and civilised +administration inevitable throughout the world. +</P> + +<P> +It did not, however, necessarily follow from these premises that the +great European states which did not already possess extra-European +territories were bound to acquire such lands. So far as their purely +economic needs were concerned, it would have been enough that they +should have freedom of access, on equal terms with their neighbours, to +the sources of the supplies they required. It is quite possible, as +events have shown, for a European state to attain very great success in +the industrial sphere without possessing any political control over the +lands from which its raw materials are drawn, or to which its finished +products are sold. Norway has created an immense shipping industry +without owning a single port outside her own borders. The manufactures +of Switzerland are as thriving as these of any European country, though +Switzerland does not possess any colonies. Germany herself, the loudest +advocate of the necessity of political control as the basis of economic +prosperity, has found it possible to create a vast and very prosperous +industry, though her colonial possessions have been small, and have +contributed scarcely at all to her wealth. Her merchants and +capitalists have indeed found the most profitable fields for their +enterprises, not in their own colonies, which they have on the whole +tended to neglect, but in a far greater degree in South and Central +America, and in India and the other vast territories of the British +Empire, which have been open to them as freely as to British merchants. +All that the prosperity of European industry required was that the +sources of supply should be under efficient administration, and that +access to them should be open. And these conditions were fulfilled, +before the great rush began, over the greater part of the earth. If in +1878, when the European nations suddenly awoke to the importance of the +non-European world, they had been able to agree upon some simple +principle which would have secured equal treatment to all, how +different would have been the fate of Europe and the world! If it could +have been laid down, as a principle of international law, that in every +area whose administration was undertaken by a European state, the 'open +door' should be secured for the trade of all nations equally, and that +this rule should continue in force until the area concerned acquired +the status of a distinctly organised state controlling its own fiscal +system, the industrial communities would have felt secure, the little +states quite as fully as the big states. Moreover, since, under these +conditions, the annexation of territory by a European state would not +have threatened the creation of a monopoly, but would have meant the +assumption of a duty on behalf of civilisation, the acrimonies and +jealousies which have attended the process of partition would have been +largely conjured away. In 1878 such a solution would have presented few +difficulties. For at that date the only European state which controlled +large undeveloped areas was Britain; and Britain, as we have seen, had +on her own account arrived at this solution, and had administered, as +she still administers, all those regions of her Empire which do not +possess self-governing rights in the spirit of the principle we have +suggested. +</P> + +<P> +Why was it that this solution, or some solution on these lines, was not +then adopted, and had no chance of being adopted? It was because the +European states, and first and foremost among them Germany, were still +dominated by a political theory which forbade their taking such a view. +We may call this theory the Doctrine of Power. It is the doctrine that +the highest duty of every state is to aim at the extension of its own +power, and that before this duty every other consideration must give +way. The Doctrine of Power has never received a more unflinching +expression than it received from the German Treitschke, whose influence +was at its height during the years of the great rush for extra-European +possessions. The advocate of the Doctrine of Power is not, and cannot +be, satisfied with equality of opportunity; he demands supremacy, he +demands monopoly, he demands the means to injure and destroy his +rivals. It would not be just to say that this doctrine was influential +only in Germany; it was in some degree potent everywhere, especially in +this period, which was the period par excellence of 'imperialism' in +the bad sense of the term. But it is certainly true that no state has +ever been so completely dominated by it as Germany; and no state less +than Britain. It was in the light of this doctrine that the demands of +the new scientific industry were interpreted. Hag-ridden by this +conception, when the statesmen of Europe awoke to the importance of the +non-European world, it was not primarily the economic needs of their +countries that they thought of, for these were, on the whole, not +inadequately met: what struck their imagination was that, in paying no +attention to the outer world, they had missed great opportunities of +increasing their power. This oversight, they resolved, must be +rectified before it was too late. +</P> + +<P> +For when the peoples of Western and Central Europe, no longer engrossed +by the problems of Nationalism and Liberalism, cast their eyes over the +world, lo! the scale of things seemed to have changed. Just as, in the +fifteenth century, civilisation had suddenly passed from the stage of +the city-state or the feudal principality to the stage of the great +nation-state, so now, while the European peoples were still struggling +to realise their nationhood, civilisation seemed to have stolen a march +upon them, and to have advanced once more, this time into the stage of +the world-state. For to the east of the European nations lay the vast +Russian Empire, stretching from Central Europe across Asia to the +Pacific; and in the west the American Republic extended from ocean to +ocean, across three thousand miles of territory; and between these and +around them spread the British Empire, sprawling over the whole face of +the globe, on every sea and in every continent. In contrast with these +giant empires, the nation-states of Europe felt themselves out of +scale, just as the Italian cities in the sixteenth century must have +felt themselves out of scale in comparison with the new nation-states +of Spain and France. To achieve the standard of the world-state, to +make their own nations the controlling factors in wide dominions which +should include territories and populations of varied types, became the +ambition of the most powerful European states. A new political ideal +had captivated the mind of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +These powerful motives were reinforced by others which arose from the +development of affairs within Europe itself. In the first place, the +leading European states had by 1878 definitely abandoned that tendency +towards free trade which had seemed to be increasing in strength during +the previous generation; and, largely in the hope of combating the +overwhelming mercantile and industrial supremacy of Britain, had +adopted the fiscal policy of protection. The ideal of the protectionist +creed is national self-sufficiency in the economic sphere. But, as we +have seen, economic self-sufficiency was no longer attainable in the +conditions of modern industry by any European state. Only by large +foreign annexations, especially in the tropical regions, did it seem +possible of achievement. But when a protectionist state begins to +acquire territory, the anticipation that it will use its power to +exclude or destroy the trade of its rivals must drive other states to +safeguard themselves by still further annexations. It was, indeed, this +fear which mainly drove Britain, in spite of, or perhaps because of, +her free trade theories, into a series of large annexations in regions +where her trade had been hitherto predominant. +</P> + +<P> +Again, the most perturbing feature of the relations between the +European powers also contributed to produce an eagerness for colonial +possessions. Europe had entered upon the era of huge national armies; +the example of Prussia, and the rancours which had been created by her +policy, had set all the nations arming themselves. They had learned to +measure their strength by their available man-power, and in two ways +the desire to increase the reserve of military manhood formed a motive +for colonisation. In the first place, the surplus manhood of a nation +was lost to it if it was allowed to pass under an alien flag by +emigration. Those continental states from which emigration took place +on a large scale began to aspire after the possession of colonies of +their own, where their emigrants could still be kept under control, and +remain subject to the obligations of service. Germany, the state which +beyond all others measures its strength by its fighting man-power, was +most affected by this motive, which formed the chief theme of the +colonial school among her politicians and journalists, and continued to +be so even when the stream of her emigrants had dwindled to very small +proportions. In a less degree, Italy was influenced by the same motive. +In the second place, conquered subjects even of backward races might be +made useful for the purposes of war. This motive appealed most strongly +to France. Her home population was stationary. She lived in constant +dread of a new onslaught from her formidable neighbour; and she watched +with alarm the rapid increase of that neighbour's population, and the +incessant increases in the numbers of his armies. At a later date +Germany also began to be attracted by the possibility of drilling and +arming, among the negroes of Central Africa, or the Turks of Asia +Minor, forces which might aid her to dominate the world. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the political situation in Europe had a very direct influence upon +the colonising activity of this period. The dominant fact of European +politics during this generation was the supreme prestige and influence +of Germany, who, not content with an unquestioned military superiority +to any other power, had buttressed herself by the formation (1879 and +1882) of the most formidable standing alliance that has ever existed in +European history, and completely dominated European politics. France, +having been hurled from the leadership of Europe in 1870, dreaded +nothing so much as the outbreak of a new European war, in which she +must be inevitably involved, and in which she might be utterly ruined. +She strove to find a compensation for her wounded pride in colonial +adventures, and therefore became, during the first part of the period, +the most active of the powers in this field. She was encouraged to +adopt this policy by Bismarck, partly in the hope that she might thus +forget Alsace, partly in order that she might be kept on bad terms with +Britain, whose interests seemed to be continually threatened by her +colonising activity. But she hesitated to take a very definite line in +regard to territories that lay close to Europe and might involve +European complications. +</P> + +<P> +Bismarck himself took little interest in colonial questions, except in +so far as they could be used as a means of alienating the other powers +from one another, and so securing the European supremacy of Germany. He +therefore at first made no attempt to use the dominant position of +Germany as a means of acquiring extra-European dominions. But the +younger generation in Germany was far from sharing this view. It was +determined to win for Germany a world-empire, and in 1884 and the +following years—rather late in the day, when most of the more +desirable territories were already occupied—it forced Bismarck to +annex large areas. After Bismarck's fall, in 1890, this party got the +upper hand in German politics, and the creation of a great world-empire +became, as we shall see, the supreme aim of William II. and his +advisers. The formidable and threatening power of Germany began to be +systematically employed not merely for the maintenance of supremacy in +Europe, which could be secured by peaceful means, but for the +acquisition of a commanding position in the outer world; and since this +could only be attained by violence, the world being now almost +completely partitioned, the new policy made Germany the source of +unrest and apprehension, as she had earlier been, and still continued +to be, the main cause of the burden of military preparation in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Among the other powers which participated in the great partition, +Russia continued her pressure in two of the three directions which she +had earlier followed-south-eastwards in Central Asia, eastwards towards +China. In both directions her activity aroused the nervous fears of +Britain, while her pressure upon China helped to bring Japan into the +ranks of the militant and aggressive powers. But Russia took no +interest in the more distant quarters of the world. Nor did Austria, +though during these years her old ambition to expand south-eastwards at +the expense of Turkey and the Balkan peoples revived under German +encouragement. Italy, having but recently achieved national unity and +taken her place among the Great Powers, felt that she could not be left +out of the running, now that extra-European possessions had come to +appear an almost essential mark of greatness among states; and, +disappointed of Tunis, she endeavoured to find compensation on the +shores of the Red Sea. Spain and Portugal, in the midst of all these +eager rivalries, were tempted to furbish up their old and half-dormant +claims. Even the United States of America joined in the rush during the +fevered period of the 'nineties. +</P> + +<P> +Lastly, Britain, the oldest and the most fully endowed of all the +colonising powers, was drawn, half unwilling, into the competition; and +having an immense start over her rivals, actually acquired more new +territory than any of them. She was, indeed, like the other states, +passing through an 'imperialist' phase in these years. The value +attached by other countries to oversea possessions awakened among the +British people a new pride in their far-spread dominions. Disraeli, who +was in the ascendant when the period opened, had forgotten his old +opinion of the uselessness of colonies, and had become a prophet of +Empire. An Imperial Federation Society was founded in 1878. The old +unwillingness to assume new responsibilities died out, or diminished; +and the rapid annexations of other states, especially France, in +regions where British influence had hitherto been supreme, and whose +chieftains had often begged in vain for British protection, aroused +some irritation. The ebullient energy of the colonists themselves, +especially in South Africa and Australia, demanded a forward policy. +Above all, the fact that the European powers, now so eager for colonial +possessions, had all adopted the protectionist policy aroused a fear +lest British traders should find themselves shut out from lands whose +trade had hitherto been almost wholly in their hands; and the militant +and aggressive temper sometimes shown by the agents of these powers +awakened some nervousness regarding the safety of the existing British +possessions. Hence Britain, after a period of hesitancy, became as +active as any of the other states in annexation. Throughout this period +her main rival was France, whose new claims seemed to come in conflict +with her own in almost every quarter of the globe. This rivalry +produced acute friction, which grew in intensity until it reached its +culminating point in the crisis of Fashoda in 1898, and was not removed +until the settlement of 1904 solved all the outstanding difficulties. +It would be quite untrue to say that Britain deliberately endeavoured +to prevent or to check the rapid colonial expansion of France. The +truth is that British trading interests had been predominant in many of +the regions where the French were most active, and that the +protectionist policy which France had adopted stimulated into a new +life the ancient rivalry of these neighbour and sister nations. Towards +the colonial ambitions of Germany, and still more of Italy, Britain was +far more complaisant. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult to give in a brief space a clear summary of the +extremely complicated events and intrigues of this vitally important +period. But perhaps it will be easiest if we consider in turn the +regions in which the strenuous rivalries of the powers displayed +themselves. The most important was Africa, which lay invitingly near to +Europe, and was the only large region of the world which was still for +the most part unoccupied. Here all the competitors, save Russia, Japan, +and America, played a part. Western Asia formed a second field, in +which three powers only, Russia, Germany, and Britain, were immediately +concerned. The Far East, where the vast Empire of China seemed to be +falling into decrepitude, afforded the most vexed problems of the +period. Finally, the Pacific Islands were the scene of an active though +less intense rivalry. +</P> + +<P> +It is a curious fact that Africa, the continent whose outline was the +first outside of Europe itself to be fully mapped out by the European +peoples, was actually the last to be effectively brought under the +influence of European civilisation. This was because the coasts of +Africa are for the most part inhospitable; its vast interior plateau is +almost everywhere shut off either by belts of desert land, or by swampy +and malarious regions along the coast; even its great rivers do not +readily tempt the explorer inland, because their course is often +interrupted by falls or rapids not far from their mouths, where they +descend from the interior plateau to the coastal plain; and its +inhabitants, warlike and difficult to deal with, are also peoples of +few and simple wants, who have little to offer to the trader. Hence +eight generations of European mariners had circumnavigated the +continent without seriously attempting to penetrate its central mass; +and apart from the Anglo-Dutch settlements at the Southern extremity, +the French empire in Algeria in the north, a few trading centres on the +West Coast, and some half-derelict Portuguese stations in Angola and +Mozambique, the whole continent remained available for European +exploitation in 1878. +</P> + +<P> +What trade was carried on, except in Egypt, in Algeria, and in the +immediate vicinity of the old French settlements on the West Coast, was +mainly in the hands of British merchants. Over the greater part of the +coastal belts only the British power was known to the native tribes and +chieftains. Many of them (like the Sultan of Zanzibar and the chiefs of +the Cameroons) had repeatedly begged to be taken under British +protection, and had been refused. During the two generations before +1878 the interior of the continent had begun to be known. But except in +the north and north-west, where French explorers and a few Germans had +been active, the work had been mainly done by British travellers. Most +of the great names of African exploration—Livingstone, Burton, Speke, +Baker, Cameron and the Anglo-American Stanley—were British names. +These facts, of course, gave to Britain, already so richly endowed, no +sort of claim to a monopoly of the continent. But they naturally gave +her a right to a voice in its disposal. Only the French had shown +anything like the same activity, or had established anything like the +same interests; and they were far behind their secular rivals. +</P> + +<P> +But these facts bring out one feature which differentiated the +settlement of Africa from that of any other region of the non-European +world. It was not a gradual, but an extraordinarily rapid achievement. +It was based not upon claims established by work already done, but, for +the most part, upon the implicit assumption that extra-European empire +was the due of the European peoples, simply because they were civilised +and powerful. This was the justification, in a large degree, of all the +European empires in Africa. But it was especially so in the case of the +empire which Germany created in the space of three years. This empire +was not the product of German enterprise in the regions included within +it; it was the product of Germany's dominating position in Europe, and +the expression of her resolve to create an external empire worthy of +that position. +</P> + +<P> +Africa falls naturally into two great regions. The northern coast, +separated from the main mass of the continent by the broad belt of +deserts which runs from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, has always been +far more ultimately connected with the other Mediterranean lands than +with the rest of Africa. Throughout the course of history, indeed, the +northern coast-lands have belonged rather to the realms of Western or +of Asiatic civilisation than to the primitive barbarism of the sons of +Ham. In the days of the Carthaginians and of the Roman Empire, all +these lands, from Egypt to Morocco, had known a high civilisation. They +were racially as well as historically distinct from the rest of the +continent. They had been in name part of the Turkish Empire, and any +European interference in their affairs was as much a question of +European politics as the problems of the Balkans. Two countries in this +area fell under European direction during the period with which we are +concerned, and in each case the effects upon European politics were +very great. In 1881 France, with the deliberate encouragement of +Bismarck, sent armies into Tunis, and assumed the protectorate of that +misgoverned region. She had good grounds for her action. Not only had +she large trade-interests in Tunis, but the country was separated from +her earlier dominion in Algeria only by an artificial line, and its +disorders increased the difficulty of developing the efficient +administration which she had established there. Unhappily Italy also +had interests in Tunis. There were more Italian than French residents +in the country, which is separated from Sicily only by a narrow belt of +sea. And Italy, who was beginning to conceive colonial ambitions, had +not unnaturally marked down Tunis as her most obvious sphere of +influence. The result was to create a long-lived ill-feeling between +the two Latin countries. As a consequence of the annexation of Tunis, +Italy was persuaded in the next year (1882) to join the Triple +Alliance; and France, having burnt her fingers, became chary of +colonial adventures in regions that were directly under the eye of +Europe. Isolated, insecure, and eternally suspicious of Germany, she +could not afford to be drawn into European quarrels. This is in a large +degree the explanation of her vacillating action in regard to Egypt. +</P> + +<P> +In Egypt the political influence of France had been preponderant ever +since the time of Mehemet Ali; perhaps we should say, ever since the +time of Napoleon. And political influence had been accompanied by +trading and financial interests. France had a larger share of the trade +of Egypt, and had lent more money to the ruling princes of the country, +than any other country save England. She had designed and executed the +Suez Canal. But this waterway, once opened, was used mainly by British +ships on the way to India, Australia, and the Far East. It became a +point of vital strategic importance to Britain, who, though she had +opposed its construction, eagerly seized the chance of buying a great +block of shares in the enterprise from the bankrupt Khedive. Thus +French and British interests in Egypt were equally great; greater than +those of all the rest of Europe put together. When the native +government of Egypt fell into bankruptcy (1876), the two powers set up +a sort of condominium, or joint control of the finances, in order to +ensure the payment of interest on the Egyptian debt held by their +citizens. To bankruptcy succeeded political chaos; and it became +apparent that if the rich land of Egypt was not to fall into utter +anarchy, there must be direct European intervention. The two powers +proposed to take joint action; the rest of Europe assented. But the +Sultan of Turkey, as suzerain of Egypt, threatened to make +difficulties. At the last moment France, fearful of the complications +that might result, and resolute to avoid the danger of European war, +withdrew from the project of joint intervention. Britain went on alone; +and although she hoped and believed that she would quickly be able to +restore order, and thereupon to evacuate the country, found herself +drawn into a labour of reconstruction that could not be dropped. We +shall in the next chapter have more to say on the British occupation of +Egypt, as part of the British achievement during this period. In the +meanwhile, its immediate result was continuous friction between France +and Britain. France could not forgive herself or Britain for the +opportunity which she had lost. The embitterment caused by the Egyptian +question lasted throughout the period, and was not healed till the +Entente of 1904. It intensified and exacerbated the rivalry of the two +countries in other fields. It made each country incapable of judging +fairly the actions of the other. To wounded and embittered France, the +perfectly honest British explanations of the reasons for delay in +evacuating Egypt seemed only so many evidences of hypocrisy masking +greed. To Britain the French attitude seemed fractious and +unreasonable, and she suspected in every French forward movement in +other fields—notably in the Eastern Soudan and the upper valley of the +Nile—an attempt to attack or undermine her. Thus Egypt, like Tunis, +illustrated the influence of European politics in the extra-European +field. The power that profited most was Germany, who had strengthened +herself by drawing Italy into the Triple Alliance, and had kept France +at her mercy by using colonial questions as a means of alienating her +from her natural friends. It was, in truth, only from this point of +view that colonial questions had any interest for Bismarck. He was, as +he repeatedly asserted almost to the day of his death, 'no colony man.' +But the time was at hand when he was to be forced out of this attitude. +For already the riches of tropical Africa were beginning to attract the +attention of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The most active and energetic of the powers in tropical Africa was +France. From her ancient foothold at Senegal she was already, in the +late 'seventies, pushing inland towards the upper waters of the Niger; +while further south her vigorous explorer de Brazza was penetrating the +hinterland behind the French coastal settlements north of the Congo +mouth. Meanwhile the explorations of Livingstone and Stanley had given +the world some conception of the wealth of the vast exterior. In 1876 +Leopold, King of the Belgians, summoned a conference at Brussels to +consider the possibility of setting the exploration and settlement of +Africa upon an international basis. Its result was the formation of an +International African Association, with branches in all the principal +countries. But from the first the branches dropped all serious pretence +of international action. They became (so far as they exercised any +influence) purely national organisations for the purpose of acquiring +the maximum amount of territory for their own states. And the central +body, after attempting a few unsuccessful exploring expeditions, +practically resolved itself into the organ of King Leopold himself, and +aimed at creating a neutral state in Central Africa under his +protection. In 1878 H. M. Stanley returned from the exploration of the +Congo. He was at once invited by King Leopold to undertake the +organisation of the Congo basin for his Association, and set out again +for that purpose in 1879. But he soon found himself in conflict with +the active French agents under de Brazza, who had made their way into +the Congo valley from the north-west. And at the same time Portugal, +reviving ancient and dormant claims, asserted that the Congo belonged +to her. It was primarily to find a solution for these disputes that the +Berlin Conference was summoned in December 1884. Meanwhile the rush for +territory was going on furiously in other regions of Africa. Not only +on the Congo, but on the Guinea Coast and its hinterland, France was +showing an immense activity, and was threatening to reduce to small +coastal enclaves the old British settlements on this coast. Only the +energy shown by a group of British merchants, who formed themselves +into a National African Company in 1881, and the vigorous action of +their leader, Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Taubman Goldie, prevented the +extrusion of British interests from the greater part of the Niger +valley, where they had hitherto been supreme. In Madagascar, too, the +ancient ambitions of France had revived. Though British trading and +missionary activities in the island were at this date probably greater +than French, France claimed large rights, especially in the north-east +of the island. These claims drew her into a war with the native power +of the Hovas, which began in 1883, and ended in 1885 with a vague +recognition of French suzerainty. Again, Italy had, in 1883, obtained +her first foothold in Eritrea, on the shore of the Red Sea. And +Germany, also, had suddenly made up her mind to embark upon the career +of empire. In 1883 the Bremen merchant, Luderitz, appeared in +South-west Africa, where there were a few German mission stations and +trading-centres, and annexed a large area which Bismarck was persuaded +to take under the formal protection of Germany. This region had +hitherto been vaguely regarded as within the British sphere, but though +native princes, missionaries, and in 1868 even the Prussian government, +had requested Britain to establish a formal protectorate, she had +always declined to do so. In the next year another German agent, Dr. +Nachtigal, was commissioned by the German government to report on +German trade interests on the West Coast, and the British government +was formally acquainted with his mission and requested to instruct its +agents to assist him. The real purpose of the mission was shown when +Nachtigal made a treaty with the King of Togoland, on the Guinea Coast, +whereby he accepted German suzerainty. A week later a similar treaty +was made with some of the native chiefs in the Cameroons. In this +region British interests had hitherto been predominant, and the chiefs +had repeatedly asked for British protection, which had always been +refused. A little later the notorious Karl Peters, with a few +companions disguised as working engineers, arrived at Zanzibar on the +East Coast, with a commission from the German Colonial Society to peg +out German claims. In the island of Zanzibar British interests had long +been overwhelmingly predominant; and the Sultan, who had large and +vague claims to supremacy over a vast extent of the mainland, had +repeatedly asked the British government to take these regions under its +protectorate. He had always been refused. Peters' luggage consisted +largely of draft treaty-forms; and he succeeded in making treaties with +native princes (usually unaware of the meaning of the documents they +were signing) whereby some 60,000 square miles were brought under +German control. The protectorate over these lands had not been accepted +by the German government when the Conference of Berlin met. It was +formally accepted in the next year (1885). Far from being opposed by +Britain, the establishment of German power in East Africa was actually +welcomed by the British government, whose foreign secretary, Earl +Granville, wrote that his government 'views with favour these schemes, +the realisation of which will entail the civilisation of large tracts +over which hitherto no European influence has been exercised.' And when +a group of British traders began to take action further north, in the +territory which later became British East Africa, and in which Peters +had done nothing, the British government actually consulted the German +government before licensing their action. Thus before the meeting of +the Conference of Berlin the foundations of the German empire in Africa +were already laid; the outlines of the vast French empire in the north +had begun to appear; and the curious dominion of Leopold of Belgium in +the Congo valley had begun to take shape. +</P> + +<P> +The Conference of Berlin (Dec. 1884-Feb. 1885), which marks the close +of the first stage in the partition of Africa, might have achieved +great things if it had endeavoured to lay down the principles upon +which European control over backward peoples should be exercised. But +it made no such ambitious attempt. It prescribed the rules of the game +of empire-building, ordaining that all protectorates should be formally +notified by the power which assumed them to the other powers, and that +no annexation should be made of territory which was not 'effectively' +occupied; but evidently the phrase 'effective occupation' can be very +laxly interpreted. It provided that there should be free navigation of +the Congo and Niger rivers, and freedom of trade for alienations within +the Congo valley and certain other vaguely defined areas. But it made +no similar provision for other parts of Africa; and it whittled away +the value of what it did secure by the definite proviso that should +parts of these areas be annexed by independent states, the restriction +upon their control of trade should lapse. It recognised the illegality +of the slave-trade, and imposed upon annexing powers the duty of +helping to suppress it; this provision was made much fuller and more +definite by a second conference at Brussels in 1890, on the demand of +Britain, who had hitherto contended almost alone against the traffic in +human flesh. But no attempt was made to define native rights, to +safeguard native customs, to prohibit the maintenance of forces larger +than would be necessary for the maintenance of order: in short, no +attempt was made to lay down the doctrine that the function of a ruling +power among backward peoples is that of a trustee on behalf of its +simple subjects and on behalf of civilisation. That the partition of +Africa should have been effected without open war, and that the +questions decided at Berlin should have been so easily and peacefully +agreed upon, seemed at the moment to be a good sign. But the spirit +which the conference expressed was not a healthy spirit. +</P> + +<P> +After 1884 the activity of the powers in exploration, annexation and +development became more furious than ever. Britain now began seriously +to arouse herself to the danger of exclusion from vast areas where her +interests had hitherto been predominant; and it was during these years +that all her main acquisitions of territory in Africa were made: +Rhodesia and Central Africa in the south, East Africa and Somaliland in +the East, Nigeria and the expansion of her lesser protectorates in the +West. To these years also belonged the definite, and most unfortunate, +emergence of Italy as a colonising power. She had got a foothold in +Eritrea in 1883; in 1885 it was, with British aid, enlarged by the +annexation of territory which had once been held by Egypt, but had been +abandoned when she lost the Soudan. But the Italian claims in Eritrea +brought on conflict with the neighbouring native power of Abyssinia. In +spite of a sharp defeat at Dogali in 1887, she succeeded in holding her +own in this conflict; and in 1889 Abyssinia accepted a treaty which +Italy claimed to be a recognition of her suzerainty. But the +Abyssinians repudiated this interpretation; and in a new war, which +began in 1896, inflicted upon the Italians so disastrous a defeat at +Adowa that they were constrained to admit the complete independence of +Abyssinia—the sole native state which has so far been able to hold its +own against the pressure of Europe. Meanwhile in 1889 and the following +years Italy had, once more with the direct concurrence of Britain, +marked out a new territory in Somaliland. +</P> + +<P> +The main features of the years from 1884 to 1900 were the rapidity with +which the territories earlier annexed were expanded and organised, more +especially by France. In the 'nineties her dominions extended from the +Mediterranean to the Guinea Coast, and she had conceived the ambition +of extending them also across Africa from West to East. This ambition +led her into a new and more acute conflict with Britain, who, having +undertaken the reconquest of the Egyptian Soudan and the upper valley +of the Nile, held that she could not permit a rival to occupy the upper +waters of the great river, or any part of the territory that belonged +to it. Hence when the intrepid explorer, Marchand, after a toilsome +expedition which lasted for two years, planted the French flag at +Fashoda in 1898, he was promptly disturbed by Kitchener, fresh from the +overthrow of the Khalifa and the reconquest of Khartoum, and was +compelled to withdraw. The tension was severe; no episode in the +partition of Africa had brought the world so near to the outbreak of a +European war. But in the end the dispute was settled by the +Anglo-French agreement of 1898, which may be said to mark the +conclusion of the process of partition. It was the last important +treaty in a long series which filled the twenty years following 1878, +and which had the result of leaving Africa, with the exception of +Morocco, Tripoli, and Abyssinia, completely divided among the chief +European states. Africa was the main field of the ambitions and +rivalries of the European powers during this period; the other fields +may be more rapidly surveyed. In Central Asia and the Near East the +main features of the period were two. The first was the steady advance +of Russia towards the south-east, which awakened acute alarms in +Britain regarding India, and led to the adoption of a 'forward policy' +among the frontier tribes in the north-west of India. The second was +the gradual and silent penetration of Turkey by German influence. Here +there was no partition or annexation, But Germany became the political +protector of the Turk; undertook the reorganisation of his armies; +obtained great commercial concessions; bought up his railways, ousting +the earlier British and French concerns which had controlled them, and +built new lines. The greatest of these was the vitally important +project of the Bagdad railway, which was taken in hand just before the +close of the period. It was a project whose political aims outweighed +its commercial aims. And it provided a warning of the gigantic designs +which Germany was beginning to work out. But as yet, in 1900, the +magnitude of these designs was unperceived. And the problems of the +Middle East were not yet very disturbing. The Turkish Empire remained +intact; so did the Persian Empire, though both were becoming more +helpless, partly owing to the decrepitude of their governments, partly +owing to the pressure of European financial and trading interests. As +yet the empires of the Middle East seemed to form a region +comparatively free from European influence. But this was only seeming. +The influence of Europe was at work in them; and it was probably +inevitable that some degree of European political tutelage should +follow as the only means of preventing the disintegration which must +result from the pouring of new wine into the old bottles. +</P> + +<P> +In the Far East—in the vast empire of China—this result seemed to be +coming about inevitably and rapidly. The ancient pot-bound civilisation +of China had withstood the impact of the West in the mid-nineteenth +century without breaking down; but China had made no attempt, such as +Japan had triumphantly carried out, to adapt herself to the new +conditions, and her system was slowly crumbling under the influence of +the European traders, teachers, and missionaries whom she had been +compelled to admit. The first of the powers to take advantage of this +situation was France, who already possessed a footing in Cochin-China, +and was tempted during the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties to +transform it into a general supremacy over Annam and Tonking. As early +as 1874 she had obtained from the King of Annam a treaty which she +interpreted as giving her suzerain powers. The King of Annam himself +repudiated this interpretation, and maintained that he was a vassal of +China. China took the same view; and after long negotiations a war +between France and China broke out. It lasted for four years, and +demanded a large expenditure of strength. But it ended (1885) with the +formal recognition of French suzerainty over Annam, and a further +decline of Chinese prestige. +</P> + +<P> +Ten years later a still more striking proof of Chinese weakness was +afforded by the rapid and complete defeat of the vast, ill-organised +empire by Japan, the youngest of the great powers. The war gave to +Japan Formosa and the Pescadores Islands, and added her to the list of +imperialist powers. She would have won more still—the Liao-tang +Peninsula and a sort of suzerainty over Korea—but that the European +powers, startled by the signs of China's decay, and perhaps desiring a +share of the plunder, intervened to forbid these annexations, on the +pretext of defending the integrity of China. Russia, France and Germany +combined in this step; Britain stood aloof. Japan, unwillingly giving +way, and regarding Russia as the chief cause of her humiliation, began +to prepare herself for a coming conflict. As for unhappy China, she was +soon to learn how much sincerity there was in the zeal of Europe for +the maintenance of her integrity. In 1896 she was compelled to permit +Russia to build a railway across Manchuria; and to grant to France a +'rectification of frontiers' on the south, and the right of building a +railway through the province of Yunnan, which lies next to Tonking. The +partition of China seemed to be at hand. Britain and America vainly +urged upon the other powers that China should be left free to direct +her own affairs subject to the maintenance of 'the open door' for +European trade. The other powers refused to listen, and in 1897 the +beginning of the end seemed to have come. Germany, seizing on the +pretext afforded by the murder of two German missionaries, stretched +forth her 'mailed fist,' and seized the strong place and admirable +harbour of Kiao-chau, the most valuable strategic position on the +Chinese coast. That she meant to use it as a base for future expansion +was shown by her lavish expenditure upon its equipment and +fortification. Russia responded by seizing the strong place of Port +Arthur and the Liao-Tang Peninsula, while every day her hold upon the +great province of Manchuria was strengthened. Foreseeing a coming +conflict in which her immense trading interests would be imperilled, +Britain acquired a naval base on the Chinese coast by leasing +Wei-hai-Wei. Thus all the European rivals were clustered round the +decaying body of China; and in the last years of the century were +already beginning to claim 'spheres of influence,' despite the protests +of Britain and America. But the outburst of the Boxer Rising in +1900—caused mainly by resentment of foreign intervention—had the +effect of postponing the rush for Chinese territory. And when Britain +and Japan made an alliance in 1902 on the basis of guaranteeing the +status quo in the East, the overwhelming naval strength of the two +allies made a European partition of China impracticable; and China was +once more given a breathing-space. Only Russia could attack the Chinese +Empire by land; and the severe defeat which she suffered at the hands +of Japan in 1904-5 removed that danger also. The Far East was left with +a chance of maintaining its independence, and of voluntarily adapting +itself to the needs of a new age. +</P> + +<P> +The last region in which territories remained available for European +annexation consisted of the innumerable archipelagoes of the Pacific +Ocean. Here the preponderant influence had been in the hands of Britain +ever since the days of Captain Cook. She had made some annexations +during the first three quarters of the century, but had on the whole +steadfastly refused the requests of many of the island peoples to be +taken under her protection. France had, as we have seen, acquired New +Caledonia and the Marquesas Islands during the previous period, but her +activity in this region was never very great. The only other European +power in possession of Pacific territories was Spain, who held the +great archipelago of the Philippines, and claimed also the numerous +minute islands (nearly six hundred in number) which are known as +Micronesia. When the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties began, +Germany saw a fruitful field in the Pacific, and annexed the Bismarck +Archipelago and the north-eastern quarter of New Guinea. Under pressure +from Australia, who feared to see so formidable a neighbour established +so near her coastline, Britain annexed the south-eastern quarter of +that huge island. During the 'nineties the partition of the Pacific +Islands was completed; the chief participators being Germany, Britain, +and the United States of America. +</P> + +<P> +The entry of America into the race for imperial possessions in its last +phase was too striking an event to pass without comment. America +annexed Hawaii in 1898, and divided the Samoan group with Germany in +1899. But her most notable departure from her traditional policy of +self-imposed isolation from world-politics came when in 1898 she was +drawn by the Cuban question into a war with Spain. Its result was the +disappearance of the last relics of the Spanish Empire in the New World +and in the Pacific. Cuba became an independent republic. Porto Rico was +annexed by America. In the Pacific the Micronesian possessions of Spain +were acquired by Germany. Germany would fain have annexed also the +Philippine Islands. But America resolved herself to assume the task of +organising and governing these rich lands; and in doing so made a grave +breach with her traditions. Her new possession necessarily drew her +into closer relations with the problems of the Far East; it gave her +also some acquaintance with the difficulty of introducing Western +methods among a backward people. During these years of universal +imperialist excitement the spirit of imperialism seemed to have +captured America as it had captured the European states; and this was +expressed in a new interpretation of the Monroe doctrine, put forth by +the Secretary of State during the Venezuela controversy of 1895. 'The +United States,' said Mr. Olney, 'is practically sovereign on this +continent (meaning both North and South America), 'and its fiat is law +upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition.' No such +gigantic imperial claim had ever been put forward by any European +state; and it constituted an almost defiant challenge to the +imperialist powers of Europe. It may safely be said that this dictum +did not represent the settled judgment of the American people. But it +did appear, in the last years of the century, as if the great republic +were about to emerge from her self-imposed isolation, and to take her +natural part in the task of planting the civilisation of the West +throughout the world. Had she frankly done so, had she made it plain +that she recognised the indissoluble unity and the common interests of +the whole world, it is possible that her influence might have eased the +troubles of the next period, and exercised a deterrent influence upon +the forces of disturbance which were working towards the great +catastrophe. But her traditions were too strong; and after the brief +imperialist excitement of the 'nineties, she gradually relapsed once +more into something like her old attitude of aloofness. +</P> + +<P> +It is but a cursory and superficial view which we have been able to +take of this extraordinary quarter of a century, during which almost +the whole world was partitioned among a group of mighty empires, and +the political and economic unity of the globe was finally and +irrefragably established. Few regions had escaped the direct political +control of European powers; and most of these few were insensibly +falling under the influence of one or other of the powers: Turkey under +that of Germany, Persia under that of Russia and Britain. No region of +the earth remained exempt from the indirect influence of the European +system. The civilisation of the West had completed the domination of +the globe; and the interests of the great world-states were so +intertwined and intermingled in every corner of the earth that the +balance of power among them had become as precarious as was the +European balance in the eighteenth century. The era of the world-states +had very definitely opened. It remained to be seen in what spirit it +was to be used, and whether it was to be of long duration. These two +questions are one; for no system can last which is based upon injustice +and the denial of right. +</P> + +<P> +At this point we may well stop to survey the new world-states which had +been created by this quarter of a century of eager competition. +</P> + +<P> +First among them, in extent and importance, stood the new empire of +France. It covered a total area of five million square miles, and in +size ranked third in order, coming after the older empires of Russia +and Britain. It had been the result of the strenuous labours of +three-quarters of a century, dating from the first invasion of Algiers; +it included also some surviving fragments of the earlier French Empire. +But overwhelmingly the greater part of this vast dominion had been +acquired during the short period which we have surveyed in this +chapter; and its system of organisation and government had not yet had +time to establish itself. It had been built only at the cost of +strenuous labour, and many wars. Yet the French had shown in its +administration that they still retained to the full that imaginative +tact in the handling of alien peoples which had stood them in good +stead in India and America during the eighteenth century. Once their +rule was established the French had on the whole very little trouble +with their subjects; and it is impossible to praise too highly the +labours of civilisation which French administrators were achieving. So +far as their subjects were concerned, they may justly be said to have +regarded themselves as trustees. So far as the rest of the civilised +world was concerned, the same praise cannot be given; for the French +policy in the economic administration of colonies was definitely one of +monopoly and exclusion. The French Empire fell into three main blocks. +First, and most important, was the empire of Northern Africa, extending +from Algiers to the mouth of the Congo, and from the Atlantic to the +valley of the Nile. Next came the rich island of Madagascar; lastly the +eastern empire of Annam and Tonking, the beginnings of which dated back +to the eighteenth century. A few inconsiderable islands in the Pacific +and the West Indies, acquired long since, a couple of towns in India, +memories of the dreams of Dupleix, and the province of French Guiana in +South America, which dated back to the seventeenth century, completed +the list. For the most part a recent and rapid creation, it +nevertheless had roots in the past, and was the work of a people +experienced in the handling of backward races. +</P> + +<P> +Next may be named the curious dominion of the Congo Free State, +occupying the rich heart of the African continent. Nominally it +belonged to no European power, but was a recognised neutral territory. +In practice it was treated as the personal estate of the Belgian king, +Leopold II. Subject to closer international restrictions than any other +European domain in the non-European world, the Congo was nevertheless +the field of some of the worst iniquities in the exploitation of +defenceless natives that have ever disgraced the record of European +imperialism. International regulations are no safeguard against +misgovernment; the only real sanction is the character and spirit of +the government. For the Congo iniquities Leopold II. must be held +guilty at the bar of posterity. When he went to his judgment in 1908 +this rich realm passed under the direct control of the Belgian +government and parliament, and an immediate improvement resulted. +</P> + +<P> +The least successful of the new world-states was that of Italy. Its +story was a story of disaster and disappointment. It included some two +hundred thousand square miles of territory; but they were hot and arid +lands on the inhospitable shores of the Red Sea and in Somaliland. +Italy had as yet no real opportunity of showing how she would deal with +the responsibilities of empire. +</P> + +<P> +The most remarkable, in many respects, of all these suddenly acquired +empires was that of Germany. For it was practically all obtained within +a period of three years, without fighting or even serious friction. It +fell almost wholly within regions where Germany's interests had been +previously negligible, and British trade predominant. Yet its growth +had not been impeded, it had even been welcomed, by its rivals. This +easily-won empire was indeed relatively small, being not much over one +million square miles, little more than one-fifth of the French +dominions. But it was five times as large as Germany itself, and it +included territories which were, on the whole, richer than those of +France. The comparative smallness of its area was due to the fact that +Germany was actually the last to enter the race. She took no steps to +acquire territory, she showed no desire to acquire it, before 1883; if +she had chosen to begin ten years earlier, as she might easily have +done, or if she had shown any marked activity in exploring or +missionary work, without doubt she could have obtained a much larger +share of African soil. +</P> + +<P> +These rich lands afforded to their new masters useful supplies of raw +materials, which were capable of almost indefinite expansion. They +included, in East and South-West Africa, areas well suited for white +settlement; but German emigrants, despite every encouragement, refused +to settle in them. An elaborately scientific system of administration, +such as might be expected from the German bureaucracy, was devised for +the colonies; officials and soldiers have from the beginning formed a +larger proportion of their white population than in any other European +possessions. Undoubtedly the government of the German colonies was in +many respects extremely efficient. But over-administration, which has +its defects even in an old and well-ordered country, is fatal to the +development of a raw and new one. Although Germany has, in order to +increase the prosperity of her colonies, encouraged foreign trade, and +followed a far less exclusive policy than France, not one of her +colonies, except the little West African district of Togoland, has ever +paid its own expenses. In the first generation of its existence the +German colonial empire, small though it is in comparison with the +British or the French, actually cost the home government over +100,000,000 pounds in direct outlay. +</P> + +<P> +The main cause of this was that from the first the Germans showed +neither skill nor sympathy in the handling of their subject +populations. The uniformed official, with his book of rules, only +bewilders primitive folk, and arouses their resentment. But it was not +only official pedantry which caused trouble with the subject peoples; +still more it was the ruthless spirit of mere domination, and the total +disregard of native rights, which were displayed by the German +administration. The idea of trusteeship, which had gradually +established itself among the rulers of the British dominions, and in +the French colonies also, was totally lacking among the Germans. They +ruled their primitive subjects with the brutal intolerance of Zabern, +with the ruthless cruelty since displayed in occupied Belgium. This was +what made the rise of the German dominion a terrible portent in the +history of European imperialism. The spirit of mere domination, +regardless of the rights of the conquered, had often shown itself in +other European empires; but it had always had to struggle against +another and better ideal, the ideal of trusteeship; and, as we have +seen, the better ideal had, during the nineteenth century, definitely +got the upper hand, especially in the British realms, whose experience +had been longest. But the old and bad spirit reigned without check in +the German realms. And even when, in 1907, it began to be seriously +criticised, when its disastrous and unprofitable results began to be +seen, the ground on which it was challenged in discussions in Germany +was mainly the materialist ground that it did not pay. +</P> + +<P> +The justification for these assertions is to be found in the history of +the principal German colonies. In the Cameroons the native tribes, who +had been so ready to receive European government that they had +repeatedly asked for British protection, were driven to such incessant +revolts that the annals of the colony seem to be annals of continuous +bloodshed: forty-six punitive expeditions were chronicled in the +seventeen years from 1891—long after the establishment of the German +supremacy, which took place in 1884. The record of East Africa was even +more terrible for the ferocity with which constant revolts were +suppressed. But worst of all was the story of South-West Africa. There +were endless wars against the various tribes; but they culminated in +the hideous Herero war of 1903-6. The Hereros, driven to desperation by +maltreatment, had revolted and killed some white farmers. They were +punished by an almost complete annihilation. The spirit of this hideous +slaughter is sufficiently expressed by the proclamation of the +governor, General von Trotha, in 1904. 'The Herero people must now +leave the land. Within the German frontier every Herero, with or +without weapon, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall take +charge of no more women and children, but shall drive them back to +their people, or let them be shot at.' Ten thousand of these unhappy +people, mainly old men, women and children, were driven into the +desert, where they perished. There is no such atrocious episode in the +history of European imperialism since Pizarro's slaughter of the Incas; +if even that can be compared with it. +</P> + +<P> +The causes of these ceaseless and ruinous wars were to be found partly +in the total disregard of native custom, and in the hide-bound pedantry +with which German-made law and the Prussian system of regimentation +were enforced upon the natives; but it was to be found still more in +the assumption that the native had no rights as against his white lord. +His land might be confiscated; his cattle driven away; even downright +slavery was not unknown, not merely in the form of forced labour, which +has been common in German colonies, but in the form of the actual sale +and purchase of negroes. Herr Dernburg, who became Colonial Secretary +in 1907, himself recorded that he met in East Africa a young farmer who +told him that he had just bought a hundred and fifty negroes; he also +described the settlers' pleasing practice of sitting beside the wells +with revolvers, in order to prevent the natives from watering their +cattle, and to force them to leave them behind; and he noted that +officials nearly always carried negro whips with them. These practices, +indeed, were condemned by the German Government itself, but only after +many years, and mainly because they were wasteful. Government +representatives have told the Reichstag, as Herr Schleitwein did in +1904, that they must pursue a 'healthy egoism,' and forswear +'humanitarianism and irrational sentimentality.' 'The Hereros must be +forced to work, and to work without compensation and for their food +only. ... The sentiments of Christianity and philanthropy with which +the missionaries work must be repudiated with all energy.' This is what +is called Realpolitik. +</P> + +<P> +Is it too much to say that the appearance of the spirit thus expressed +was a new thing in the history of European imperialism? Is it not plain +that if this spirit should triumph, the ascendancy of Europe over the +non-European world must prove to be, not a blessing, but an unmitigated +curse? Yet the nation which had thus acquitted itself in the rich lands +which it had so easily acquired was not satisfied; it desired a wider +field for the exhibition of its Kultur, its conception of civilisation. +</P> + +<P> +From the beginning it was evident that the colonial enthusiasts of +Germany had no intention of resting satisfied with the considerable +dominions they had won, but regarded them only as a beginning, as bases +for future conquests. The colonies were not ends in themselves, but +means for the acquisition of further power; and it was this, even more +than the ruthlessness with which the subject peoples were treated, +which made the growth of the German dominions a terrible portent. For +since the whole world was now portioned out, new territories could only +be acquired at the cost of Germany's neighbours. This was, indeed, at +first the programme only of extremists; the mass of the German people, +like Bismarck, took little interest in colonies. But the extremists +proved that they could win over the government to their view; the +German people, most docile of nations, could be gradually indoctrinated +with it. And because this was so, because the ugly spirit of domination +and of unbridled aggressiveness was in these years gradually mastering +the ruling forces of a very powerful state, and leading them towards +the catastrophe which was to prove the culmination of European +imperialism, it is necessary to dwell, at what may seem +disproportionate length, upon the development of German policy during +the later years of our period. +</P> + +<P> +Filled with pride in her own achievements, believing herself to be, +beyond all rivalry, the greatest nation in the world, already the +leader, and destined to be the controller, of civilisation, Germany +could not bring herself to accept a second place in the imperial +sphere. She had entered late into the field, by no fault of her own, +and found all the most desirable regions of the earth already occupied. +Now that 'world-power' had become the test of greatness among states, +she could be content with nothing short of the first rank among +world-states; if this rank could not be achieved, she seemed to be +sentenced to the same sort of fate as had befallen Holland or Denmark: +she might be ever so prosperous, as these little states were, but she +would be dwarfed by the vast powers which surrounded her. But the +German world-state was not to be the result of a gradual and natural +growth, like the Russian, the British or the American world-states. The +possibility of gradual growth was excluded by the fact that the whole +world had been partitioned. Greatness in the non-European world must +be, and might be, carved out in a single generation, as supremacy in +Europe had been already attained, by the strong will, efficient +organisation, and military might of the German government. +</P> + +<P> +It was natural, perhaps inevitable, that a nation with the history of +the German nation, with its ruling ideas, and with its apparently +well-tried confidence in the power of its government to achieve its +ends by force, should readily accept such a programme. The date at +which this programme captured the government of Germany, and became the +national policy, can be quite clearly fixed: it was in 1890, when +Bismarck, the 'no colony man,' was driven from power, and the supreme +direction of national affairs fell into the hands of the Emperor +William II. An impressionable, domineering and magniloquent prince, +inflated by the hereditary self-assurance of the Hohenzollerns, and +sharing to the full the modern German belief in German superiority and +in Germany's imperial destiny, William II. became the spokesman and +leader of an almost insanely megalomaniac, but terribly formidable +nation. During the first decade of his government the new ambitions of +Germany were gradually formulated, and became more distinct. They were +not yet very apparent to the rest of the world, in spite of the fact +that they were expounded with vigour and emphasis in a multitude of +pamphlets and books. The world was even ready to believe the Emperor's +assertion that he was the friend of peace: he half believed it himself, +because he would have been very ready to keep the peace if Germany's +'rights' could be attained without war. But many episodes, such as +Kiao-Chau, and the Philippines, and the ceaseless warfare in the German +colonies, and the restless enterprises of Pan-German intrigue, provided +a commentary upon these pretensions which ought to have revealed the +dangerous spirit which was conquering the German people. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult, in the midst of a war forced upon the world by German +ambition, to take a sane and balanced view of the aims which German +policy was setting before itself during these years of experiment and +preparation. What did average German opinion mean by the phrase +Weltmacht, world-power, which had become one of the commonplaces of its +political discussions? We may safely assume that by the mass of men the +implications of the term were never very clearly analysed; and that, if +they had been analysable, the results of the analysis would have been +widely different in 1890 and in 1914, except for a few fanatics and +extremists. Was the world-power at which Germany was aiming a real +supremacy over the whole world? In a vague way, no doubt, important +bodies of opinion held that such a supremacy was the ultimate destiny +of Germany in the more or less distant future; and the existence of +such a belief, however undefined, is important because it helped to +colour the attitude of the German mind towards more immediately +practical problems of national policy. But as a programme to be +immediately put into operation, world-power was not conceived in this +sense by any but a few Pan-German fanatics; and even they would have +recognised that of course other states, and even other world-powers, +would certainly survive the most successful German war, though they +would have to submit (for their own good) to Germany's will. Again, did +the demand for world-power mean no more than that Germany must have +extra-European territories, like Britain or France? She already +possessed such territories, though on a smaller scale than her rivals. +Did the claim mean, then, that her dominions must be as extensive and +populous as (say) those of Britain? Such an aim could only be obtained +if she could succeed in overthrowing all her rivals, at once or in +succession. And if she did that, she would then become, whatever her +intentions, a world-power in the first and all-embracing sense. It is +probably true that the German people, and even the extreme Pan-Germans, +did not definitely or consciously aim at world-supremacy. But they had +in the back of their minds the conviction that this was their ultimate +destiny, and in aiming at 'world-power' in a narrower sense, they so +defined their end as to make it impossible of achievement unless the +complete mastery of Europe (which, as things are, means the mastery of +most of the world) could be first attained. Certainly the ruling +statesmen of Germany must have been aware of the implications of their +doctrine of world-power. They were aware of it in 1914, when they +deliberately struck for the mastery of Europe; they must have been +aware of it in 1890, when they began to lay numerous plans and projects +in all parts of the world, such as were bound to arouse the fears and +suspicions of their rivals. +</P> + +<P> +It is necessary to dwell for a little upon these plans and projects of +the decade 1890-1900, because they illustrate the nature of the peril +which was looming over an unconscious world. It would be an error to +suppose that all these schemes were systematically and continuously +pursued with the whole strength of the German state. They appealed to +different bodies of opinion. Some of them were eagerly taken up for a +time, and then allowed to fall into the background, though seldom +wholly dropped. But taken as a whole they showed the existence of a +restless and insatiable ambition without very clearly defined aims, and +an eagerness to make use of every opening for the extension of power, +which constituted a very dangerous frame of mind in a nation so strong, +industrious, and persistent as the German nation. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the disappointing results of colonisation in Africa, the +German colonial enthusiasts hoped that something suitably grandiose +might yet be erected there: if the Belgian Congo could somehow be +acquired, and if the Portuguese would agree to sell their large +territories on the east and west coasts, a great empire of Tropical +Africa might be brought into being. This vision has not been abandoned: +it is the theme of many pamphlets published during the course of the +war, and if Germany were to be able to impose her own terms, all the +peoples of Central Africa might yet hope to have extended to them the +blessings of German government as they have been displayed in the +Cameroons and in the South-West. +</P> + +<P> +In the 'nineties there seemed also to be hope in South Africa, where +use might be made of the strained relations between Britain and the +Boer Republics. German South-West Africa formed a convenient base for +operations in this region: it was equipped with a costly system of +strategic railways, far more elaborate than the commerce of the colony +required. There is no doubt that President Kruger was given reason to +anticipate that he would receive German help: in 1895 (before the +Jameson Raid) Kruger publicly proclaimed that the time had come 'to +form ties of the closest friendship between Germany and the Transvaal, +ties such as are natural between fathers and children'; in 1896 (after +the Jameson Raid) came the Emperor's telegram congratulating President +Kruger upon having repelled the invaders 'without recourse to the aid +of friendly powers'; in 1897 a formal treaty of friendship and commerce +was made between Germany and the Orange Free State, with which the +Transvaal had just concluded a treaty of perpetual alliance. And +meanwhile German munitions of war were pouring into the Transvaal +through Delagoa Bay. But when the crisis came, Germany did nothing. She +could not, because the British fleet stood in the way. +</P> + +<P> +South America, again, offered a very promising field. There were many +thousands of German settlers, especially in southern Brazil: the +Pan-German League assiduously laboured to organise these settlers, and +to fan their patriotic zeal, by means of schools, books, and +newspapers. But the Monroe Doctrine stood in the way of South American +annexations. Perhaps Germany might have been ready to see how far she +could go with the United States, the least military of great powers. +But there was good reason to suppose that the British fleet would have +to be reckoned with; and a burglarious expedition to South America with +that formidable watchdog at large and unmuzzled was an uninviting +prospect. +</P> + +<P> +In the Far East the prospects of immediate advance seemed more +favourable, since the Chinese Empire appeared to be breaking up. The +seizure of Kiao-chau in 1897 was a hopeful beginning. But the +Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 formed a serious obstacle to any +vigorous forward policy in this region. Once more the British fleet +loomed up as a barrier. +</P> + +<P> +Yet another dream, often referred to by the pamphleteers though never +brought to overt action by the government, was the dream that the rich +empire of the Dutch in the Malay Archipelago should be acquired by +Germany. Holland herself, according to all the political ethnologists +of the Pan-German League, ought to be part of the German Empire; and if +so, her external dominions would follow the destiny of the ruling +state. But this was a prospect to be talked about, not to be worked for +openly. It would naturally follow from a successful European war. +</P> + +<P> +A more immediately practicable field of operations was to be found in +the Turkish Empire. It was here that the most systematic endeavours +were made during this period: the Berlin-Bagdad scheme, which was to be +the keystone of the arch of German world-power, had already taken shape +before our period closed, though the rest of the world was strangely +blind to its significance. Abstractly regarded, a German dominion over +the wasted and misgoverned lands of the Turkish Empire would have meant +a real advance of civilisation, and would have been no more +unjustifiable than the British control of Egypt or India. This feeling +perhaps explained the acquiescence with which the establishment of +German influence in Turkey was accepted by most of the powers. They had +yet to realise that it was not pursued as an end in itself, but as a +means to further domination. +</P> + +<P> +But neither the great Berlin-Bagdad project, nor any of the other +dreams and visions, had been definitely put into operation during the +decade 1890-1900. Germany was as yet feeling the way, preparing the +ground, and building up her resources both military and industrial. +Perhaps the main result which emerged from the tentative experiments of +these years was that at every point the obstacle was the sprawling +British Empire, and the too-powerful British fleet. The conviction grew +that the overthrow of this fat and top-heavy colossus was the necessary +preliminary to the creation of the German world-state. +</P> + +<P> +This was a doctrine which had long been preached by the chief political +mentor of modern Germany, Treitschke, who died in 1896. He was never +tired of declaring that Britain was a decadent and degenerate state, +that her empire was an unreal empire, and that it would collapse before +the first serious attack. It would break up because it was not based +upon force, because it lacked organisation, because it was a medley of +disconnected and discordant fragments, worshipping an undisciplined +freedom. That it should ever have come into being was one of the +paradoxes of history; for it was manifestly not due to straightforward +brute force, like the German Empire; and the modern German mind could +not understand a state which did not rest upon power, but upon consent, +which had not been built up, like Prussia, by the deliberate action of +government, but which had grown almost at haphazard, through the +spontaneous activity of free and self-governing citizens. Treitschke +and his disciples could only explain the paradox by assuming that since +it had not been created by force, it must have been created by low +cunning; and they invented the theory that British statesmen had for +centuries pursued an undeviating and Machiavellian policy of keeping +the more virile states of Europe at cross-purposes with one another by +means of the cunning device called the Balance of Power, while behind +the backs of these tricked and childlike nations Britain was meanly +snapping up all the most desirable regions of the earth. According to +this view it was in some mysterious way Britain's fault that France and +Germany were not the best of friends, and that Russia had been +alienated from her ancient ally. But the day of reckoning would come +when these mean devices would no longer avail, and the pampered, +selfish, and overgrown colossus would find herself faced by +hard-trained and finely tempered Germany, clad in her shining armour. +Then, at the first shock, India would revolt; and the Dutch of South +Africa would welcome their German liberators; and the great colonies, +to which Britain had granted a degree of independence that no virile +state would ever have permitted, would shake off the last shreds of +subordination; and the ramshackle British Empire would fall to pieces; +and Germany would emerge triumphant, free to pursue all her great +schemes, and to create a lasting world-power, based upon Force and +System and upon 'a healthy egoism,' not upon 'irrational +sentimentalities' about freedom and justice. +</P> + +<P> +These were the doctrines and calculations of Realpolitik. They were +becoming more and more prevalent in the 'nineties. They seem definitely +to have got the upper hand in the direction of national policy during +the last years of the century, when Germany refused to consider the +projects of disarmament put forward at the Hague in 1899, when the +creation of the German navy was begun by the Navy Acts of 1898 and +1900, and when the Emperor announced that the future of Germany lay +upon the water, and that hers must be the admiralty of the Atlantic. At +the moment when the conquest of the world by European civilisation was +almost complete, two conceptions of the meaning of empire, the +conception of brutal domination pursued for its own sake, which has +never been more clearly displayed than in the administration of the +German colonies, and the conception of trusteeship, which had slowly +emerged during the long development of the British Empire, stood forth +already in sharp antithesis. +</P> + +<P> +The dreadful anticipation of coming conflict weighed upon the world. +France, still suffering from the wounds of 1870, was always aware of +it. Russia, threatened by German policy in the Balkans, was more and +more clearly realising it. But Britain was extraordinarily slow to +awaken to the menace. As late as 1898 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain was +advocating an alliance between Britain, Germany, and America to +maintain the peace of the world; and Cecil Rhodes, when he devised his +plan for turning Oxford into the training-ground of British youth from +all the free nations of the empire, found a place in his scheme for +German as well as for American students. The telegram to President +Kruger in 1896 caused only a passing sensation. The first real +illumination came with the extraordinary display of German venom +against Britain during the South African war, and with the ominous +doubling of the German naval programme adopted in the midst of that +war, in 1900. But even this made no profound impression. The majority +of the British people declined to believe that a 'great and friendly +nation,' or its rulers, could deliberately enter upon a scheme of such +unbridled ambition and of such unprovoked aggression. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BRITISH EMPIRE AMID THE WORLD-POWERS, 1878-1914 +</H3> + +<P> +Throughout the period of rivalry for world-power which began in 1878 +the British Empire had continued to grow in extent, and to undergo a +steady change in its character and organisation. +</P> + +<P> +In the partition of Africa, Britain, in spite of the already immense +extent of her domains, obtained an astonishingly large share. The +protectorates of British East Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Nyasaland, and +Somaliland gave her nearly 25,000,000 new negro subjects, and these, +added to her older settlements of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, +whose area was now extended, outnumbered the whole population of the +French African empire. But besides these tropical territories she +acquired control over two African regions so important that they +deserve separate treatment: Egypt, on the one hand, and the various +extensions of her South African territories on the other. When the +partition of Africa was completed, the total share of Britain amounted +to 3,500,000 square miles, with a population of over 50,000,000 souls, +and it included the best regions of the continent: the British Empire, +in Africa alone, was more than three times as large as the colonial +empire of Germany, which was almost limited to Africa. +</P> + +<P> +It may well be asked why an empire already so large should have taken +also the giant's share of the last continent available for division +among the powers of Europe. No doubt this was in part due to the +sentiment of imperialism, which was stronger in Britain during this +period than ever before. But there were other and more powerful causes. +In the first place, during the period 1815-78 British influence and +trade had been established in almost every part of Africa save the +central ulterior, and no power had such definite relations with various +native tribes, many of which desired to come under the protectorate of +a power with whom the protection of native rights and customs was an +established principle. In the second place, Britain was the only +country which already possessed in Africa colonies inhabited by +enterprising European settlers, and the activity of these settlers +played a considerable part in the extension of the British African +dominions. And in the third place, since the continental powers had +adopted the policy of fiscal protection, the annexation of a region by +any of them meant that the trade of other nations might be restricted +or excluded; the annexation of a territory by Britain meant that it +would be open freely and on equal terms to the trade of all nations. +For this reason the trading interests in Britain, faced by the +possibility of exclusion from large areas with which they had carried +on traffic, were naturally anxious that as much territory as possible +should be brought under British supremacy, in order that it might +remain open to their trade. +</P> + +<P> +It is the main justification for British annexations that they opened +and developed new markets for all the world, instead of closing them; +and it was this fact chiefly which made the acquisition of such vast +areas tolerable to the other trading powers. The extension of the +British Empire was thus actually a benefit to all the non-imperial +states, especially to such active trading countries as Italy, Holland, +Scandinavia, or America. If at any time Britain should reverse her +traditional policy, and reserve for her own merchants the trade of the +immense areas which have been brought under her control, nothing is +more certain than that the world would protest, and protest with +reason, against the exorbitant and disproportionate share which has +fallen to her. Only so long as British control means the open door for +all the world will the immense extent of these acquisitions continue to +be accepted without protest by the rest of the world. +</P> + +<P> +In the new protectorates of this period Britain found herself faced by +a task with which she had never had to deal on so gigantic a scale, +though she had a greater experience in it than any other nation: the +task of governing justly whole populations of backward races, among +whom white men could not permanently dwell, and whom they visited only +for the purposes of commercial exploitation. The demands of industry +for the raw materials of these countries involved the employment of +labour on a very large scale; but the native disliked unfamiliar toil, +and as his wants were very few, could easily earn enough to keep him in +the idleness he loved. Slavery was the customary mode of getting +uncongenial tasks performed in Africa; but against slavery European +civilisation had set its face. Again, the ancient unvarying customs +whereby the rights and duties of individual tribesmen were enforced, +and the primitive societies held together, were often inconsistent with +Western ideas, and tended to break down altogether on contact with +Western industrial methods. How were the needs of industry to be +reconciled with justice to the subject peoples? How were their customs +to be reconciled with the legal ideas of their new masters? How were +these simple folk to be taught the habits of labour? How were the +resources of their land to be developed without interference with their +rights of property and with the traditional usages arising from them? +These were problems of extreme difficulty, which faced the rulers of +all the new European empires. The attempt to solve them in a +high-handed way, and with a view solely to the interests of the ruling +race, led to many evils: it produced the atrocities of the Congo; it +produced in the German colonies the practical revival of slavery, the +total disregard of native customs, and the horrible sequence of wars +and slaughters of which we have already spoken. In the British +dominions a long tradition and a long experience saved the subject +peoples from these iniquities. We dare not claim that there were no +abuses in the British lands; but at least it can be claimed that +government has always held it to be its duty to safeguard native +rights, and to prevent the total break-up of the tribal system which +could alone hold these communities together. The problem was not fully +solved; perhaps it is insoluble. But at least the native populations +were not driven to despair, and were generally able to feel that they +were justly treated. 'Let me tell you,' a Herero is recorded to have +written from British South Africa to his kinsmen under German rule, +'Let me tell you that the land of the English is a good land, since +there is no ill-treatment. White and black stand on the same level. +There is much work and much money, and your overseer does not beat you, +or if he does he breaks the law and is punished.' There was a very +striking contrast between the steady peace which has on the whole +reigned in all the British dominions, and the incessant warfare which +forms the history of the German colonies. The tradition of protection +of native rights, established during the period 1815-78, and the +experience then acquired, stood the British in good stead. During the +ordeal of the Great War it has been noteworthy that there has been no +serious revolt among these recently conquered subjects; and one of the +most touching features of the war has been the eagerness of chiefs and +their peoples to help the protecting power, and the innumerable humble +gifts which they have spontaneously offered. Much remains to be done +before a perfect solution is found for the problems of these dominions +of yesterday. But it may justly be claimed that trusteeship, not +domination, has been the spirit in which they have been administered; +and that this is recognised by their subjects, despite all the mistakes +and defects to which all human governments must be liable in dealing +with a problem so complex. +</P> + +<P> +Administrative problems of a yet more complex kind were raised in the +two greatest acquisitions of territory made by Britain during these +years, in Egypt and the Soudan, and in South Africa. The events +connected with these two regions have aroused greater controversy than +those connected with any other British dominions; the results of these +events have been more striking, and in different ways more instructive +as to the spirit and methods of British imperialism, than those +displayed in almost any other field; and for these reasons we shall not +hesitate to dwell upon them at some length. +</P> + +<P> +The establishment of British control over Egypt was due to the most +curious chain of unforeseen and unexpected events which even the +records of the British Empire contain. Nominally a part of the Turkish +Empire, Egypt had been in fact a practically independent state, paying +only a small fixed tribute to the Sultan, ever since the remarkable +Albanian adventurer, Mehemet Ali, had established himself as its Pasha +in the confusion following the French occupation (1806). Mehemet Ali +had been an extraordinarily enterprising prince. He had created a +formidable army, had conquered the great desert province of the Soudan +and founded its capital, Khartoum, and had nearly succeeded in +overthrowing the Turkish Empire and establishing his own power in its +stead: during the period 1825-40 he had played a leading role in +European politics. Though quite illiterate, he had posed as the +introducer of Western civilisation into Egypt; but his grandiose and +expensive policy had imposed terrible burdens upon the fellahin +(peasantry), and the heavy taxation which was necessary to maintain his +armies and the spurious civilisation of his capital was only raised by +cruel oppressions. +</P> + +<P> +The tradition of lavish expenditure, met by grinding the peasantry, was +accentuated by Mehemet's successors. It inevitably impoverished the +country. Large loans were raised in the West, to meet increasing +deficits; and the European creditors in course of time found it +necessary to insist that specific revenues should be ear-marked as a +security for their interest, and to claim powers of supervision over +finance. The construction of the Suez Canal (opened 1869), which was +due to the enterprise of the French, promised to bring increased +prosperity to Egypt; but in the meanwhile it involved an immense +outlay. At the beginning of our period Egypt was already on the verge +of bankruptcy, and the Khedive was compelled to sell his holding of +Suez Canal shares, which were shrewdly acquired for Britain by Disraeli. +</P> + +<P> +But financial chaos was not the only evil from which Egypt suffered. +There was administrative chaos also, and this was not diminished by the +special jurisdictions which had been allowed to the various groups of +Europeans settled in the country. The army, unpaid and undisciplined, +was ready to revolt; and above all, the helpless mass of the peasantry +were reduced to the last degree of penury, and exposed to the merciless +and arbitrary severity of the officials, who fleeced them of their +property under the lash. All the trading nations were affected by this +state of anarchy in an important centre of trade; all the creditors of +the Egyptian debt observed it with alarm. But the two powers most +concerned were France and Britain, which between them held most of the +debt, and conducted most of the foreign trade, of Egypt; while to +Britain Egypt had become supremely important, since it now controlled +the main avenue of approach to India. +</P> + +<P> +When a successful military revolt, led by Arabi Pasha, threatened to +complete the disorganisation of the country (1882), France and Britain +decided that they ought to intervene to restore order, the other powers +all agreeing. But at the last moment France withdrew, and the task was +undertaken by Britain single-handed.[7] In a short campaign Arabi was +overthrown; and now Britain had to address herself to the task of +reconstructing the political and economic organisation of Egypt. It was +her hope and intention that the work should be done as rapidly as +possible, in order that she might be able to withdraw from a difficult +and thankless task, which brought her into very delicate relations with +the other powers interested in Egypt. But withdrawal was not easy. The +task of reorganisation proved to be a much larger and more complicated +one than had been anticipated; and it was greatly increased when the +strange wave of religious fanaticism aroused by the preaching of the +Mahdi swept over the Soudan, raised a great upheaval, and led to the +destruction of the Egyptian armies of occupation. Britain had now to +decide whether the revolting province should be reconquered or +abandoned. Reconquest could not be effected by the utterly disorganised +Egyptian army; if it was to be attempted, it must be by means of +British troops. But this would not only mean a profitless expenditure, +it would also indefinitely prolong the British occupation, which +Britain was desirous of bringing to an end at the earliest possible +moment. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[7] See above, p. 164 +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The romantic hero, Gordon, was therefore sent to Khartoum to carry out +the withdrawal from the Soudan of all the remaining Egyptian garrisons. +On his arrival he came to the conclusion that the position was not +untenable, and took no steps to evacuate. There was much dangerous +delay and vacillation; and in the end Gordon was besieged in Khartoum, +and killed by the bands of the Mahdi, before a relief force could reach +him. But this triumph of Mahdism increased its menace to Egypt. The +country could not be left to its own resources until this peril had +been removed, or until the Egyptian army had been fully reorganised. So +the occupation prolonged itself, year after year. +</P> + +<P> +The situation was, in fact, utterly anomalous. Egypt was a province of +Turkey, ruled by a semi-independent Khedive. Britain's chief agent in +the country was in form only in the position of a diplomatic +representative. But the very existence of the country depended upon the +British army of occupation, and upon the work of the British officers +who were reconstructing the Egyptian army. And its hope of future +stability depended upon the work of the British administrators, +financiers, jurists, and engineers who were labouring to set its +affairs in order. These officials, with Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) +at their head, had an extraordinarily difficult task to perform. Their +relations with the native government, which they constantly had to +overrule, were difficult enough. But besides this, they had to deal +with the agents of the other European powers, who, as representing the +European creditors of the Egyptian debt, had the right to interfere in +practically all financial questions, and could make any logical +financial reorganisation, and any free use of the country's financial +resources for the restoration of its prosperity, all but impossible. +</P> + +<P> +Yet in the space of a very few years an amazing work of restoration and +reorganisation was achieved. Financial stability was re-established, +while at the same time taxation was reduced. The forced labour which +had been exacted from the peasantry was abolished; they were no longer +robbed of their property under the lash; they obtained a secure tenure +in their land; and they found that its productive power was increased, +by means of great schemes of irrigation. An impartial system of justice +was organised—for the first time in all the long history of Egypt +since the fall of the Roman Empire. The army was remodelled by British +officers. Schools of lower and higher grade were established in large +numbers. In short, Egypt began to assume the aspect of a prosperous and +well-organised modern community. And all this was the work, in the +main, of some fifteen years. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile in the Soudan triumphant barbarism had produced an appalling +state of things. It is impossible to exaggerate the hideousness of the +regime of Mahdism. A ferocious tyranny terrorised and reduced to +desolation the whole of the upper basin of the Nile; and the population +is said to have shrunk from 12,000,000 to 2,000,000, although exact +figures are of course unattainable. One of the evil consequences of +this regime was that it prevented a scientific treatment of the flow of +the Nile, on which the very life of Egypt depended. Scientific +irrigation had already worked wonders in increasing the productivity of +Egypt, but to complete this work, and to secure avoidance of the +famines which follow any deficiency in the Nile-flow, it was necessary +to deal with the upper waters of the great river. On this ground, and +in order to remove the danger of a return of barbarism, which was +threatened by frequent Mahdist attacks, and finally in order to rescue +captives who were enduring terrible sufferings in the hands of the +Mahdi, it appeared that the reconquest of the Soudan must be undertaken +as the inevitable sequel to the reorganisation of Egypt. It was +achieved, with a wonderful efficiency which made the name of Kitchener +famous, in the campaigns of 1896-98. The reconquered province was +nominally placed under the joint administration of Britain and Egypt; +but in fact the very remarkable work of civilisation which was carried +out in it during the years preceding the Great War was wholly directed +by British agents and officers. +</P> + +<P> +The occupation of the Soudan necessitated a prolongation of the British +occupation of Egypt. But, indeed, such a prolongation was in any case +inevitable; for the beneficial reforms in justice, administration, +finance, and the organisation of the country's resources, which had +been effected in half a generation, required to be carefully watched +and nursed until they should be securely rooted: to a certainty they +would have collapsed if the guardianship of Britain had been suddenly +and completely withdrawn. The growing prosperity of Egypt, however, and +still more the diffusion of Western education among its people, has +naturally brought into existence a nationalist party, who resent what +they feel to be a foreign dominance in their country, and aspire after +the institutions of Western self-government. But it has to be noted +that the classes among whom this movement has sprung up are not the +classes who form the bulk of the population of Egypt—the fellahin, who +from the time of the Pharaohs downwards have been exploited and +oppressed by every successive conqueror who has imposed his rule on the +country. This class, which has profited more than any other from the +British regime, which has, under that regime, known for the first time +justice, freedom from tyranny, and the opportunity of enjoying a fair +share of the fruits of its own labour, is as yet unvocal. Accustomed +through centuries to submission, accepting good or bad seasons, just or +unjust masters, as the gods may send them, the fellah has not yet had +time even to begin to have thoughts or opinions about his place in +society and his right to a share in the control of his own destinies; +and if the rule which has endeavoured to nurture him into prosperity +and self-reliance were withdrawn, he would accept with blind +submissiveness whatever might take its place. The classes among whom +the nationalist movement finds its strength are the classes which have +been in the past accustomed to enjoy some degree of domination; the +relics of the conquering races, Arabs or Turks, who have succeeded one +another in the rule of Egypt, the small traders and shopkeepers of the +towns, drawn from many different races, the students who have been +influenced by the knowledge and the political ideas of the West. It is +natural and healthy that a desire to share in the government of their +country should grow up among these classes: it is in some degree a +proof that the influence of the regime under which they live has been +stimulating. But it is also obvious that if these classes were at once +to reassume, under parliamentary forms, the dominance which they +wielded so disastrously until thirty years ago, the result must be +unhappy. They are being, under British guidance, gradually introduced +to a share in public affairs. But the establishment of a system of full +self-government and national independence in Egypt, if it is to be +successful, must wait until not only these classes, but also the +classes beneath them, have been habituated to the sense of self-respect +and of civic obligation by a longer acquaintance with the working of +the Reign of Law. +</P> + +<P> +Since the Great War broke out, the British position in Egypt has been +regularised by the proclamation of a formal British protectorate. +Perhaps the happiest fate which can befall the country is that it +should make that gradual progress in political freedom, which is alone +lasting, under the guidance of the power which has already given it +prosperity, the ascendancy of an impartial law, freedom from arbitrary +authority, freedom of speech and thought, and emancipation from the +thraldom of foreign financial interests; and in the end it may possibly +be the destiny of this ancient land, after so many vicissitudes, to +take its place as one among a partnership of free nations in a +world-encircling British Commonwealth of self-governing peoples. +</P> + +<P> +The most vexed, difficult, and critical problems in the history of the +British Empire since 1878—perhaps the most difficult in the whole +course of its history—have been those connected with the South African +colonies. In 1878 there were four distinct European provinces in South +Africa, besides protected native areas, like Basutoland. All four had +sprung from the original Anglo-Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope. +In two of them—Cape Colony and Natal—the two European peoples, +British and Dutch, dwelt side by side, the Dutch being in a majority in +the former, the British in the latter; but in both the difficulty of +their relationship was complicated by the presence of large coloured +populations, which included not only the native African peoples, +Hottentots, Kaffirs, Zulus, and so forth, but also a large number of +Asiatics, Malays who had been brought in by the Dutch before the +British conquest, and Indians who had begun to come in more recently in +large numbers, especially to Natal. Difference of attitude towards +these peoples between the British authorities and the Dutch settlers +had been in the past, as we have seen, a main cause of friction between +the two European peoples, and had caused the long postponement of full +self-government. In the other two provinces, the Transvaal and the +Orange Free State, the white inhabitants were, in 1878, almost +exclusively Dutch. The native populations in these states were no +longer in a state of formal slavery, but they were treated as +definitely subject and inferior peoples: a law of the Transvaal laid it +down that 'there shall be no equality in Church or State between white +and black.' Thus the mutual distrust originally aroused by the native +question still survived. It was intensified by ill-feeling between the +Boers and British missionaries. When Livingstone, the British +missionary hero, reported the difficulties which the Boers had put in +his way, British opinion was made more hostile than ever. Of the two +Boer republics, the Orange Free State had enjoyed complete independence +since 1854; and no serious friction ever arose between it and the +British government. But the Transvaal, which had been turbulent and +restless from the first, had been annexed in 1878, largely because it +seemed to be drifting into a war of extermination with the Zulus. As a +consequence, Britain was drawn into a badly managed Zulu-War; and when +this dangerous tribe had been conquered, the Transvaal revolted. The +Boers defeated a small British force at Majuba; whereupon, instead of +pursuing the struggle, the British government resolved to try the +effect of magnanimity, and conceded (1881 and 1884) full local +independence to the Transvaal, subject only to a vague recognition of +British suzerainty. +</P> + +<P> +This was the beginning of many ills. The Transvaal Boers, knowing +little of the world, thought they had defeated Britain; and under the +lead of Paul Kruger, a shrewd old farmer who henceforth directed their +policy with all but autocratic power, began to pursue the aim of +creating a purely Dutch South Africa, and of driving the British into +the sea. Kruger's policy was one of pure racial dominance, not of +equality of rights. It was a natural aim, under all the conditions. But +it was the source of grave evils. Inevitably it stimulated a parallel +movement in Cape Colony, where Dutch and British were learning to live +peaceably together. The Boer extremists also began to look about for +allies, and were tempted to hope for aid from Germany, who had just +established herself in South-West Africa. Full of pride, the +Transvaalers, though they already held a great and rich country which +was very thinly peopled, began to push outwards, and especially to +threaten the native tribes in the barren region of Bechuanaland, which +lay between the Transvaal and the German territory. To this Britain +replied by establishing a protectorate over Bechuanaland (1884) at the +request of native chiefs: the motive of this annexation was, not +suspicion of Germany, for this suspicion did not yet exist, but the +desire to protect the native population. +</P> + +<P> +Kruger's vague project of a Dutch South Africa would probably have +caused little anxiety so long as his resources were limited to the +strength of the thinly scattered Boer farmers. But the situation was +fundamentally altered by the discovery of immense deposits first of +diamonds and then of gold in South Africa, and most richly of all in +the Rand district of the Transvaal. These discoveries brought a rapid +inrush of European miners, financiers, and their miscellaneous +camp-followers, and in a few years a very rich and populous European +community had established itself in the Transvaal, and had created as +its centre the mushroom new city of Johannesburg (founded 1884). These +immigrants, who came from many countries, but especially from Britain, +changed the situation in the Transvaal; it seemed as though the +majority among the white men in that state would soon be British. +</P> + +<P> +A simple and primitive organisation of government, such as sufficed for +the needs of Boer farmers, was manifestly inadequate for the needs of +the new population, which included, in the nature of things, many +undesirable elements; and it was natural that the mining population +should desire to be brought under a more modern type of government, or +to obtain an effective share in the control of their own affairs. But +this was precisely what the Boers of Kruger's way of thinking were +determined to refuse them. They were resolved that Boer ascendancy in +the Transvaal should not be weakened. They therefore denied to the new +immigrants all the rights of citizenship, and would not even permit +them to manage the local affairs of Johannesburg. At the same time +Kruger imposed heavy taxation upon the gold industry and the people who +conducted it; and out of the proceeds he was able not only to pay the +expenses of government without burdening the Boer farmers, but to build +up the military power by means of which he hoped ultimately to carry +out his great project. Thus the 'Uitlanders' found themselves treated +as an inferior race in the land which their industry was enriching. +They practically paid the cost of the government, but had no share in +directing it. +</P> + +<P> +The policy of racial ascendancy has seldom been pursued in a more +mischievous or dangerous form. One cannot but feel a certain sympathy +with the Boers' desire to maintain Boer ascendancy in the land which +they had conquered. Yet it must be remembered that they were themselves +very recent immigrants: the whole settlement of the Transvaal had taken +place in Paul Kruger's lifetime. +</P> + +<P> +The diamonds and the gold of the recent discoveries had produced in +South Africa a new element of power: the power of great wealth, wielded +by a small number of men. Some of these were, of course, mean and +sordid souls, to whom wealth was an end in itself. But among them one +emerged who was more than a millionaire, who was capable of dreaming +great dreams, and had acquired his wealth chiefly in order that he +might have the power to realise them. This was Cecil Rhodes, an almost +unique combination of the financier and the idealist. If he was +sometimes tempted to resort to the questionable devices that high +finance seems to cultivate, and if his ideals took on sometimes a +rather vulgar colour, reflected from his money-bags, nevertheless +ideals were the real governing factors in his life. +</P> + +<P> +He dreamed of a great united state of South Africa; it was to be a +British South Africa; but it was to be British, not in the sense in +which Kruger wished it to be Dutch, but in the sense that equality of +treatment between the white races should exist within it, as in all the +British lands. He dreamed also of a great brotherhood of British +communities, or communities governed by British ideals, girdling the +world, perhaps dominating it (for Rhodes was inclined to be a +chauvinist), and leading it to peace and liberty. As a lad fresh from +Oxford, in long journeyings over the African veldt, he had in a +curious, childlike way thought out a theology, a system of politics, +and a mode of life for himself; having reached the conclusion that the +British race had on the whole more capacity for leading the world +successfully than any other, he had resolved that it should be his +life's business to forward and increase the influence of British ideas +and of British modes of life; and he had systematically built up a +colossal fortune in order that he might have the means to do this work. +At the roots of this strange medley of poetry and chauvinism which +filled his mind was an unchanging and deep veneration for the +outstanding memory of his youth, Oxford, which in his mind stood for +all the august venerable past of England, and was the expression of her +moral essence. When he died, after a life of money-making and intrigue, +in a remote and half-developed colony, it was found that most of his +immense fortune had been left either to enrich the college where he had +spent a short time as a lad, or to bring picked youths from all the +British lands, and from what he regarded as the two great sister +communities of America and Germany, so that they might drink in the +spirit of England, at Oxford, its sanctuary. +</P> + +<P> +His immediate task lay in South Africa, where, from the moment of his +entry upon public life, he became the leader of the British cause as +Kruger was the leader of the Dutch: millionaire-dreamer and shrewd, +obstinate farmer, they form a strange contrast. The one stood for South +African unity based upon equality of the white races: the other also +for unity, but for unity based upon the ascendancy of one of the white +races. In the politics of Cape Colony Rhodes achieved a remarkable +success: he made friends with the Dutch party and its leader Hofmeyr, +who for a long time gave steady support to his schemes and maintained +him in the premiership. It was a good beginning for the policy of +racial co-operation. But Rhodes's most remarkable achievement was the +acquisition of the fertile upland regions of Mashonaland and +Matabililand, now called Rhodesia in his honour. There were episodes +which smelt of the shady practices of high finance in the events which +led up to this acquisition. But in the result its settlement was well +organised, after some initial difficulties, by the Chartered Company +which Rhodes formed for the purpose. Now one important result of the +acquisition of Rhodesia was that it hemmed in the Transvaal on the +north; and, joined with the earlier annexation of Bechuanaland, +isolated and insulated the two Dutch republics, which were now +surrounded, everywhere except on the east, by British territory. From +Cape Town up through Bechuanaland and through the new territories +Rhodes drove a long railway line. It was a business enterprise, but for +him it was also a great imaginative conception, a link of empire, and +he dreamed of the day when it should be continued to join the line +which was being pushed up the Nile from Cairo through the hot sands of +the Soudan. +</P> + +<P> +But Rhodes's final and most unhappy venture was the attempt to force, +by violent means, a solution of the Transvaal problem. He hoped that +the Uitlanders might be able, by a revolution, to overthrow Kruger's +government, and, perhaps in conjunction with the more moderate Boers, +to set up a system of equal treatment which would make co-operation +with the other British colonies easy, and possibly bring about a +federation of the whole group of South African States. He was too +impatient to let the situation mature quietly. He forced the issue by +encouraging the foolish Jameson Raid of 1895. This, like all wilful +resorts to violence, only made things worse. It alienated and angered +the more moderate Boers in the Transvaal, who were not without sympathy +with the Uitlanders. It aroused the indignation of the Cape Colony +Boers, and embittered racial feeling there. It put the British cause in +the wrong in the eyes of the whole world, and made the Boers appear as +a gallant little people struggling in the folds of a merciless +python-empire. It increased immensely the difficulty of the British +government in negotiating with the Transvaal for better treatment of +the Uitlanders. It stiffened the backs of Kruger and his party. The +German Kaiser telegraphed his congratulations on the defeat of the Raid +'without the aid of friendly powers,' and the implication that this aid +would be forthcoming in case of necessity led the Boers to believe that +they could count on German help in a struggle with Britain. So every +concession to the Uitlanders was obstinately refused; and after three +years more of fruitless negotiation, during which German munitions were +pouring into the Transvaal, the South African War began. It may be that +the war could have been avoided by the exercise of patience. It may be +that the imperialist spirit, which was very strong in Britain at that +period, led to the adoption of a needlessly high-handed tone. But it +was neither greed nor tyranny on Britain's part which brought about the +conflict, but simply the demand for equal rights. +</P> + +<P> +The war was one in which all the appearances were against Britain, and +the whole world condemned British greed and aggression. It was a case +of Goliath fighting David, the biggest empire in the world attacking +two tiny republics; yet the weaker side is not necessarily always in +the right. It seemed to be a conflict for the possession of gold-mines; +yet Britain has never made, and never hoped to make, a penny of profit +out of these mines, which remained after the war in the same hands as +before it. It was a case of the interests of financiers and +gold-hunters against those of simple and honest farmers; yet even +financiers have rights, and even farmers can be unjust. In reality the +issue was a quite simple and straightforward one. It was the issue of +racial ascendancy against racial equality, and as her traditions bade +her, Britain strove for racial equality. It was the issue of +self-government for the whole community as against the entrenched +dominion of one section; and there was no question on which side the +history of Britain must lead her to range herself. Whatever the rest of +the world might say, the great self-governing colonies, which were free +to help or not as they thought fit, had no doubts at all. They all sent +contingents to take part in the war, because they knew it to be a war +for principles fundamental to themselves. +</P> + +<P> +The war dragged its weary course, and the Boers fought with such +heroism, and often with such chivalry, as to win the cordial respect +and admiration of their enemies. It is always a pity when men fight; +but sometimes a fight lets bad blood escape, and makes friendship +easier between foes who have learnt mutual respect. Four years after +the peace which added the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as +conquered dominions to the British Empire, the British government +established in both of these provinces the full institutions of +responsible self-government. As in Canada sixty years earlier, the two +races were bidden to work together and make the best of one another; +because now their destinies were freely under their own control. Yet +this was even a bolder experiment than that of Canada, and showed a +more venturesome confidence in the healing power of self-government. +How has it turned out? Within five years more, the four divided +provinces which had presented such vexed problems in 1878, were +combined in the federal Union of South Africa, governed by institutions +which reproduced those of Britain and her colonies. +</P> + +<P> +In handing over to the now united states of South Africa the +unqualified control of their own affairs, Britain necessarily left to +them the vexed problem of devising a just relation between the ruling +races and their subjects of backward or alien stocks; the problem which +had been the source of most of the difficulties of South Africa for a +century past, and which had long delayed the concession of full +self-government. Nowhere in the world does this problem assume a more +acute form than in South Africa, where there is not only a majority of +negroes, mostly of the vigorous Bantu stock, but also a large number of +immigrants mainly from India, who as subjects of the British crown +naturally claim special rights. South Africa has to find her own +solution for this complex problem; and she has not yet fully found it. +But in two ways her association with the British Empire has helped, and +will help, her to find her way towards it. If the earlier policy of the +British government, guided by the missionaries, laid too exclusive an +emphasis upon native rights, and in various ways hampered the +development of the colony by the way in which it interpreted these +rights, at least it had established a tradition hostile to that policy +of mere ruthless exploitation of which such an ugly illustration was +being given in German South-West Africa. An absolute parity of +treatment between white and black must be not only impracticable, but +harmful to both sides. But between the two extremes of a visionary +equality and a white ascendancy ruthlessly employed for exploitation, a +third term is possible—the just tutelage of the white man over the +black, with a reasonable freedom for native custom. 'A practice has +grown up in South Africa,' says the greatest of South African +statesmen,[8] 'of creating parallel institutions, giving the natives +their own separate institutions on parallel lines with institutions for +whites. It may be that on these lines we may yet be able to solve a +problem which may otherwise be insoluble.' It is a solution which owes +much to the British experiments of the previous period; and the +principle which inspires it was incorporated in the Act of Union. This +is one of the innumerable fruitful experiments in government in which +the British system is so prolific. Again, the problem of the +relationship between Indian immigrants and white colonists is an +acutely difficult one. It cannot be said to have been solved. But at +least the fact that the South African Union and the Indian Empire are +both partners in the same British commonwealth improves the chances of +a just solution. It helped to find at least a temporary adjustment in +1914; in the future also it may contribute, in this as in many other +ways, to ensure that a fair consideration is given to both sides of the +thorny question of inter-racial relationship. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[8] General Smuts, May 22, 1917. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The events which led up to, and still more the events which followed, +the South African War had thus brought a solution for the South African +problem, which had been a continuous vexation since the moment of the +British conquest. It was solved by the British panacea of +self-government and equal rights. Who could have anticipated, twenty +years or fifty years ago, the part which has been played by South +Africa in the Great War? Is there any parallel to these events, which +showed the gallant general of the Boer forces playing the part of prime +minister in a united South Africa, crushing with Boer forces a revolt +stirred up among the more ignorant Boers by German intrigue, and then +leading an army, half Boer and half British, to the conquest of German +South-West Africa? +</P> + +<P> +The South African War had proved to be the severest test which the +modern British Empire had yet had to undergo. But it had emerged, not +broken, as in 1782, but rejuvenated, purged of the baser elements which +had alloyed its imperial spirit, and confirmed in its faith in the +principles on which it was built. More than that, on the first occasion +on which the essential principles or the power of the empire had been +challenged in war, all the self-governing colonies had voluntarily +borne their share. Apart from a small contingent sent from Australia to +the Soudan in 1885, British colonies had never before—indeed, no +European colony had ever before—sent men oversea to fight in a common +cause: and this not because their immediate interests were threatened, +but for the sake of an idea. For that reason the South African War +marks an epoch not merely in the history of the British Empire, but of +European imperialism as a whole. +</P> + +<P> +The unity of sentiment and aim which was thus expressed had, however, +been steadily growing throughout the period of European rivalry; and +doubtless in the colonies, as in Britain, the new value attached to the +imperial tie was due in a large degree to the very fact of the +eagerness of the other European powers for extra-European possessions. +Imperialist sentiment began to become a factor in British politics just +about the beginning of this period: in 1878 the Imperial Federation +Society was founded, and about the same time Disraeli, who had once +spoken of the colonies as 'millstones around our necks,' was making +himself the mouthpiece of the new imperialist spirit. To this wave of +feeling a very notable contribution was made by Sir John Seeley's +brilliant book, "The Expansion of England." Slight as it was, and +containing no facts not already familiar, it gave a new perspective to +the events of the last four centuries of British history, and made the +growth of the Empire seem something not merely casual and incidental, +but a vital and most significant part of the British achievement. Its +defect was, perhaps, that it concentrated attention too exclusively +upon the external aspects of the wonderful story, and dwelt too little +upon its inner spirit, upon the force and influence of the instinct of +self-government which has been the most potent factor in British +history. The powerful impression which it created was deepened by other +books, like Froude's "Oceana" and Sir Charles Dilke's "Greater +Britain," the title of which alone was a proclamation and a prophecy. +It was strengthened also by the wonderful imperial pageants, like +nothing else ever witnessed in the world, which began with the two +Jubilee celebrations of 1887 and 1897, and were continued in the +funerals of Queen Victoria and Edward VII., the coronations of Edward +VII. and George V., and the superb Durbars of Delhi. The imaginative +appeal of such solemn representations of a world-scattered fellowship +of peoples and nations and tongues must not be underestimated. At first +there was perhaps a suggestion of blatancy, and of mere pride in +dominion, in the way in which these celebrations were received; the +graver note of Kipling's 'Recessional,' inspired by the Jubilee of +1897, was not unneeded. But after the strain and anxiety of the South +African War, a different temper visibly emerged. +</P> + +<P> +More important than the pageants were the conferences of imperial +statesmen which arose out of them. The prime ministers of the great +colonies began to deliberate in common with the statesmen of Britain; +and the discussions, though at first quite informal and devoid of +authority, have become more intimate and vital as time has passed: a +beginning at least has been made in the common discussion of problems +affecting the Empire as a whole. And alongside of, and in consequence +of, all this, imperial questions have been treated with a new +seriousness in the British parliament, and the offices which deal with +them have ceased to be, as they once were, reserved for statesmen of +the second rank. The new attitude was pointedly expressed when in 1895 +Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the most brilliant politician of his +generation, who could have had almost any office he desired, +deliberately chose the Colonial Office. His tenure of that office was +not, perhaps, memorable for any far-reaching change in colonial policy, +though he introduced some admirable improvements in the administration +of the tropical colonies; but it was most assuredly memorable for the +increased intensity of interest which he succeeded in arousing in +imperial questions, both at home and in the colonies. The campaign +which he initiated, after the South African War, for the institution of +an Imperial Zollverein or a system of Colonial Preference was a +failure, and indeed was probably a blunder, since it implied an attempt +to return to that material basis of imperial unity which had formed the +core of the old colonial system, and had led to the most unhappy +results in regard to the American colonies. But at least it was an +attempt to realise a fuller unity than had yet been achieved, and in +its first form included an inspiring appeal to the British people to +face sacrifices, should they be necessary, for that high end. Whether +these ideas contribute to the ultimate solution of the imperial problem +or not, it was at least a good thing that the question should be raised +and discussed. +</P> + +<P> +One further feature among the many developments of this era must not be +left untouched. It is the rise of a definitely national spirit in the +greater members of the Empire. To this a great encouragement has been +given by the political unity which some of these communities have for +the first time attained during these years. National sentiment in the +Dominion of Canada was stimulated into existence by the Federation of +1867. The unification of Australia which was at length achieved in the +Federation of 1900 did not indeed create, but it greatly strengthened, +the rise of a similar spirit of Australian nationality. A national +spirit in South Africa, merging in itself the hostile racial sentiments +of Boer and Briton, may well prove to be the happiest result of the +Union of South Africa. In India also a national spirit is coming to +birth, bred among a deeply divided people by the political unity, the +peace, and the equal laws, which have been the greatest gifts of +British rule; its danger is that it may be too quick to imagine that +the unity which makes nationhood can be created merely by means of +resolutions declaring that it exists, but the desire to create it is an +altogether healthy desire. On the surface it might appear that the rise +of a national spirit in the great members of the Empire is a danger to +the ideal of imperial unity; but that need not be so, and if it were +so, the danger must be faced, since the national spirit is too valuable +a force to be restricted. The sense of nationhood is the inevitable +outcome of the freedom and co-operation which the British system +everywhere encourages; to attempt to repress it lest it should endanger +imperial unity would be as short-sighted as the old attempt to restrict +the natural growth of self-government because it also seemed a danger +to imperial unity. The essence of the British system is the free +development of natural tendencies, and the encouragement of variety of +types; and the future towards which the Empire seems to be tending is +not that of a highly centralised and unified state, but that of a +brotherhood of free nations, united by community of ideas and +institutions, co-operating for many common ends, and above all for the +common defence in case of need, but each freely following the natural +trend of its own development. +</P> + +<P> +That is the conception of empire, unlike any other ever entertained by +men upon this planet, which was already shaping itself among the +British communities when the terrible ordeal of the Great War came to +test it, and to prove as not even the staunchest believer could have +anticipated, that it was capable of standing the severest trial which +men or institutions have ever had to undergo. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GREAT CHALLENGE, 1900-1914 +</H3> + +<P> +At the opening of the twentieth century the long process whereby the +whole globe has been brought under the influence of European +civilisation was practically completed; and there had emerged a group +of gigantic empires, which in size far surpassed the ancient Empire of +Rome; each resting upon, and drawing its strength from, a unified +nation-state. In the hands of these empires the political destinies of +the world seemed to rest, and the lesser nation-states appeared to be +altogether overshadowed by them. Among the vast questions which fate +was putting to humanity, there were none more momentous than these: On +what principles, and in what spirit, were these nation-empires going to +use the power which they had won over their vast and varied multitudes +of subjects? What were to be their relations with one another? Were +they to be relations of conflict, each striving to weaken or destroy +its rivals in the hope of attaining a final world-supremacy? Or were +they to be relations of co-operation in the development of +civilisation, extending to the whole world those tentative but far from +unsuccessful efforts after international co-operation which the +European states had long been endeavouring to work out among +themselves?[9] At first it seemed as if the second alternative might be +adopted, for these were the days of the Hague Conferences; but the +development of events during the first fourteen years of the century +showed with increasing clearness that one of the new world-states was +resolute to make a bid for world-supremacy, and the gradual maturing of +this challenge, culminating in the Great War, constitutes the supreme +interest of these years. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[9] See the Essay on Internationalism (Nationalism and +Internationalism, p. 124 ff.). +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The oldest, and (by the rough tests of area, population, and natural +resources) by far the greatest of these new composite world-states, was +the British Empire, which included 12,000,000 square miles, or +one-quarter of the land-surface of the globe. It rested upon the +wealth, vigour, and skill of a population of 45,000,000 in the +homeland, to which might be added, but only by their own consent, the +resources of five young daughter-nations, whose population only +amounted to about 15,000,000. Thus it stood upon a rather narrow +foundation. And while it was the greatest, it was also beyond +comparison the most loosely organised of all these empires. It was +rather a partnership of a multitude of states in every grade of +civilisation than an organised and consolidated dominion. Five of its +chief members were completely self-governing, and shared in the common +burdens only by their own free will. All the remaining members were +organised as distinct units, though subject to the general control of +the home government. The resources of each unit were employed +exclusively for the development of its own welfare. They paid no +tribute; they were not required to provide any soldiers beyond the +minimum needed for their own defence and the maintenance of internal +order. This empire, in short, was not in any degree organised for +military purposes. It possessed no great land-army, and was, therefore, +incapable of threatening the existence of any of its rivals. It +depended for its defence firstly upon its own admirable strategic +distribution, since it was open to attack at singularly few points +otherwise than from the sea; it depended mainly, for that reason, upon +naval power, and secure command of the sea-roads by which its members +were linked was absolutely vital to its existence. Only by sea-power +(which is always weak in the offensive) could it threaten its +neighbours or rivals; and its sea-power, during four centuries, had +always, in war, been employed to resist the threatened domination of +any single power, and had never, in time of peace, been employed to +restrict the freedom of movement of any of the world's peoples. On the +contrary, the Freedom of the Seas had been established by its +victories, and dated from the date of its ascendancy. The life-blood of +this empire was trade; its supreme interest was manifestly peace. The +conception of the meaning of empire which had been developed by its +history was not a conception of dominion for dominion's sake, or of the +exploitation of subjects for the advantage of a master. On the +contrary, it had come to mean (especially during the nineteenth +century) 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 theory or an +ideal, but of a fact and a practice, is sufficiently demonstrated by +two unquestionable facts: the first that the units which formed this +empire were not only free from all tribute in money or men, but were +not even required to make any contribution towards the upkeep of the +fleet, upon which the safety of all depended; the second that every +port and every market in this vast empire, so far as they were under +the control of the central government, were thrown open as freely to +the citizens of all other states as to its own. Finally, in this empire +there had never been any attempt to impose a uniformity of method or +even of laws upon the infinitely various societies which it included: +it not merely permitted, it cultivated and admired, varieties of type, +and to the maximum practicable degree believed in self-government. +Because these were the principles upon which it was administered, the +real strength of this empire was far greater than it appeared. But +beyond question it was ill-prepared and ill-organised for war; desiring +peace beyond all things, and having given internal peace to one-quarter +of the earth's population, it was apt to be over-sanguine about the +maintenance of peace. And if a great clash of empires should come, this +was likely to tell against it. +</P> + +<P> +The second oldest—perhaps it ought to be described as the oldest—of +the world-empires, and the second largest in area, was the Russian +Empire, which covered 8,500,000 square miles of territory. Its strength +was that its vast domains formed a single continuous block, and that +its population was far more homogeneous than that of its rivals, three +out of four of its subjects being either of the Russian or of kindred +Slavonic stock. Its weaknesses were that it was almost land-locked, +nearly the whole of its immense coastline being either inaccessible, or +ice-bound during half of the year; and that it had not adopted modern +methods of government, being subject to a despotism, working through an +inefficient, tyrannical, and corrupt bureaucracy. In the event of a +European war it was further bound to suffer from the facts that its +means of communication and its capacity for the movement of great +armies were ill-developed; and that it was far behind all its rivals in +the control of industrial machinery and applied science, upon which +modern warfare depends, and without which the greatest wealth of +man-power is ineffective. At the opening of the twentieth century +Russia was still pursuing the policy of Eastward expansion at the +expense of China, which the other Western powers had been compelled to +abandon by the formation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Able to bring +pressure upon China from the landward side, she was not deterred by the +naval predominance which this alliance enjoyed, and she still hoped to +control Manchuria, and to dominate the policy of China. But these aims +brought her in conflict with Japan, who had been preparing for the +conflict ever since 1895. The outcome of the war (1904), which ended in +a disastrous Russian defeat, had the most profound influence upon the +politics of the world. It led to an internal revolution in Russia. It +showed that the feet of the colossus were of clay, and that her +bureaucratic government was grossly corrupt and incompetent. It forbade +Russia to take an effective part in the critical events of the +following years, and notably disabled her from checking the progress of +German and Austrian ascendancy in the Balkans. Above all it increased +the self-confidence of Germany, and inspired her rulers with the +dangerous conviction that the opposing forces with which they would +have to deal in the expected contest for the mastery of Europe could be +more easily overthrown than they had anticipated. To the Russian defeat +must be mainly attributed the blustering insolence of German policy +during the next ten years, and the boldness of the final challenge in +1914. +</P> + +<P> +The third of the great empires was that of France, with 5,000,000 +square miles of territory, mostly acquired in very recent years, but +having roots in the past. It rested upon a home population of only +39,000,000, but these belonged to the most enlightened, the most +inventive, and the most chivalrous stock in Christendom. As France had, +a hundred years before, raised the standard of human rights among the +European peoples, so she was now bringing law and justice and peace to +the backward peoples of Africa and the East; and was finding in the +pride of this achievement some consolation for the brutality with which +she had been hurled from the leadership of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The fourth of the great empires was America, with some 3,000,000 square +miles of territory, and a vague claim of suzerainty over the vast area +of Central and South America. Her difficult task of welding into a +nation masses of people of the most heterogeneous races had been made +yet more difficult by the enormous flood of immigrants, mainly from the +northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of Europe, which had poured +into her cities during the last generation: they proved to be in many +ways more difficult to digest than their predecessors, and they tended, +in a dangerous way, to live apart and to organise themselves as +separate communities. The presence of these organised groups made it +sometimes hard for America to maintain a quite clear and distinctive +attitude in the discussions of the powers, most of which had, as it +were, definite bodies of advocates among her citizens; and it was +perhaps in part for this reason that she had tended to fall back again +to that attitude of aloofness towards the affairs of the non-American +world from which she seemed to have begun to depart in the later years +of the last century. Although she had herself taken a hand in the +imperialist activities of the 'nineties, the general attitude of her +citizens towards the imperial controversies of Europe was one of +contempt or undiscriminating condemnation. Her old tradition of +isolation from the affairs of Europe was still very strong—still the +dominating factor in her policy. She had not yet grasped (indeed, who, +in any country, had?) the political consequences of the new era of +world-economy into which we have passed. And therefore she could not +see that the titanic conflict of Empires which was looming ahead was of +an altogether different character from the old conflicts of the +European states, that it was fundamentally a conflict of principles, a +fight for existence between the ideal of self-government and the ideal +of dominion, and that it must therefore involve, for good or ill, the +fortunes of the whole globe. She watched the events which led up to the +great agony with impartial and deliberate interest. Even when the war +began she clung with obstinate faith to the belief that her tradition +of aloofness might still be maintained. It is not surprising, when we +consider how deep-rooted this tradition was, that it took two and a +half years of carnage and horror to convert her from it. But it was +inevitable that in the end her still more deeply rooted tradition of +liberty should draw her into the conflict, and lead her at last to play +her proper part in the attempt to shape a new world-order. +</P> + +<P> +We cannot stop to analyse the minor world-states, Italy and Japan; both +of which might have stood aside from the conflict, but that both +realised its immense significance for themselves and for the world. +</P> + +<P> +Last among the world-states, both in the date of its foundation and in +the extent of its domains, was the empire of Germany, which covered +considerably less than 1,500,000 square miles, but rested upon a home +population of nearly 70,000,000, more docile, more industrious, and +more highly organised than any other human society. The empire of +Germany had been more easily and more rapidly acquired than any of the +others, yet since its foundation it had known many troubles, because +the hard and domineering spirit in which it was ruled did not know how +to win the affections of its subjects. A parvenu among the great +states—having only attained the dignity of nationhood in the +mid-nineteenth century—Germany has shown none of that 'genius for +equality' which is the secret of good manners and of friendship among +nations as among individuals. Her conversation, at home and abroad, had +the vulgar self-assertiveness of the parvenu, and turned always and +wholly upon her own greatness. And her conduct has been the echo of her +conversation. She has persuaded herself that she has a monopoly of +power, of wisdom, and of knowledge, and deserves to rule the earth. Of +the magnitude and far-reaching nature of her imperialist ambitions, we +have said something in a previous chapter. She had as yet failed to +realise any of these vaulting schemes, but she had not for that reason +abandoned any of them, and she kept her clever and insidious +preparations on foot in every region of the world upon which her +acquisitive eyes had rested. But the exasperation of her steady failure +to achieve the place in the world which she had marked out as her due +had driven her rulers more and more definitely to contemplate, and +prepared her people to uphold, a direct challenge to all her rivals. +The object of this challenge was to win for Germany her due share in +the non-European world, her 'place in the sun.' Her view of what that +share must be was such that it could not be attained without the +overthrow of all her European rivals, and this would bring with it the +lordship of the world. It must be all or nothing. Though not quite +realising this alternative, the mind of Germany was not afraid of it. +She was in the mood to make a bold attempt, if need be, to grasp even +the sceptre of world-supremacy. The world could not believe that any +sane people could entertain such megalomaniac visions; not even the +events of the decade 1904-14 were enough to bring conviction; it needed +the tragedy and desolation of the war to prove at once their reality +and their folly. For they were folly even if they could be momentarily +realised. They sprang from the traditions of Prussia, which seemed to +demonstrate that all things were possible to him who dared all, and +scrupled nothing, and calculated his chances and his means with +precision. By force and fraud the greatness of Prussia had been built; +by force and fraud Prussia-Germany had become the leading state of +Europe, feared by all her rivals and safe from all attack. Force and +fraud appeared to be the determining factors in human affairs; even the +philosophers of Germany devoted their powers to justifying and +glorifying them. By force and fraud, aided by science, Germany should +become the leader of the world, and perhaps its mistress. Never has the +doctrine of power been proclaimed with more unflinching directness as +the sole and sufficient motive for state action. There was practically +no pretence that Germany desired to improve the condition of the lands +she wished to possess, or that they were misgoverned, or that the +existing German territories were threatened: what pretence there was, +was invented after war began. The sole and sufficient reason put +forward by the advocates of the policy which Germany was pursuing was +that she wanted more power and larger dominions; and what she wanted +she proposed to take. +</P> + +<P> +On the surface it seemed mere madness for the least and latest of the +great empires to challenge all the rest, just as it had once seemed +madness for Frederick the Great, with his little state, to stand up +against all but one of the great European powers. But Germany had +calculated her chances, and knew that there were many things in her +favour. She knew that in the last resort the strength of the +world-states rested upon their European foundations, and here the +inequality was much less. In a European struggle she could draw great +advantage from her central geographical position, which she had +improved to the highest extent by the construction of a great system of +strategic railways. She could trust to her superbly organised military +system, more perfect than that of any other state, just because no +other state has ever regarded war as the final aim and the highest form +of state action. She commanded unequalled resources in all the +mechanical apparatus of war; she had spared no pains to build up her +armament works, which had, indeed, supplied a great part of the world; +she had developed all the scientific industries in such a way that +their factories could be rapidly and easily turned to war purposes; and +having given all her thoughts to the coming struggle as no other nation +had done, she knew, better than any other, how largely it would turn +upon these things. She counted securely upon winning an immense +advantage from the fact that she would herself fix the date of war, and +enter upon it with a sudden spring, fully prepared, against rivals who, +clinging to the hope of peace, would be unready for the onset. She +hoped to sow jealousies among her rivals; she trusted to catch them at +a time when they were engrossed in their domestic concerns, and in this +respect fate seemed to play into her hands, since at the moment which +she had predetermined, Britain, France, and Russia were all distracted +by domestic controversies. She trusted also to her reading of the minds +and temper of her opponents; and here she went wildly astray, as must +always be the fate of the nation or the man who is blinded by +self-complacency and by contempt for others. +</P> + +<P> +But, above all, she put her trust in a vast political combination which +she had laboriously prepared during the years preceding the great +conflict: the combination which we have learned to call Mittel-Europa. +None of us realised to how great an extent this plan had been put in +operation before the war began. Briefly it depended on the possibility +of obtaining an intimate union with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a +control over the Turkish Empire, and a sufficient influence or control +among the little Balkan states to ensure through communication. If the +scheme could be carried out in full, it would involve the creation of a +practically continuous empire stretching from the North Sea to the +Persian Gulf, and embracing a total population of over 150,000,000. +This would be a dominion worth acquiring for its own sake, since it +would put Germany on a level with her rivals. But it would have the +further advantage that it would hold a central position in relation to +the other world-powers, corresponding to Germany's central position in +relation to the other nation-states of Europe. Russia could be struck +at along the whole length of her western and south-western frontier; +the British Empire could be threatened in Egypt, the centre of its +ocean lines of communication, and also from the Persian Gulf in the +direction of India; the French Empire could be struck at the heart, in +its European centre; and all without seriously laying open the +attacking powers to the invasion of sea-power. +</P> + +<P> +It was a bold and masterful scheme, and it was steadily pursued during +the years before the war. Austro-Hungary was easily influenced. The +ascendancy of her ruling races—nay, the very existence of her +composite anti-national empire—was threatened by the nationalist +movements among her subject-peoples, who, cruelly oppressed at home, +were more and more beginning to turn towards their free brothers over +the border, in Serbia and Rumania; and behind these loomed Russia, the +traditional protector of the Slav peoples and of the Orthodox faith. +Austro-Hungary, therefore, leant upon the support of Germany, and her +dominant races would be very willing to join in a war which should +remove the Russian menace and give them a chance of subjugating the +Serbs. This latter aim suited the programme of Germany as well as it +suited that of Austria, since the railways to Constantinople and +Salonika ran through Serbia. Serbia, therefore, was doomed; she stood +right in the path of the Juggernaut car. +</P> + +<P> +The acquisition of influence in Turkey was also comparatively easy. +Constantinople is a city where lavish corruption can work wonders. +Moreover Turkey was, in the last years of the nineteenth century, in +bad odour with Europe; and Germany was able to earn in 1897 the lasting +gratitude of the infamous Sultan Abdul Hamid by standing between him +and the other European powers, who were trying to interfere with his +indulgence in the pastime of massacring the Armenians. Turkey had had +many protectors among the European powers. She had never before had one +so complaisant about the murder of Christians. From that date Germany +was all-powerful in Turkey. The Turkish army was reorganised under her +direction, and practically passed under her control. Most of the +Turkish railways were acquired and managed by German companies. And +presently the great scheme of the Bagdad railway began to be carried +through. The Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the fall of Abdul Hamid +gave, indeed, a shock to the German ascendancy; but only for a moment. +The Young Turks were as amenable to corruption as their predecessors; +and under the guidance of Enver Bey Turkey relapsed into German +suzerainty. Thus the most important parts of the great scheme were in a +fair way of success by 1910. One of the merits of this scheme was that +as the Sultan of Turkey was the head of the Mahomedan religion, the +German protectorate over Turkey gave a useful mode of appealing to the +religious sentiments of Mahomedans everywhere. Twice over, in 1898 and +in 1904, the Kaiser had declared that he was the protector of all +Mahomedans throughout the world. Most of the Mahomedans were subjects +either of Britain, France, or Russia—the three rival empires that were +to be overthrown. As General Bernhardi put it, Germany in her struggle +for Weltmacht must supplement her material weapons with spiritual +weapons. +</P> + +<P> +To obtain a similar ascendancy over the Balkan states was more +difficult; for the Turk was the secular enemy of all of them, and +Austria was the foe of two of the four, and to bring these little +states into partnership with their natural enemies seemed an all but +impossible task. Yet a good deal could be, and was, done. In two of the +four chief Balkan states German princes occupied the thrones, a +Hohenzollern in Rumania, a Coburger in Bulgaria; in a third, the +heir-apparent to the Greek throne was honoured with the hand of the +Kaiser's own sister. Western peoples had imagined that the day had gone +by when the policy of states could be deflected by such facts; +especially as the Balkan states all had democratic parliamentary +constitutions. But the Germans knew better than the West. They knew +that kings could still play a great part in countries where the bulk of +the electorate were illiterate, and where most of the class of +professional politicians were always open to bribes. Their calculations +were justified. King Carol of Rumania actually signed a treaty of +alliance with Germany without consulting his ministers or parliament. +King Ferdinand of Bulgaria was able to draw his subjects into an +alliance with the Turks, who had massacred their fathers in 1876, +against the Russians, who had saved them from destruction. King +Constantine of Greece was able to humiliate and disgrace the country +over which he ruled, in order to serve the purposes of his +brother-in-law. These sovereigns may have been the unconscious +implements of a policy which they did not understand. But they earned +their wages. +</P> + +<P> +There were, indeed, two moments when the great scheme came near being +wrecked. One was when Italy, the sleeping partner of the Triple +Alliance, who was not made a sharer in these grandiose and vile +projects, attacked and conquered the Turkish province of Tripoli in +1911, and strained to breaking-point the loyalty of the Turks to +Germany. The other was when, under the guidance of the two great +statesmen of the Balkans, Venizelos of Greece and Pashitch of Serbia, +the Balkan League was formed, and the power of Turkey in Europe broken. +If the League had held together, the great German project would have +been ruined, or at any rate gravely imperilled. But Germany and Austria +contrived to throw an apple of discord among the Balkan allies at the +Conference of London in 1912, and then stimulated Bulgaria to attack +Serbia and Greece. The League was broken up irreparably; its members +had been brought into a sound condition of mutual hatred; and Bulgaria, +isolated among distrustful neighbours, was ready to become the tool of +Germany in order that by her aid she might achieve (fond hope!) the +hegemony of the Balkans. This brilliant stroke was effected in +1913—the year before the Great War. All that remained was to ruin +Serbia. For that purpose Austria had long been straining at the leash. +She had been on the point of making an attack in 1909, in 1912, in +1913. In 1914 the leash was slipped. If the rival empires chose to look +on while Serbia was destroyed, well and good: in that case the +Berlin-Bagdad project could be systematically developed and +consolidated, and the attack on the rival empires could come later. If +not, still it was well; for all was ready for the great challenge. +</P> + +<P> +We have dwelt at some length upon this gigantic project, because it has +formed during all these years the heart and centre of the German +designs, and even to-day it is the dearest of German hopes. Not until +she is utterly defeated will she abandon it; because its abandonment +must involve the abandonment of every hope of a renewed attempt at +world-supremacy, after an interval for reorganisation and recovery. Not +until the German control over Austria and Turkey, more complete to-day, +after two and a half years of war, than it has ever been before, has +been destroyed by the splitting up of Austria among the nationalities +to which her territory belongs, and by the final overthrow of the +Turkish Empire, will the German dream of world-dominion be shattered. +</P> + +<P> +But while this fundamentally important project was being worked out, +other events, almost equally momentous in their bearing upon the coming +conflict, were taking place elsewhere. It was the obvious policy of +Germany to keep her rivals on bad terms with one another. The tradition +of Bismarck bade her isolate each victim before it was destroyed. But +the insolence and the megalomania of modern Germany made this +difficult. German writers were busily and openly explaining the fate +marked out for all the other powers. France was to be so crushed that +she would 'never again be able to stand in our path.' The bloated and +unconsolidated empire of Britain was to be shattered. The Russian +barbarians were to be thrust back into Asia. And what the pamphleteers +and journalists wrote was expressed with almost equal clearness in the +tone of German diplomacy. In face of all this, the clumsy attempts of +the German government to isolate their rivals met with small success, +even though these rivals had many grounds of controversy among +themselves. France knew what she had to fear; and the interpolation of +a few clumsy bids for her favour amid the torrent of insults against +her which filled the German press, were of no avail; especially as she +had to look on at the unceasing petty persecution practised in the lost +provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. Russia had been alienated by the first +evidences of German designs in the Balkans, and driven into a close +alliance with France. Britain, hitherto obstinately friendly to +Germany, began to be perturbed by the growing German programmes of +naval construction from 1900 onwards, by the absolute refusal of +Germany to consider any proposal for mutual disarmament or retardation +of construction, and above all by the repeated assertions of the head +of the German state that Germany aspired to naval supremacy, that her +future was on the sea, that the trident must be in her hands. Should +the trident fall into any but British hands, the existence of the +British Empire, and the very livelihood of the British homeland, would +rest at the mercy of him who wielded it. So, quite inevitably, the +three threatened empires drew together and reconciled their differences +in the Franco-British agreement of 1904 and the Russo-British agreement +of 1907. +</P> + +<P> +These agreements dealt wholly with extra-European questions, and +therefore deserve some analysis. In the Franco-British agreement the +main feature was that while France withdrew her opposition to the +British position in Egypt, Britain on her side recognised the paramount +political interest of France in Morocco. It was the agreement about +Morocco which counted for most; because it was the beginning of a +controversy which lasted for seven years, which was twice used by +Germany as a means for testing, and endeavouring to break, the +friendship of her rivals, and which twice brought Europe to the verge +of war. +</P> + +<P> +Morocco is a part of that single region of mountainous North Africa of +which France already controlled the remainder, Tunis and Algeria. +Peoples of the same type inhabited the whole region, but while in Tunis +and Algeria they were being brought under the influence of law and +order, in Morocco they remained in anarchy. Only a conventional line +divided Morocco from Algeria, and the anarchy among the tribesmen on +one side of the line inevitably had an unhappy effect upon the people +on the other side of the line. More than once France had been +compelled, for the sake of Algeria, to intervene in Morocco. It is +impossible to exaggerate the anarchy which existed in the interior of +this rich and wasted country. It was, indeed, the most lawless region +remaining in the world: when Mr. Bernard Shaw wished to find a scene +for a play in which the hero should be a brigand chief leading a band +of rascals and outlaws from all countries, Morocco presented the only +possible scene remaining in the world. And this anarchy was the more +unfortunate, not only because the country was naturally rich and ought +to have been prosperous, but also because it lay in close proximity to +great civilised states, and on one of the main routes of commerce at +the entrance to the Mediterranean. In its ports a considerable traffic +was carried on by European traders, but this traffic was, owing to the +anarchic condition of the country, nothing like as great as it ought to +have been. In 1905, 39 per cent. of it was controlled by French +traders, 32 per cent. by British traders, 12 per cent. by German +traders, and 5 per cent. by Spanish traders. Manifestly this was a +region where law and order ought to be established, in the interests of +civilisation. The powers most directly concerned were in the first +place France, with her neighbouring territory and her preponderant +trade; in the second place Britain, whose strategic interests as well +as her trading interests were involved; in the third place Spain, which +directly faced the Morocco coast; while Germany had only trading +interests involved, and so long as these were safeguarded, had no +ground of complaint. If any single power was to intervene, manifestly +the first claim was upon France. +</P> + +<P> +In 1900 France had directed the attention of Europe to the disorderly +condition of Morocco, and had proposed to intervene to restore order, +on the understanding that she should not annex the country, or +interfere with the trading rights of other nations. Some states agreed; +Germany made no reply, but made no objection. But owing to the +opposition of Britain, who was then on bad terms with France and feared +to see an unfriendly power controlling the entrance to the +Mediterranean, no action was taken; and in the next years the chaos in +Morocco grew worse. By the agreement of 1904 Britain withdrew her +objection to French intervention, and recognised the prior political +rights of France in Morocco, on the condition that the existing +government of Morocco should be maintained, that none of its territory +should be annexed, and that 'the open door' should be preserved for the +trade of all nations. But, of course, it was possible, and even +probable, that the existing Moroccan government could not be made +efficient. In that case, what should happen? The possibility had to be +contemplated by reasonable statesmen, and provided against. But to do +so in a public treaty would have been to condemn beforehand the +existing system. Therefore a hypothetical arrangement was made for this +possible future event in a secret treaty, to which Spain was made a +party; whereby it was provided that if the arrangement should break +down, and France should have to establish a definite protectorate, the +vital part of the north coast should pass under the control of Spain. +</P> + +<P> +To the public part of these arrangements, which alone were of immediate +importance, no objection was made by any of the other powers, and the +German Chancellor told the Reichstag that German interests were not +affected. France accordingly drew up a scheme of reforms in the +government of Morocco, which the Sultan was invited to accept. But +before he had accepted them the German Kaiser suddenly came to Tangier +in his yacht, had an interview with the Sultan in which he urged him to +reject the French demands, and made a public speech in which he +declared himself the protector of the Mahomedans, asserted that no +European power had special rights in Morocco, and announced his +determination to support the 'independence and integrity' of +Morocco—which in existing circumstances meant the maintenance of +anarchy. What was the reason for this sudden and insolent +intervention—made without any previous communication with France? The +main reason was that France's ally, Russia, had just been severely +defeated by Japan, and would not be able to take part in a European +war. Therefore, it appeared, France might be bullied; Britain might not +be willing to risk war on such an issue; the Entente of 1904 might be +destroyed; the extension of French influence might be prevented; and +the preservation of a state of anarchy in Morocco would leave open the +chance of a seizure of that country by Germany at a later date, thus +enabling her to dominate the entrance to the Mediterranean, and to +threaten Algeria. But this pretty scheme did not succeed. The Entente +held firm. Britain gave steady support to France, as indeed she was +bound in honour to do; and in the end a conference of the powers was +held at Algeciras (Spain). At this conference the predominating right +of France to political influence in Morocco was formally recognised; +and it was agreed that the government of the Sultan should be +maintained, and that all countries should have equal trading rights in +Morocco. This was, of course, the very basis of the Franco-British +agreement. On every point at which she tried to score a success over +France, Germany was defeated by the votes of the other powers, even her +own ally, Italy, deserting her. +</P> + +<P> +But the German intervention had had its effect. The Sultan had refused +the French scheme of reform. The elements of disorder in Morocco were +encouraged to believe that they had the protection of Germany, and the +activity of German agents strengthened this belief. The anarchy grew +steadily worse. In 1907 Sir Harry Maclean was captured by a brigand +chief, and the British government had to pay 20,000 pounds ransom for +his release. In the same year a number of European workmen engaged on +harbour works at Casablanca were murdered by tribesmen; and the French +had to send a force which had a year's fighting before it reduced the +district to order. In 1911 the Sultan was besieged in his capital +(where there were a number of European residents) by insurgent +tribesmen, and had to invite the French to send an army to his relief. +</P> + +<P> +This was seized upon by Germany as a pretext. Morocco was no longer +'independent.' The agreement of Algecras was dead. Therefore she +resumed her right to put forward what claims she pleased in Morocco. +Suddenly her gunboat, the Panther, appeared off Agadir. It was meant as +an assertion that Germany had as much right to intervene in Morocco as +France. And it was accompanied by a demand that if France wanted to be +left free in Morocco, she must buy the approval of Germany. The +settlement of Morocco was to be a question solely between France and +Germany. The Entente of 1904, the agreement of 1906, the Moroccan +interests of Britain (much more important than those of Germany), and +the interests of the other powers of the Algeciras Conference, were to +count for nothing. Germany's voice must be the determining factor. But +Germany announced that she was willing to be bought off by large +concessions of French territory elsewhere—provided that Britain was +not allowed to have anything to say: provided, that is, that the +agreement of 1904 was scrapped. This was a not too subtle way of trying +to drive a wedge between two friendly powers. It did not succeed. +Britain insisted upon being consulted. There was for a time a real +danger of war. In the end peace was maintained by the cession by France +of considerable areas in the Congo as the price of German abstention +from intervening in a sphere where she had no right to intervene. But +Morocco was left under a definite French protectorate. +</P> + +<P> +We have dwelt upon the Morocco question at some length, partly because +it attracted a vast amount of interest during the years of preparation +for the war; partly because it affords an extraordinarily good +illustration of the difficulty of maintaining peaceable relations with +Germany, and of the spirit in which Germany approached the delicate +questions of inter-imperial relationships—a spirit far removed indeed +from that friendly willingness for compromise and co-operation by which +alone the peace of the world could be maintained; and partly because it +illustrates the crudity and brutality of the methods by which Germany +endeavoured to separate her intended victims. It is improbable that she +ever meant to go to war on the Moroccan question. She meant to go to +war on whatever pretext might present itself when all her preparations +were ready; but in the meanwhile she would avoid war on all questions +but one: and that one was the great Berlin-Bagdad project, the keystone +of her soaring arch of Empire. She would fight to prevent the ruin of +that scheme. Otherwise she would preserve the peace, she would even +make concessions to preserve the peace, until the right moment had +come. In that sense Germany was a peace-loving power: in that sense +alone. +</P> + +<P> +On the agreement between Russia and Britain in 1907 it is unnecessary +to dwell with such fulness. The agreement turned mainly upon the +removal of causes of friction in the Middle East—in Persia and the +Persian Gulf, and in Tibet. These were in themselves interesting and +thorny questions, especially the question of Persia, where the two +powers established distinct spheres of interest and a sort of joint +protectorate. But they need not detain us, because they had no direct +bearing upon the events leading up to the war, except in so far as, by +removing friction between two rivals of long standing, they made it +possible for them to co-operate for their common defence against a +menace that became more and more apparent. +</P> + +<P> +From 1907 onwards Germany found herself confronted by united defensive +action on the part of the three empires whose downfall she intended to +compass. It was not (except as regarded France and Russia) a formal +alliance which bound these powers. There was no fixed agreement between +them as to military co-operation. France and Britain had indeed, in +1906 and in 1911, consulted as to the military steps they should take +if they were drawn into war, as seemed likely in those years, but +neither was in any way bound to help the other under all circumstances. +France and Britain had also agreed that the French fleet should be +concentrated in the Mediterranean, the main British fleet in the North +Sea. This arrangement (which was universally known, and, indeed, could +not be concealed) put Britain under a moral obligation to defend France +against naval attack, but only if France were the object of aggression. +It was, therefore, actually a safeguard of peace, since it ensured that +neither France nor, consequently, her ally, Russia, would begin a war +without being sure of the concurrence of Britain, the most pacific of +powers. As the diplomatic records show, at the opening of the Great War +they were not sure of this concurrence, even for naval purposes, until +August 1, when the die was already cast. The Triple Entente, therefore, +was not an alliance; it was only an agreement for common diplomatic +action in the hope of averting a terrible menace. +</P> + +<P> +Until 1911 Germany, or some elements in Germany, seem to have hoped +that she could get her own way by bullying and rattling her sabre, and +that by these means she could frighten her rivals, make them mutually +distrustful, and so break up their combination and deal with them in +detail. Those who held this view were the peace-party (so-called), and +they included the Kaiser and his Chancellor. They would probably not +themselves have accepted this description of their policy, but in +practice this is what it meant. But there was always a formidable and +influential party in Germany which had no patience with these +hesitations, and was eager to draw the sabre. It included the men of +the General Staff, backed by the numerous Pan-German societies and +newspapers. The issue of the Morocco question in 1911, which showed +that the policy of bullying had failed, played into the hands of the +men of violence; and from this moment began the last strenuous burst of +military preparation which preceded the war. In 1911 was passed the +first of a series of Army Acts for the increase of the already immense +German army, and still more for the provision of vast equipment and the +scientific apparatus of destruction; two further Acts for the same +purpose followed in 1912 and in 1913. In 1911 also was published +General Bernhardi's famous book, which defined and described the course +of future action, and the aim which Germany was henceforth to pursue +with all her strength: Weltmacht oder Niedergang, world-power or +downfall. +</P> + +<P> +The events in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913 completed the conversion of +those who still clung to the policy of peaceful bullying. The formation +and triumph of the Balkan League in 1912 formed a grave set-back for +the Berlin-Bagdad project, which would be ruined if these little states +became strong enough, or united enough, to be independent. The break-up +of the Balkan League and the second Balkan War of 1913 improved the +situation from the German point of view. But they left Serbia +unsatisfactorily strong, and Serbia distrusted Austria, and controlled +the communications with Constantinople. Serbia must be destroyed; +otherwise the Berlin-Bagdad project, and with it the world-power of +which it was to be the main pillar, would be always insecure. Austria +was for attacking Serbia at once in 1913. Germany held her back: the +widening of the Kiel Canal was not completed, and the fruits of the +latest Army Acts were not yet fully reaped. But all was ready in 1914; +and the Great Challenge was launched. It would have been launched at or +about that time even if an unpopular Austrian archduke, significantly +unguarded by the Austrian police, had NOT been most opportunely +murdered by an Austrian subject on Austrian territory. The murder was +only a pretext. The real cause of the war was the resolution of Germany +to strike for world-supremacy, and her belief that the time was +favourable for the great adventure. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, what had the threatened empires been doing during the years +of strenuous German preparation which began in 1911? Their governments +could not but be aware of the enormous activity which was taking place +in that country—which was unthreatened on any side—though they +probably did not know how thorough and how elaborate it was. What steps +did they take to guard against the danger? Russia was busy constructing +strategic railways, to make the movement of troops easier; she was +erecting new munition factories. But neither could be quickly got +ready. France imposed upon the whole of her manhood the obligation of +serving for three instead of for two years in the army. Britain +reorganised her small professional army, created the Territorial Force, +and began the training of a large officer class in all the universities +and public schools. But she did not attempt to create a national army. +If she had done so, this would have been a signal for the precipitation +of the war. Besides, Britain obstinately clung to the belief that so +monstrous a crime as Germany seemed to be contemplating could never be +committed by a civilised nation; and she trusted mainly to her fleet +for her own security. +</P> + +<P> +But Britain unquestionably laboured with all her might to conjure away +the nightmare. From 1906 onwards she had made, in vain, repeated +attempts to persuade Germany to accept a mutual disarmament or +retardation of naval construction. In 1912 she resolved upon a more +definite step. The German newspapers were full of talk about the +British policy of 'encircling' Germany in order to attack and destroy +her, which they attributed mainly to Sir Edward Grey. It was a manifest +absurdity, since the Franco-Russian alliance was formed in 1894, at a +time when Britain was on bad terms with both France and Russia, and the +agreements later made with these two countries were wholly devoted to +removing old causes of dispute between them. But the German people +obviously believed it. Perhaps the German government also believed it? +Britain resolved to remove this apprehension. Accordingly in 1912 Lord +Haldane was sent to Germany with a formal and definite statement, +authorised by the Cabinet, to the effect that Britain had made no +alliance or understanding which was aimed against Germany, and had no +intention of doing so. That being so, since Germany need have no fear +of an attack from Britain, why should not the two powers agree to +reduce their naval expenditure? The German reply was that to stop the +naval programme was impossible, but that construction might be DELAYED, +on one condition—that both powers should sign a formal agreement drawn +up by Germany. Each power was to pledge itself to absolute neutrality +in any European war in which the other was engaged. Each power was to +undertake to make no new alliances. But this agreement was not to +affect existing alliances or the duties arising under them. This +proposal was an obvious trap, and the German ministers who proposed it +must have had the poorest opinion of the intelligence of English +statesmen if they thought it was likely to be accepted. For observe +that it left Germany, in conjunction with Austria, free to attack +France and Russia. It left the formidable Triple Alliance unimpaired. +But it tied the hands of Britain, who had no existing European +alliances, enforced neutrality upon her in such a war, and compelled +her to look on idly and wait her turn. In the present war, Germany +could have pleaded that she was bound to take part by the terms of her +alliance with Austria, who began it; but Britain would have been +compelled to stand aloof. A very convenient arrangement for Germany, +but not an arrangement that promised well for the peace of the world! +</P> + +<P> +Even this rebuff did not dishearten Britain. Feeling that Germany might +have some reasonable ground of complaint in the fact that her share of +the extra-European world was so much less than that of France or of +Britain herself, Britain attempted to come to an agreement on this +head, such as would show that she had no desire to prevent the imperial +expansion of Germany. A treaty was proposed and discussed, and was +ready to be submitted to the proper authorities for confirmation in +June 1914. It has never been made public, because the war cancelled it +before it came into effect, and we do not know its terms. But we do +know that the German colonial enthusiast, Paul Rohrbach, who has seen +the draft treaty, has said that the concessions made by Britain were +astonishingly extensive, and met every reasonable German demand. This +sounds as if the proposals of the treaty, whatever they were, had been +recklessly generous. But this much is clear, that the government which +had this treaty in its possession when it forced on the war was not to +be easily satisfied. It did not want merely external possessions. It +wanted supremacy; it wanted world-dominion. +</P> + +<P> +One last attempt the British government made in the frenzied days of +negotiation which preceded the war. Sir Edward Grey had begged the +German government to make ANY proposal which would make for peace, and +promised his support beforehand; he had received no reply. He had +undertaken that if Germany made any reasonable proposal, and France or +Russia objected, he would have nothing further to do with France or +Russia. Still there was no reply. Imagining that Germany might still be +haunted by what Bismarck called 'the nightmare of coalition,' and might +be rushing into war now because she feared a war in the future under +more unfavourable conditions, he had pledged himself, if Germany would +only say the word which would secure the peace, to use every effort to +bring about a general understanding among the great powers which would +banish all fears of an anti-German combination. It was of no use. The +reply was the suggestion that Britain should bind herself to neutrality +in this war on the following conditions: (a) that Germany should be +given a free hand to violate the neutrality of Belgium (which Britain +was bound by treaty to defend), on the understanding that Belgium +should be reinstated after she had served her purpose, if she had +offered no resistance; Belgium, be it noted, being bound in honour to +offer resistance by the very treaty which Germany proposed to violate; +and (b) that after France had been humiliated and beaten to the earth +for the crime of possessing territories which Germany coveted, she +should be restored to independence, and Germany should be content to +annex her 5,000,000 square miles of colonies. In return for this +undertaking Britain was to be—allowed to hold aloof from the war, and +await her turn. +</P> + +<P> +There is no getting over these facts. The aim of Germany had come to be +nothing less than world-supremacy. The destiny of the whole globe was +to be put to the test. Surely this was the very insanity of megalomania. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHAT OF THE NIGHT? +</H3> + +<P> +The gigantic conflict into which the ambitions of Germany have plunged +the world is the most tremendous event in human history, not merely +because of the vast forces engaged, and the appalling volume of +suffering which has resulted from it, but still more because of the +magnitude of the principles for which it is being fought. It is a war +to secure the right of communities which are linked together by the +national spirit to determine their own destinies; it is a war to +maintain the principles of humanity, the sanctity of formal +undertakings between states, and the possibility of the co-operation of +free peoples in the creation of a new and better world-order; it is a +war between two principles of government, the principle of military +autocracy and the principle of self-government. With all these aspects +of the mighty struggle we are not here immediately concerned, though +they have an intimate bearing upon our main theme: some of them have +been analysed elsewhere.[10] But what does concern us most directly, +and what makes this war the culmination of the long story which we have +endeavoured to survey, is that this is a war in which, as in no earlier +war, the whole fate and future of the now unified world is at stake. +For just because the world is now, as never before, an indissoluble +economic and political unity, the challenge of Germany, whatever view +we may take of the immediate aims of the German state, inevitably +raises the whole question of the principles upon which this unified +world, unified by the victory of European civilisation, is to be in +future directed. And the whole world knows, if vaguely, that these vast +issues are at stake, and that this is no merely European conflict. That +is why we see arrayed upon the fields of battle not only French, +British, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Belgian, Rumanian, Greek and +Portuguese soldiers, but Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South +Africans, Indians, Algerians, Senegalese, Cambodians; and now, +alongside of all these, the citizens of the American Republic. That is +why Brazil and other states are hovering on the edge of the fray; why +Japanese ships are helping to patrol the Mediterranean, why Arab armies +are driving the Turk from the holy places of Mahomedanism, why African +tribesmen are enrolled in new levies to clear the enemy out of his +footholds in that continent. Almost the whole world is arrayed against +the outlaw-power and her vassals. And the ultimate reason for this is +that the whole world is concerned to see this terrible debate rightly +determined. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[10] In Nationalism and Internationalism and in National +Self-Government. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +For the issue is as simple as this. Now that the world has been made +one by the victory of Western civilisation, in what spirit is that +supremacy to be used? Is it to be in the spirit expressed in the German +Doctrine of Power, the spirit of mere dominion, ruthlessly imposed and +ruthlessly exploited for the sole advantage of the master-power? That +way ruin lies. Or is it to be in the spirit which has on the whole, and +in spite of lapses, guided the progress of Western civilisation in the +past, the spirit of respect for law and for the rights of the weak, the +spirit of liberty which rejoices in variety of type and method, and +which believes that the destiny towards which all peoples should be +guided is that of self-government in freedom, and the co-operation of +free peoples in the maintenance of common interests? Britain, France, +and America have been the great advocates and exponents of these +principles in the government of their own states: they are all ranged +on one side to-day. Britain, also, as we have tried to show, has been +led by Fate to take a chief part in the extension of these principles +of Western civilisation to the non-European regions of the world; and, +after many mistakes and failures, has in the direction of her own wide +dominions found her way to a system which reconciles freedom with +unity, and learned to regard herself as being only the trustee of +civilisation in the government of the backward peoples whom she rules. +For the just and final determination of such gigantic issues not even +the terrible price we are paying is too high. +</P> + +<P> +The issue of the great conflict lies still upon the lap of the gods. +Yet one thing is, we may hope, already assured. Although at the +beginning of the war they came near to winning it, the Germans are not +now likely to win that complete victory upon which they had calculated, +and which would have brought as its prize the mastery of the world. We +can now form some judgment of the extent of the calamity which this +would have meant for humanity. There would have remained in the world +no power capable of resisting this grim and ugly tyrant-state, with its +brute strength and bestial cruelty as of a gorilla in the primaeval +forest, reinforced by the cold and pitiless calculus of the man of +science in his laboratory; unless, perhaps, Russia had in time +recovered her strength, or unless America had not merely thrown over +her tradition of aloofness and made up her mind to intervene, but had +been allowed the time to organise her forces for resistance. Of the +great empires which the modern age has brought into being, the Russian +would have survived as a helpless and blinded mammoth; the French +Empire would have vanished, and the proud and noble land of France +would have sunk into vassalage and despair; the British Empire would +assuredly have dissolved into its component parts, for its strength is +still too much concentrated in the motherland for it to be able to hold +together once her power was broken. After a few generations, that will +no longer be the case; but to-day it is so, and the dream of a +partnership of free nations which had begun to dawn upon us would have +been shattered for ever by a complete German victory. Some of the atoms +of what once was an empire might have been left in freedom, but they +would have been powerless to resist the decrees of the Master-state. +There would have been one supreme world-power; and that a power whose +attitude towards backward races has been illustrated by the ruthless +massacre of the Hereros; whose attitude towards ancient but +disorganised civilisations has been illustrated by the history of +Kiao-chau and by the celebrated allocution of the Kaiser to his +soldiers on the eve of the Boxer expedition, when he bade them outdo +the ferocity of Attila and his Huns; whose attitude towards kindred +civilisations on the same level as their own has been illustrated +before the war in the treatment of Danes, Poles, and Alsatians, and +during the war in the treatment of Belgium, of the occupied districts +in France, of Poland and of Serbia. The world would have lain at the +mercy of an insolent and ruthless tyranny, the tyranny of a Kultur +whose ideal is the uniformity of a perfect mechanism, not the variety +of life. Such a fate humanity could not long have tolerated; yet before +the iron mechanism could have been shattered, if once it had been +established, there must have been inconceivable suffering, and +civilisation must have fallen back many stages towards barbarism. From +this fate, we may perhaps claim, the world was saved from the moment +when not Britain only, but the British Empire, refused to await its +turn according to the German plan, threw its whole weight into the +scale, and showed that, though not organised for war, it was not the +effete and decadent power, not the fortuitous combination of discordant +and incoherent elements, which German theory had supposed; but that +Freedom can create a unity and a virile strength capable of +withstanding even the most rigid discipline, capable of enduring defeat +and disappointment undismayed; but incapable of yielding to the +insolence of brute force. +</P> + +<P> +It is still possible that the war may end in what is called an +inconclusive peace; and as it is certain that of all her unrighteous +gains that to which Germany will most desperately cling will be her +domination over the Austrian and Turkish Empires, with the prospect +which it affords of a later and more fortunate attempt at world-power, +an inconclusive peace would mean that the whole world would live in +constant dread of a renewal of these agonies and horrors in a still +more awful form. What the effect of this would be upon the +extra-European dominions of powers which would be drained of their +manhood and loaded with the burden of the past war and the burden of +preparation for the coming war, it is beyond our power to imagine. But +it seems likely that the outer world would very swiftly begin to revise +its judgment as to the value of that civilisation which it has, upon +the whole, been ready to welcome; and chaos would soon come again. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, it is possible that the Evil Power may be utterly routed, and +the allied empires, tried by fire, may be given the opportunity and the +obligation of making, not merely a new Europe, but a new world. If that +chance should come, how will they use it? One thing at least is clear. +The task which will face the diplomats who take part in the coming +peace-congress will be different in kind as well as in degree from that +of any of their predecessors at any moment in human history. They will +be concerned not merely with the adjustment of the differences of a few +leading states, and not merely with the settlement of Europe: they will +have to deal with the whole world, and to decide upon what principles +and to what ends the leadership of the peoples of European stock over +the non-European world is to be exercised. Whether they realise it or +not, whether they intend it or not, they will create either a +world-order or a world-disorder. And it will inevitably be a +world-disorder which will result unless we do some hard thinking on +this gigantic problem which faces us, and unless we are prepared to +learn, from the history of the relations of Europe with the outer +world, what are the principles by which we ought to be guided. We are +too prone, when we think of the problems of the future peace, to fix +our attention almost wholly upon Europe, and, if we think of the +non-European world at all, to assume either that the problem is merely +one of power, or that the principles which will guide us in the +settlement of Europe can be equally applied outside of Europe. Both of +these assumptions are dangerous, because both disregard the teachings +of the past which we have been surveying. +</P> + +<P> +If, on the one hand, we are content to regard the problem as merely one +of power, and to divide out the non-European world among the victors as +the spoils of victory, we shall indeed have been conquered by the very +spirit which we are fighting; we shall have become converts to the +German Doctrine of Power, which has brought upon us all these ills, and +may bring yet more appalling evils in the future. The world will emerge +divided among a group of vast empires which will overshadow the lesser +states. These empires will continue to regard one another with fear and +suspicion, and to look upon their subject-peoples merely as providing +the implements for a war of destruction, to be waged by cut-throat +commercial rivalry in time of peace, and by man-power and machine-power +in war. If that should be the result of all our agonies, the burden +which must be laid upon the peoples of these empires, and the +intolerable anticipation of what is to come, will make their yoke seem +indeed a heavy one; will probably bring about their disintegration; and +will end that ascendancy of Western civilisation over the world which +the last four centuries have established. And justly; since Western +civilisation will thus be made to stand not for justice and liberty, +but for injustice and oppression. Such must be the inevitable result of +any settlement of the non-European world which is guided merely by the +ambitions of a few rival states and the Doctrine of Power. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, we are urged by enthusiasts for liberty, especially +in Russia, to believe that imperialism as such is the enemy; that we +must put an end for ever to all dominion exercised by one people over +another; and that outside of Europe as within it we must trust to the +same principles for the hope of future peace—the principles of +national freedom and self-government—and leave all peoples everywhere +to control freely their own destinies. But this is a misreading of the +facts as fatal as the other. It disregards the value of the work that +has been done in the extension of European civilisation to the rest of +the world by the imperial activities of the European peoples. It fails +to recognise that until Europe began to conquer the world neither +rational law nor political liberty had ever in any real sense existed +in the outer world, and that their dominion is even now far from +assured, but depends for its maintenance upon the continued tutelage of +the European peoples. It fails to realise that the economic demands of +the modern world necessitate the maintenance of civilised +administration after the Western pattern, and that this can only be +assured, in large regions of the earth, by means of the political +control of European peoples. Above all this view does not grasp the +essential fact that the idea of nationhood and the idea of +self-government are both modern ideas, which have had their origin in +Europe, and which can only be realised among peoples of a high +political development; that the sense of nationhood is but slowly +created, and must not be arbitrarily defined in terms of race or +language; and that the capacity for self-government is only formed by a +long process of training, and has never existed except among peoples +who were unified by a strongly felt community of sentiment, and had +acquired the habit and instinct of loyalty to the law. Assuredly it is +the duty of Europe and America to extend these fruitful conceptions to +the regions which have passed under their influence. But the process +must be a very slow one, and it can only be achieved under tutelage. It +is the control of the European peoples over the non-European world +which has turned the world into an economic unit, brought it within a +single political system, and opened to us the possibility of making a +world-order such as the most daring dreamers of the past could never +have conceived. This control cannot be suddenly withdrawn. For a very +long time to come the world-states whose rise we have traced must +continue to be the means by which the political discoveries of Europe, +as well as her material civilisation, are made available for the rest +of the world. The world-states are such recent things that we have not +yet found a place for them in our political philosophy. But unless we +find a place for them, and think in terms of them, in the future, we +shall be in danger of a terrible shipwreck. +</P> + +<P> +If, then, it is essential, not only for the economic development of the +world, but for the political advancement of its more backward peoples, +that the political suzerainty of the European peoples should survive, +and as a consequence that the world should continue to be dominated by +a group of great world-states, how are we to conjure away the nightmare +of inter-imperial rivalry which has brought upon us the present +catastrophe, and seems to threaten us with yet more appalling ruin in +the future? Only by resolving and ensuring, as at the great settlement +we may be able to do, that the necessary political control of Europe +over the outer world shall in future be exercised not merely in the +interests of the mistress-states, but in accordance with principles +which are just in themselves, and which will give to all peoples a fair +chance of making the best use of their powers. But how are we to +discover these principles, if the ideas of nationality and +self-government, to which we pin our faith in Europe, are to be held +inapplicable to the greater part of the non-European world? There is +only one possible source of instruction: our past experience, which has +now extended over four centuries, and which we have in this book +endeavoured to survey. +</P> + +<P> +Now while it is undeniably true that the mere lust of power has always +been present in the imperial activities of the European peoples, it is +certainly untrue (as our study ought to have shown) that it has ever +been the sole motive, except, perhaps, in the great German challenge. +And in the course of their experience the colonising peoples have +gradually worked out certain principles in their treatment of subject +peoples, which ought to be of use to us. The fullest and the most +varied experience is that of the British Empire: it is the oldest of +all the world-states; it alone includes regions of the utmost variety +of types, new lands peopled by European settlers, realms of ancient +civilisation like India, and regions inhabited by backward and +primitive peoples. It would be absurd to claim that its methods are +perfect and infallible. But they have been very varied, and quite +astonishingly successful. And it is because they seem to afford clearer +guidance than any other part of the experiments which we have recorded +that we have studied them, especially in their later developments, with +what may have seemed a disproportionate fulness. What are the +principles which experience has gradually worked out in the British +Empire? They cannot be embodied in a single formula, because they vary +according to the condition and development of the lands to which they +apply. +</P> + +<P> +But in the first place we have learnt by a very long experience that in +lands inhabited by European settlers, who bring with them European +traditions, the only satisfactory solution is to be found in the +concession of the fullest self-governing rights, since these settlers +are able to use them, and in the encouragement of that sentiment of +unity which we call the national spirit. And this involves a +recognition of the fact that nationality is never to be defined solely +in terms of race or language, but can arise, and should be encouraged +to arise, among racially divided communities such as Canada and South +Africa. Any attempt to interpret nationhood in terms of race is not +merely dangerous, but ruinous; and such endeavours to stimulate or +accentuate racial conflict, as Germany has been guilty of in Brazil, in +South Africa, and even in America, must be, if successful, fatal to the +progress of the countries affected, and dangerous to the peace of the +world. +</P> + +<P> +In the second place we have learnt that in lands of ancient +civilisation, where ruling castes have for centuries been in the habit +of exploiting their subjects, the supreme gift which Europe can offer +is that of internal peace and a firmly administered and equal law, +which will render possible the gradual rise of a sense of unity, and +the gradual training of the people in the habits of life that make +self-government possible. How soon national unity can be established, +or self-government made practicable in any full sense, must be matter +of debate. But the creation of these things is, or ought to be, the +ultimate aim of European government in such countries. And in the +meantime, and until they become fully masters of their own fate, these +lands, so our British experience tells us, ought to be treated as +distinct political units; they should pay no tribute; all their +resources should be devoted to their own development; and they should +not be expected or required to maintain larger forces than are +necessary for their own defence. At the same time, the ruling power +should claim no special privileges for its own citizens, but should +throw open the markets of such realms equally to all nations. In short +it should act not as a master, but as a trustee, on behalf of its +subjects and also on behalf of civilisation. +</P> + +<P> +In the third place we have learnt that in the backward regions of the +earth it is the duty of the ruling power, firstly, to protect its +primitive subjects from unscrupulous exploitation, to guard their +simple customs, proscribing only those which are immoral, and to afford +them the means of a gradual emancipation from barbarism; secondly, to +develop the economic resources of these regions for the needs of the +industrial world, to open them up by modern communications, and to make +them available on equal terms to all nations, giving no advantage to +its own citizens. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of lapses and defects, it is an undeniable historical fact +that these are the principles which have been wrought out and applied +in the administration of the British Empire during the nineteenth +century. They are not vague and Utopian dreams; they are a matter of +daily practice. If they can be applied by one of the world-states, and +that the greatest, why should they not be applied by the rest? But if +these principles became universal, is it not apparent that all danger +of a catastrophic war between these powers would be removed, since +every reason for it would have vanished? Thus the necessary and +advantageous tutelage of Europe over the non-European world, and the +continuance of the great world-states, could be combined with the +conjuring away of the ever-present terror of war, and with the gradual +training of the non-European peoples to enjoy the political methods of +Europe; while the lesser states without extra-European dominions need +no longer feel themselves stunted and reduced to economic dependence +upon their great neighbours. Thus, and thus alone, can the benefits of +the long development which we have traced be reaped in full; thus alone +can the dominion of the European peoples over the world be made to mean +justice and the chance for all peoples to make the best of their powers. +</P> + +<P> +But it is not only the principles upon which particular areas outside +of Europe should be governed which we must consider. We must reflect +also upon the nature of the relations that should exist between the +various members of these great world-empires, which must hence-forward +be the dominating factors in the world's politics. And here the problem +is urgent only in the case of the British Empire, because it alone is +developed to such a point that the problem is inevitably raised. +Whatever else may happen, the war must necessarily bring a crisis in +the history of the British Empire. On a vastly greater scale the +situation of 1763 is being reproduced. Now, as then, the Empire will +emerge from a war for existence, in which mother and daughter lands +alike have shared. Now, as then, the strain and pressure of the war +will have brought to light deficiencies in the system of the Empire. +Now, as then, the most patent of these deficiencies will be the fact +that, generous as the self-governing powers of the great Dominions have +been, they still have limits; and the irresistible tendency of +self-government to work towards its own fulfilment will once more show +itself. For there are two spheres in which even the most fully +self-governing of the empire-nations have no effective control: they do +not share in the determination of foreign policy, and they do not share +in the direction of imperial defence. The responsibility for foreign +policy, and the responsibility, and with it almost the whole burden, of +organising imperial defence, have hitherto rested solely with Britain. +Until the Great War, foreign policy seemed to be a matter of purely +European interest, not directly concerning the great Dominions; nor did +the problems of imperial defence appear very pressing or urgent. But +now all have realised that not merely their interests, but their very +existence, may depend upon the wise conduct of foreign relations; and +now all have contributed the whole available strength of their manhood +to support a struggle in whose direction they have had no effective +share. These things must henceforth be altered; and they can be altered +only in one or other of three ways. Either the great Dominions will +become independent states, as the American colonies did, and pursue a +foreign policy and maintain a system of defence of their own; or the +Empire must reshape itself as a sort of permanent offensive and +defensive alliance, whose external policy and modes of defence will be +arranged by agreement; or some mode of common management of these and +other questions must be devised. The first of these solutions is +unlikely to be adopted, not only because the component members of the +Empire are conscious of their individual weakness, but still more +because the memory of the ordeal through which all have passed must +form an indissoluble bond. Yet rashness or high-handedness in the +treatment of the great issue might lead even to this unlikely result. +If either of the other two solutions is adopted, the question will at +once arise of the place to be occupied, in the league or in the +reorganised super-state, of all those innumerable sections of the +Empire which do not yet enjoy, and some of which may never enjoy, the +full privileges of self-government; and above all, the place to be +taken by the vast dominion of India, which though it is not, and may +not for a long time become, a fully self-governing state, is yet a +definite and vitally important unit in the Empire, entitled to have its +needs and problems considered, and its government represented, on equal +terms with the rest. The problem is an extraordinarily difficult one; +perhaps the most difficult political problem that has ever faced the +sons of men. But it is essentially the same problem which has +continually recurred in the history of British imperialism, though it +now presents itself on a vastly greater scale, and in a far more +complex form, than ever before: it is the problem of reconciling unity +with liberty and variety; of combining nationality and self-government +with imperialism, without impairing the rights of either. And beyond +any doubt the most tremendous and fascinating political question which +now awaits solution in the world, is the question whether the political +instinct of the British peoples, and the genius of self-government, +will find a way out of these difficulties, as they have found a way out +of so many others. Patience, mutual tolerance, willingness to +compromise, will be required in the highest measure if the solution is +to be found; but these are the qualities which self-government +cultivates. +</P> + +<P> +'A thing that is wholly a sham,' said Treitschke, speaking of the +British Empire, 'cannot in this world of ours, endure for ever.' Why +did this Empire appear to Treitschke to be 'wholly a sham'? Was it not +because it did not answer to any definition of the word 'Empire' to be +found in German political philosophy; because it did not mean dominion +and uniformity, but liberty and variety; because it did not rest upon +Force, as, in his view, every firmly established state must do; because +it was not governed by a single master, whose edicts all its subjects +must obey? But for 'a thing that is wholly a sham' men do not lay down +their lives, in thousands and in hundreds of thousands, not under the +pressure of compulsion, but by a willing self-devotion; for the defence +of 'a thing that is wholly a sham' men will not stream in from all the +ends of the earth, abandoning their families and their careers, and +offering without murmur or hesitation themselves and all they have and +are. There must be a reality in the thing that calls forth such +sacrifices, a reality of the kind to which Realpolitik, with its +concentration upon purely material concerns, is wholly blind: it is the +reality of an ideal of honour, and justice, and freedom. And if the +Germans have been deceived in their calculations of Realpolitik, is it +not perhaps because they have learnt to regard honour, and justice, and +freedom as 'things that are wholly shams'? +</P> + +<P> +This amazing political structure, which refuses to fall within any of +the categories of political science, which is an empire and yet not an +empire, a state and yet not a state, a super-nation incorporating in +itself an incredible variety of peoples and races, is not a structure +which has been designed by the ingenuity of man, or created by the +purposive action of a government; it is a natural growth, the product +of the spontaneous activity of innumerable individuals and groups +springing from among peoples whose history has made liberty and the +tolerance of differences their most fundamental instincts; it is the +outcome of a series of accidents, unforeseen, but turned to advantage +by the unfailing and ever-new resourcefulness of men habituated to +self-government. There is no logic or uniformity in its system, which +has arisen from an infinite number of makeshifts and tentative +experiments, yet in all of these a certain consistency appears, because +they have been presided over by the genius of self-government. It is +distributed over every continent, is washed by every ocean, includes +half the dust of islands that Nature has scattered about the seas of +the world, controls almost all the main avenues of the world's +sea-going commerce, and is linked together by ten thousand ships +perpetually going to and fro. Weak for offensive purposes, because its +resources are so scattered, it is, except at a few points, almost +impregnable against attack, if its forces are well organised. It +includes among its population representatives of almost every human +race and religion, and every grade of civilisation, 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 and of government known to man is +represented in its complex and many-hued fabric. It embodies five of +the most completely self-governing communities which the world has +known, and four of these control the future of the great empty spaces +that remain for the settlement of white men. 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 common ideas and of common institutions. To the ancient +civilisations of India or of 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 world, 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 ideas of +the modern world. It has fostered the rise of a sense of nationhood in +the young communities of the new lands, and in the old and decaying +civilisations of the most ancient historic countries. It has given a +freedom of development to self-government such as history has never +before known. 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. +</P> + +<P> +Truly this empire is a fabric so wonderful, so many-sided, and so +various in its aspects, that it may well escape the rigid categories of +a German professor, and seem to him 'wholly a sham.' Now is the crisis +of its fate: and if the wisdom of its leaders can solve the riddle of +the Sphinx which is being put to them, the Great War will indeed have +brought, for a quarter of the world, the culmination of modern history. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expansion of Europe, by Ramsay Muir + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 4326-h.htm or 4326-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/4326/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Expansion of Europe + The Culmination of Modern History + +Author: Ramsay Muir + +Posting Date: August 11, 2009 [EBook #4326] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 5, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE + +THE CULMINATION OF MODERN HISTORY + + +BY RAMSAY MUIR + + +PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER + + + +SECOND EDITION + + + +TO MY MOTHER + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The purpose of this book is twofold. + +We realise to-day, as never before, that the fortunes of the world, and +of every individual in it, are deeply affected by the problems of +world-politics and by the imperial expansion and the imperial rivalries +of the greater states of Western civilisation. But when men who have +given no special attention to the history of these questions try to +form a sound judgment on them, they find themselves handicapped by the +lack of any brief and clear resume of the subject. I have tried, in +this book, to provide such a summary, in the form of a broad survey, +unencumbered with detail, but becoming fuller as it comes nearer to our +own time. That is my first purpose. In fulfilling it I have had to +cover much well-trodden ground. But I hope I have avoided the aridity +of a mere compendium of facts. + +My second purpose is rather more ambitious. In the course of my +narrative I have tried to deal with ideas rather than with mere facts. +I have tried to bring out the political ideas which are implicit in, or +which result from, the conquest of the world by Western civilisation; +and to show how the ideas of the West have affected the outer world, +how far they have been modified to meet its needs, and how they have +developed in the process. In particular I have endeavoured to direct +attention to the significant new political form which we have seen +coming into existence, and of which the British Empire is the oldest +and the most highly developed example--the world-state, embracing +peoples of many different types, with a Western nation-state as its +nucleus. The study of this new form seems to me to be a neglected +branch of political science, and one of vital importance. Whether or +not it is to be a lasting form, time alone will show. Finally I have +tried to display, in this long imperialist conflict, the strife of two +rival conceptions of empire: the old, sterile, and ugly conception +which thinks of empire as mere domination, ruthlessly pursued for the +sole advantage of the master, and which seems to me to be most fully +exemplified by Germany; and the nobler conception which regards empire +as a trusteeship, and which is to be seen gradually emerging and +struggling towards victory over the more brutal view, more clearly and +in more varied forms in the story of the British Empire than in perhaps +any other part of human history. That is why I have given a perhaps +disproportionate attention to the British Empire. The war is +determining, among other great issues, which of these conceptions is to +dominate the future. + +In its first form this book was completed in the autumn of 1916; and it +contained, as I am bound to confess, some rather acidulated sentences +in the passages which deal with the attitude of America towards +European problems. These sentences were due to the deep disappointment +which most Englishmen and most Frenchmen felt with the attitude of +aloofness which America seemed to have adopted towards the greatest +struggle for freedom and justice ever waged in history. It was an +indescribable satisfaction to be forced by events to recognise that I +was wrong, and that these passages of my book ought not to have been +written as I wrote them. There is a sort of solemn joy in feeling that +America, France, and Britain, the three nations which have contributed +more than all the rest of the world put together to the establishment +of liberty and justice on the earth, are now comrades in arms, fighting +a supreme battle for these great causes. May this comradeship never be +broken. May it bring about such a decision of the present conflict as +will open a new era in the history of the world--a world now unified, +as never before, by the final victory of Western civilisation which it +is the purpose of this book to describe. + +Besides rewriting and expanding the passages on America, I have seized +the opportunity of this new issue to alter and enlarge certain other +sections of the book, notably the chapter on the vital period +1878-1900, which was too slightly dealt with in the original edition. +In this work, which has considerably increased the size of the book, I +have been much assisted by the criticisms and suggestions of some of my +reviewers, whom I wish to thank. + +Perhaps I ought to add that though this book is complete in itself, it +is also a sort of sequel to a little book entitled Nationalism and +Internationalism, and was originally designed to be printed along with +it: that is the explanation of sundry footnote references. The two +volumes are to be followed by a third, on National Self-government, and +it is my hope that the complete series may form a useful general survey +of the development of the main political factors in modern history. + +In its first form the book had the advantage of being read by my friend +Major W. L. Grant, Professor of Colonial History at Queen's University +Kingston, Ontario. The pressure of the military duties in which he is +engaged has made it impossible for me to ask his aid in the revision of +the book. + +R. M. July 1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Preface + I. The Meaning and the Motives of Imperialism + II. The Era of Iberian Monopoly + III. The Rivalry of the Dutch, the French, and + the English, 1588-1763 + (a) The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660 + (b) The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713 + (c) The Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763 + IV. The Era of Revolution, 1763-1825 + V. Europe and the Non-European World, 1815-1878 + VI. The Transformation of the British Empire, 1815-1878 + VII. The Era of the World States, 1878-1900 + VIII. The British Empire amid the World-Powers, 1878-1914 + IX. The Great Challenge, 1900-1914 + X. What of the Night? + + + + +I + +THE MEANING AND THE MOTIVES OF IMPERIALISM + + +One of the most remarkable features of the modern age has been the +extension of the influence of European civilisation over the whole +world. This process has formed a very important element in the history +of the last four centuries, and it has been strangely undervalued by +most historians, whose attention has been too exclusively centred upon +the domestic politics, diplomacies, and wars of Europe. It has been +brought about by the creation of a succession of 'Empires' by the +European nations, some of which have broken up, while others survive, +but all of which have contributed their share to the general result; +and for that reason the term 'Imperialism' is commonly employed to +describe the spirit which has led to this astonishing and +world-embracing movement of the modern age. + +The terms 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' are in some respects unfortunate, +because of the suggestion of purely military dominion which they +convey; and their habitual employment has led to some unhappy results. +It has led men of one school of thought to condemn and repudiate the +whole movement, as an immoral product of brute force, regardless of the +rights of conquered peoples. They have refused to study it, and have +made no endeavour to understand it; not realising that the movement +they were condemning was as inevitable and as irresistible as the +movement of the tides--and as capable of being turned to beneficent +ends. On the other hand, the implications of these terms have perhaps +helped to foster in men of another type of mind an unhealthy spirit of +pride in mere domination, as if that were an end in itself, and have +led them to exult in the extension of national power, without closely +enough considering the purposes for which it was to be used. Both +attitudes are deplorable, and in so far as the words 'Empire,' +'Imperial,' and 'Imperialism' tend to encourage them, they are +unfortunate words. They certainly do not adequately express the full +significance of the process whereby the civilisation of Europe has been +made into the civilisation of the world. + +Nevertheless the words have to be used, because there are no others +which at all cover the facts. And, after all, they are in some ways +entirely appropriate. A great part of the world's area is inhabited by +peoples who are still in a condition of barbarism, and seem to have +rested in that condition for untold centuries. For such peoples the +only chance of improvement was that they should pass under the dominion +of more highly developed peoples; and to them a European 'Empire' +brought, for the first time, not merely law and justice, but even the +rudiments of the only kind of liberty which is worth having, the +liberty which rests upon law. Another vast section of the world's +population consists of peoples who have in some respects reached a high +stage of civilisation, but who have failed to achieve for themselves a +mode of organisation which could give them secure order and equal laws. +For such peoples also the 'Empire' of Western civilisation, even when +it is imposed and maintained by force, may bring advantages which will +far outweigh its defects. In these cases the word 'Empire' can be used +without violence to its original significance, and yet without apology; +and these cases cover by far the greater part of the world. + +The words 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' come to us from ancient Rome; and +the analogy between the conquering and organising work of Rome and the +empire-building work of the modern nation-states is a suggestive and +stimulating analogy. The imperialism of Rome extended the modes of a +single civilisation, and the Reign of Law which was its essence, over +all the Mediterranean lands. The imperialism of the nations to which +the torch of Rome has been handed on, has made the Reign of Law, and +the modes of a single civilisation, the common possession of the whole +world. Rome made the common life of Europe possible. The imperial +expansion of the European nations has alone made possible the +vision--nay, the certainty--of a future world-order. For these reasons +we may rightly and without hesitation continue to employ these terms, +provided that we remember always that the justification of any dominion +imposed by a more advanced upon a backward or disorganised people is to +be found, not in the extension of mere brute power, but in the +enlargement and diffusion, under the shelter of power, of those vital +elements in the life of Western civilisation which have been the +secrets of its strength, and the greatest of its gifts to the world: +the sovereignty of a just and rational system of law, liberty of +person, of thought, and of speech, and, finally, where the conditions +are favourable, the practice of self-government and the growth of that +sentiment of common interest which we call the national spirit. These +are the features of Western civilisation which have justified its +conquest of the world[1]; and it must be for its success or failure in +attaining these ends that we shall commend or condemn the imperial work +of each of the nations which have shared in this vast achievement. + + +[1] See the first essay in Nationalism and Internationalism, in which +an attempt is made to work out this idea. + + +Four main motives can be perceived at work in all the imperial +activities of the European peoples during the last four centuries. The +first, and perhaps the most potent, has been the spirit of national +pride, seeking to express itself in the establishment of its dominion +over less highly organised peoples. In the exultation which follows the +achievement of national unity each of the nation-states in turn, if the +circumstances were at all favourable, has been tempted to impose its +power upon its neighbours,[2] or even to seek the mastery of the world. +From these attempts have sprung the greatest of the European wars. From +them also have arisen all the colonial empires of the European states. +It is no mere coincidence that all the great colonising powers have +been unified nation-states, and that their imperial activities have +been most vigorous when the national sentiment was at its strongest +among them. Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland, Russia: these +are the great imperial powers, and they are also the great +nation-states. Denmark and Sweden have played a more modest part, in +extra-European as in European affairs. Germany and Italy only began to +conceive imperial ambitions after their tardy unification in the +nineteenth century. Austria, which has never been a nation-state, never +became a colonising power. Nationalism, then, with its eagerness for +dominion, may be regarded as the chief source of imperialism; and if +its effects are unhappy when it tries to express itself at the expense +of peoples in whom the potentiality of nationhood exists, they are not +necessarily unhappy in other cases. When it takes the form of the +settlement of unpeopled lands, or the organisation and development of +primitive barbaric peoples, or the reinvigoration and strengthening of +old and decadent societies, it may prove itself a beneficent force. But +it is beneficent only in so far as it leads to an enlargement of law +and liberty. + + +[2] Nationalism and Imperialism, pp. 60, 64, 104. + + +The second of the blended motives of imperial expansion has been the +desire for commercial profits; and this motive has played so prominent +a part, especially in our own time, that we are apt to exaggerate its +force, and to think of it as the sole motive. No doubt it has always +been present in some degree in all imperial adventures. But until the +nineteenth century it probably formed the predominant motive only in +regard to the acquisition of tropical lands. So long as Europe +continued to be able to produce as much as she needed of the food and +the raw materials for industry that her soil and climate were capable +of yielding, the commercial motive for acquiring territories in the +temperate zone, which could produce only commodities of the same type, +was comparatively weak; and the European settlements in these areas, +which we have come to regard as the most important products of the +imperialist movement, must in their origin and early settlement be +mainly attributed to other than commercial motives. But Europe has +always depended for most of her luxuries upon the tropics: gold and +ivory and gems, spices and sugar and fine woven stuffs, from a very +early age found their way into Europe from India and the East, coming +by slow and devious caravan routes to the shores of the Black Sea and +the Mediterranean. Until the end of the fifteenth century the European +trader had no direct contact with the sources of these precious +commodities; the supply of them was scanty and the price high. The +desire to gain a more direct access to the sources of this traffic, and +to obtain control of the supply, formed the principal motive for the +great explorations. But these, in their turn, disclosed fresh tropical +areas worth exploiting, and introduced new luxuries, such as tobacco +and tea, which soon took rank as necessities. They also brought a +colossal increment of wealth to the countries which had undertaken +them. Hence the acquisition of a share in, or a monopoly of, these +lucrative lines of trade became a primary object of ambition to all the +great states. In the nineteenth century Europe began to be unable to +supply her own needs in regard to the products of the temperate zone, +and therefore to desire control over other areas of this type; but +until then it was mainly in regard to the tropical or sub-tropical +areas that the commercial motive formed the predominant element in the +imperial rivalries of the nation-states. And even to-day it is over +these areas that their conflicts are most acute. + +A third motive for imperial expansion, which must not be overlooked, is +the zeal for propaganda: the eagerness of virile peoples to propagate +the religious and political ideas which they have adopted. But this is +only another way of saying that nations are impelled upon the imperial +career by the desire to extend the influence of their conception of +civilisation, their Kultur. In one form or another this motive has +always been present. At first it took the form of religious zeal. The +spirit of the Crusaders was inherited by the Portuguese and the +Spaniards, whose whole history had been one long crusade against the +Moors. When the Portuguese started upon the exploration of the African +coast, they could scarcely have sustained to the end that long and +arduous task if they had been allured by no other prospect than the +distant hope of finding a new route to the East. They were buoyed up +also by the desire to strike a blow for Christianity. They expected to +find the mythical Christian empire of Prester John, and to join hands +with him in overthrowing the infidel. When Columbus persuaded Queen +Isabella of Castile to supply the means for his madcap adventure, it +was by a double inducement that he won her assent: she was to gain +access to the wealth of the Indies, but she was also to be the means of +converting the heathen to a knowledge of Christianity; and this double +motive continually recurs in the early history of the Spanish Empire. +France could scarcely, perhaps, have persisted in maintaining her far +from profitable settlements on the barren shores of the St. Lawrence if +the missionary motive had not existed alongside of the motives of +national pride and the desire for profits: her great work of +exploration in the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley +was due quite as much to the zeal of the heroic missionaries of the +Jesuit and other orders as to the enterprise of trappers and traders. +In English colonisation, indeed, the missionary motive was never, until +the nineteenth century, so strongly marked. But its place was taken by +a parallel political motive. The belief that they were diffusing the +free institutions in which they took so much pride certainly formed an +element in the colonial activities of the English. It is both foolish +and unscientific to disregard this element of propaganda in the +imperialist movement, still more to treat the assertion of it by the +colonising powers as mere hypocrisy. The motives of imperial expansion, +as of other human activities, are mixed, and the loftier elements in +them are not often predominant. But the loftier elements are always +present. It is hypocrisy to pretend that they are alone or even chiefly +operative. But it is cynicism wholly to deny their influence. And of +the two sins cynicism is the worse, because by over-emphasising it +strengthens and cultivates the lower among the mixed motives by which +men are ruled. + +The fourth of the governing motives of imperial expansion is the need +of finding new homes for the surplus population of the colonising +people. This was not in any country a very powerful motive until the +nineteenth century, for over-population did not exist in any serious +degree in any of the European states until that age. Many of the +political writers in seventeenth-century England, indeed, regarded the +whole movement of colonisation with alarm, because it seemed to be +drawing off men who could not be spared. But if the population was +nowhere excessive, there were in all countries certain classes for +which emigration to new lands offered a desired opportunity. There were +the men bitten with the spirit of adventure, to whom the work of the +pioneer presented an irresistible attraction. Such men are always +numerous in virile communities, and when in any society their numbers +begin to diminish, its decay is at hand. The imperial activities of the +modern age have more than anything else kept the breed alive in all +European countries, and above all in Britain. To this type belonged the +conquistadores of Spain, the Elizabethan seamen, the French explorers +of North America, the daring Dutch navigators. Again, there were the +younger sons of good family for whom the homeland presented small +opportunities, but who found in colonial settlements the chance of +creating estates like those of their fathers at home, and carried out +with them bands of followers drawn from among the sons of their +fathers' tenantry. To this class belonged most of the planter-settlers +of Virginia, the seigneurs of French Canada, the lords of the great +Portuguese feudal holdings in Brazil, and the dominant class in all the +Spanish colonies. Again, there were the 'undesirables' of whom the home +government wanted to be rid--convicts, paupers, political prisoners; +they were drafted out in great numbers to the new lands, often as +indentured servants, to endure servitude for a period of years and then +to be merged in the colonial population. When the loss of the American +colonies deprived Britain of her dumping-ground for convicts, she had +to find a new region in which to dispose of them; and this led to the +first settlement of Australia, six years after the establishment of +American independence. Finally, in the age of bitter religious +controversy there was a constant stream of religious exiles seeking new +homes in which they could freely follow their own forms of worship. The +Puritan settlers of New England are the outstanding example of this +type. But they were only one group among many. Huguenots from France, +Moravians from Austria, persecuted 'Palatines' and Salzburgers from +Germany, poured forth in an almost unbroken stream. It was natural that +they should take refuge in the only lands where full religious freedom +was offered to them; and these were especially some of the British +settlements in America, and the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. + +It is often said that the overflow of Europe over the world has been a +sort of renewal of the folk-wandering of primitive ages. That is a +misleading view: the movement has been far more deliberate and +organised, and far less due to the pressure of external circumstances, +than the early movements of peoples in the Old World. Not until the +nineteenth century, when the industrial transformation of Europe +brought about a really acute pressure of population, can it be said +that the mere pressure of need, and the shortage of sustenance in their +older homes, has sent large bodies of settlers into the new lands. +Until that period the imperial movement has been due to voluntary and +purposive action in a far higher degree than any of the blind early +wanderings of peoples. The will-to-dominion of virile nations exulting +in their nationhood; the desire to obtain a more abundant supply of +luxuries than had earlier been available, and to make profits +therefrom; the zeal of peoples to impose their mode of civilisation +upon as large a part of the world as possible; the existence in the +Western world of many elements of restlessness and dissatisfaction, +adventurers, portionless younger sons, or religious enthusiasts: these +have been the main operative causes of this huge movement during the +greater part of the four centuries over which it has extended. And as +it has sprung from such diverse and conflicting causes, it has assumed +an infinite variety of forms; and both deserves and demands a more +respectful study as a whole than has generally been given to it. + + + + +II + +THE ERA OF IBERIAN MONOPOLY + + +During the Middle Ages the contact of Europe with the rest of the world +was but slight. It was shut off by the great barrier of the Islamic +Empire, upon which the Crusades made no permanent impression; and +although the goods of the East came by caravan to the Black Sea ports, +to Constantinople, to the ports of Syria, and to Egypt, where they were +picked up by the Italian traders, these traders had no direct knowledge +of the countries which were the sources of their wealth. The threat of +the Empire of Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century aroused the +interest of Europe, and the bold friars, Carpini and Rubruquis, made +their way to the centres of that barbaric sovereign's power in the +remote East, and brought back stories of what they had seen; later the +Poli, especially the great Marco, undertook still more daring and +long-continued journeys, which made India and Cathay less unreal to +Europeans, and stimulated the desire for further knowledge. The later +mediaeval maps of the world, like that of Fra Mauro (1459),[3] which +incorporate this knowledge, are less wildly imaginative than their +predecessors, and show a vague notion of the general configuration of +the main land-masses in the Old World. But beyond the fringes of the +Mediterranean the world was still in the main unknown to, and +unaffected by, European civilisation down to the middle of the +fifteenth century. + + +[3] Simplified reproductions of this and the other early maps alluded +to are printed in Philip's Students' Atlas of Modern History, which +also contains a long series of maps illustrating the extra-Europeans +activities of the European states. + + +Then, suddenly, came the great era of explorations, which were made +possible by the improvements in navigation worked out during the +fifteenth century, and which in two generations incredibly transformed +the aspect of the world. The marvellous character of this revelation +can perhaps be illustrated by the comparison of two maps, that of +Behaim, published in 1492, and that of Schoener, published in 1523. +Apart from its adoption of the theory that the earth was globular, not +round and flat, Behaim's map shows little advance upon Fra Mauro, +except that it gives a clearer idea of the shape of Africa, due to the +earlier explorations of the Portuguese. But Schoener's map shows that +the broad outlines of the distribution of the land-masses of both +hemispheres were already in 1523 pretty clearly understood. This +astonishing advance was due to the daring and enterprise of the +Portuguese explorers, Diaz, Da Gama, Cabral, and of the adventurers in +the service of Spain, Columbus, Balboa, Vespucci, and--greatest of them +all--Magellan. + +These astonishing discoveries placed for a time the destinies of the +outer world in the hands of Spain and Portugal, and the first period of +European imperialism is the period of Iberian monopoly, extending to +1588. A Papal award in 1493 confirmed the division of the non-European +world between the two powers, by a judgment which the orthodox were +bound to accept, and did accept for two generations. All the oceans, +except the North Atlantic, were closed to the navigators of other +nations; and these two peoples were given, for a century, the +opportunity of showing in what guise they would introduce the +civilisation of Europe to the rest of the globe. Pioneers as they were +in the work of imperial development, it is not surprising that they +should have made great blunders; and in the end their foreign dominions +weakened rather than strengthened the home countries, and contributed +to drag them down from the high place which they had taken among the +nations. + +The Portuguese power in the East was never more than a commercial +dominion. Except in Goa, on the west coast of India, no considerable +number of settlers established themselves at any point; and the Goanese +settlement is the only instance of the formation of a mixed race, half +Indian and half European. Wherever the Portuguese power was +established, it proved itself hard and intolerant; for the spirit of +the Crusader was ill-adapted to the establishment of good relations +with the non-Christian peoples. The rivalry of Arab traders in the +Indian Ocean was mercilessly destroyed, and there was as little mercy +for the Italian merchants, who found the stream of goods that the Arabs +had sent them by way of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf almost wholly +intercepted. No doubt any other people, finding itself in the position +which the Portuguese occupied in the early sixteenth century, would +have been tempted to use their power in the same way to establish a +complete monopoly; but the success with which the Portuguese attained +their aim was in the end disastrous to them. It was followed by, if it +did not cause, a rapid deterioration of the ability with which their +affairs were directed; and when other European traders began to appear +in the field, they were readily welcomed by the princes of India and +the chieftains of the Spice Islands. In the West the Portuguese +settlement in Brazil was a genuine colony, or branch of the Portuguese +nation, because here there existed no earlier civilised people to be +dominated. But both in East and West the activities of the Portuguese +were from the first subjected to an over-rigid control by the home +government. Eager to make the most of a great opportunity for the +national advantage, the rulers of Portugal allowed no freedom to the +enterprise of individuals. The result was that in Portugal itself, in +the East, and in Brazil, initiative was destroyed, and the brilliant +energy which this gallant little nation had displayed evaporated within +a century. It was finally destroyed when, in 1580, Portugal and her +empire fell under the dominion of Spain, and under all the reactionary +influences of the government of Philip II. By the time this heavy yoke +was shaken off, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the +Portuguese dominion had fallen into decay. To-day nothing of it remains +save 'spheres of influence' on the western and eastern coasts of +Africa, two or three ports on the coast of India, the Azores, and the +island of Magao off the coast of China. + +The Spanish dominion in Central and South America was of a different +character. When once they had realised that it was not a new route to +Asia, but a new world, that Columbus had discovered for them, the +Spaniards sought no longer mainly for the riches to be derived from +traffic, but for the precious metals, which they unhappily discovered +in slight quantities in Hispaniola, but in immense abundance in Mexico +and Peru. It is impossible to exaggerate the heroic valour and daring +of Cortez, Pizarro, Hernando de Soto, Orellana, and the rest of the +conquistadores who carved out in a single generation the vast Spanish +empire in Central and South America; but it is equally impossible to +exaggerate their cruelty, which was born in part of the fact that they +were a handful among myriads, in part of the fierce traditions of +crusading warfare against the infidel. Yet without undervaluing their +daring, it must be recognised that they had a comparatively easy task +in conquering the peoples of these tropical lands. In the greater +islands of the West Indies they found a gentle and yielding people, who +rapidly died out under the forced labour of the mines and plantations, +and had to be replaced by negro slave-labour imported from Africa. In +Mexico and Peru they found civilisations which on the material side +were developed to a comparatively high point, and which collapsed +suddenly when their governments and capitals had been overthrown; while +their peoples, habituated to slavery, readily submitted to a new +servitude. It must be recognised, to the honour of the government of +Charles V. and his successors, that they honestly attempted to +safeguard the usages and possessions of the conquered peoples, and to +protect them in some degree against the exploitation of their +conquerors. But it was the protection of a subject race doomed to the +condition of Helotage; they were protected, as the Jews were protected +by the kings of mediaeval England, because they were a valuable asset +of the crown. The policy of the Spanish government did not avail to +prevent an intermixture of the races, because the Spaniards themselves +came from a sub-tropical country, and the Mexicans and Peruvians +especially were separated from them by no impassable gulf such as +separates the negro or the Australian bushman from the white man. +Central and Southern America thus came to be peopled by a hybrid race, +speaking Spanish, large elements of which were conscious of their own +inferiority. This in itself would perhaps have been a barrier to +progress. But the concentration of attention upon the precious metals, +and the neglect of industry due to this cause and to the employment of +slave-labour, formed a further obstacle. And in addition to all, the +Spanish government, partly with a view to the execution of its native +policy, partly because it regarded the precious metals as the chief +product of these lands and wished to maintain close control over them, +and partly because centralised autocracy was carried to its highest +pitch in Spain, allowed little freedom of action to the local +governments, and almost none to the settlers. It treated the trade of +these lands as a monopoly of the home country, to be carried on under +the most rigid control. It did little or nothing to develop the natural +resources of the empire, but rather discouraged them lest they should +compete with the labours of the mine; and in what concerned the +intellectual welfare of its subjects, it limited itself, as in Spain, +to ensuring that no infection of heresy or freethought should reach any +part of its dominions. All this had a deadening effect; and the +surprising thing is, not that the Spanish Empire should have fallen +into an early decrepitude, but that it should have shown such +comparative vigour, tenacity, and power of expansion as it actually +exhibited. Not until the nineteenth century did the vast natural +resources of these regions begin to undergo any rapid development; that +is to say, not until most of the settlements had discarded the +connection with Spain; and even then, the defects bred into the people +by three centuries of reactionary and unenlightened government produced +in them an incapacity to use their newly won freedom, and condemned +these lands to a long period of anarchy. It would be too strong to say +that it would have been better had the Spaniards never come to America; +for, when all is said, they have done more than any other people, save +the British, to plant European modes of life in the non-European world. +But it is undeniable that their dominion afforded a far from happy +illustration of the working of Western civilisation in a new field, and +exercised a very unfortunate reaction upon the life of the +mother-country. + +The conquest of Portugal and her empire by Philip II., in 1580, turned +Spain into a Colossus bestriding the world, and it was inevitable that +this world-dominion should be challenged by the other European states +which faced upon the Atlantic. The challenge was taken up by three +nations, the English, the French, and the Dutch, all the more readily +because the very existence of all three and the religion of two of them +were threatened by the apparently overwhelming strength of Spain in +Europe. As in so many later instances, the European conflict was +inevitably extended to the non-European world. From the middle of the +sixteenth century onwards these three peoples attempted, with +increasing daring, to circumvent or to undermine the Spanish power, and +to invade the sources of the wealth which made it dangerous to them; +but the attempt, so far as it was made on the seas and beyond them, was +in the main, and for a long time, due to the spontaneous energies of +volunteers, not to the action of governments. Francis I. of France sent +out the Venetian Verazzano to explore the American shores of the North +Atlantic, as Henry VII. of England had earlier sent the Genoese Cabots. +But nothing came of these official enterprises. More effective were the +pirate adventurers who preyed upon the commerce between Spain and her +possessions in the Netherlands as it passed through the Narrow Seas, +running the gauntlet of English, French, and Dutch. More effective +still were the attempts to find new routes to the East, not barred by +the Spanish dominions, by a north-east or a north-west passage; for +some of the earlier of these adventures led to fruitful unintended +consequences, as when the Englishman Chancellor, seeking for a +north-east passage, found the route to Archangel and opened up a trade +with Russia, or as when the Frenchman Cartier, seeking for a north-west +passage, hit upon the great estuary of the St. Lawrence, and marked out +a claim for France to the possession of the area which it drained. Most +effective of all were the smuggling and piratical raids into the +reserved waters of West Africa and the West Indies, and later into the +innermost penetralia of the Pacific Ocean, which were undertaken with +rapidly increasing boldness by the navigators of all three nations, but +above all by the English. Drake is the supreme exponent of these +methods; and his career illustrates in the clearest fashion the steady +diminution of Spanish prestige under these attacks, and the growing +boldness and maritime skill of its attackers. + +From the time of Drake's voyage round the world (1577) and its +insulting defiance of the Spanish power on the west coast of South +America, it became plain that the maintenance of Spanish monopoly could +not last much longer. It came to its end, finally and unmistakably, in +the defeat of the Grand Armada. That supreme victory threw the ocean +roads of trade open, not to the English only, but to the sailors of all +nations. In its first great triumph the English navy had established +the Freedom of the Seas, of which it has ever since been the chief +defender. Since 1588 no power has dreamt of claiming the exclusive +right of traversing any of the open seas of the world, as until that +date Spain and Portugal had claimed the exclusive right of using the +South Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. + +So ends the first period in the imperial expansion of the Western +peoples, the period of Spanish and Portuguese monopoly. Meanwhile, +unnoticed in the West, a remarkable eastward expansion was being +effected by the Russian people. By insensible stages they had passed +the unreal barrier between Europe and Asia, and spread themselves +thinly over the vast spaces of Siberia, subduing and assimilating the +few and scattered tribes whom they met; by the end of the seventeenth +century they had already reached the Pacific Ocean. It was a conquest +marked by no great struggles or victories, an insensible permeation of +half a continent. This process was made the easier for the Russians, +because in their own stock were blended elements of the Mongol race +which they found scattered over Siberia: they were only reversing the +process which Genghis Khan had so easily accomplished in the thirteenth +century. And as the Russians had scarcely yet begun to be affected by +Western civilisation, there was no great cleavage or contrast between +them and their new subjects, and the process of assimilation took place +easily. But the settlement of Siberia was very gradual. At the +beginning of the eighteenth century the total population of this vast +area amounted to not more than 300,000 souls, and it was not until the +nineteenth century that there was any rapid increase. + + + + +III + +THE RIVALRY OF THE DUTCH, THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH, 1588-1763 + + +The second period of European imperialism was filled with the rivalries +of the three nations which had in different degrees contributed to the +breakdown of the Spanish monopoly, the Dutch, the French, and the +English; and we have next to inquire how far, and why, these peoples +were more successful than the Spaniards in planting in the non-European +world the essentials of European civilisation. The long era of their +rivalry extended from 1588 to 1763, and it can be most conveniently +divided into three sections. The first of these extended from 1588 to +about 1660, and may be called the period of experiment and settlement; +during its course the leadership fell to the Dutch. The second extended +from 1660 to 1713, and may be called the period of systematic colonial +policy, and of growing rivalry between France and England. The third, +from 1713 to 1763, was dominated by the intense rivalry of these two +countries, decadent Spain joining in the conflict on the side of +France, while the declining power of the Dutch was on the whole ranged +on the side of Britain; and it ended with the complete ascendancy of +Britain, supreme at once in the West and in the East. + + +(a) The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660 + +The special interest of the first half of the seventeenth century is +that in the trading and colonial experiments of this period the +character of the work which was to be done by the three new candidates +for extra-European empire was already very clearly and instructively +displayed. They met as rivals in every field: in the archipelago of the +West Indies, and the closely connected slaving establishments of West +Africa, in the almost empty lands of North America, and in the trading +enterprises of the far East; and everywhere a difference of spirit and +method appeared. + +The Dutch, who made a far more systematic and more immediately +profitable use of the opportunity than either of their rivals, regarded +the whole enterprise as a great national commercial venture. It was +conducted by two powerful trading corporations, the Company of the East +Indies and the Company of the West Indies; but though directed by the +merchants of Amsterdam, these were genuinely national enterprises; +their shareholders were drawn from every province and every class; and +they were backed by all the influence which the States-General of the +United Provinces--controlled during this period mainly by the +commercial interest--was able to wield. + +The Company of the East Indies was the richer and the more powerful of +the two, because the trade of the Far East was beyond comparison the +most lucrative in the world. Aiming straight at the source of the +greatest profits--the trade in spices--the Dutch strove to establish a +monopoly control over the Spice Islands and, in general, over the Malay +Archipelago; and they were so successful that their influence remains +to-day predominant in this region. Their first task was to overthrow +the ascendancy of the Portuguese, and in this they were willing to +co-operate with the English traders. But the bulk of the work was done +by the Dutch, for the English East India Company was poor in comparison +with the Dutch, was far less efficiently organised, and, in especial, +could not count upon the steady support of the national government. It +was mainly the Dutch who built forts and organised factories, because +they alone had sufficient capital to maintain heavy standing charges. +Not unnaturally they did not see why the English should reap any part +of the advantage of their work, and set themselves to establish a +monopoly. In the end the English were driven out with violence. After +the Massacre of Amboyna (1623) their traders disappeared from these +seas, and the Dutch supremacy remained unchallenged until the +nineteenth century. + +It was a quite intolerant commercial monopoly which they had +instituted, but from the commercial point of view it was administered +with great intelligence. Commercial control brought in its train +territorial sovereignty, over Java and many of the neighbouring +islands; and this sovereignty was exercised by the directors of the +company primarily with a view to trade interests. It was a trade +despotism, but a trade despotism wisely administered, which gave +justice and order to its native subjects. On the mainland of India the +Dutch never attained a comparable degree of power, because the native +states were strong enough to hold them in check. But in this period +their factories were more numerous and more prosperous than those of +the English, their chief rivals; and over the island of Ceylon they +established an ascendancy almost as complete as that which they had +created in the archipelago. + +They were intelligent enough also to see the importance of good +calling-stations on the route to the East. For this purpose they +planted a settlement in Mauritius, and another at the Cape of Good +Hope. But these settlements were never regarded as colonies. They were +stations belonging to a trading company; they remained under its +complete control, and were allowed no freedom of development, still +less any semblance of self-government. If Cape Colony grew into a +genuine colony, or offshoot of the mother-country, it was in spite of +the company, not by reason of its encouragement, and from first to last +the company's relations with the settlers were of the most unhappy +kind. For the company would do nothing at the Cape that was not +necessary for the Eastern trade, which was its supreme interest, and +the colonists naturally did not take the same view. It was this +concentration upon purely commercial aims which also prevented the +Dutch from making any use of the superb field for European settlement +opened up by the enterprise of their explorers in Australia and New +Zealand. These fair lands were left unpeopled, largely because they +promised no immediate trade profits. + +In the West the enterprises of the Dutch were only less vigorous than +in the East, and they were marked by the same feature of an intense +concentration upon the purely commercial aspect. While the English and +(still more) the French adventurers made use of the lesser West Indian +islands, unoccupied by Spain, as bases for piratical attacks upon the +Spanish trade, the Dutch, with a shrewd instinct, early deserted this +purely destructive game for the more lucrative business of carrying on +a smuggling trade with the Spanish mainland; and the islands which they +acquired (such as Curayoa) were, unlike the French and English islands, +especially well placed for this purpose. They established a sugar +colony in Guiana. But their main venture in this region was the +conquest of a large part of Northern Brazil from the Portuguese (1624); +and here their exploitation was so merciless, under the direction of +the Company of the West Indies, that the inhabitants, though they had +been dissatisfied with the Portuguese government, and had at first +welcomed the Dutch conquerors, soon revolted against them, and after +twenty years drove them out. + +On the mainland of North America the Dutch planted a single colony--the +New Netherlands, with its capital at New Amsterdam, later New York. +Their commercial instinct had once more guided them wisely. They had +found the natural centre for the trade of North America; for by way of +the river Hudson and its affluent, the Mohawk, New York commands the +only clear path through the mountain belt which everywhere shuts off +the Atlantic coast region from the central plain of America. Founded +and controlled by the Company of the West Indies, this settlement was +intended to be, not primarily the home of a branch of the Dutch nation +beyond the seas, but a trading-station for collecting the furs and +other products of the inland regions. At Orange (Albany), which stands +at the junction of the Mohawk and the Hudson, the Dutch traders +collected the furs brought in by Indian trappers from west and north; +New Amsterdam was the port of export; and if settlers were encouraged, +it was only that they might supply the men and the means and the food +for carrying on this traffic. The Company of the West Indies +administered the colony purely from this point of view. No powers of +self-government were allowed to the settlers; and, as in Cape Colony, +the relations between the colonists and the governing company were +never satisfactory, because the colonists felt that their interests +were wholly subordinated. + +The distinguishing feature of French imperial activity during this +period was its dependence upon the support and direction of the home +government, which was the natural result of the highly centralised +regime established in France during the modern era. Only in one +direction was French activity successfully maintained by private +enterprise, and this was in the not very reputable field of West Indian +buccaneering, in which the French were even more active than their +principal rivals and comrades, the English. The word 'buccaneer' itself +comes from the French: boucan means the wood-fire at which the pirates +dried and smoked their meat, and these fires, blazing on deserted +islands, must often have warned merchant vessels to avoid an +ever-present danger. The island of Tortuga, which commands the passage +between Cuba and Hispaniola through which the bulk of the Spanish +traffic passed on its way from Mexico to Europe, was the most important +of the buccaneering bases, and although it was at first used by the +buccaneers of all nations, it soon became a purely French possession, +as did, later, the adjoining portion of the island of Hispaniola (San +Domingo). The French did, indeed, like the English, plant sugar +colonies in some of the lesser Antilles; but during the first half of +the seventeenth century they attained no great prosperity. + +For the greater enterprises of trade in the East and colonisation in +the West, the French relied almost wholly upon government assistance, +and although both Henry IV. in the first years of the century, and +Richelieu in its second quarter, were anxious to give what help they +could, internal dissensions were of such frequent occurrence in France +during this period that no systematic or continuous governmental aid +was available. Hence the French enterprises both in the East and in the +West were on a small scale, and achieved little success. The French +East India Company was all but extinct when Colbert took it in hand in +1664; it was never able to compete with its Dutch or even its English +rival. + +But the period saw the establishment of two French colonies in North +America: Acadia (Nova Scotia) on the coast, and Canada, with Quebec as +its centre, in the St. Lawrence valley, separated from one another on +land by an almost impassable barrier of forest and mountain. These two +colonies were founded, the first in 1605 and the second in 1608, almost +at the same moment as the first English settlement on the American +continent. They had a hard struggle during the first fifty years of +their existence; for the number of settlers was very small, the soil +was barren, the climate severe, and the Red Indians, especially the +ferocious Iroquois towards the south, were far more formidable enemies +than those who bordered on the English colonies. + +There is no part of the history of European colonisation more full of +romance and of heroism than the early history of French Canada; an +incomparable atmosphere of gallantry and devotion seems to overhang it. +From the first, despite their small numbers and their difficulties, +these settlers showed a daring in exploration which was only equalled +by the Spaniards, and to which there is no parallel in the records of +the English colonies. At the very outset the great explorer Champlain +mapped out the greater part of the Great Lakes, and thus reached +farther into the continent than any Englishman before the end of the +eighteenth century; and although this is partly explained by the fact +that the St. Lawrence and the lakes afforded an easy approach to the +interior, while farther south the forest-clad ranges of the Alleghanies +constituted a very serious barrier, this does not diminish the French +pre-eminence in exploration. Nor can anything in the history of +European colonisation surpass the heroism of the French missionaries +among the Indians, who faced and endured incredible tortures in order +to bring Christianity to the barbarians. No serious missionary +enterprise was ever undertaken by the English colonists; this +difference was in part due to the fact that the missionary aim was +definitely encouraged by the home government in France. From the +outset, then, poverty, paucity of numbers, gallantry, and missionary +zeal formed marked features of the French North American colonies. + +In other respects they very clearly reproduced some of the features of +the motherland. Their organisation was strictly feudal in character. +The real unit of settlement and government was the seigneurie, an +estate owned by a Frenchman of birth, and cultivated by his vassals, +who found refuge from an Indian raid, or other danger, in the stockaded +house which took the place of a chateau, much as their remote ancestors +had taken refuge from the raids of the Northmen in the castles of their +seigneur's ancestors. And over this feudal society was set, as in +France, a highly centralised government wielding despotic power, and in +its turn absolutely subject to the mandate of the Crown at home. This +despotic government had the right to require the services of all its +subjects in case of need; and it was only the centralised government of +the colony, and the warlike and adventurous character of its small +feudalised society, which enabled it to hold its own for so long +against the superior numbers but laxer organisation of its English +neighbours. A despotic central power, a feudal organisation, and an +entire dependence upon the will of the King of France and upon his +support, form, therefore, the second group of characteristics which +marked the French colonies. They were colonies in the strictest sense, +all the more because they reproduced the main features of the home +system. + +Nothing could have differed more profoundly from this system than the +methods which the English were contemporaneously applying, without plan +or clearly defined aim, and guided only by immediate practical needs, +and by the rooted traditions of a self-governing people. Their +enterprises received from the home government little direct assistance, +but they throve better without it; and if there was little assistance, +there was also little interference. In the East the English East India +Company had to yield to the Dutch the monopoly of the Malayan trade, +and bitterly complained of the lack of government support; but it +succeeded in establishing several modest factories on the coast of +India, and was on the whole prosperous. But it was in the West that the +distinctive work of the English was achieved during this period, by the +establishment of a series of colonies unlike any other European +settlements which had yet been instituted. Their distinctive feature +was self-government, to which they owed their steadily increasing +prosperity. No other European colonies were thus managed on the +principle of autonomy. Indeed, these English settlements were in 1650 +the only self-governing lands in the world, apart from England herself, +the United Provinces, and Switzerland. + +The first English colony, Virginia, was planted in 1608 by a trading +company organised for the purpose, whose subscribers included nearly +all the London City Companies, and about seven hundred private +individuals of all ranks. Their motives were partly political ('to put +a bit in the ancient enemy's (Spain's) mouth'), and partly commercial, +for they hoped to find gold, and to render England independent of the +marine supplies which came from the Baltic. But profit was not their +sole aim; they were moved also by the desire to plant a new England +beyond the seas. They made, in fact, no profits; but they did create a +branch of the English stock, and the young squires' and yeomen's sons +who formed the backbone of the colony showed themselves to be +Englishmen by their unwillingness to submit to an uncontrolled +direction of their affairs. In 1619, acting on instructions received +from England, the company's governor summoned an assembly of +representatives, one from each township, to consult on the needs of the +colony. This was the first representative body that had ever existed +outside Europe, and it indicated what was to be the character of +English colonisation. Henceforth the normal English method of governing +a colony was through a governor and an executive council appointed by +the Crown or its delegate, and a representative assembly, which wielded +full control over local legislation and taxation. 'Our present +happiness,' said the Virginian Assembly in 1640, 'is exemplified by the +freedom of annual assemblies and by legal trials by juries in all civil +and criminal causes.' + +The second group of English colonies, those of New England, far to the +north of Virginia, reproduced in an intensified form this note of +self-government. Founded in the years following 1620, these settlements +were the outcome of Puritan discontents in England. The commercial +motive was altogether subsidiary in their establishment; they existed +in order that the doctrine and discipline of Puritanism might find a +home where its ascendancy would be secure. It was indeed under the +guise of a commercial company that the chief of these settlements was +made, but the company was organised as a means of safe-guarding the +colonists from Crown interference, and at an early date its +headquarters were transferred to New England itself. Far from desiring +to restrict this freedom, the Crown up to a point encouraged it. +Winthrop, one of the leading colonists, tells us that he had learnt +from members of the Privy Council 'that his Majesty did not intend to +impose the ceremonies of the Church of England upon us; for that it was +considered that it was the freedom from such things that made people +come over to us.' The contrast between this licence and the rigid +orthodoxy enforced upon French Canada or Spanish America is very +instructive. It meant that the New World, so far as it was controlled +by England, was to be open as a place of refuge for those who disliked +the restrictions thought necessary at home. The same note is to be +found in the colony of Maryland, planted by the Roman Catholic Lord +Baltimore in 1632, largely as a place of refuge for his +co-religionists. He was encouraged by the government of Charles I. in +this idea, and the second Lord Baltimore reports that his father 'had +absolute liberty to carry over any from his Majesty's Dominions willing +to go. But he found very few but such as ... could not conform to the +laws of England relating to religion. These declared themselves willing +to plant in this province, if they might have a general toleration +settled by law.' Maryland, therefore, became the first place in the +world of Western civilisation in which full religious toleration was +allowed; for the aim of the New Englanders was not religious freedom, +but a free field for the rigid enforcement of their own shade of +orthodoxy. + +Thus, in these first English settlements, the deliberate encouragement +of varieties of type was from the outset a distinguishing note, and the +home authorities neither desired nor attempted to impose a strict +uniformity with the rules and methods existing in England. There was as +great a variety in social and economic organisation as in religious +beliefs between the aristocratic planter colonies of the south and the +democratic agricultural settlements of New England. In one thing only +was there uniformity: every settlement possessed self-governing +institutions, and prized them beyond all other privileges. None, +indeed, carried self-government to so great an extent as the New +Englanders. They came out organised as religious congregations, in +which every member possessed equal rights, and they took the +congregational system as the basis of their local government, and +church membership as the test of citizenship; nor did any other +colonies attain the right, long exercised by the New Englanders, of +electing their own governors. But there was no English settlement, not +even the little slave-worked plantations in the West Indian islands, +like Barbados, which did not set up, as a matter of course, a +representative body to deal with problems of legislation and taxation, +and the home government never dreamt of interfering with this practice. +Already in 1650, the English empire was sharply differentiated from the +Spanish, the Dutch, and the French empires by the fact that it +consisted of a scattered group of self-governing communities, varying +widely in type, but united especially by the common possession of free +institutions, and thriving very largely because these institutions +enabled local needs to be duly considered and attracted settlers of +many types. + + +(b) The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713 + +The second half of the seventeenth century was a period of systematic +imperial policy on the part of both England and France; for both +countries now realised that in the profitable field of commerce, at any +rate, the Dutch had won a great advantage over them. + +France, after many internal troubles and many foreign wars, had at last +achieved, under the government of Louis XIV., the boon of firmly +established order. She was now beyond all rivalry the greatest of the +European states, and her king and his great finance minister, Colbert, +resolved to win for her also supremacy in trade and colonisation. But +this was to be done absolutely under the control and direction of the +central government. Until the establishment of the German Empire, there +has never been so marked an instance of the centralised organisation of +the whole national activity as France presented in this period. The +French East India Company was revived under government direction, and +began for the first time to be a serious competitor for Indian trade. +An attempt was made to conquer Madagascar as a useful base for Eastern +enterprises. The sugar industry in the French West Indian islands was +scientifically encouraged and developed, though the full results of +this work were not apparent until the next century. France began to +take an active share in the West African trade in slaves and other +commodities. In Canada a new era of prosperity began; the population +was rapidly increased by the dispatch of carefully selected parties of +emigrants, and the French activity in missionary work and in +exploration became bolder than ever. Pere Marquette and the Sieur de la +Salle traced out the courses of the Ohio and the Mississippi; French +trading-stations began to arise among the scattered Indian tribes who +alone occupied the vast central plain; and a strong French claim was +established to the possession of this vital area, which was not only +the most valuable part of the American continent, but would have shut +off the English coastal settlements from any possibility of westward +expansion. These remarkable explorations led, in 1717, to the +foundation of New Orleans at the mouth of the great river, and the +organisation of the colony of Louisiana. But the whole of the intense +and systematic imperial activity of the French during this period +depended upon the support and direction of government; and when Colbert +died in 1683, and soon afterwards all the resources of France were +strained by the pressure of two great European wars, the rapid +development which Colbert's zeal had brought about was checked for a +generation. Centralised administration may produce remarkable immediate +results, but it does not encourage natural and steady growth. Meanwhile +the English had awakened to the fact that England had, almost by a +series of accidents, become the centre of an empire, and to the +necessity of giving to this empire some sort of systematic +organisation. It was the statesmen of the Commonwealth who first began +to grope after an imperial system. The aspect of the situation which +most impressed them was that the enterprising Dutch were reaping most +of the trading profits which arose from the creation of the English +colonies: it was said that ten Dutch ships called at Barbados for every +English ship. To deal with this they passed the Navigation Act of 1651, +which provided that the trade of England and the colonies should be +carried only in English or colonial ships. They thus gave a logical +expression to the policy of imperial trade monopoly which had been in +the minds of those who were interested in colonial questions from the +outset; and they also opened a period of acute trade rivalry and war +with the Dutch. The first of the Dutch wars, which was waged by the +Commonwealth, was a very even struggle, but it secured the success of +the Navigation Act. Cromwell, though he hastened to make peace with the +Dutch, was a still stronger imperialist than his parliamentary +predecessors; he may justly be described as the first of the Jingoes. +He demanded compensation from the Dutch for the half-forgotten outrage +of Amboyna in 1623. He made a quite unprovoked attack upon the Spanish +island of Hispaniola, and though he failed to conquer it, gained a +compensation in the seizure of Jamaica (1655). And he insisted upon the +obedience of the colonies to the home government with a severity never +earlier shown. With him imperial aims may be said to have become, for +the first time, one of the ruling ends of the English government. + +But it was the reign of Charles II. which saw the definite organisation +of a clearly conceived imperial policy; in the history of English +imperialism there are few periods more important. The chief statesmen +and courtiers of the reign, Prince Rupert, Clarendon, Shaftesbury, +Albemarle, were all enthusiasts for the imperial idea. They had a +special committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations,[4] +and appointed John Locke, the ablest political thinker of the age, to +be its secretary. They pushed home the struggle against the maritime +ascendancy of the Dutch, and fought two Dutch wars; and though the +history-books, influenced by the Whig prejudice against Charles II., +always treat these wars as humiliating and disgraceful, while they +treat the Dutch war of the Commonwealth as just and glorious, the plain +fact is that the first Dutch war of Charles II. led to the conquest of +the Dutch North American colony of the New Netherlands (1667), and so +bridged the gap between the New England and the southern colonies. They +engaged in systematic colonisation, founding the new colony of Carolina +to the south of Virginia, while out of their Dutch conquests they +organised the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware; and the +end of the reign saw the establishment of the interesting and admirably +managed Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. They started the Hudson Bay +Company, which engaged in the trade in furs to the north of the French +colonies. They systematically encouraged the East India Company, which +now began to be more prosperous than at any earlier period, and +obtained in Bombay its first territorial possession in India. + + +[4] It was not till 1696, however, that this Board became permanent. + + +More important, they worked out a new colonial policy, which was to +remain, in its main features, the accepted British policy down to the +loss of the American colonies in 1782. The theory at the base of this +policy was that while the mother-country must be responsible for the +defence of all the scattered settlements, which in their weakness were +exposed to attack from many sides, in she might reasonably expect to be +put in possession of definite trade advantages. Hence the Navigation +Act of 1660 provided not only that inter-imperial trade should be +carried in English or colonial vessels, but that certain 'enumerated +articles,' including some of the most important colonial products, +should be sent only to England, so that English merchants should have +the profits of selling them to other countries, and the English +government the proceeds of duties upon them; and another Act provided +that imports to the colonies should only come from, or through, +England. In other words, England was to be the commercial entrepot of +the whole empire; and the regulation of imperial trade as a whole was +to belong to the English government and parliament. To the English +government also must necessarily fall the conduct of the relations of +the empire as a whole with other powers. This commercial system was +not, however, purely one-sided. If the colonies were to send their +chief products only to England, they were at the same time to have a +monopoly, or a marked advantage, in English markets. Tobacco-growing +had been for a time a promising industry in England; it was prohibited +in order that it might not compete with the colonial product; and +differential duties were levied on the competing products of other +countries and their colonies. In short, the new policy was one of +Imperial Preference; it aimed at turning the empire into an economic +unit, of which England should be the administrative and distributing +centre. So far the English policy did not differ in kind from the +contemporary colonial policy of other countries, though it left to the +colonies a greater freedom of trade (for example, in the +'non-enumerated articles') than was ever allowed by Spain or France, or +by the two great trading companies which controlled the foreign +possessions of Holland. + +But there is one respect in which the authors of this system differed +very widely from the colonial statesmen of other countries. Though they +were anxious to organise and consolidate the empire on the basis of a +trade system, they had no desire or intention of altering its +self-governing character, or of discouraging the growth of a healthy +diversity of type and method. Every one of the new colonies of this +period was provided with the accustomed machinery of representative +government: in the case of Carolina, the philosopher, John Locke, was +invited to draw up a model constitution, and although his scheme was +quite unworkable, the fact that he was asked to make it affords a +striking proof of the seriousness with which the problems of colonial +government were regarded. In several of the West Indian settlements +self-governing institutions were organised during these years. In the +Frame of Government which Penn set forth on the foundation of +Pennsylvania, in 1682, he laid it down that 'any government is free +where the laws rule, and where the people are a party to these rules,' +and on this basis proceeded to organise his system. According to this +definition all the English colonies were free, and they were almost the +only free communities in the world. And though it is true that there +was an almost unceasing conflict between the government and the New +England colonies, no one who studies the story of these quarrels can +fail to see that the demands of the New Englanders were often +unreasonable and inconsistent with the maintenance of imperial unity, +while the home government was extremely patient and moderate. Above +all, almost the most marked feature of the colonial policy of Charles +II. was the uniform insistence upon complete religious toleration in +the colonies. Every new charter contained a clause securing this vital +condition. + +It has long been our habit to condemn the old colonial system as it was +defined in this period, and to attribute to it the disruption of the +empire in the eighteenth century. But the judgment is not a fair one; +it is due to those Whig prejudices by which so much of the modern +history of England has been distorted. The colonial policy of +Shaftesbury and his colleagues was incomparably more enlightened than +that of any contemporary government. It was an interesting +experiment--the first, perhaps, in modern history--in the +reconciliation of unity and freedom. And it was undeniably successful: +under it the English colonies grew and throve in a very striking way. +Everything, indeed, goes to show that this system was well designed for +the needs of a group of colonies which were still in a state of +weakness, still gravely under-peopled and undeveloped. Evil results +only began to show themselves in the next age, when the colonies were +growing stronger and more independent, and when the self-complacent +Whigs, instead of revising the system to meet new conditions, actually +enlarged and emphasised its most objectionable features. + + +(c) The Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763 + +While France and England were defining and developing their sharply +contrasted imperial systems, the Dutch had fallen into the background, +content with the rich dominion which they had already acquired; and the +Spanish and Portuguese empires had both fallen into stagnation. New +competitors, indeed, now began to press into the field: the wildly +exaggerated notions of the wealth to be made from colonial ventures +which led to the frenzied speculations of the early eighteenth century, +John Law's schemes, and the South Sea Bubble, induced other powers to +try to obtain a share of this wealth; and Austria, Brandenburg, and +Denmark made fitful endeavours to become colonising powers. But the +enterprises of these states were never of serious importance. The +future of the non-European world seemed to depend mainly upon France +and England; and it was yet to be determined which of the two systems, +centralised autocracy enforcing uniformity, or self-government +encouraging variety of type, would prove the more successful and would +play the greater part. Two bodies of ideas so sharply contrasted were +bound to come into conflict. In the two great wars between England and +Louis XIV. (1688-1713), though the questions at issue were primarily +European, the conflict inevitably spread to the colonial field; and in +the result France was forced to cede in 1713 the province of Acadia +(which had twice before been in English hands), the vast basin of +Hudson's Bay, and the island of Newfoundland, to which the fishermen of +both nations had resorted, though the English had always claimed it. +But these were only preliminaries, and the main conflict was fought out +during the half-century following the Peace of Utrecht, 1713-63. + +During this half-century Britain was under the rule of the Whig +oligarchy, which had no clearly conceived ideas on imperial policy. +Under the influence of the mercantile class the Whigs increased the +severity of the restrictions on colonial trade, and prohibited the rise +of industries likely to compete with those of the mother-country. But +under the influence of laziness and timidity, and of the desire quieta +non movere, they made no attempt seriously to enforce either the new or +the old restrictions, and in these circumstances smuggling trade +between the New England colonies and the French West Indies, in +defiance of the Navigation Act and its companions, grew to such +dimensions that any serious interference with it would be felt as a +real grievance. The Whigs and their friends later took credit for their +neglect. George Grenville, they said, lost the colonies because he read +the American dispatches; he would have done much better to leave the +dispatches and the colonies alone. But this is a damning apology. If +the old colonial system, whose severity, on paper, the Whigs had +greatly increased, was no longer workable, it should have been revised; +but no Whig showed any sign of a sense that change was necessary. Yet +the prevalence of smuggling was not the only proof of the need for +change. There was during the period a long succession of disputes +between colonial governors and their assemblies, which showed that the +restrictions upon their political freedom, as well as those upon their +economic freedom, were beginning to irk the colonists; and that +self-government was following its universal and inevitable course, and +demanding its own fulfilment. But the Whigs made no sort of attempt to +consider the question whether the self-government of the colonies could +be increased without impairing the unity of the empire. The single +device of their statesmanship was--not to read the dispatches. And, in +the meanwhile, no evil results followed, because the loyalty of the +colonists was ensured by the imminence of the French danger. The +mother-country was still responsible for the provision of defence, +though she was largely cheated of the commercial advantages which were +to have been its recompense. + +After 1713 there was a comparatively long interval of peace between +Britain and France, but it was occupied by an acute commercial rivalry, +in which, on the whole, the French seemed to be getting the upper hand. +Their sugar islands in the West Indies were more productive than the +British; their traders were rapidly increasing their hold over the +central plain of North America, to the alarm of the British colonists; +their intrigues kept alive a perpetual unrest in the recently conquered +province of Acadia; and away in India, under the spirited direction of +Francois Dupleix, their East India Company became a more formidable +competitor for the Indian trade than it had hitherto been. Hence the +imperial problem presented itself to the statesmen of that generation +as a problem of power rather than as a problem of organisation; and the +intense rivalry with France dwarfed and obscured the need for a +reconsideration of colonial relations. At length this rivalry flamed +out into two wars. The first of these was fought, on both sides, in a +strangely half-hearted and lackadaisical way. But in the second (the +Seven Years' War, 1756-63) the British cause, after two years of +disaster, fell under the confident and daring leadership of Pitt, which +brought a series of unexampled successes. The French flag was almost +swept from the seas. The French settlements in Canada were overrun and +conquered. With the fall of Quebec it was determined that the system of +self-government, and not that of autocracy, should control the +destinies of the North American continent; and Britain emerged in 1763 +the supreme colonial power of the world. The problem of power had been +settled in her favour; but the problem of organisation remained +unsolved. It emerged in an acute and menacing form as soon as the war +was over. + +During the course of these two wars, and in the interval between them, +an extraordinary series of events had opened a new scene for the +rivalry of the two great imperial powers, and a new world began to be +exposed to the influence of the political ideas of Europe. The vast and +populous land of India, where the Europeans had hitherto been content +to play the part of modest traders, under the protection and control of +great native rulers, had suddenly been displayed as a field for the +imperial ambitions of the European peoples. Ever since the first +appearance of the Dutch, the English, and the French in these regions, +Northern India had formed a consolidated empire ruled from Delhi by the +great Mogul dynasty; the shadow of its power was also cast over the +lesser princes of Southern India. But after 1709, and still more after +1739, the Mogul Empire collapsed, and the whole of India, north and +south, rapidly fell into a condition of complete anarchy. A multitude +of petty rulers, nominal satraps of the powerless Mogul, roving +adventurers, or bands of Mahratta raiders, put an end to all order and +security; and to protect themselves and maintain their trade the +European traders must needs enlist considerable bodies of Indian +troops. It had long been proved that a comparatively small number of +troops, disciplined in the European fashion, could hold their own +against the loose and disorderly mobs who followed the standards of +Indian rulers. And it now occurred to the ambitious mind of the +Frenchman Dupleix that it should be possible, by the use of this +military superiority, to intervene with effect in the unceasing strife +of the Indian princes, to turn the scale on one side or the other, and +to obtain over the princes whose cause he embraced a commanding +influence, which would enable him to secure the expulsion of his +English rivals, and the establishment of a French trade monopoly based +upon political influence. + +This daring project was at first triumphantly successful. The English +had to follow suit in self-defence, but could not equal the ability of +Dupleix. In 1750 a French protege occupied the most important throne of +Southern India at Hyderabad, and was protected and kept loyal by a +force of French sepoys under the Marquis de Bussy, whose expenses were +met out of the revenues of large provinces (the Northern Sarkars) +placed under French administration; while in the Carnatic, the coastal +region where all the European traders had their south-eastern +headquarters, a second French protege had almost succeeded in crushing +his rival, whom the English company supported. But the genius of Clive +reversed the situation with dramatic swiftness; the French authorities +at home, alarmed at these dangerous adventures, repudiated and recalled +Dupleix (1754), and the British power was left to apply the methods +which he had invented. When the Seven Years' War broke out (1756), the +French, repenting of their earlier decision, sent a substantial force +to restore their lost influence in the Carnatic, but the result was +complete failure. A British protege henceforward ruled in the Carnatic; +a British force replaced the French at Hyderabad; and the revenues of +the Northern Sarkars, formerly assigned for the maintenance of the +French force, were handed over to its successor. Meanwhile in the rich +province of Bengal a still more dramatic revolution had taken place. +Attacked by the young Nawab, Siraj-uddaula, the British traders at +Calcutta had been forced to evacuate that prosperous centre (1756). But +Clive, coming up with a fleet and an army from Madras, applied the +lessons he had learnt in the Carnatic, set up a rival claimant to the +throne of Bengal, and at Plassey (1757) won for his puppet a complete +victory. From 1757 onwards the British East India Company was the real +master in Bengal, even more completely than in the Carnatic. It had +not, in either region, conquered any territory; it had only supported +successfully a claimant to the native throne. The native government, in +theory, continued as before; the company, in theory, was its subject +and vassal. But in practice these great and rich provinces lay at its +mercy, and if it did not yet choose to undertake their government, this +was only because it preferred to devote itself to its original business +of trade. + +Thus by 1763 the British power had achieved a dazzling double triumph. +It had destroyed the power of its chief rival both in the East and in +the West. It had established the supremacy of the British peoples and +of British methods of government throughout the whole continent of +North America; and it had entered, blindly and without any conception +of what the future was to bring forth, upon the path which was to lead +to dominion over the vast continent of India, and upon the tremendous +task of grafting the ideas of the West upon the East. + +Such was the outcome of the first two periods in the history of +European imperialism. It left Central and South America under the +stagnant and reactionary government of Spain and Portugal; the eastern +coast of North America under the control of groups of self-governing +Englishmen; Canada, still inhabited by Frenchmen, under British +dominance; Java and the Spice Islands, together with the small +settlement of Cape Colony, in the hands of the Dutch; a medley of +European settlements in the West Indian islands, and a string of +European factories along the coast of West Africa; and the beginning of +an anomalous British dominion established at two points on the coast of +India. But of all the European nations which had taken part in this +vast process of expansion, one alone, the British, still retained its +vitality and its expansive power. + + + + +IV + +THE ERA OF REVOLUTION, 1763-1825 + + +'Colonies are like fruits,' said Turgot, the eighteenth-century French +economist and statesman: 'they cling to the mother-tree only until they +are ripe.' This generalisation, which represented a view very widely +held during that and the next age, seemed to be borne out in the most +conclusive way by the events of the sixty years following the Seven +Years' War. In 1763 the French had lost almost the whole of the empire +which they had toilsomely built up during a century and a half. Within +twenty years their triumphant British rivals were forced to recognise +the independence of the American colonies, and thus lost the bulk of +what may be called the first British Empire. They still retained the +recently conquered province of French Canada, but it seemed unlikely +that the French Canadians would long be content to live under an alien +dominion: if they had not joined in the American Revolution, it was not +because they loved the British, but because they hated the Americans. +The French Revolutionary wars brought further changes. One result of +these wars was that the Dutch lost Cape Colony, Ceylon, and Java, +though Java was restored to them in 1815. A second result was that when +Napoleon made himself master of Spain in 1808, the Spanish colonies in +Central and South America ceased to be governed from the +mother-country; and having tasted the sweets of independence, and still +more, the advantages of unrestricted trade, could never again be +brought into subordination. By 1825 nothing was left of the vast +Spanish Empire save the Canaries, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine +Islands; nothing was left of the Portuguese Empire save a few decaying +posts on the coasts of Africa and India; nothing was left of the Dutch +Empire save Java and its dependencies, restored in 1815; nothing was +left of the French Empire save a few West Indian islands; and what had +been the British American colonies were now the United States, a great +power declaring to Europe, through the mouth of President Monroe, that +she would resist any attempt of the European powers to restore the old +regime in South America. It appeared that the political control of +European states over non-European regions must be short-lived and full +of trouble; and that the influence of Europe upon the non-European +world would henceforth be exercised mainly through new independent +states imbued with European ideas. Imperial aspirations thus seemed to +that and the next generation at once futile and costly. + +Of all these colonial revolutions the most striking was that which tore +away the American colonies from Britain (1764-82); not only because it +led to the creation of one of the great powers of the world, and was to +afford the single instance which has yet arisen of a daughter-nation +outnumbering its mother-country, but still more because it seemed to +prove that not even the grant of extensive powers of self-government +would secure the permanent loyalty of colonies. Indeed, from the +standpoint of Realpolitik, it might be argued that in the case of +America self-government was shown to be a dangerous gift; for the +American colonies, which alone among European settlements had obtained +this supreme endowment, were the first, and indeed the only, European +settlements to throw off deliberately their connection with the +mother-country. France and Holland lost their colonies by war, and even +the Spanish colonies would probably never have thought of severing +their relations with Spain but for the anomalous conditions created by +the Napoleonic conquest. + +The American Revolution is, then, an event unique at once in its +causes, its character, and its consequences; and it throws a most +important illumination upon some of the problems of imperialism. It +cannot be pretended that the revolt of the colonists was due to +oppression or to serious misgovernment. The paltry taxes which were its +immediate provoking cause would have formed a quite negligible burden +upon a very prosperous population; they were to have been spent +exclusively within the colonies themselves, and would have been mainly +used to meet a part of the cost of colonial defence, the bulk of which +was still to be borne by the mother-country. If the colonists had been +willing to suggest any other means of raising the required funds, their +suggestions would have been readily accepted. This was made plain at +several stages in the course of the discussion, but the invitation to +suggest alternative methods of raising money met with no response. The +plain fact is that Britain, already heavily loaded with debt, was +bearing practically the whole burden of colonial defence, and was much +less able than the colonies themselves to endure the strain. As for the +long-established restrictions on colonial trade, which in fact though +not in form contributed as largely as the proposals of direct taxation +to cause the revolt, they were far less severe, even if they had been +strictly enforced, than the restrictions imposed upon the trade of +other European settlements. + +It is equally misleading to attribute the blame of the revolt wholly to +George III. and the ministers by whom he was served during the critical +years. No doubt it is possible to imagine a more tactful man than +George Grenville, a more far-seeing and courageous statesman than Lord +North, a less obstinate prince than George III. himself. But it may be +doubted whether any change of men would have done more than postpone +the inevitable. The great Whig apologists who have dictated the +accepted view of British history in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries have laboured to create the impression that if only Burke, +Chatham, and Charles Fox had had the handling of the issue, the tragedy +of disruption would have been avoided. But there is no evidence that +any of these men, except perhaps Burke, appreciated the magnitude and +difficulty of the questions that had been inevitably raised in 1764, +and must have been raised whoever had been in power; or that they would +have been able to suggest a workable new scheme of colonial government +which would have met the difficulty. If they had put forward such a +scheme, it would have been wrecked on the resistance of British +opinion, which was still dominated by the theories and traditions of +the old colonial system; and even if it had overcome this obstacle, it +would very likely have been ruined by the captious and litigious spirit +to which events had given birth among the colonists, especially in New +England. + +The root of the matter was that the old colonial system, which had +suited well enough the needs of the colonies as they were when it was +devised by the statesmen of Charles II.'s reign, was no longer suitable +to their condition now that they had become great and prosperous +communities of freemen. They enjoyed self-government on a scale more +generous than any other communities in the world outside of Britain; +indeed, in one sense they enjoyed it on a more generous scale than +Britain herself, since political rights were much more widely exercised +in the colonies, owing to the natural conditions of a new and +prosperous land, than they were to be, or could be, in Britain until +nearly a century later. No direct taxation had as yet been imposed upon +them without their own consent. They made the laws by which their own +lives were regulated. They were called upon to pay no tribute to the +home government, except the very indirect levy on goods passing through +England to or from their ports, and this was nearly balanced by the +advantages which they enjoyed in the British market, and far more than +balanced by the protection afforded to them by the British fleet. They +were not even required to raise troops for the defence of their own +frontiers except of their own free will, and the main burden of +defending even their landward frontier was borne by the mother-country. +But being British they had the instinct of self-government in their +blood and bones, and they found that the control of their own affairs +was qualified or limited in two principal ways. + +In the first place, the executive and judicial officers who carried out +the laws were not appointed by them but by the Crown in England: the +colonies were not responsible for the administration of their own laws. +In the second place, the regulations by which their foreign trade was +governed were determined, not by themselves, but by the British +parliament: they were not responsible for the control of their own +traffic with the outside world. It is true that the salaries of the +executive officials and the judges depended upon their grant, and that +any governor who acted in the teeth of colonial opinion would find his +position quite untenable, so that the colonists exercised a real if +indirect control over administration. It is true also that they +accepted the general principles of the commercial system, and had +reaped great benefits from it. + +But it is the unfailing instinct of the citizens in a self-governing +community to be dissatisfied unless they feel that they have a full and +equal share in the control of their own destinies. Denied +responsibility, they are apt to become irresponsible; and when all +allowance has been made for the stupidities of governors and for the +mistakes of the home authorities, it must be recognised that the +thirteen American colonial legislatures often behaved in a very +irresponsible way, and were extremely difficult to handle. They refused +to vote fixed salaries to their judges in order to make their power +felt, simply because the judges were appointed by the Crown, although +in doing so they were dangerously undermining judicial independence. +They refused in many cases to supply anything like adequate contingents +for the war against the French and their Indian allies, partly because +each legislature was afraid of being more generous than the others, +partly because they could trust to the home government to make good +their deficiencies. Yet at the same time they did nothing to check, but +rather encouraged, the wholesale smuggling by which the trade +regulations were reduced to a nullity, though these regulations were +not only accepted in principle by themselves, but afforded the only +compensation to the mother-country for the cost of colonial defence. It +is as unscientific to blame the colonists and their legislatures for +this kind of action, as it is to blame the British statesmen for their +proposals. It was the almost inevitable result of the conditions among +a free, prosperous, and extremely self-confident people; it was, +indeed, the proof that in this young people the greatest political +ideal of western civilisation, the ideal of self-government, had taken +firm root. The denial of responsibility was producing irresponsibility; +and even if the Stamp Act and the Tea Duties had never been proposed, +this state of things was bound to lead to increasing friction. Nor must +it be forgotten that this friction was accentuated by the contrast +between the democratic conditions of colonial life, and the +aristocratic organisation of English society. + +It ought to have been obvious, long before Grenville initiated his new +policy in 1764, that the colonial system was not working well; and the +one circumstance which had prevented serious conflict was the danger +which threatened the colonists in the aggressive attitude of the French +to the north and west. Since the individual colonies refused to raise +adequate forces for their own defence, or to co-operate with one +another in a common scheme, they were dependent for their security upon +the mother-country. But as soon as the danger was removed, as it was in +1763, this reason for restraint vanished; and although the great +majority of the colonists were quite sincerely desirous of retaining +their membership of the British commonwealth, the conditions would +inevitably have produced a state of intensifying friction, unless the +whole colonial system had been drastically reconstructed. + +Reconstruction was therefore inevitable in 1764. The Whig policy of +simply ignoring the issue and 'not reading the dispatches' could no +longer be pursued; it was indeed largely responsible for the mischief. +George III. and Grenville deserve the credit of seeing this. But their +scheme of reconstruction not unnaturally amounted to little more than a +tightening-up of the old system. The trade laws were to be more +strictly enforced. The governors and the judges were to be made more +independent of the assemblies by being given fixed salaries. The +colonists were to bear a larger share of the cost of defence, which +fell so unfairly on the mother-country. If the necessary funds could be +raised by means approved by the colonists themselves, well and good; +but if not, then they must be raised by the authority of the imperial +parliament. For the existing system manifestly could not continue +indefinitely, and it was better to have the issue clearly raised, even +at the risk of conflict, than to go on merely drifting. + +When the colonists (without suggesting any alternative proposals) +contented themselves with repudiating the right of parliament to tax +them, and proceeded to outrageous insults to the king's authority, and +the most open defiance of the trade regulations, indignation grew in +Britain. It seemed, to the average Englishman, that the colonists +proposed to leave every public burden, even the cost of judges' +salaries, on the shoulders of the mother-country, already loaded with a +debt which had been largely incurred in defence of the colonies; but to +disregard every obligation imposed upon themselves. A system whereunder +the colony has all rights and no enforcible duties, the mother-country +all duties and no enforcible rights, obviously could not work. That was +the system which, in the view of the gentlemen of England, the +colonists were bent upon establishing; and, taking this view, they +cannot be blamed for refusing to accept such a conclusion. There was no +one, either in Britain or in America, capable of grasping the +essentials of the problem, which were that, once established, +self-government inevitably strives after its own fulfilment; that these +British settlers, in whom the British tradition of self-government had +been strengthened by the freedom of a new land, would never be content +until they enjoyed a full share in the control of their own affairs; +and that although they seemed, even to themselves, to be fighting about +legal minutiae, about the difference between internal and external +duties, about the legality of writs of assistance, and so forth, the +real issue was the deeper one of the fulfilment of self-government. +Could fully responsible self-government be reconciled with imperial +unity? Could any means be devised whereby the units in a fellowship of +free states might retain full control over their own affairs, and at +the same time effectively combine for common purposes? That was and is +the ultimate problem of British imperial organisation, as it was and is +the ultimate problem of international relations. But the problem, +though it now presented itself in a comparatively simple form, was +never fairly faced on either side of the Atlantic. For the mother and +her daughters too quickly reached the point of arguing about their +legal rights against one another, and when friends begin to argue about +their legal rights, the breach of their friendship is at hand. So the +dreary argument, which lasted for eleven years (1764-75), led to the +still more dreary war, which lasted for seven years (1775-82); and the +only family of free self-governing communities existing in the world +was broken up in bitterness. This was indeed a tragedy. For if the +great partnership of freedom could have been reorganised on conditions +that would have enabled it to hold together, the cause of liberty in +the world would have been made infinitely more secure. + +The Revolution gave to the Americans the glory of establishing the +first fully democratic system of government on a national scale that +had yet existed in the world, and of demonstrating that by the +machinery of self-government a number of distinct and jealous +communities could be united for common purposes. The new American +Commonwealth became an inspiration for eager Liberals in the old world +as well as in the new, and its successful establishment formed the +strongest of arguments for the democratic idea in all lands. Unhappily +the pride of this great achievement helped to persuade the Americans +that they were different from the rest of the world, and unaffected by +its fortunes. They were apt to think of themselves as the inventors and +monopolists of political liberty. Cut off by a vast stretch of ocean +from the Old World, and having lost that contact with its affairs which +the relation with Britain had hitherto maintained, they followed but +dimly, and without much comprehension, the obscure and complex +struggles wherein the spirit of liberty was working out a new Europe, +in the face of difficulties vastly greater than any with which the +Americans had ever had to contend. They had been alienated from +Britain, the one great free state of Europe, and had been persuaded by +their reading of their own experience that she was a tyrant-power; and +they thus found it hard to recognise her for what, with all her faults, +she genuinely was--the mother of free institutions in the modern world, +the founder and shaper of their own prized liberties. All these things +combined to persuade the great new republic that she not only might, +but ought to, stand aloof from the political problems of the rest of +the world, and take no interest in its concerns. This attitude, the +natural product of the conditions, was to last for more than a century, +and was to weaken greatly the cause of liberty in the world. + +Although the most obvious features of the half-century following the +great British triumph of 1763 were the revolt of the American colonies +and the apparently universal collapse of the imperialist ambitions of +the European nations, a more deeply impressive feature of the period +was that, in spite of the tragedy and humiliation of the great +disruption, the imperial impetus continued to work potently in Britain, +alone among the European nations; and to such effect that at the end of +the period she found herself in control of a new empire more extensive +than that which she had lost, and far more various in its character. +Having failed to solve one great imperial problem, she promptly +addressed herself to a whole series of others even more difficult, and +for these she was to find more hopeful solutions. + +When the American revolt began, the Canadian colonies to the north were +in an insecure and unorganised state. On the coast, in Nova Scotia and +Newfoundland, there was a small British population; but the riverine +colony of Canada proper, with its centre at Quebec, was still purely +French, and was ruled by martial law. Accustomed to a despotic system, +and not yet reconciled to the British supremacy, the French settlers +were obviously unready for self-government. But the Quebec Act of 1774, +by securing the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion and of +French civil law, ensured the loyalty of the French; and this Act is +also noteworthy as the first formal expression of willingness to admit +or even welcome the existence, within the hospitable limits of the +Empire, of a variety of types of civilisation. In the new British +Empire there was to be no uniformity of Kultur. + +The close of the American struggle, however, brought a new problem. +Many thousands of exiles from the revolting colonies, willing to +sacrifice everything in order to retain their British citizenship, +poured over the borders into the Canadian lands. They settled for the +first time the rich province of Ontario, greatly increased the +population of Nova Scotia, and started the settlement of New Brunswick. +To these exiles Britain felt that she owed much, and, despite her own +financial distress, expended large sums in providing them with the +means to make a good beginning in their new homes. But it was +impossible to deny these British settlers, and the emigrants from +Britain who soon began to join them, the rights of self-government, to +which they were accustomed. Their advent, however, in a hitherto French +province, raised the very difficult problem of racial relationship. +They might have been used as a means for Anglicising the earlier French +settlers and for forcing them into a British mould; it may fairly be +said that most European governments would have used them in this way, +and many of the settlers would willingly have fallen in with such a +programme. But that would have been out of accord with the genius of +the British system, which believes in freedom and variety. Accordingly, +by the Act of 1791, the purely French region of Quebec or Lower Canada +was separated from the British region of Ontario or Upper Canada, and +both districts, as well as the coastal settlements, were endowed with +self-governing institutions of the familiar pattern--an elected +assembly controlling legislation and taxation, a nominated governor and +council directing the executive. Thus within eighteen years of their +conquest the French colonists were introduced to self-government. And +within nine years of the loss of the American colonies, a new group of +self-governing American colonies had been organised. They were +sufficiently content with the system to resist with vigour and success +an American invasion in 1812. While the American controversy was +proceeding, one of the greatest of British navigators, Captain Cook, +was busy with his remarkable explorations. He was the first to survey +the archipelagoes of the Pacific; more important, he was the real +discoverer of Australia and New Zealand; for though the Dutch explorers +had found these lands more than a century earlier, they had never +troubled to complete their explorations. Thus a vast new field, +eminently suitable for European settlement, was placed at the disposal +of Britain. It was utilised with extraordinary promptitude. The loss of +the American colonies had deprived Britain of her chief dumping-ground +for convicts. In 1788, six years after the recognition of their +independence, she decided to use the new continent for this purpose, +and the penal settlement of Botany Bay began (under unfavourable +auspices) the colonisation of Australia. + +But the most important, and the most amazing, achievement of Britain in +this period was the establishment and extension of her empire in India, +and the planting within it of the first great gift of Western +civilisation, the sovereignty of a just and impartial law. This was a +novel and a very difficult task, such as no European people had yet +undertaken; and it is not surprising that there should have been a +period of bewildered misgovernment before it was achieved. That it +should have been achieved at all is one of the greatest miracles of +European imperialism. + +By 1763 the East India Company had established a controlling influence +over the Nawabs of two important regions, Bengal and the Carnatic, and +had shown, in a series of struggles, that its control was not to be +shaken off. But the company had not annexed any territory, or assumed +any responsibility for the government of these rich provinces. Its +agents in the East, who were too far from London to be effectively +controlled, enjoyed power without responsibility. They were privileged +traders, upon whom the native governments dared not impose +restrictions, and (as any body of average men would have done under +similar circumstances) they gravely abused their position to build up +huge fortunes for themselves. During the fifteen years following the +battle of Plassey (1757) there is no denying that the political power +of the British in India was a mere curse to the native population, and +led to the complete disorganisation of the already decrepit native +system of government in the provinces affected. It was vain for the +directors at home to scold their servants. There were only two ways out +of the difficulty. One was that the company should abandon India, which +was not to be expected. The other was that, possessing power, of which +it was now impossible to strip themselves, they should assume the +responsibility for its exercise, and create for their subjects a just +and efficient system of government. But the company would not see this. +They had never desired political power, but had drifted into the +possession of it in spite of themselves. They honestly disliked the +idea of establishing by force an alien domination over subject peoples, +and this feeling was yet more strongly held by the most influential +political circles in England. The company desired nothing but trade. +Their business was that of traders, and they wanted only to be left +free to mind their business. So the evils arising from power without +responsibility continued, and half-hearted attempts to amend them in +1765 and in 1769 only made the conditions worse. The events of the +years from 1757 to 1772 showed that when the superior organisation of +the West came in contact with the East, mere trading exploitation led +to even worse results than a forcibly imposed dominion; and the only +solution lay in the wise adaptation of western methods of government to +eastern conditions. + +Thus Britain found herself faced with an imperial problem of apparently +insuperable difficulty, which reached its most acute stage just at the +time when the American trouble was at its height. The British +parliament and government intervened, and in 1773 for the first time +assumed some responsibility for the affairs of the East India Company. +But they did not understand the Indian problem--how, indeed, should +they?--and their first solution was a failure. By a happy fortune, +however, the East India Company had conferred the governorship of +Bengal (1772) upon the greatest Englishman of the eighteenth century, +Warren Hastings. Hastings pensioned off the Nawab, took over direct +responsibility for the government of Bengal, and organised a system of +justice which, though far from perfect, established for the first time +the Reign of Law in an Indian realm. His firm and straightforward +dealings with the other Indian powers still further strengthened the +position of the company; and when in the midst of the American war, at +a moment when no aid could be expected from Britain, a combination of +the most formidable Indian powers, backed by a French fleet, threatened +the downfall of the company's authority, Hastings' resourceful and +inspiring leadership was equal to every emergency. He not only brought +the company with heightened prestige out of the war, but throughout its +course no hostile army was ever allowed to cross the frontiers of +Bengal. In the midst of the unceasing and desolating wars of India, the +territories under direct British rule formed an island of secure peace +and of justice. That was Hastings' supreme contribution: it was the +foundation upon which arose the fabric of the Indian Empire. Hastings +was not a great conqueror or annexer of territory; the only important +acquisition made during his regime was effected, in defiance of his +protests, by the hostile majority which for a time overrode him in his +own council, and which condemned him for ambition. His work was to make +the British rule mean security and justice in place of tyranny; and it +was because it had come to mean this that it grew, after his time, with +extraordinary rapidity. + +It was not by the desire of the directors or the home government that +it grew. They did everything in their power to check its growth, for +they shrank from any increase to their responsibilities. They even +prohibited by law all annexations, or the making of alliances with +Indian powers.[5] But fate was too strong for them. Even a governor +like Lord Cornwallis, a convinced supporter of the policy of +non-expansion and non-intervention, found himself forced into war, and +compelled to annex territories; because non-intervention was +interpreted by the Indian powers as a confession of weakness and an +invitation to attack. Non-intervention also gave openings to the +French, who, since the outbreak of the Revolution, had revived their +old Indian ambitions; and while Bonaparte was engaged in the conquest +of Egypt as a half-way house to India (1797), French agents were busy +building up a new combination of Indian powers against the company. + + +[5] India Act of 1784 + + +This formidable coalition was about to come to a head when, in 1798, +there landed in India a second man of genius, sent by fate at the +critical moment. In five years, by an amazing series of swiftly +successful wars and brilliantly conceived treaties, the Marquess +Wellesley broke the power of every member of the hostile coalitions, +except two of the Mahratta princes. The area of British territory was +quadrupled; the most important of the Indian princes became vassals of +the company; and the Great Mogul of Delhi himself, powerless now, but +always a symbol of the over-lordship of India, passed under British +protection. When Wellesley left India in 1805, the East India Company +was already the paramount power in India south-east of the Sutlej and +the Indus. The Mahratta princes, indeed, still retained a restricted +independence, and for an interval the home authorities declined to +permit any interference with them, even though they were manifestly +giving protection to bands of armed raiders who terrorised and +devastated territories which were under British protection. But the +time came when the Mahrattas themselves broke the peace. Then their +power also was broken; and in 1818 Britain stood forth as the sovereign +ruler of India. + +This was only sixty years after the battle of Plassey had established +British influence, though not British rule, in a single province of +India; only a little over thirty years after Warren Hastings returned +to England, leaving behind him an empire still almost limited to that +single province. There is nothing in history that can be compared with +the swiftness of this achievement, which is all the more remarkable +when we remember that almost every step in the advance was taken with +extreme unwillingness. But the most impressive thing about this +astounding fabric of power, which extended over an area equal to half +of Europe and inhabited by perhaps one-sixth of the human race, was not +the swiftness with which it was created, but the results which flowed +from it. It had begun in corruption and oppression, but it had grown +because it had come to stand for justice, order, and peace. In 1818 it +could already be claimed for the British rule in India that it had +brought to the numerous and conflicting races, religions, and castes of +that vast and ancient land, three boons of the highest value: political +unity such as they had never known before; security from the hitherto +unceasing ravages of internal turbulence and war; and, above all, the +supreme gift which the West had to offer to the East, the substitution +of an unvarying Reign of Law for the capricious wills of innumerable +and shifting despots. This is an achievement unexampled in history, and +it alone justified the imposition of the rule of the West over the +East, which had at first seemed to produce nothing but evil. It took +place during the age of Revolution, when the external empires of Europe +were on all sides falling into ruin; and it passed at the time almost +unregarded, because it was overshadowed by the drama of the +Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. + +The construction of the Indian Empire would of itself suffice to make +an age memorable, but it does not end the catalogue of the achievements +of British imperialism in this tremendous period. As a result of the +participation of Holland in the war on the side of France, the Dutch +colony at the Cape of Good Hope was occupied by Britain. It was first +occupied in 1798, restored for a brief period in 1801, reoccupied in +1806, and finally retained under the treaty settlement of 1815. The +Cape was, in fact, the most important acquisition secured to Britain by +that treaty; and it is worth noting that while the other great powers +who had joined in the final overthrow of Napoleon helped themselves +without hesitation to immense and valuable territories, Britain, which +had alone maintained the struggle from beginning to end without +flagging, actually paid the sum of 2,000,000 pounds to Holland as a +compensation for this thinly peopled settlement. She retained it mainly +because of its value as a calling-station on the way to India. But it +imposed upon her an imperial problem of a very difficult kind. As in +Canada, she had to deal here with an alien race of European origin and +proud traditions; but this racial problem was accentuated by the +further problem of dealing with a preponderant and growing negro +population. How were justice, peace, liberty, and equality of rights to +be established in such a field? + +It was, then, an astonishing new empire which had grown up round +Britain during the period when the world was becoming convinced that +colonial empires were not worth acquiring, because they could not last. +It was an empire of continents or sub-continents--Canada, Australia, +India, South Africa--not to speak of innumerable scattered islands and +trading-posts dotted over all the seas of the world, which had either +survived from an earlier period, or been acquired in order that they +might serve as naval bases. It was spread round the whole globe; it +included almost every variety of soil, products, and climate; it was +inhabited by peoples of the most varying types; it presented an +infinite variety of political and racial problems. In 1825 this empire +was the only extra-European empire of importance still controlled by +any of the historic imperial powers of Western Europe. And at the +opening of the nineteenth century, when extra-European empires seemed +to have gone out of fashion, the greatest of all imperial questions was +the question whether the political capacity of the British peoples, +having failed to solve the comparatively simple problem of finding a +mode of organisation which could hold together communities so closely +akin as those of America and the parent islands, would be capable of +achieving any land of effective organisation for this new astounding +fabric, while at the same time securing to all its members that liberty +and variety of development which in the case of America had only been +fully secured at the cost of disruption. + + + + +V + +EUROPE AND THE NON-EUROPEAN WORLD 1815-1878 + + +When the European peoples settled down, in 1815, after the long wars of +the French Revolution, they found themselves faced by many problems, +but there were few Europeans who would have included among these +problems the extension of Western civilisation over the as yet +unsubjugated portions of the world. Men's hearts were set upon the +organisation of permanent peace: that seemed the greatest of all +questions, and, for a time, it appeared to have obtained a satisfactory +solution with the organisation of the great League of Peace of 1815. +But the peace was to be short-lived, because it was threatened by the +emergence of a number of other problems of great complexity. First +among these stood the problem of nationality: the increasingly +clamorous demand of divided or subject peoples for unity and freedom. +Alongside of this arose the sister-problem of liberalism: the demand +raised from all sides, among peoples who had never known political +liberty, for the institutions of self-government which had been proved +practicable by the British peoples, and turned into the object of a +fervent belief by the preachings of the French. These two causes were +to plunge Europe into many wars, and to vex and divide the peoples of +every European country, throughout the period 1815-78. And to add to +the complexity, there was growing in intensity during all these years +the problem of Industrialism--the transformation of the very bases of +life in all civilised communities, and the consequent development of +wholly new, and terribly difficult, social issues. Preoccupied with all +these questions, the statesmen and the peoples of most European states +had no attention to spare for the non-European world. They neglected it +all the more readily because the events of the preceding period seemed +to demonstrate that colonial empires were not worth the cost and labour +necessary for their attainment, since they seemed doomed to fall +asunder as soon as they began to be valuable. + +Yet the period 1815-78 was to see an extension of European civilisation +in the non-European world more remarkable than that of any previous +age. The main part in this extension was played by Britain, who found +herself left free, without serious rivalry in any part of the globe, to +expand and develop the extraordinary empire which she possessed in +1815, and to deal with the bewildering problems which it presented. So +marked was the British predominance in colonial activity during this +age that it has been called the age of British monopoly, and so far as +trans-oceanic activities were concerned, this phrase very nearly +represents the truth. But there were other developments of the period +almost as remarkable as the growth and reorganisation of the British +Empire; and it will be convenient to survey these in the first instance +before turning to the British achievement. + +The place of honour, as always in any great story of European +civilisation, belongs to France. Undeterred by the loss of her earlier +empire, and unexhausted by the strain of the great ordeal through which +she had just passed, France began in these years the creation of her +second colonial empire, which was to be in many ways more splendid than +the first. Within fifteen years of the fall of Napoleon, the French +flag was flying in Algiers. + +The northern coast of Africa, from the Gulf of Syrtis to the Atlantic, +which has been in modern times divided into the three districts of +Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, forms essentially a single region, whose +character is determined by the numerous chains of the Atlas Mountains. +This region, shut off from the rest of Africa not only by the Atlas but +by the most impassable of all geographical barriers, the great Sahara +desert, really belongs to Europe rather than to the continent of which +it forms a part. Its fertile valleys were once the homes of brilliant +civilisations: they were the seat of the Carthaginian Empire, and at a +later date they constituted one of the richest and most civilised +provinces of the Roman Empire. Their civilisation was wrecked by that +barbarous German tribe, the Vandals, in the fifth century. It received +only a partial and temporary revival after the Mahomedan conquest at +the end of the seventh century, and since that date this once happy +region has gradually lapsed into barbarism. During the modern age it +was chiefly known as the home of ruthless and destructive pirates, +whose chief headquarters were at Algiers, and who owned a merely +nominal allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. Ever since the time of +Khair-ed-din Barbarossa, in the early sixteenth century, the powers of +Europe have striven in vain to keep the Barbary corsairs in check. +Charles V., Philip II., Louis XIV. attacked them with only temporary +success: they continued to terrorise the trade of the Mediterranean, to +seize trading-ships, to pillage the shores of Spain and Italy, and to +carry off thousands of Christians into a cruel slavery; Robinson +Crusoe, it may be recalled, was one of their victims. The powers at +Vienna endeavoured to concert action against them in 1815. They were +attacked by a British fleet in 1816, and by a combined British and +French fleet in 1819. But all such temporary measures were +insufficient. The only cure for the ill was that the headquarters of +the pirate chiefs should be conquered, and brought under civilised +government. + +This task France was rather reluctantly drawn into undertaking, as the +result of a series of insults offered by the pirates to the French flag +between 1827 and 1830. At first the aim of the conquerors was merely to +occupy and administer the few ports which formed the chief centres of +piracy. But experience showed that this was futile, since it involved +endless wars with the unruly clansmen of the interior. Gradually, +therefore, the whole of Algeria was systematically conquered and +organised. The process took nearly twenty years, and was not completed +until 1848. In all the records of European imperialism there has been +no conquest more completely justified both by the events which led up +to it and by the results which have followed from it. Peace and Law +reign throughout a country which had for centuries been given over to +anarchy. The wild tribesmen are unlearning the habits of disorder, and +being taught to accept the conditions of a civilised life. The great +natural resources of the country are being developed as never since the +days of Roman rule. No praise can be too high for the work of the +French administrators who have achieved these results. And it is worth +noting that, alone among the provinces conquered by the European +peoples, Algeria has been actually incorporated in the mother-country; +it is part of the French Republic, and its elected representatives sit +in the French Parliament. + +In the nature of things the conquest of Algeria could not stand alone. +Algeria is separated by merely artificial lines from Tunis on the east +and Morocco on the west, where the old conditions of anarchy still +survived; and the establishment of order and peace in the middle area +of this single natural region was difficult, so long as the areas on +either side remained in disorder and war. In 1844 France found it +necessary to make war upon Morocco because of the support which it had +afforded to a rebellious Algerian chief, and this episode illustrated +the close connection of the two regions. But the troops were withdrawn +as soon as the immediate purpose was served. France had not yet begun +to think of extending her dominion over the areas to the east and west +of Algeria. That was to be the work of the next period. + +Further south in Africa, France retained, as a relic of her older +empire, a few posts on the coast of West Africa, notably Senegal. From +these her intrepid explorers and traders began to extend their +influence, and the dream of a great French empire in Northern Africa +began to attract French minds. But the realisation of this dream also +belongs to the next period. In the Far East, too, this was a period of +beginnings. Ever since 1787--before the Revolution--the French had +possessed a foothold on the coast of Annam, from which French +missionaries carried on their labours among the peoples of Indo-China. +Maltreatment of these missionaries led to a war with Annam in 1858, and +in 1862 the extreme south of the Annamese Empire--the province of +Cochin-China--was ceded to France. Lastly, the French obtained a +foothold in the Pacific, by the annexation of Tahiti and the Marquesas +Islands in 1842, and of New Caledonia in 1855. But in 1878 the French +dominions in the non-European world were, apart from Algeria, of slight +importance. They were quite insignificant in comparison with the +far-spreading realms of her ancient rival, Britain. + +On a much greater scale than the expansion of France was the expansion +of the already vast Russian Empire during this period. The history of +Russia in the nineteenth century is made up of a series of alternations +between a regime of comparative liberalism, when the interest of +government and people was chiefly turned towards the west, and a regime +of reaction, when the government endeavoured to pursue what was called +a 'national' or purely Russian policy, and to exclude all Western +influences. During these long intervals of reaction, attention was +turned eastward; and it was in the reactionary periods, mainly, that +the Russian power was rapidly extended in three directions--over the +Caucasus, over Central Asia, and in the Far East. + +Before this advance, the huge Russian Empire had been (everywhere +except on the west, in the region of Poland) marked off by very clearly +defined barriers. The Caucasus presented a formidable obstacle between +Russia and the Turkish and Persian Empires; the deserts of Central Asia +separated her from the Moslem peoples of Khiva, Bokhara and Turkestan; +the huge range of the Altai Mountains and the desert of Gobi cut off +her thinly peopled province of Eastern Siberia from the Chinese Empire; +while in the remote East her shores verged upon ice-bound and +inhospitable seas. Hers was thus an extraordinarily isolated and +self-contained empire, except on the side of Europe; and even on the +side of Europe she was more inaccessible than any other state, being +all but land-locked, and divided from Central Europe by a belt of +forests and marshes. + +The part she had played in the Napoleonic Wars, and in the events which +followed them, had brought her more fully into contact with Europe than +she had ever been before. The acquisition of Poland and Finland, which +she obtained by the treaties of 1815, had increased this contact, for +both of these states were much influenced by Western ideas. Russia had +promised that their distinct national existence, and their national +institutions, should be preserved; and this seemed to suggest that the +Russian Empire might develop into a partnership of nations of varying +types, not altogether unlike the form into which the British Empire was +developing. But this conception had no attraction for the Russian mind, +or at any rate for the Russian government; and the reactionary or +pure-Russian school, which strove to exclude all alien influences, was +inevitably hostile to it. Hence the period of reaction, and of eastward +conquest, saw also the denial of the promises made in 1815. Poland +preserved her distinct national organisation, in any full degree, only +for fifteen years; even in the faintest degree, it was preserved for +less than fifty years. Finland was allowed a longer grace, but only, +perhaps, because she was isolated and had but a small population: her +turn for 'Russification' was to come in due course. The exclusion of +Western influence, the segregation of Russia from the rest of the +world, and the repudiation of liberty and of varieties of type thus +form the main features of the reactionary periods which filled the +greater part of this age; and the activity of Russia in eastward +expansion was in part intended to forward this policy, by diverting the +attention of the Russian people from the west towards the east, and by +substituting the pride of dominion for the desire for liberty. Hence +imperialism came to be identified, for the Russian people, with the +denial of liberty. + +But it is a very striking fact that each of the three main lines of +territorial advance followed by Russia in Asia during this period led +her to overstep the natural barriers which had made her an isolated and +self-dependent empire, brought her into relation with other +civilisations, and compelled her to play her part as one of the factors +in world-politics. + +Russia had begun the conquest of the wild Caucasus region as early as +1802; after a long series of wars, she completed it by the acquisition +of the region of Kars in 1878. The mastery of the Caucasus brought her +into immediate relation with the Armenian province of the Turkish +Empire, which she henceforward threatened from the east as well as from +the west. It brought her into contact also with the Persian Empire, +over whose policy, from 1835 onwards, she wielded a growing influence, +to the perturbation of Britain. And besides bringing her into far +closer relations with the two greatest Mahomedan powers, it gave her a +considerable number of Mahomedan subjects, since some of the Caucasus +tribes belonged to that faith. + +Again, the conquest of Central Asia led her to overstep the barrier of +the Kirghiz deserts. The wandering Kirghiz and Turkoman tribes of this +barren region lived largely upon the pillage of caravans, and upon +raids into neighbouring countries; they disposed of their spoil (which +often included Russian captives) mainly in the bazars of Bokhara, +Khiva, Samarkand and Khokand--Mahomedan Khanates which occupied the +more fertile areas in the southern and south-eastern part of the desert +region. The attempt to control the Turkoman raiders brought Russia into +conflict with these outposts of Islam. Almost the whole of this region +was conquered in a long series of campaigns between 1848 and 1876. +These conquests (which covered an area 1200 miles from east to west and +600 miles from north to south) made Russia a great Mahomedan power. +They also brought her into direct contact with Afghanistan. Russian +agents were at work in Afghanistan from 1838 onwards. The shadow of her +vast power, looming over Persia and the Persian Gulf on the one hand, +and over the mountain frontiers of India on the other, naturally +appeared highly menacing to Britain. It was the direct cause of the +advance of the British power from the Indus over North-Western India, +until it could rest upon the natural frontier of the mountains--an +advance which took place mainly during the years 1839-49. And it formed +the chief source of the undying suspicion of Russia which was the +dominant note of British foreign policy throughout the period. + +Another feature of these conquests was that, taken in conjunction with +the French conquest of Algeria and the British conquest of India, they +constituted the first serious impact of European civilisation upon the +vast realm of Islam. Until now the regions of the Middle East which had +been subjugated by the followers of Mahomed had repelled every attack +of the West. More definite in its creed, and more exacting in its +demands upon the allegiance of its adherents, than any other religion, +Mahomedanism had for more than a thousand years been able to resist +with extraordinary success the influence of other civilisations; and it +had been, from the time of the Crusades onwards, the most formidable +opponent of the civilisation of the West. Under the rule of the Turk +the Mahomedan world had become stagnant and sterile, and it had shut +out not merely the direct control of the West (which would have been +legitimate enough), but the influence of Western ideas. All the +innumerable schemes of reform which were based upon the retention of +the old regime in the Turkish Empire have hopelessly broken down; and +the only chance for an awakening in these lands of ancient civilisation +seemed to depend upon the breakdown of the old system under the impact +of Western imperialism or insurgent nationalism. It has only been +during the nineteenth century, as a result of Russian, French, and +British imperialism, that the resisting power of Islam has begun to +give way to the influence of Europe. + +The third line of Russian advance was on the Pacific coast, where in +the years 1858 and 1860 Russia obtained from China the Amur province, +with the valuable harbour of Vladivostok. It was an almost empty land, +but its acquisition made Russia a Pacific power, and brought her into +very close neighbourhood with China, into whose reserved markets, at +the same period, the maritime powers of the West were forcing an +entrance. At the same time Russian relations with Japan, which were to +have such pregnant consequences, were beginning: in 1875 the Japanese +were forced to cede the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, and +perhaps we may date from this year the suspicion of Russia which +dominated Japanese policy for a long time to come. + +Thus, while in Europe Russia was trying to shut herself off from +contact with the world, her advances in Asia had brought her at three +points into the full stream of world-politics. Her vast empire, though +for the most part very thinly peopled, formed beyond all comparison the +greatest continuous area ever brought under a single rule, since it +amounted to between eight and nine million square miles; and when the +next age, the age of rivalry for world-power, began, this colossal +fabric of power haunted and dominated the imaginations of men. + +A demonstration of the growing power of Western civilisation, even more +impressive than the expansion of the Russian Empire, was afforded +during these years by the opening to Western influence of the ancient, +pot-bound empires of the Far East, China and Japan. The opening of +China began with the Anglo-Chinese War of 1840, which led to the +acquisition of Hong-Kong and the opening of a group of treaty ports to +European trade. It was carried further by the combined Franco-British +war of 1857-58, which was ended by a treaty permitting the free access +of European travellers, traders, and missionaries to the interior, and +providing for the permanent residence of ambassadors of the signatory +powers at the court of Pekin. All the European states rushed to share +these privileges, and the Westernising of China had begun. It did not +take place rapidly or completely, and it was accompanied by grave +disturbances, notably the Taiping rebellion, which was only suppressed +by the aid of the British General Gordon, in command of a Chinese army. +But though the process was slow, it was fully at work by 1878. The +external trade of China, nearly all in European hands, had assumed +great proportions. The missionaries and schoolmasters of Europe and +America were busily at work in the most populous provinces. Shanghai +had become a European city, and one of the great trade-centres of the +world. In a lame and incompetent way the Chinese government was +attempting to organise its army on the European model, and to create a +navy after the European style. Steamboats were plying on the +Yang-tse-kiang, and the first few miles of railway were open. Chinese +students were beginning to resort to the universities and schools of +the West; and although the conservatism of the Chinese mind was very +slow to make the plunge, it was already plain that this vast hive of +patient, clever, and industrious men was bound to enter the orbit of +Western civilisation. + +Meanwhile, after a longer and stiffer resistance, Japan had made up her +mind to a great change with amazing suddenness and completeness. There +had been some preliminary relations with the Western peoples, beginning +with the visits of the American Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and a +few ports had been opened to European trade. But then came a sudden, +violent reaction (1862). The British embassy was attacked; a number of +British subjects were murdered; a mixed fleet of British, French, +Dutch, and American ships proved the power of Western arms, and Japan +began to awaken to the necessity of adopting, in self-defence, the +methods of these intrusive foreigners. The story of the internal +revolution in Japan, which began in 1866, cannot be told here; enough +that it led to the most astounding change in history. Emerging from her +age-long isolation and from her contentment with her ancient, +unchanging modes of life, Japan realised that the future lay with the +restless and progressive civilisation of the West; and with a national +resolve to which there is no sort of parallel or analogy in history, +decided that she must not wait to be brought under subjection, but must +adopt the new methods and ideas for herself, if possible without +shedding too much of her ancient traditions. By a deliberate exercise +of the will and an extraordinary effort of organisation, she became +industrial without ceasing to be artistic; she adopted parliamentary +institutions without abandoning her religious veneration for the person +of the Mikado; she borrowed the military methods of the West without +losing the chivalrous and fatalist devotion of her warrior-caste; and +devised a Western educational system without disturbing the deep +orientalism of her mind. It was a transformation almost terrifying, and +to any Western quite bewildering, in its deliberation, rapidity, and +completeness. Europe long remained unconvinced of its reality. But in +1878 the work was, in its essentials, already achieved, and the one +state of non-European origin which has been able calmly to choose what +she would accept and what she would reject among the systems and +methods of the West, stood ready to play an equal part with the +European nations in the later stages of the long imperial struggle. + +One last sphere of activity remains to be surveyed before we turn to +consider the development of the new British Empire: the expansion of +the independent states which had arisen on the ruins of the first +colonial empires in the New World. Of the Spanish and Portuguese states +of Central and South America it is not necessary to say much. They had +established their independence between 1815 and 1825. But the unhappy +traditions of the long Spanish ascendancy had rendered them incapable +of using freedom well, and Central and South America became the scene +of ceaseless and futile revolutions. The influence of the American +Monroe Doctrine forbade, perhaps fortunately, the intervention of any +of the European states to put an end to this confusion, and America +herself made no serious attempt to restrain it. It was not until the +later years of our period that any large stream of immigration began to +flow into these lands from other European countries than Spain and +Portugal, and that their vast natural resources began to be developed +by the energy and capital of Europe. But by 1878 the more fertile of +these states, Argentina, Brazil, and Chili, were being enriched by +these means, were becoming highly important elements in the +trade-system of the world, and were consequently beginning to achieve a +more stable and settled civilisation. In some regards this work (though +it belongs mainly to the period after 1878) constitutes one of the +happiest results of the extra-European activities of the European +peoples during the nineteenth century. It was carried on, in the main, +not by governments or under government encouragement, but by the +private enterprises of merchants and capitalists; and while a very +large part in these enterprises was played by British and American +traders and settlers, one of the most notable features of the growth of +South America was that it gave play to some of the European peoples, +notably the Germans and the Italians, whose part in the political +division of the world was relatively small. + +Far more impressive was the almost miraculous expansion which came to +the United States during this period. When the United States started +upon their career as an independent nation in 1782, their territory was +limited to the lands east of the Mississippi, excluding Florida, which +was still retained by Spain. Only the eastern margin of this area was +at all fully settled; and the population numbered at most 2,000,000, +predominantly of British blood. In 1803, by a treaty with Napoleon, the +French colony of Louisiana, with vast and ill-defined claims to the +territory west of the Mississippi, was purchased from France. Meanwhile +the stream of immigrants from the eastern states, and in a less degree +from Europe, was pouring over the Alleghany Mountains and occupying the +great central plain; and by 1815 the population had risen to almost +9,000,000, still mainly of British stock, though it also included +substantial French and German elements, as well as large numbers of +negro slaves. In 1819 Florida was acquired by purchase from Spain. In +1845-48 a revolution in Texas (then part of Mexico), followed by two +Mexican wars, led to the annexation of a vast area extending from the +Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific coast, including the paradise of +California; while treaties with Britain in 1818 and 1846 determined the +northern boundary of the States, and secured their control over the +regions of Washington and Oregon. + +Thus the imperialist spirit was working as irresistibly in the +democratic communities of the New World as in the monarchies of Europe. +Not content with the possession of vast and almost unpeopled areas, +they had spread their dominion from ocean to ocean, and built up an +empire less extensive indeed than that of Russia, but even more +compact, far richer in resources, and far better suited to be the home +of a highly civilised people. Into this enormous area there began to +pour a mighty flood of immigration from Europe, as soon as the +Napoleonic wars were over. By 1878 the population of the States had +risen to about 50,000,000, and was greater than that of any European +state save Russia. A new world-state of the first rank had arisen. It +was made up of contributions from all the European peoples. Those of +British stock, especially the Irish, still predominated throughout this +period, but the Germans and the Scandinavians were becoming +increasingly numerous, and the Italians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, Russian +Jews, and other stocks were beginning to form very substantial +elements. It was a melting-pot of races, which had to be somehow welded +into a nation by the moulding-power of the traditions implanted by the +earlier British settlers. It may fairly be said that no community has +ever had imposed upon it a more difficult task than the task imposed by +Fate upon the American people of creating a national unity out of this +heterogeneous material. The great experiment was, during this period, +singularly successful. The strength of the national sentiment and of +the tradition of freedom was very powerfully exhibited in the strain of +the great Civil War (1861-65) which maintained at a great cost the +threatened unity of the republic, and brought about the emancipation of +the negro slaves. And the Civil War produced in Abraham Lincoln a +national hero, and an exponent of the national character and ideals, +worthy to be set beside Washington. The America of Lincoln manifestly +stood for Liberty and Justice, the fundamental ideals of Western +civilisation. + +But in this great moulding tradition of freedom there was one dubious +and narrowing element. Accustomed to regard herself as having achieved +liberty by shaking off her connection with the Old World, America was +tempted to think of this liberty as something peculiar to herself, +something which the 'effete monarchies' of the Old World did not, and +could not, fully understand or share, something which exempted her from +responsibility for the non-American world, and from the duty of aiding +and defending liberty beyond her own limits. In the abounding +prosperity of this fortunate land, liberty was apt to be too readily +identified merely with the opportunity of securing material prosperity, +and the love of liberty was apt to become, what indeed it too often is +everywhere, a purely self-regarding emotion. The distance of the +republic from Europe and its controversies, its economic +self-sufficiency, its apparent security against all attack, fostered +and strengthened this feeling. While the peoples of the Old World +strove with agony and travail towards freedom and justice, or wrestled +with the task of sharing their own civilisation with the backward races +of the globe, the echo of their strivings penetrated but faintly into +the mind of America, like the noises of the street dimly heard through +the shuttered windows of a warmed and lighted room. To the citizens of +the Middle West and the Far West, especially, busy as they were with +the development of vast untapped resources, the affairs of the outer +world necessarily appeared remote and insignificant. Even their +newspapers told them little about these far-off events. Naturally it +appeared that the function of the republic in the progress of the world +was to till its own garden, and to afford a haven of refuge to the +oppressed and impoverished who poured in from all lands; and this idea +was strengthened by the great number of immigrants who were driven to +the New World by the failure of the successive European revolutions of +the nineteenth century, and by the oppressive tyranny of the Habsburg +monarchy and the Russian despots. + +This attitude of aloofness from, and contempt, or, at the best, +indifference, to the Old World was further encouraged by the +traditional treatment of American history. The outstanding event of +that story was, of course, the breach with Britain, with which the +independent existence of the Republic began, and which constituted also +almost its only direct contact with the politics of the Old World. The +view of this conflict which was driven into the national mind by the +school-books, by the annual celebrations of the Fourth of July, and by +incessant newspaper writing, represented the great quarrel not as a +dispute in a family of free communities, in which a new and very +difficult problem was raised, and in which there were faults on both +sides, but as one in which all the right was on one side, as a heroic +resistance of free men against malevolent tyranny. This view has been +profoundly modified by the work of American historians, whose +researches during the last generation have transformed the treatment of +the American Revolution. To-day the old one-sided view finds +expression, in books of serious pretensions, only in England; and it is +to American scholars that we must have recourse for a more scientific +and impartial treatment. But the new and saner view has scarcely yet +made its way into the school-books and the newspapers. If Britain, the +mother of political liberty in the modern world, the land from which +these freemen had inherited their own liberties and the spirit which +made them insist upon their enlargement, was made to appear a tyrant +power, how could it be expected that the mass of Americans, unversed in +world-politics, should follow with sympathy the progress of liberty +beyond the limits of their own republic? It was in the light of this +traditional attitude that the bulk of Americans regarded not only the +wars and controversies of Europe, but the vast process of European +expansion. All these things did not appear to concern them; they seemed +to be caused by motives and ideas which the great republic had +outgrown, though, as we have already seen, and shall see again, the +republic had by no means outgrown them. The strength of this +traditional attitude, fostered as it was by every circumstance, +naturally made the bulk of the American people slow to realise, when +the great challenge of Germany was forced upon the world, that the +problems of world-politics were as vitally important for them as for +all other peoples, and that no free nation could afford to be +indifferent to the fate of liberty upon the earth. + +At one moment, indeed, almost at the beginning of the period, it +appeared as if this narrow outlook was about to be abandoned. The +League of Peace of the great European powers of 1815[6] had, by 1822, +developed into a league of despots for the suppression of revolutionary +tendencies. They had intervened to crush revolutionary outbreaks in +Naples and Piedmont; they had authorised France to enter Spain in order +to destroy the democratic system which had been set up in that country +in 1820. Britain alone protested against these interventions, claiming +that every state ought to be left free to fix its own form of +government; and in 1822 Canning had practically withdrawn from the +League of Peace, because it was being turned into an engine of +oppression. It was notorious that, Spain once subjugated, the monarchs +desired to go on to the reconquest of the revolting Spanish colonies in +South America. Britain could not undertake a war on the Continent +against all the Continental powers combined, but she could prevent +their intervention in America, and Canning made it plain that the +British fleet would forbid any such action. To strengthen his hands, he +suggested to the American ambassador that the United States might take +common action in this sense. The result was the famous message of +President Monroe to Congress in December 1823, which declared that the +United States accepted the doctrine of non-intervention, and that they +would resist any attempt on the part of the European monarchs to +establish their reactionary system in the New World. + + +[6] See "Nationalism and Internationalism," p. 155 ff. + + +In effect this was a declaration of support for Britain. It was so +regarded by Monroe's most influential adviser, Thomas Jefferson. 'Great +Britain,' he wrote, 'is the nation which can do us the most harm of any +one, or all, on earth, and with her on our side we need not fear the +whole world. With her, then, we should the most sedulously cherish a +cordial friendship; and nothing would tend more to knit our affection +than to be fighting once more side by side hi the same cause.' To be +fighting side by side with Britain in the same cause--the cause of the +secure establishment of freedom in the world--this seemed to the +Democrat Jefferson an object worth aiming at; and the promise of this +seemed to be the main recommendation of the Monroe Doctrine. It was +intended as an alliance for the defence of freedom, not as a +proclamation of aloofness; and thus America seemed to be taking her +natural place as one of the powers concerned to strengthen law and +liberty, not only within her own borders, but throughout the world. + +The Monroe Doctrine was rapidly accepted as expressing the fundamental +principle of American foreign policy. But under the influence of the +powerful tradition which we have attempted to analyse, its significance +was gradually changed; and instead of being interpreted as a +proclamation that the great republic could not be indifferent to the +fate of liberty, and would co-operate to defend it from attack in all +cases where such co-operation was reasonably practicable, it came to be +interpreted by average public opinion as meaning that America had no +concern with the politics of the Old World, and that the states of the +Old World must not be allowed to meddle in any of the affairs of either +American continent. The world of civilisation was to be divided into +water-tight compartments; as if it were not indissolubly one. Yet even +in this rather narrow form, the Monroe doctrine has on the whole been +productive of good; it has helped to save South America from becoming +one of the fields of rivalry of the European powers. + +But it may be doubted whether the mere enunciation of the doctrine, +even in this precise and definite form, has of itself been sufficient +to secure this end. There is good reason to believe that the doctrine +would not have been safe from challenge if it had not been safeguarded +by the supremacy of the British Fleet. For throughout the last +half-century all the world has known that any defiance of this +doctrine, and any attack upon America, would bring Britain into the +field. During all this period one of the factors of world-politics has +been the existence of an informal and one-sided alliance between +Britain and America. The alliance has been informal, because it has not +rested upon any treaty or even upon any definite understanding. It has +been one-sided, because while average opinion in America has been +distrustful of Britain, has been apt to put unfavourable constructions +upon British policy, and has generally failed to appreciate the value +and significance of the work which Britain has done in the outer world, +Britain, on the other hand, has always known that America stood for +justice and freedom; and therefore, however difficult the relations +between the two powers might occasionally become, Britain has +steadfastly refused to consider the possibility of a breach with +America, and with rare exceptions has steadily given her support to +American policy. The action of the British squadron off the Philippines +in 1898, in quietly interposing itself between the threatening German +guns and the American Fleet, has, in fact, been broadly typical of the +British attitude. This factor has not only helped to preserve the +Monroe Doctrine from challenge, it has indirectly contributed to deepen +the American conviction that it was possible, even in the changed +conditions of the modern world, to maintain a complete isolation from +the political controversies of the powers. + +During the period 1815-1878, then, while the greater part of Europe was +still indifferent to extra-European affairs, America had developed into +a vast state wherein freedom and law were enthroned, a huge melting-pot +wherein diverse peoples were being gradually unified and turned into a +new nation under the moulding power of a great tradition of liberty. +But her geographical position, and certain elements in her tradition, +had hitherto led her to abstain from, and even to repudiate, that great +part in the shaping of the common destinies of civilisation to which +she was manifestly called by her wealth, her numbers, her freedom, and +her share in the traditions of all the European peoples. In the nature +of things, whatever some Americans might think, this voluntary +isolation could not continue for ever. It was to be brought to an end +by the fevered developments of the next era, and by the great challenge +to the liberties of the world in which it culminated. + + + + +VI + +THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1815-1878 + + +Mighty as had been the achievements of other lands which have been +surveyed in the last section, the main part in the expansion of +European civilisation over the world during the first three-quarters of +the nineteenth century was played by Britain. For she was engaged in +opening out new continents and sub-continents; and she was giving an +altogether new significance to the word 'Empire.' Above all, she was +half-blindly laying the foundations of a system whereby freedom and the +enriching sense of national unity might be realised at once in the new +and vacant lands of the earth, and among its oldest civilised peoples; +she was feeling her way towards a mode of linking diverse and free +states in a common brotherhood of peace and mutual respect. There is no +section of the history of European imperialism more interesting than +the story of the growth and organisation of the heterogeneous and +disparate empire with which Britain entered upon the new age. + +This development appeared, on the surface, to be quite haphazard, and +to be governed by no clearly grasped theories or policy. It is indeed +true that at all times British policy has not been governed by theory, +but by the moulding force of a tradition of ordered freedom. The period +produced in Britain no imperialist statesman of the first rank, nor did +imperial questions play a leading part in the deliberations of +parliament. In fact, the growth of the British Empire and its +organisation were alike spontaneous and unsystematic; their only guide +(but it proved to be a good guide) was the spirit of self-government, +existing in every scattered section of the people; and the part played +by the colonists themselves, and by the administrative officers in +India and elsewhere, was throughout more important than the part played +by colonial secretaries, East Indian directors, parliamentarians and +publicists at home. For that reason the story is not easily handled in +a broad and simple way. + +Enjoying almost a monopoly of oversea activity, Britain was free, in +most parts of the world, to expand her dominions as she thought fit. +Her statesmen, however, were far from desiring further expansion: they +rightly felt that the responsibilities already assumed were great +enough to tax the resources of any state, however rich and populous. +But, try as they would, they could not prevent the inevitable process +of expansion. Several causes contributed to produce this result. +Perhaps the most important was the unexampled growth of British trade, +which during these years dominated the whole world; and the flag is apt +to follow trade. A second cause was the pressure of economic distress +and the extraordinarily rapid increase of population at home, leading +to wholesale emigration; in the early years of the century an +extravagantly severe penal code, which inflicted the penalty of death, +commonly commuted into transportation, for an incredible number of +offences, gave an artificial impetus to this movement. The restless and +adventurous spirit of the settlers in huge and unexplored new countries +contributed another motive for expansion. And in some cases, notably in +India, political necessity seemed to demand annexations. Over a +movement thus stimulated, the home authorities found themselves, with +the best will in the world, unable to exercise any effective restraint; +and the already colossal British Empire continued to grow. It is no +doubt to be regretted that other European nations were not able during +this period to take part in the development of the non-European world +in a more direct way than by sending emigrants to America or the +British lands. But it is quite certain that the growth of British +territory is not to be attributed in any degree to the deliberate +policy, or to the greed, of the home government, which did everything +in its power to check it. + +In India the Russian menace seemed to necessitate the adoption of a +policy towards the independent states of the North-West which brought +an extension of the frontier, between 1839 and 1849, to the great +mountain ranges which form the natural boundary of India in this +direction; while a succession of intolerable and quite unprovoked +aggressions by the Burmese led to a series of wars which resulted in +the annexation of very great territories in the east and north-east: +Assam, Aracan, and Tenasserim hi 1825; Pegu and Rangoon in 1853; +finally, in 1885-86, the whole remainder of the Burmese Empire. In +North America settlers found their way across the Rocky Mountains or +over the Isthmus of Panama into the region of British Columbia, which +was given a distinct colonial organisation in 1858; and the +colonisation of the Red River Settlement, 1811-18, which became hi 1870 +the province of Manitoba, began the development of the great central +plain. In South Africa frontier wars with the Kaffirs, and the restless +movements of Boer trekkers, brought about an expansion of the limits of +Cape Colony, the annexation of Natal, and the temporary annexation of +the Orange River Settlement and the Transvaal; but all these additions +were most reluctantly accepted; the Orange River Settlement and the +Transvaal soon had their independence restored, though the former, at +any rate, accepted it unwillingly. In Australia, drafts of new settlers +planting themselves at new points led to the organisation of six +distinct colonies between 1825 and 1859; and this implied the definite +annexation of the whole continent. New Zealand was annexed in 1839, but +only because British traders had already established themselves in the +islands, were in unhappy relations with the natives, and had to be +brought under control. + +But it was not the territorial expansion of the British Empire which +gave significance to this period in its history, but, in a far higher +degree, the new principles of government which were developed during +its course. The new colonial policy which gradually shaped itself +during this age was so complete a departure from every precedent of the +past, and represented so remarkable an experiment in imperial +government, that its sources deserve a careful analysis. It was brought +into being by a number of distinct factors and currents of opinion +which were at work both in Britain and in the colonies. + +In the first place, there existed in Britain, as in other European +countries, a large body of opinion which held that all colonies were +sure to demand and obtain their independence as soon as they became +strong enough to desire it; that as independent states they could be +quite as profitable to the mother-country as they could ever be while +they remained attached to her, more especially if the parting took +place without bitterness; and that the wisest policy for Britain to +pursue was therefore to facilitate their development, to place no +barrier in the way of the increase of their self-government, and to +enable them at the earliest moment to start as free nations on their +own account. This was not, indeed, the universal, nor perhaps even the +preponderant, attitude in regard to the colonies in the middle of the +nineteenth century. But it was pretty common. It appeared in the most +unexpected quarters, as when Disraeli said that the colonies were +'millstones about our necks,' or as when The Times advocated in a +leading article the cession of Canada to the United States, on the +ground that annexation to the great Republic was the inevitable destiny +of that colony, and that it was much better that it should be carried +out in a peaceable and friendly way than after a conflict. It is +difficult to-day to realise that men could ever have entertained such +opinions. But they were widely held; and it must at least be obvious +that the prevalence of these views is quite inconsistent with the idea +that Britain was deliberately following a policy of expansion and +annexation in this age. Men who held these opinions (and they were to +be found in every party) regarded with resentment and alarm every +addition to what seemed to them the useless burdens assumed by the +nation, and required to be satisfied that every new annexation of +territory was not merely justifiable, but inevitable. + +A second factor which contributed to the change of attitude towards the +colonies was the growing influence of a new school of economic thought, +the school of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus. Their ideas had begun +to affect national policy as early as the twenties, when Huskisson took +the first steps on the way to free trade. In the thirties the bulk of +the trading and industrial classes had become converts to these ideas, +which won their definite victories in the budgets of Sir Robert Peel, +1843-46, and in those of his disciple Gladstone. The essence of this +doctrine, as it affected colonial policy, was that the regulation of +trade by government, which had been the main object of the old colonial +policy, brought no advantages, but only checked its free development. +And for a country in the position which Britain then occupied, this was +undeniably true; so overwhelming was her preponderance in world-trade +that every current seemed to set in her direction, and the removal of +artificial barriers, originally designed to train the current towards +her shores, allowed it to follow its natural course. The only +considerable opposition to this body of economic doctrine came from +those who desired to protect British agriculture; but this motive had +(at this period) no bearing upon colonial trade. The triumph of the +doctrine of free trade meant that the principal motive which had +earlier led to restrictions upon the self-government of the +colonies--the desire to secure commercial advantages for the +mother-country--was no longer operative. The central idea of the old +colonial system was destroyed by the disciples of Adam Smith; and there +no longer remained any apparent reason why the mother-country should +desire to control the fiscal policy of the colonies. An even more +important result of the adoption of this new economic doctrine was that +it destroyed every motive which would lead the British government to +endeavour to secure for British traders a monopoly of the traffic with +British possessions. Henceforth all territories administered under the +direct control of the home government were thrown open as freely to the +merchants of other countries as to those of Britain herself. The part +which Britain now undertook in the undeveloped regions of her empire +(except in so far as they were controlled by fully self-governing +colonies) was simply that of maintaining peace and law; and in these +regions she adopted an attitude which may fairly be described as the +attitude, not of a monopolist, but of a trustee for civilisation. It +was this policy which explains the small degree of jealousy with which +the rapid expansion of her territory was regarded by the rest of the +civilised world. If the same policy had been followed, not necessarily +at home, but in their colonial possessions, by all the colonising +powers, the motives for colonial rivalry would have been materially +diminished, and the claims of various states to colonial territories, +when the period of rivalry began, would have been far more easily +adjusted. + +These were negative forces, leading merely to the abandonment of the +older colonial theories. But there were also positive and constructive +forces at work. First among them may be noted a new body of definite +theory as to the function which colonies ought to play in the general +economy of the civilised world. It was held to be their function not +(as in the older theory) to afford lucrative opportunities for trade to +the mother-country: so far as trade was concerned it seemed to matter +little whether a country was a colony or an independent state. But the +main object of colonisation was, on this view, the systematic +draining-off of the surplus population of the older lands. This, it was +felt, could not safely be left to the operation of mere chance; and one +of the great advantages of colonial possessions was that they enabled +the country which controlled them to deal in a scientific way with its +surplus population, and to prevent the reproduction of unhealthy +conditions in the new communities, which was apt to result if emigrants +were allowed to drift aimlessly wheresoever chance took them, and +received no guidance as to the proper modes of establishing themselves +in their new homes. The great apostle of this body of colonial theory +was Edward Gibbon Wakefield; and his book, A View of the Art of +Colonisation (1847), deserves to be noted as one of the classics of the +history of imperialism. He did not confine himself to theory, but was +tireless in organising practical experiments. They were carried out, in +a curious revival of the methods of the seventeenth century, by means +of a series of colonising companies which Wakefield promoted. The +settlement of South Australia, the first considerable settlement in the +North Island of New Zealand, and the two admirably designed and +executed settlements of Canterbury and Otago in the South Island of New +Zealand, were all examples of his methods: with the exception of the +North Island settlement, they were all very successful. Nor were these +the only instances of organised and assisted emigration. In 1820 a +substantial settlement, financed by government, was made in the eastern +part of Cape Colony, in the region of Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, +and this brought the first considerable body of British inhabitants +into South Africa, hitherto almost exclusively Dutch. An unsuccessful +plantation at Swan River in West Australia may also be noted. +Systematic and scientific colonisation was thus being studied in +Britain during this period as never before. In the view of its +advocates Britain was the trustee of civilisation for the +administration of the most valuable unpeopled regions of the earth, and +it was her duty to see that they were skilfully utilised. So high a +degree of success attended some of their efforts that it is impossible +not to regret that they were not carried further. But they depended +upon Crown control of undeveloped lands. With the growth of full +self-government in the colonies the exercise of these Crown functions +was transferred from the ministry and parliament of Britain to the +ministries and parliaments of the colonies; and this transference put +an end to the possibility of a centralised organisation and direction +of emigration. + +A second constructive factor very potently at work during this age was +the humanitarian spirit, which had become a powerful factor in British +life during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It had +received perhaps its most practical expression in the abolition of the +slave-trade in 1806, and the campaign against the slave-trade in the +rest of the world became an important object of British policy from +that time onwards. Having abolished the slave-trade, the humanitarians +proceeded to advocate the complete abolition of negro slavery +throughout the British Empire. They won their victory in 1833, when the +British parliament declared slavery illegal throughout the Empire, and +voted 20,000,000 pounds--at a time when British finance was still +suffering from the burdens of the Napoleonic War--to purchase from +their masters the freedom of all the slaves then existing in the +Empire. It was a noble deed, but it was perhaps carried out a little +too suddenly, and it led to grave difficulties, especially in the West +Indies, whose prosperity was seriously impaired, and in South Africa, +where it brought about acute friction with the slave-owning Boer +farmers. But it gave evidence of the adoption of a new attitude towards +the backward races, hitherto mercilessly exploited by all the +imperialist powers. One expression of this attitude had already been +afforded by the organisation (1787) of the colony of Sierra Leone, on +the West African coast, as a place of refuge for freed slaves desiring +to return to the land of their fathers. + +It was principally through the activity of missionaries that this new +point of view was expressed and cultivated. Organised missionary +activity in Britain dates from the end of the eighteenth century, but +its range grew with extraordinary rapidity throughout the period. And +wherever the missionaries went, they constituted themselves the +protectors and advocates of the native races among whom they worked. +Often enough they got themselves into bad odour with the European +traders and settlers with whom they came in contact. But through their +powerful home organisations they exercised very great influence over +public opinion and over government policy. The power of 'Exeter Hall,' +where the religious bodies and the missionary societies held their +meetings in London, was at its height in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and politicians could not afford to disregard it, even if they +had desired to do so. This influence, supporting the trend of +humanitarian opinion, succeeded in establishing it as one of the +principles of British imperial policy that it was the duty of the +British government to protect the native races against the exploitation +of the European settlers, and to guide them gently into a civilised way +of life. It is a sound and noble principle, and it may fairly be said +that it has been honestly carried out, so far as the powers of the home +government rendered possible. No government in the world controls a +greater number or variety of subjects belonging to the backward races +than the British; no trading nation has had greater opportunities for +the oppressive exploitation of defenceless subjects. Yet the grave +abuse of these opportunities has been infrequent. There have been in +the history of modern British imperialism sporadic instances of +injustice, like the forced labour of Kanakas in the Pacific. But there +have been no Congo outrages, no Putumayo atrocities, no Pequena slave +scandals, no merciless slaughter like that of the Hereros in German +South-West Africa. + +The principle of the protection of backward peoples has, however, +sometimes had an unfortunate influence upon colonial policy; and there +was no colony in which it exercised a more unhappy effect than South +Africa. Here the Boer farmers still retained towards their native +neighbours the attitude which had been characteristic of all the +European peoples in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: they +regarded the negro as a natural inferior, born to servitude. It is not +surprising that no love was lost between the Boers and the +missionaries, who appeared as the protectors of the negroes, and whose +representations turned British opinion violently against the whole Boer +community. This was in itself a sufficiently unfortunate result: it +lies largely at the base of the prolonged disharmony which divided the +two peoples in South Africa. The belief that the Boers could not be +trusted to deal fairly with the natives formed, for a long period, the +chief reason which urged the British Government to retain their control +over the Boers, even when they had trekked away from the Cape (1836) +and established themselves beyond the Orange and the Vaal rivers; and +the conflict of this motive with the desire to avoid any increase of +colonial responsibilities, and with the feeling that if the Boers +disliked the British system, they had better be left in freedom to +organise themselves in their own way, accounts for the curious +vacillation in the policy of the period on this question. At first the +trekkers were left to themselves; then the lands which they had +occupied were annexed; then their independence was recognised; and +finally, when, at the end of the period, they seemed to be causing a +dangerous excitement among the Zulus and other native tribes, the +Transvaal was once more annexed; with the result that revolt broke out, +and the Majuba campaign had to be fought. + +Again, tenderness for the natives led to several curious and not very +successful experiments in organisation. The annexation of Natal was +long delayed because it was held that this area ought to form a native +reserve, and fruitless attempts were made to restrict the settlement of +Europeans in this empty and fertile land. An attempt was also made to +set up a series of native areas under British protection, from which +the white settler was excluded. British Kaffraria, Griqualand East and +Griqualand West were examples of this policy, which is still +represented, not unsuccessfully, by the great protected area of +Basutoland. But, on the whole, these experiments in the handling of the +native problem in South Africa did more harm than good. They were +unsuccessful mainly because South Africa was a white man's country, +into which the most vigorous of the native races, those of the Bantu +stock (Kaffirs, Zulus, Matabili, etc.), were more recent immigrants +than the white men themselves. Owing to their warlike character and +rapidly growing numbers they constituted for a long time a very +formidable danger; and neither the missionaries nor the home +authorities sufficiently recognised these facts. + +Perhaps the most unhappy result of this friction over the native +question, apart from the alienation of Boer and Briton which it +produced, was the fact that it was the principal cause of the long +delay in establishing self-governing institutions in South Africa. The +home government hesitated to give to the colonists full control over +their own affairs, because it distrusted the use which they were likely +to make of their powers over the natives; even the normal institutions +of all British colonies were not established in Cape Colony till 1854, +and in Natal till 1883. But although in this case the new attitude +towards the backward races led to some unhappy results, the spirit +which inspired it was altogether admirable, and its growing strength +accounts in part for the real degree of success which has been achieved +by British administrators in the government of regions not suited for +the settlement of Europeans in large numbers. Indeed, this spirit has +come to be one of the outstanding features of modern British +imperialism. + +It was not only in the treatment of backward races that the +humanitarian spirit made itself felt. It was at work also in the +government of the highly developed civilisations of India, where, +during this period, British power began to be boldly used to put an end +to barbarous or inhumane practices which were supported or tolerated by +the religious beliefs or immemorial social usages of India. Such +practices as thagi, or meria sacrifices, or female infanticide, or, +above all, sati, had been left undisturbed by the earlier rulers of +British India, because they feared that interference with them would be +resented as an infraction of Indian custom or religion. They were now +boldly attacked, and practically abolished, without evil result. + +Alongside of this new courage in measures that seemed to be dictated by +the moral ideas of the West, there was to be seen growing throughout +this period a new temper of respect for Indian civilisation and a +desire to study and understand it, and to safeguard its best features. +The study of early Indian literature, law, and religious philosophy had +indeed been begun in the eighteenth century by Sir William Jones and +Nathaniel Halhed, with the ardent encouragement of Warren Hastings. But +in this as in other respects Hastings was ahead of the political +opinion of his time; the prevalent idea was that the best thing for +India would be the introduction, so far as possible, of British +methods. This led to the absurdities of the Supreme Court, established +in 1773 to administer English law to Indians. It led also to the great +blunder of Cornwallis's settlement of the land question in Bengal, +which was an attempt to assimilate the Indian land-system to that of +England, and resulted in an unhappy weakening of the village +communities, the most healthy features of Indian rural life. In the +nineteenth century this attitude was replaced by a spirit of respect +for Indian traditions and methods of organisation, and by a desire to +retain and strengthen their best features. The new attitude was perhaps +to be seen at its best in the work of Mountstuart Elphinstone, a great +administrator who was also a profound student of Indian history, and a +very sympathetic observer and friend of Indian customs and modes of +life. But the same spirit was exemplified by the whole of the +remarkable generation of statesmen of whom Elphinstone was one. They +established the view that it was the duty of the British power to +reorganise India, indeed, but to reorganise it on lines in accordance +with its own traditions. Above all, the principle was in this +generation very definitely established that India, like other great +dependencies, must be administered in the interests of its own people, +and not in the interests of the ruling race. That seems to us to-day a +platitude. It would not have seemed a platitude in the eighteenth +century. It would not seem a platitude in modern Germany. And it may +safely be said that the enunciation of such a doctrine would have +seemed merely absurd in any of the earlier historical empires. In 1833 +an official report laid before the British parliament contained these +remarkable words: 'It is recognised 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.' In all +the records of imperialism it would be hard to find a parallel to this +formal statement of policy by the supreme government of a ruling race. +When such a statement could be made, it is manifest that the meaning of +the word Empire had undergone a remarkable transformation. No one can +read the history of British rule in India during this period without +feeling that, in spite of occasional lapses, this was its real spirit. + +But the most powerful constructive element in the shaping of the new +imperial policy of Britain was the strength of the belief in the idea +of self-government, as not only morally desirable but practically +efficacious, which was to be perceived at work in the political circles +of Britain during this age. Self-government had throughout the modern +age been a matter of habit and practice with the British peoples; now +it became a matter of theory and belief. And from this resulted a great +change of attitude towards the problems of colonial administration. The +American problem in the eighteenth century had arisen ultimately out of +the demand of the Americans for unqualified and responsible control +over their own affairs: the attitude of the Englishman in reply to this +demand (though he never clearly analysed it) was, in effect, that +self-government was a good and desirable thing, but that on the scale +on which the Americans claimed it, it would be fatal to the unity of +the Empire, and the unity of the Empire must come first. Faced by +similar problems in the nineteenth century, the Englishman's response +generally was that self-government on the fullest scale was the right +of all who were fit to exercise it, and the most satisfactory working +solution of political problems. Therefore the right must be granted; +and the unity of the Empire must take care of itself. No doubt this +attitude was more readily adopted because of the widespread belief that +in fact the colonies would all sooner or later cut their connection +with the mother-country. But it was fully shared by men who did not +hold this view, and who believed strongly in the possibility and +desirability of maintaining imperial unity. It was shared, for example, +by Wakefield, a convinced imperialist if ever there was one, and by +that great colonial administrator, Sir George Grey. It was shared by +Lord Durham and by Lord John Russell, who were largely responsible for +the adoption of the new policy. Their belief and hope was that the +common possession of free institutions of kindred types would in fact +form the most effective tie between the lands which enjoyed them. This +hope obtained an eloquent expression in the speech in which, in 1852, +Russell introduced the bill for granting to the Australian colonies +self-government on such a scale as amounted almost to independence. It +is not true, as is sometimes said, that the self-governing institutions +of the colonies were established during this period owing to the +indifference of the home authorities, and their readiness to put an end +to the connection. The new policy of these years was deliberately +adopted; and although its acceptance by parliament was rendered easier +by the prevalence of disbelief in the permanence of the imperial tie, +yet, on the part of the responsible men, it was due to far-sighted +statesmanship. + +The critical test of the new colonial policy, and the most dramatic +demonstration of its efficacy, were afforded by Canada, where, during +the thirties, the conditions which preceded the revolt of the American +colonies were being reproduced with curious exactness. The +self-governing institutions established in the Canadian colonies in +1791 very closely resembled those of the American colonies before the +revolution: they gave to the representative houses control over +taxation and legislation, but neither control over, nor responsibility +for, the executive. And the same results were following. Incomplete +self-government was striving after its own fulfilment: the denial of +responsibility was producing irresponsibility. These was the same +unceasing friction between governors and their councils on the one +hand, and the representative bodies on the other hand; and the +assemblies were showing the same unreasonableness in refusing to meet +manifest public obligations. This state of things was becoming steadily +more acute in all the colonies, but it was at its worst in the province +of Quebec, where the constitutional friction was embittered by a racial +conflict, the executive body being British, while the great majority of +the assembly was French; and the conflict was producing a very +dangerous alienation between the two peoples. The French colonists had +quite forgotten the gratitude they had once felt for the maintenance of +their religion and of their social organisation, and there was a strong +party among them who were bent upon open revolt, and hoped to be able +to establish a little isolated French community upon the St. Lawrence. +This party of hotheads got the upper hand, and their agitation +culminated in the rebellion of Papineau in 1837. In the other colonies, +and especially in Upper Canada, the conditions were almost equally +ominous; when Papineau revolted in Quebec, William Mackenzie led a +sympathetic rising in Ontario. The situation was quite as alarming as +the situation in the American colonies had been in 1775. It is true +that the risings were easily put down. But mere repression formed no +solution, any more than a British victory in 1775 would have formed a +solution of the American question. + +Realising this, the Whig government sent out Lord Durham, one of their +own number, to report on the whole situation. Durham was one of the +most advanced Liberals in Britain, a convinced believer in the virtues +of self-government, and he took out with him two of the ablest +advocates of scientific colonisation, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and +Charles Buller. Durham's administrative work was not a success: his +high-handed deportation of some of the rebel leaders was strongly +condemned, and he was very quickly recalled. But he had had time to +study and understand the situation, and he presented a masterly Report +on Canada, which is one of the classics in the history of British +imperialism. His explanation of the unhappy condition of Canadian +politics was not (as some were tempted to say) that the colonists had +been given too much liberty, but that they had not been given enough. +They must be made to feel their responsibility for the working of the +laws which they adopted, and for the welfare of the whole community. As +for the conflict of races, its only cure was that both should be made +to feel their common responsibility for the destinies of the community +in which both must remain partners. + +Lord Durham's recommendations were fully carried into effect, partly in +the Canada Act of 1840, but more especially by a simple instruction +issued to governors, that their ministries must henceforward be chosen, +in the British fashion, on the ground that they commanded the support +of a majority in the elected house; and that the governors themselves +must be guided by their advice. A crucial test of this new policy came +in 1849, when the ministers and the parliamentary majority proposed to +vote compensation for property destroyed in 1837. This to many seemed +compensation for rebels, and the indignant loyalists were urgent that +the governor, Lord Elgin, should veto it. He firmly declined to do so; +and thus gave an invaluable lesson to both parties. The Canadian +people, acting through their representatives, were now responsible for +their actions. If they chose to vote for irresponsible and dangerous +devices, they must henceforward realise that they must themselves +answer for the consequences. + +Thus, within a few years of the outbreak of rebellion in two provinces, +full power had been entrusted to the rebels themselves. It was a daring +policy, only to be justified by a very confident belief in the virtues +of self-government. But it was completely and triumphantly successful. +Henceforward friction between the Canadian colonies and the +mother-country ceased: if there were grounds for complaint in the state +of Canadian affairs, the Canadians must now blame their own ministers, +and the remedy lay in their own hands. And what was the outcome? Twenty +years later the various colonies, once as full of mutual jealousies as +the American colonies had been before 1775, began to discuss the +possibility of federation. With the cordial approval and co-operation +of the home government, they drew up a scheme for the formation of a +united Dominion of Canada, including distant British Columbia and the +coastal colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward +Island; and the adoption of this scheme, in 1867, turned Canada from a +bundle of separate settlements into a great state. To this state the +home government later made over the control of all the vast and rich +lands of the North-West, and so the destinies of half a continent +passed under its direction. It was a charge, the magnitude and +challenge of which could not but bring forth all that there was of +statesmanship among the Canadian people; and it has not failed to do so. + +One feature of Canadian constitutional development remains to be noted. +It might have been expected that the Canadians would have been tempted +to follow the political model of their great neighbour the United +States; and if their development had been the outcome of friction with +the mother-country, no doubt they would have done so. But they +preferred to follow the British model. The keynote of the American +system is division of power: division between the federal government +and the state governments, which form mutual checks upon one another; +division between the executive and the legislature, which are +independent of one another at once in the states and in the federal +government, both being directly elected by popular vote. The keynote of +the British system is concentration of responsibility by the +subordination of the executive to the legislature. The Canadians +adopted the British principle: what had formerly been distinct colonies +became, not 'states' but 'provinces,' definitely subordinated to the +supreme central government; and whether in the federal or in the +provincial system, the control of government by the representative body +was finally established. This concord with the British system is a fact +of real import. It means that the political usages of the home-country +and the great Dominion are so closely assimilated that political +co-operation between them is far easier than it otherwise might be; it +increases the possibility of a future link more intimate than that of +mere co-operation. + +Not less whole-hearted or generous than the treatment of the problems +of Canadian government was the treatment of the same problem in +Australia. Here, as a matter of course, all the colonies had been +endowed, at the earliest possible date, with the familiar system of +representative but not responsible government. No such acute friction +as had occurred in Canada had yet shown itself, though signs of its +development were not lacking. But in 1852 an astonishing step was taken +by the British parliament: the various Australian colonies were +empowered to elect single-chamber constituent assemblies to decide the +forms of government under which they wished to live. They decided in +every case to reproduce as nearly as possible the British system: +legislatures of two chambers, with ministries responsible to them. +Thus, in Australia as in Canada, the daughter-peoples were made to feel +the community of their institutions with those of the mother-country, +and the possibility of intimate and easy co-operation was increased. +Two years later, in 1854, New Zealand was endowed with the same system. +Among all the British realms in which the white man was predominant, +only South Africa was as yet excluded from this remarkable development. +The reasons for this exclusion we have already noted: its consequences +will occupy our attention in later pages. + +Very manifestly the empire which was developing on such lines was not +an empire in the old sense--a dominion imposed by force upon unwilling +subjects. That old word, which has been used in so many senses, was +being given a wholly new connotation. It was being made to mean a free +partnership of self-governing peoples, held together not by force, but +in part by common interests, and in a still higher degree by common +sentiment and the possession of the same institutions of liberty. + +In the fullest sense, however, this new conception of empire applied +only to the group of the great self-governing colonies. There were many +other regions, even before 1878, included within the British Empire, +though as yet it had not incorporated those vast protectorates over +regions peopled by backward races which have been added during the last +generation. There were tropical settlements like British Honduras, +British Guiana, Sierra Leone, and Cape Coast Castle; there were many +West Indian Islands, and scattered possessions like Mauritius and +Hong-Kong and Singapore and the Straits Settlements; there were +garrison towns or coaling-stations like Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, St. +Helena. To none of these were the institutions of full responsible +self-government granted. Some of them possessed representative +institutions without responsible ministries; in others the governor was +assisted by a nominated council, intended to express local opinion, but +not elected by the inhabitants; in yet others the governor ruled +autocratically. But in all these cases the ultimate control of policy +was retained by the home government. And in this general category, as +yet, the South African colonies were included. Why were these +distinctions drawn? Why did the generation of British statesmen, who +had dealt so generously with the demand for self-government in Canada +and Australia, stop short and refuse to carry out their principles in +these other cases? + +It is characteristic of British politics that they are never merely or +fully logical, and that even when political doctrines seem to enjoy the +most complete ascendancy, they are never put into effect without +qualifications or exceptions. The exceptions already named to the +establishment of full self-government were due to many and varying +causes. In the first place, there was in most of these cases no +effective demand for full self-government; and it may safely be +asserted that any community in which there is no demand for +self-governing institutions is probably not in a condition to work them +with effect. Some of these possessions were purely military posts, like +Gibraltar and Aden, and were necessarily administered as such. Others +were too small and weak to dream of assuming the full privileges. But +in the majority of cases one outstanding common feature will appear on +closer analysis. Nearly all these territories were tropical or +semi-tropical lands, whose British inhabitants were not permanent +settlers, but were present solely for the purposes of trade or other +exploitation, while the bulk of the population consisted of backward +peoples, whose traditions and civilisation rendered their effective +participation in public affairs quite impracticable. In such cases, to +have given full political power to the small and generally shifting +minority of white men would have been to give scope to many evils; and +to have enfranchised, on a mere theory, the mass of the population +would have been to produce still worse results. It would have sentenced +these communities to the sort of fate which has befallen the beautiful +island of Hayti, where the self-government of a population of +emancipated negro slaves has brought nothing but anarchy and +degradation. In such conditions the steady Reign of Law is the greatest +boon that can be given to white settlers and coloured subjects alike; +and the final authority is rightly retained by the home government, +inspired, as British opinion has long required that it should be, by +the principle that the rights of the backward peoples must be +safeguarded. Under this system, both law and a real degree of liberty +are made possible; whereas under a doctrinaire application of the +theory of self-government, both would vanish. + +But there remains the vast dominion of India, which falls neither into +the one category nor into the other. Though there are many primitive +and backward elements among its vast population, there are also peoples +and castes whose members are intellectually capable of meeting on equal +terms the members of any of the ruling races of the West. Yet during +this age, when self-government on the amplest scale was being extended +to the chief regions of the British Empire, India, the greatest +dominion of them all, did not obtain the gift of representative +institutions even on the most modest scale. Why was this? + +It was not because the ruling race was hostile to the idea, or desired +merely to retain its own ascendancy. On the contrary, both in Britain +and among the best of the British administrators in India, it was +increasingly held that the only ultimate justification for the British +power in India would be that under its guidance the Indian peoples +should be gradually enabled to govern themselves. As early as 1824, +when in Europe sheer reaction was at its height, this view was being +strongly urged by one of the greatest of Anglo-Indian administrators, +Sir Thomas Munro, a soldier of distinction, then serving as governor of +Madras. 'We should look upon India,' he wrote, 'not as a temporary +possession, but as one which is to be maintained permanently, until the +natives shall have abandoned most of their superstitions and +prejudices, and become sufficiently enlightened to frame a regular +government for themselves, and to conduct and preserve it. Whenever +such a time shall arrive, it will probably be best for both countries +that the British control over India should be gradually withdrawn. That +the desirable change contemplated may in some after age be effected in +India, there is no cause to despair. Such a change was at one time in +Britain itself at least as hopeless as it is here. When we reflect how +much the character of nations has always been influenced by that of +governments, and that some, once the most cultivated, have sunk into +barbarism, while others, formerly the rudest, have attained the highest +point of civilisation, we shall see no reason to doubt that if we +pursue steadily the proper measures, we shall in time so far improve +the character of our Indian subjects as to make them able to govern and +protect themselves.' + +In other words, self-government was the desirable end to be pursued in +India as elsewhere; but in India there were many and grave obstacles to +its efficient working, which could only slowly be overcome. In the +first place, India is more deeply divided in race, language, and +religion than any other region of the world. Nowhere else is there such +a medley of peoples of every grade of development, from the almost +savage Bhil to the cultivated and high-bred Brahmin or Rajput or +Mahomedan chief. There are sharp regional differences, as great as +those between the European countries; but cutting across these there +are everywhere the rigid and impermeable distinctions of caste, which +have no parallel anywhere else in the world. The experience of the +Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose confusion of races is simplicity itself +in comparison with the chaos of India, affords a significant +demonstration of the fact that parliamentary institutions, if they are +established among deeply divided peoples, must almost inevitably be +exploited for the purpose of racial ascendancy by the most vigorous or +the best-organised elements among the people; and a very ugly tyranny +is apt to result, as it has resulted in Austro-Hungary. This +consequence would almost certainly follow the establishment of a full +representative system in India. In the cities of mediaeval Italy, when +the conflict of parties became so acute that neither side could expect +justice from the other, the practice grew up of electing a podesta from +some foreign city to act as an impartial arbiter. The British power in +India has played the part of a podesta in restraining and mediating +between the conflicting peoples and religions of India. + +But again (and this is even more fundamental), for thousands of years +the history of India has been one long story of conquests and tyrannies +by successive ruling races. Always Might has been Right, so that the +lover of righteousness could only pursue it, like the mediaeval +ascetic, by cutting himself off from the world, abjuring all social +ties, and immolating the flesh in order to live by the spirit. Always +Law had been, in the last resort, the Will of the Stronger, not the +decree of impartial justice. Always the master-races, the predatory +bands, the ruling castes, had expected to receive, and the mass of the +people had been accustomed to give, the most abject submission; and +these habits were difficult to overcome. 'In England,' says Sir Thomas +Munro, 'the people resist oppression, and it is their spirit which +gives efficacy to the law: in India the people rarely resist +oppression, and the law intended to secure them from it can therefore +derive no aid from themselves. ... It is in vain to caution them +against paying by telling them that the law is on their side, and will +support them in refusing to comply with unauthorised demands. All +exhortations on this head are thrown away, and after listening to them +they will the very next day submit to extortion as quietly as before.' +How could representative institutions be expected to work under such +conditions? They would have lacked the very foundation upon which alone +they can firmly rest: respect for law, and public co-operation in the +enforcement of it. Thus the supreme service which the government of +India could render to its people was the establishment and maintenance +of the Reign of Law, and of the liberty which it shelters. In such +conditions representative government would be liable to bring, not +liberty, but anarchy and the renewal of lawless oppression. + +But although the extension of the representative system to India +neither was nor could be attempted in this age, very remarkable +advances were made towards turning India in a real sense into a +self-governing country. It ceased to be regarded or treated as a +subject dominion existing solely for the advantage of its conquerors. +That had always been its fate in all the long centuries of its history; +and in the first period of British rule the trading company which had +acquired this amazing empire had naturally regarded it as primarily a +source of profit. In 1833 the company was forbidden to engage in trade, +and the profit-making motive disappeared. The shareholders still +continued to receive a fixed dividend out of the Indian revenues, but +this may be compared to a fixed debt-charge, an annual payment for +capital expended in the past; and it came to an end when the company +was abolished in 1858. Apart from this dividend, no sort of tribute was +exacted from India by the ruling power. India was not even required to +contribute to the upkeep of the navy, which protected her equally with +the rest of the Empire, or of the diplomatic service, which was often +concerned with her interests. She paid for the small army which guarded +her frontiers; but if any part of it was borrowed for service abroad, +its whole pay and charges were met by Britain. She paid the salaries +and pensions of the handful of British administrators who conducted her +government, but this was a very small charge in comparison with the +lavish outlay of the native princes whom they had replaced. India had +become a self-contained state, whose whole resources were expended +exclusively upon her own needs, and expended with the most scrupulous +honesty, and under the most elaborate safeguards. + +They were expended, moreover, especially during the later part of this +period, largely in equipping her with the material apparatus of modern +civilisation. Efficient police, great roads, a postal service cheaper +than that of any other country, a well-planned railway system, and, +above all, a gigantic system of irrigation which brought under +cultivation vast regions hitherto desert--these were some of the boons +acquired by India during the period. They were rendered possible partly +by the economical management of her finances, partly by the liberal +expenditure of British capital. Above all, the period saw the beginning +of a system of popular education, of which the English language became +the main vehicle, because none of the thirty-eight recognised +vernacular tongues of India either possessed the necessary literature, +or could be used as a medium for instruction in modern science. In 1858 +three universities were established; and although their system was +ill-devised, under the malign influence of the analogy of London +University, a very large and increasing number of young graduates, +trained for modern occupations, began to filter into Indian society, +and to modify its point of view. All speaking and writing English, and +all trained in much the same body of ideas, they possessed a similarity +of outlook and a vehicle of communication such as had never before +linked together the various races and castes of India. This large and +growing class, educated in some measure in the learning of the West, +formed already, at the end of the period, a very important new element +in the life of India. They were capable of criticising the work of +their government; they were not without standards of comparison by +which to measure its achievements; and, aided by the large freedom +granted to the press under the British system, they were able to begin +the creation of an intelligent public opinion, which was apt, in its +first movements, to be ill-guided and rash, but which was nevertheless +a healthy development. That this newly created class of educated men +should produce a continual stream of criticism, and that it should even +stimulate into existence public discontents, is by no means a +condemnation of the system of government which has made these +developments possible. On the contrary, it is a proof that the system +has had an invigorating effect. For the existence and the expression of +discontent is a sign of life; it means that there is an end of that +utter docility which marks a people enslaved body and soul. India has +never been more prosperous than she is to-day; she has never before +known so impartial a system of justice as she now possesses; and these +are legitimate grounds of pride to her rulers. But they may even more +justly pride themselves upon the fact that in all her history India has +never been so frankly and incessantly critical of her government as she +is to-day; never so bold in the aspirations for the future which her +sons entertain. + +The creation of the new class of Western-educated Indians also +facilitated another development which the British government definitely +aimed at encouraging: the participation of Indians in the conduct of +administration in their own land. The Act of 1833 had laid it down as a +fundamental principle that 'no native of the said territories ... shall +by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, or any of +them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment.' The +great majority of the minor administrative posts had always been held +by Indians; but until 1833 it had been held that the maintenance of +British supremacy required that the higher offices should be reserved +to members of the ruling race. This restriction was now abolished; but +it was not until the development of the educational system had produced +a body of sufficiently trained men that the new principle could produce +appreciable results; and even then, the deficiencies of an undeveloped +system of training, combined with the racial and religious jealousies +which the government of India must always keep in mind, imposed +limitations upon the rapid increase of the number of Indians holding +the higher posts. Still, the principle had been laid down, and was +being acted upon. And that also constituted a great step towards +self-government. + +India in 1878 was governed, under the terms of a code of law based upon +Indian custom, by a small body of British officials, among whom leading +Indians were gradually taking their place, and who worked in detail +through an army of minor officials, nearly all of Indian birth, and +selected without regard to race or creed. She was a self-contained +country whose whole resources were devoted to her own needs. She was +prospering to a degree unexampled in her history; she had achieved a +political unity never before known to her; she had been given the +supreme boon of a just and impartial law, administered without fear or +favour; and she had enjoyed a long period of peace, unbroken by any +attack from external foes. Here also, as fully as in the self-governing +colonies, membership of the British Empire did 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 meant the +establishment among a vast population of the essential gifts of Western +civilisation, rational law, and the liberty which exists under its +shelter. Empire had come to mean, not merely domination pursued for its +own sake, but trusteeship for the extension of civilisation. + +The period of practical British monopoly, 1815-1878, had thus brought +about a very remarkable transformation in the character of the British +Empire. It had greatly increased in extent, and by every test of area, +population, and natural resources, it was beyond comparison the +greatest power that had ever existed in the world. But its organisation +was of an extreme laxity; it possessed no real common government; and +its principal members were united rather by a community of institutions +and ideas than by any formal ties. Moreover, it presented a more +amazing diversity of racial types, of religions, and of grades of +civilisation, than any other political fabric which had existed in +history. Its development had assuredly brought about a very great +expansion of the ideas of Western civilisation over the face of the +globe, and, above all, a remarkable diffusion of the institutions of +political liberty. But it remained to be proved whether this loosely +compacted bundle of states possessed any real unity, or would be +capable of standing any severe strain. The majority of observers, both +in Britain itself and throughout the world, would have been inclined, +in 1878, to give a negative answer to these questions. + + + + +VII + +THE ERA OF THE WORLD-STATES, 1878-1900 + + +The Congress of Berlin in 1878 marks the close of the era of +nationalist revolutions and wars in Europe. By the same date all the +European states had attained to a certain stability in their +constitutional systems. With equal definiteness this year may be said +to mark the opening of a new era in the history of European +imperialism; an era of eager competition for the control of the still +unoccupied regions of the world, in which the concerns of remote lands +suddenly became matters of supreme moment to the great European powers, +and the peace of the world was endangered by questions arising in China +or Siam, in Morocco or the Soudan, or the islands of the Pacific. The +control of Europe over the non-European world was in a single +generation completed and confirmed. And the most important of the many +questions raised by this development was the question whether the +spirit in which this world-supremacy of Europe was to be wielded should +be the spirit which long experience had inspired in the oldest of the +colonising nations, the spirit of trusteeship on behalf of +civilisation; or whether it was to be the old, brutal, and sterile +spirit of mere domination for its own sake. + +On a superficial view the most obvious feature of this strenuous period +was that all the remaining unexploited regions of the world were either +annexed by one or other of the great Western states, or were driven to +adopt, with greater or less success, the modes of organisation of the +West. But what was far more important than any new demarcation of the +map was that not only the newly annexed lands, but also the +half-developed territories of earlier European dominions, were with an +extraordinary devouring energy penetrated during this generation by +European traders and administrators, equipped with railways, +steam-boats, and all the material apparatus of modern life, and in +general organised and exploited for the purposes of industry and trade. +This astonishing achievement was almost as thorough as it was swift. +And its result was, not merely that the political control of Europe +over the backward regions of the world was strengthened and secured by +these means, but that the whole world was turned into a single economic +and political unit, no part of which could henceforth dwell in +isolation. This might have meant that we should have been brought +nearer to some sort of world-order; but unhappily the spirit in which +the great work was undertaken by some, at least, of the nations which +participated in it has turned this wonderful achievement into a source +of bitterness and enmity, and led the world in the end to the tragedy +and agony of the Great War. + +The causes of this gigantic outpouring of energy were manifold. The +main impelling forces were perhaps economic rather than political. But +the economic needs of this strenuous age might have been satisfied +without resort to the brutal arbitrament of war: their satisfaction +might even have been made the means of diminishing the danger of war. +It was the interpretation of these economic needs in terms of an +unhappy political theory which has led to the final catastrophe. + +On a broad view, the final conquest of the world by European +civilisation was made possible, and indeed inevitable, by the amazing +development of the material aspects of that civilisation during the +nineteenth century; by the progressive command over the forces of +nature which the advance of science had placed in the hands of man, by +the application of science to industry in the development of +manufacturing methods and of new modes of communication, and by the +intricate and flexible organisation of modern finance. These changes +were already in progress before 1878, and were already transforming the +face of the world. Since 1878 they have gone forward with such +accelerating speed that we have been unable to appreciate the +significance of the revolution they were effecting. We have been +carried off our feet; and have found it impossible to adjust our moral +and political ideas to the new conditions. + +The great material achievements of the last two generations have been +mainly due to an intense concentration and specialisation of functions +among both men of thought and men of action. But the result of this has +been that there have been few to attempt the vitally important task of +appreciating the movement of our civilisation as a whole, and of +endeavouring to determine how far the political conceptions inherited +from an earlier age were valid in the new conditions. For under the +pressure of the great transformation political forces also have been +transformed, and in all countries political thought is baffled and +bewildered by the complexity of the problems by which it is faced. To +this in part we owe the dimness of vision which overtook us as we went +whirling together towards the great catastrophe. It is only in the +glare of a world-conflagration that we begin to perceive, in something +like their true proportions, the great forces and events which have +been shaping our destinies. In the future, if the huge soulless +mechanism which man has created is not to get out of hand and destroy +him, we must abandon that contempt for the philosopher and the +political thinker which we have latterly been too ready to express, and +we must recognise that the task of analysing and relating to one +another the achievements of the past and the problems of the present is +at least as important as the increase of our knowledge and of our +dangerous powers by intense and narrow concentration within very +limited fields of thought and work. + +In the meantime we must observe (however briefly and inadequately), how +the dazzling advances of science and industry have affected the +conquest of the world by European civilisation, and why it has come +about that instead of leading to amity and happiness, they have brought +us to the most hideous catastrophe in human history. + +Science and industry, in the first place, made the conquest and +organisation of the world easy. In the first stages of the expansion of +Europe the material superiority of the West had unquestionably afforded +the means whereby its political ideas and institutions could be made +operative in new fields. The invention of ocean-going ships, the use of +the mariner's compass, the discovery of the rotundity of the earth, the +development of firearms--these were the things which made possible the +creation of the first European empires; though these purely material +advantages could have led to no stable results unless they had been +wielded by peoples possessing a real political capacity. In the same +way the brilliant triumphs of modern engineering have alone rendered +possible the rapid conquest and organisation of huge undeveloped areas; +the deadly precision of Western weapons has made the Western peoples +irresistible; the wonderful progress of medical science has largely +overcome the barriers of disease which long excluded the white man from +great regions of the earth; and the methods of modern finance, +organising and making available the combined credit of whole +communities, have provided the means for vast enterprises which without +them could never have been undertaken. + +Then, in the next place, science has found uses for many commodities +which were previously of little value, and many of which are mainly +produced in the undeveloped regions of the earth. Some of these, like +rubber, or nitrates, or mineral and vegetable oils, have rapidly become +quite indispensable materials, consumed by the industrial countries on +an immense scale. Accordingly, the more highly industrialised a country +is, the more dependent it must be upon supplies drawn from all parts of +the world; not only supplies of food for the maintenance of its teeming +population, but, even more, supplies of material for its industries. +The days when Europe, or even America, was self-sufficient are gone for +ever. And in order that these essential supplies may be available, it +has become necessary that all the regions which produce them should be +brought under efficient administration. The anarchy of primitive +barbarism cannot be allowed to stand in the way of access to these +vital necessities of the new world-economy. It is merely futile for +well-meaning sentimentalists to talk of the wickedness of invading the +inalienable rights of the primitive occupants of these lands: for good +or for ill, the world has become a single economic unit, and its +progress cannot be stopped out of consideration for the time-honoured +usages of uncivilised and backward tribes. Of course it is our duty to +ensure that these simple folks are justly treated, led gently into +civilisation, and protected from the iniquities of a mere ruthless +exploitation, such as, in some regions, we have been compelled to +witness. But Western civilisation has seized the reins of the world, +and it will not be denied. Its economic needs drive it to undertake the +organisation of the whole world. What we have to secure is that its +political principles shall be such as will ensure that its control will +be a benefit to its subjects as well as to itself. But the development +of scientific industry has made European control and civilised +administration inevitable throughout the world. + +It did not, however, necessarily follow from these premises that the +great European states which did not already possess extra-European +territories were bound to acquire such lands. So far as their purely +economic needs were concerned, it would have been enough that they +should have freedom of access, on equal terms with their neighbours, to +the sources of the supplies they required. It is quite possible, as +events have shown, for a European state to attain very great success in +the industrial sphere without possessing any political control over the +lands from which its raw materials are drawn, or to which its finished +products are sold. Norway has created an immense shipping industry +without owning a single port outside her own borders. The manufactures +of Switzerland are as thriving as these of any European country, though +Switzerland does not possess any colonies. Germany herself, the loudest +advocate of the necessity of political control as the basis of economic +prosperity, has found it possible to create a vast and very prosperous +industry, though her colonial possessions have been small, and have +contributed scarcely at all to her wealth. Her merchants and +capitalists have indeed found the most profitable fields for their +enterprises, not in their own colonies, which they have on the whole +tended to neglect, but in a far greater degree in South and Central +America, and in India and the other vast territories of the British +Empire, which have been open to them as freely as to British merchants. +All that the prosperity of European industry required was that the +sources of supply should be under efficient administration, and that +access to them should be open. And these conditions were fulfilled, +before the great rush began, over the greater part of the earth. If in +1878, when the European nations suddenly awoke to the importance of the +non-European world, they had been able to agree upon some simple +principle which would have secured equal treatment to all, how +different would have been the fate of Europe and the world! If it could +have been laid down, as a principle of international law, that in every +area whose administration was undertaken by a European state, the 'open +door' should be secured for the trade of all nations equally, and that +this rule should continue in force until the area concerned acquired +the status of a distinctly organised state controlling its own fiscal +system, the industrial communities would have felt secure, the little +states quite as fully as the big states. Moreover, since, under these +conditions, the annexation of territory by a European state would not +have threatened the creation of a monopoly, but would have meant the +assumption of a duty on behalf of civilisation, the acrimonies and +jealousies which have attended the process of partition would have been +largely conjured away. In 1878 such a solution would have presented few +difficulties. For at that date the only European state which controlled +large undeveloped areas was Britain; and Britain, as we have seen, had +on her own account arrived at this solution, and had administered, as +she still administers, all those regions of her Empire which do not +possess self-governing rights in the spirit of the principle we have +suggested. + +Why was it that this solution, or some solution on these lines, was not +then adopted, and had no chance of being adopted? It was because the +European states, and first and foremost among them Germany, were still +dominated by a political theory which forbade their taking such a view. +We may call this theory the Doctrine of Power. It is the doctrine that +the highest duty of every state is to aim at the extension of its own +power, and that before this duty every other consideration must give +way. The Doctrine of Power has never received a more unflinching +expression than it received from the German Treitschke, whose influence +was at its height during the years of the great rush for extra-European +possessions. The advocate of the Doctrine of Power is not, and cannot +be, satisfied with equality of opportunity; he demands supremacy, he +demands monopoly, he demands the means to injure and destroy his +rivals. It would not be just to say that this doctrine was influential +only in Germany; it was in some degree potent everywhere, especially in +this period, which was the period par excellence of 'imperialism' in +the bad sense of the term. But it is certainly true that no state has +ever been so completely dominated by it as Germany; and no state less +than Britain. It was in the light of this doctrine that the demands of +the new scientific industry were interpreted. Hag-ridden by this +conception, when the statesmen of Europe awoke to the importance of the +non-European world, it was not primarily the economic needs of their +countries that they thought of, for these were, on the whole, not +inadequately met: what struck their imagination was that, in paying no +attention to the outer world, they had missed great opportunities of +increasing their power. This oversight, they resolved, must be +rectified before it was too late. + +For when the peoples of Western and Central Europe, no longer engrossed +by the problems of Nationalism and Liberalism, cast their eyes over the +world, lo! the scale of things seemed to have changed. Just as, in the +fifteenth century, civilisation had suddenly passed from the stage of +the city-state or the feudal principality to the stage of the great +nation-state, so now, while the European peoples were still struggling +to realise their nationhood, civilisation seemed to have stolen a march +upon them, and to have advanced once more, this time into the stage of +the world-state. For to the east of the European nations lay the vast +Russian Empire, stretching from Central Europe across Asia to the +Pacific; and in the west the American Republic extended from ocean to +ocean, across three thousand miles of territory; and between these and +around them spread the British Empire, sprawling over the whole face of +the globe, on every sea and in every continent. In contrast with these +giant empires, the nation-states of Europe felt themselves out of +scale, just as the Italian cities in the sixteenth century must have +felt themselves out of scale in comparison with the new nation-states +of Spain and France. To achieve the standard of the world-state, to +make their own nations the controlling factors in wide dominions which +should include territories and populations of varied types, became the +ambition of the most powerful European states. A new political ideal +had captivated the mind of Europe. + +These powerful motives were reinforced by others which arose from the +development of affairs within Europe itself. In the first place, the +leading European states had by 1878 definitely abandoned that tendency +towards free trade which had seemed to be increasing in strength during +the previous generation; and, largely in the hope of combating the +overwhelming mercantile and industrial supremacy of Britain, had +adopted the fiscal policy of protection. The ideal of the protectionist +creed is national self-sufficiency in the economic sphere. But, as we +have seen, economic self-sufficiency was no longer attainable in the +conditions of modern industry by any European state. Only by large +foreign annexations, especially in the tropical regions, did it seem +possible of achievement. But when a protectionist state begins to +acquire territory, the anticipation that it will use its power to +exclude or destroy the trade of its rivals must drive other states to +safeguard themselves by still further annexations. It was, indeed, this +fear which mainly drove Britain, in spite of, or perhaps because of, +her free trade theories, into a series of large annexations in regions +where her trade had been hitherto predominant. + +Again, the most perturbing feature of the relations between the +European powers also contributed to produce an eagerness for colonial +possessions. Europe had entered upon the era of huge national armies; +the example of Prussia, and the rancours which had been created by her +policy, had set all the nations arming themselves. They had learned to +measure their strength by their available man-power, and in two ways +the desire to increase the reserve of military manhood formed a motive +for colonisation. In the first place, the surplus manhood of a nation +was lost to it if it was allowed to pass under an alien flag by +emigration. Those continental states from which emigration took place +on a large scale began to aspire after the possession of colonies of +their own, where their emigrants could still be kept under control, and +remain subject to the obligations of service. Germany, the state which +beyond all others measures its strength by its fighting man-power, was +most affected by this motive, which formed the chief theme of the +colonial school among her politicians and journalists, and continued to +be so even when the stream of her emigrants had dwindled to very small +proportions. In a less degree, Italy was influenced by the same motive. +In the second place, conquered subjects even of backward races might be +made useful for the purposes of war. This motive appealed most strongly +to France. Her home population was stationary. She lived in constant +dread of a new onslaught from her formidable neighbour; and she watched +with alarm the rapid increase of that neighbour's population, and the +incessant increases in the numbers of his armies. At a later date +Germany also began to be attracted by the possibility of drilling and +arming, among the negroes of Central Africa, or the Turks of Asia +Minor, forces which might aid her to dominate the world. + +Thus the political situation in Europe had a very direct influence upon +the colonising activity of this period. The dominant fact of European +politics during this generation was the supreme prestige and influence +of Germany, who, not content with an unquestioned military superiority +to any other power, had buttressed herself by the formation (1879 and +1882) of the most formidable standing alliance that has ever existed in +European history, and completely dominated European politics. France, +having been hurled from the leadership of Europe in 1870, dreaded +nothing so much as the outbreak of a new European war, in which she +must be inevitably involved, and in which she might be utterly ruined. +She strove to find a compensation for her wounded pride in colonial +adventures, and therefore became, during the first part of the period, +the most active of the powers in this field. She was encouraged to +adopt this policy by Bismarck, partly in the hope that she might thus +forget Alsace, partly in order that she might be kept on bad terms with +Britain, whose interests seemed to be continually threatened by her +colonising activity. But she hesitated to take a very definite line in +regard to territories that lay close to Europe and might involve +European complications. + +Bismarck himself took little interest in colonial questions, except in +so far as they could be used as a means of alienating the other powers +from one another, and so securing the European supremacy of Germany. He +therefore at first made no attempt to use the dominant position of +Germany as a means of acquiring extra-European dominions. But the +younger generation in Germany was far from sharing this view. It was +determined to win for Germany a world-empire, and in 1884 and the +following years--rather late in the day, when most of the more +desirable territories were already occupied--it forced Bismarck to +annex large areas. After Bismarck's fall, in 1890, this party got the +upper hand in German politics, and the creation of a great world-empire +became, as we shall see, the supreme aim of William II. and his +advisers. The formidable and threatening power of Germany began to be +systematically employed not merely for the maintenance of supremacy in +Europe, which could be secured by peaceful means, but for the +acquisition of a commanding position in the outer world; and since this +could only be attained by violence, the world being now almost +completely partitioned, the new policy made Germany the source of +unrest and apprehension, as she had earlier been, and still continued +to be, the main cause of the burden of military preparation in Europe. + +Among the other powers which participated in the great partition, +Russia continued her pressure in two of the three directions which she +had earlier followed-south-eastwards in Central Asia, eastwards towards +China. In both directions her activity aroused the nervous fears of +Britain, while her pressure upon China helped to bring Japan into the +ranks of the militant and aggressive powers. But Russia took no +interest in the more distant quarters of the world. Nor did Austria, +though during these years her old ambition to expand south-eastwards at +the expense of Turkey and the Balkan peoples revived under German +encouragement. Italy, having but recently achieved national unity and +taken her place among the Great Powers, felt that she could not be left +out of the running, now that extra-European possessions had come to +appear an almost essential mark of greatness among states; and, +disappointed of Tunis, she endeavoured to find compensation on the +shores of the Red Sea. Spain and Portugal, in the midst of all these +eager rivalries, were tempted to furbish up their old and half-dormant +claims. Even the United States of America joined in the rush during the +fevered period of the 'nineties. + +Lastly, Britain, the oldest and the most fully endowed of all the +colonising powers, was drawn, half unwilling, into the competition; and +having an immense start over her rivals, actually acquired more new +territory than any of them. She was, indeed, like the other states, +passing through an 'imperialist' phase in these years. The value +attached by other countries to oversea possessions awakened among the +British people a new pride in their far-spread dominions. Disraeli, who +was in the ascendant when the period opened, had forgotten his old +opinion of the uselessness of colonies, and had become a prophet of +Empire. An Imperial Federation Society was founded in 1878. The old +unwillingness to assume new responsibilities died out, or diminished; +and the rapid annexations of other states, especially France, in +regions where British influence had hitherto been supreme, and whose +chieftains had often begged in vain for British protection, aroused +some irritation. The ebullient energy of the colonists themselves, +especially in South Africa and Australia, demanded a forward policy. +Above all, the fact that the European powers, now so eager for colonial +possessions, had all adopted the protectionist policy aroused a fear +lest British traders should find themselves shut out from lands whose +trade had hitherto been almost wholly in their hands; and the militant +and aggressive temper sometimes shown by the agents of these powers +awakened some nervousness regarding the safety of the existing British +possessions. Hence Britain, after a period of hesitancy, became as +active as any of the other states in annexation. Throughout this period +her main rival was France, whose new claims seemed to come in conflict +with her own in almost every quarter of the globe. This rivalry +produced acute friction, which grew in intensity until it reached its +culminating point in the crisis of Fashoda in 1898, and was not removed +until the settlement of 1904 solved all the outstanding difficulties. +It would be quite untrue to say that Britain deliberately endeavoured +to prevent or to check the rapid colonial expansion of France. The +truth is that British trading interests had been predominant in many of +the regions where the French were most active, and that the +protectionist policy which France had adopted stimulated into a new +life the ancient rivalry of these neighbour and sister nations. Towards +the colonial ambitions of Germany, and still more of Italy, Britain was +far more complaisant. + +It is difficult to give in a brief space a clear summary of the +extremely complicated events and intrigues of this vitally important +period. But perhaps it will be easiest if we consider in turn the +regions in which the strenuous rivalries of the powers displayed +themselves. The most important was Africa, which lay invitingly near to +Europe, and was the only large region of the world which was still for +the most part unoccupied. Here all the competitors, save Russia, Japan, +and America, played a part. Western Asia formed a second field, in +which three powers only, Russia, Germany, and Britain, were immediately +concerned. The Far East, where the vast Empire of China seemed to be +falling into decrepitude, afforded the most vexed problems of the +period. Finally, the Pacific Islands were the scene of an active though +less intense rivalry. + +It is a curious fact that Africa, the continent whose outline was the +first outside of Europe itself to be fully mapped out by the European +peoples, was actually the last to be effectively brought under the +influence of European civilisation. This was because the coasts of +Africa are for the most part inhospitable; its vast interior plateau is +almost everywhere shut off either by belts of desert land, or by swampy +and malarious regions along the coast; even its great rivers do not +readily tempt the explorer inland, because their course is often +interrupted by falls or rapids not far from their mouths, where they +descend from the interior plateau to the coastal plain; and its +inhabitants, warlike and difficult to deal with, are also peoples of +few and simple wants, who have little to offer to the trader. Hence +eight generations of European mariners had circumnavigated the +continent without seriously attempting to penetrate its central mass; +and apart from the Anglo-Dutch settlements at the Southern extremity, +the French empire in Algeria in the north, a few trading centres on the +West Coast, and some half-derelict Portuguese stations in Angola and +Mozambique, the whole continent remained available for European +exploitation in 1878. + +What trade was carried on, except in Egypt, in Algeria, and in the +immediate vicinity of the old French settlements on the West Coast, was +mainly in the hands of British merchants. Over the greater part of the +coastal belts only the British power was known to the native tribes and +chieftains. Many of them (like the Sultan of Zanzibar and the chiefs of +the Cameroons) had repeatedly begged to be taken under British +protection, and had been refused. During the two generations before +1878 the interior of the continent had begun to be known. But except in +the north and north-west, where French explorers and a few Germans had +been active, the work had been mainly done by British travellers. Most +of the great names of African exploration--Livingstone, Burton, Speke, +Baker, Cameron and the Anglo-American Stanley--were British names. +These facts, of course, gave to Britain, already so richly endowed, no +sort of claim to a monopoly of the continent. But they naturally gave +her a right to a voice in its disposal. Only the French had shown +anything like the same activity, or had established anything like the +same interests; and they were far behind their secular rivals. + +But these facts bring out one feature which differentiated the +settlement of Africa from that of any other region of the non-European +world. It was not a gradual, but an extraordinarily rapid achievement. +It was based not upon claims established by work already done, but, for +the most part, upon the implicit assumption that extra-European empire +was the due of the European peoples, simply because they were civilised +and powerful. This was the justification, in a large degree, of all the +European empires in Africa. But it was especially so in the case of the +empire which Germany created in the space of three years. This empire +was not the product of German enterprise in the regions included within +it; it was the product of Germany's dominating position in Europe, and +the expression of her resolve to create an external empire worthy of +that position. + +Africa falls naturally into two great regions. The northern coast, +separated from the main mass of the continent by the broad belt of +deserts which runs from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, has always been +far more ultimately connected with the other Mediterranean lands than +with the rest of Africa. Throughout the course of history, indeed, the +northern coast-lands have belonged rather to the realms of Western or +of Asiatic civilisation than to the primitive barbarism of the sons of +Ham. In the days of the Carthaginians and of the Roman Empire, all +these lands, from Egypt to Morocco, had known a high civilisation. They +were racially as well as historically distinct from the rest of the +continent. They had been in name part of the Turkish Empire, and any +European interference in their affairs was as much a question of +European politics as the problems of the Balkans. Two countries in this +area fell under European direction during the period with which we are +concerned, and in each case the effects upon European politics were +very great. In 1881 France, with the deliberate encouragement of +Bismarck, sent armies into Tunis, and assumed the protectorate of that +misgoverned region. She had good grounds for her action. Not only had +she large trade-interests in Tunis, but the country was separated from +her earlier dominion in Algeria only by an artificial line, and its +disorders increased the difficulty of developing the efficient +administration which she had established there. Unhappily Italy also +had interests in Tunis. There were more Italian than French residents +in the country, which is separated from Sicily only by a narrow belt of +sea. And Italy, who was beginning to conceive colonial ambitions, had +not unnaturally marked down Tunis as her most obvious sphere of +influence. The result was to create a long-lived ill-feeling between +the two Latin countries. As a consequence of the annexation of Tunis, +Italy was persuaded in the next year (1882) to join the Triple +Alliance; and France, having burnt her fingers, became chary of +colonial adventures in regions that were directly under the eye of +Europe. Isolated, insecure, and eternally suspicious of Germany, she +could not afford to be drawn into European quarrels. This is in a large +degree the explanation of her vacillating action in regard to Egypt. + +In Egypt the political influence of France had been preponderant ever +since the time of Mehemet Ali; perhaps we should say, ever since the +time of Napoleon. And political influence had been accompanied by +trading and financial interests. France had a larger share of the trade +of Egypt, and had lent more money to the ruling princes of the country, +than any other country save England. She had designed and executed the +Suez Canal. But this waterway, once opened, was used mainly by British +ships on the way to India, Australia, and the Far East. It became a +point of vital strategic importance to Britain, who, though she had +opposed its construction, eagerly seized the chance of buying a great +block of shares in the enterprise from the bankrupt Khedive. Thus +French and British interests in Egypt were equally great; greater than +those of all the rest of Europe put together. When the native +government of Egypt fell into bankruptcy (1876), the two powers set up +a sort of condominium, or joint control of the finances, in order to +ensure the payment of interest on the Egyptian debt held by their +citizens. To bankruptcy succeeded political chaos; and it became +apparent that if the rich land of Egypt was not to fall into utter +anarchy, there must be direct European intervention. The two powers +proposed to take joint action; the rest of Europe assented. But the +Sultan of Turkey, as suzerain of Egypt, threatened to make +difficulties. At the last moment France, fearful of the complications +that might result, and resolute to avoid the danger of European war, +withdrew from the project of joint intervention. Britain went on alone; +and although she hoped and believed that she would quickly be able to +restore order, and thereupon to evacuate the country, found herself +drawn into a labour of reconstruction that could not be dropped. We +shall in the next chapter have more to say on the British occupation of +Egypt, as part of the British achievement during this period. In the +meanwhile, its immediate result was continuous friction between France +and Britain. France could not forgive herself or Britain for the +opportunity which she had lost. The embitterment caused by the Egyptian +question lasted throughout the period, and was not healed till the +Entente of 1904. It intensified and exacerbated the rivalry of the two +countries in other fields. It made each country incapable of judging +fairly the actions of the other. To wounded and embittered France, the +perfectly honest British explanations of the reasons for delay in +evacuating Egypt seemed only so many evidences of hypocrisy masking +greed. To Britain the French attitude seemed fractious and +unreasonable, and she suspected in every French forward movement in +other fields--notably in the Eastern Soudan and the upper valley of the +Nile--an attempt to attack or undermine her. Thus Egypt, like Tunis, +illustrated the influence of European politics in the extra-European +field. The power that profited most was Germany, who had strengthened +herself by drawing Italy into the Triple Alliance, and had kept France +at her mercy by using colonial questions as a means of alienating her +from her natural friends. It was, in truth, only from this point of +view that colonial questions had any interest for Bismarck. He was, as +he repeatedly asserted almost to the day of his death, 'no colony man.' +But the time was at hand when he was to be forced out of this attitude. +For already the riches of tropical Africa were beginning to attract the +attention of Europe. + +The most active and energetic of the powers in tropical Africa was +France. From her ancient foothold at Senegal she was already, in the +late 'seventies, pushing inland towards the upper waters of the Niger; +while further south her vigorous explorer de Brazza was penetrating the +hinterland behind the French coastal settlements north of the Congo +mouth. Meanwhile the explorations of Livingstone and Stanley had given +the world some conception of the wealth of the vast exterior. In 1876 +Leopold, King of the Belgians, summoned a conference at Brussels to +consider the possibility of setting the exploration and settlement of +Africa upon an international basis. Its result was the formation of an +International African Association, with branches in all the principal +countries. But from the first the branches dropped all serious pretence +of international action. They became (so far as they exercised any +influence) purely national organisations for the purpose of acquiring +the maximum amount of territory for their own states. And the central +body, after attempting a few unsuccessful exploring expeditions, +practically resolved itself into the organ of King Leopold himself, and +aimed at creating a neutral state in Central Africa under his +protection. In 1878 H. M. Stanley returned from the exploration of the +Congo. He was at once invited by King Leopold to undertake the +organisation of the Congo basin for his Association, and set out again +for that purpose in 1879. But he soon found himself in conflict with +the active French agents under de Brazza, who had made their way into +the Congo valley from the north-west. And at the same time Portugal, +reviving ancient and dormant claims, asserted that the Congo belonged +to her. It was primarily to find a solution for these disputes that the +Berlin Conference was summoned in December 1884. Meanwhile the rush for +territory was going on furiously in other regions of Africa. Not only +on the Congo, but on the Guinea Coast and its hinterland, France was +showing an immense activity, and was threatening to reduce to small +coastal enclaves the old British settlements on this coast. Only the +energy shown by a group of British merchants, who formed themselves +into a National African Company in 1881, and the vigorous action of +their leader, Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Taubman Goldie, prevented the +extrusion of British interests from the greater part of the Niger +valley, where they had hitherto been supreme. In Madagascar, too, the +ancient ambitions of France had revived. Though British trading and +missionary activities in the island were at this date probably greater +than French, France claimed large rights, especially in the north-east +of the island. These claims drew her into a war with the native power +of the Hovas, which began in 1883, and ended in 1885 with a vague +recognition of French suzerainty. Again, Italy had, in 1883, obtained +her first foothold in Eritrea, on the shore of the Red Sea. And +Germany, also, had suddenly made up her mind to embark upon the career +of empire. In 1883 the Bremen merchant, Luderitz, appeared in +South-west Africa, where there were a few German mission stations and +trading-centres, and annexed a large area which Bismarck was persuaded +to take under the formal protection of Germany. This region had +hitherto been vaguely regarded as within the British sphere, but though +native princes, missionaries, and in 1868 even the Prussian government, +had requested Britain to establish a formal protectorate, she had +always declined to do so. In the next year another German agent, Dr. +Nachtigal, was commissioned by the German government to report on +German trade interests on the West Coast, and the British government +was formally acquainted with his mission and requested to instruct its +agents to assist him. The real purpose of the mission was shown when +Nachtigal made a treaty with the King of Togoland, on the Guinea Coast, +whereby he accepted German suzerainty. A week later a similar treaty +was made with some of the native chiefs in the Cameroons. In this +region British interests had hitherto been predominant, and the chiefs +had repeatedly asked for British protection, which had always been +refused. A little later the notorious Karl Peters, with a few +companions disguised as working engineers, arrived at Zanzibar on the +East Coast, with a commission from the German Colonial Society to peg +out German claims. In the island of Zanzibar British interests had long +been overwhelmingly predominant; and the Sultan, who had large and +vague claims to supremacy over a vast extent of the mainland, had +repeatedly asked the British government to take these regions under its +protectorate. He had always been refused. Peters' luggage consisted +largely of draft treaty-forms; and he succeeded in making treaties with +native princes (usually unaware of the meaning of the documents they +were signing) whereby some 60,000 square miles were brought under +German control. The protectorate over these lands had not been accepted +by the German government when the Conference of Berlin met. It was +formally accepted in the next year (1885). Far from being opposed by +Britain, the establishment of German power in East Africa was actually +welcomed by the British government, whose foreign secretary, Earl +Granville, wrote that his government 'views with favour these schemes, +the realisation of which will entail the civilisation of large tracts +over which hitherto no European influence has been exercised.' And when +a group of British traders began to take action further north, in the +territory which later became British East Africa, and in which Peters +had done nothing, the British government actually consulted the German +government before licensing their action. Thus before the meeting of +the Conference of Berlin the foundations of the German empire in Africa +were already laid; the outlines of the vast French empire in the north +had begun to appear; and the curious dominion of Leopold of Belgium in +the Congo valley had begun to take shape. + +The Conference of Berlin (Dec. 1884-Feb. 1885), which marks the close +of the first stage in the partition of Africa, might have achieved +great things if it had endeavoured to lay down the principles upon +which European control over backward peoples should be exercised. But +it made no such ambitious attempt. It prescribed the rules of the game +of empire-building, ordaining that all protectorates should be formally +notified by the power which assumed them to the other powers, and that +no annexation should be made of territory which was not 'effectively' +occupied; but evidently the phrase 'effective occupation' can be very +laxly interpreted. It provided that there should be free navigation of +the Congo and Niger rivers, and freedom of trade for alienations within +the Congo valley and certain other vaguely defined areas. But it made +no similar provision for other parts of Africa; and it whittled away +the value of what it did secure by the definite proviso that should +parts of these areas be annexed by independent states, the restriction +upon their control of trade should lapse. It recognised the illegality +of the slave-trade, and imposed upon annexing powers the duty of +helping to suppress it; this provision was made much fuller and more +definite by a second conference at Brussels in 1890, on the demand of +Britain, who had hitherto contended almost alone against the traffic in +human flesh. But no attempt was made to define native rights, to +safeguard native customs, to prohibit the maintenance of forces larger +than would be necessary for the maintenance of order: in short, no +attempt was made to lay down the doctrine that the function of a ruling +power among backward peoples is that of a trustee on behalf of its +simple subjects and on behalf of civilisation. That the partition of +Africa should have been effected without open war, and that the +questions decided at Berlin should have been so easily and peacefully +agreed upon, seemed at the moment to be a good sign. But the spirit +which the conference expressed was not a healthy spirit. + +After 1884 the activity of the powers in exploration, annexation and +development became more furious than ever. Britain now began seriously +to arouse herself to the danger of exclusion from vast areas where her +interests had hitherto been predominant; and it was during these years +that all her main acquisitions of territory in Africa were made: +Rhodesia and Central Africa in the south, East Africa and Somaliland in +the East, Nigeria and the expansion of her lesser protectorates in the +West. To these years also belonged the definite, and most unfortunate, +emergence of Italy as a colonising power. She had got a foothold in +Eritrea in 1883; in 1885 it was, with British aid, enlarged by the +annexation of territory which had once been held by Egypt, but had been +abandoned when she lost the Soudan. But the Italian claims in Eritrea +brought on conflict with the neighbouring native power of Abyssinia. In +spite of a sharp defeat at Dogali in 1887, she succeeded in holding her +own in this conflict; and in 1889 Abyssinia accepted a treaty which +Italy claimed to be a recognition of her suzerainty. But the +Abyssinians repudiated this interpretation; and in a new war, which +began in 1896, inflicted upon the Italians so disastrous a defeat at +Adowa that they were constrained to admit the complete independence of +Abyssinia--the sole native state which has so far been able to hold its +own against the pressure of Europe. Meanwhile in 1889 and the following +years Italy had, once more with the direct concurrence of Britain, +marked out a new territory in Somaliland. + +The main features of the years from 1884 to 1900 were the rapidity with +which the territories earlier annexed were expanded and organised, more +especially by France. In the 'nineties her dominions extended from the +Mediterranean to the Guinea Coast, and she had conceived the ambition +of extending them also across Africa from West to East. This ambition +led her into a new and more acute conflict with Britain, who, having +undertaken the reconquest of the Egyptian Soudan and the upper valley +of the Nile, held that she could not permit a rival to occupy the upper +waters of the great river, or any part of the territory that belonged +to it. Hence when the intrepid explorer, Marchand, after a toilsome +expedition which lasted for two years, planted the French flag at +Fashoda in 1898, he was promptly disturbed by Kitchener, fresh from the +overthrow of the Khalifa and the reconquest of Khartoum, and was +compelled to withdraw. The tension was severe; no episode in the +partition of Africa had brought the world so near to the outbreak of a +European war. But in the end the dispute was settled by the +Anglo-French agreement of 1898, which may be said to mark the +conclusion of the process of partition. It was the last important +treaty in a long series which filled the twenty years following 1878, +and which had the result of leaving Africa, with the exception of +Morocco, Tripoli, and Abyssinia, completely divided among the chief +European states. Africa was the main field of the ambitions and +rivalries of the European powers during this period; the other fields +may be more rapidly surveyed. In Central Asia and the Near East the +main features of the period were two. The first was the steady advance +of Russia towards the south-east, which awakened acute alarms in +Britain regarding India, and led to the adoption of a 'forward policy' +among the frontier tribes in the north-west of India. The second was +the gradual and silent penetration of Turkey by German influence. Here +there was no partition or annexation, But Germany became the political +protector of the Turk; undertook the reorganisation of his armies; +obtained great commercial concessions; bought up his railways, ousting +the earlier British and French concerns which had controlled them, and +built new lines. The greatest of these was the vitally important +project of the Bagdad railway, which was taken in hand just before the +close of the period. It was a project whose political aims outweighed +its commercial aims. And it provided a warning of the gigantic designs +which Germany was beginning to work out. But as yet, in 1900, the +magnitude of these designs was unperceived. And the problems of the +Middle East were not yet very disturbing. The Turkish Empire remained +intact; so did the Persian Empire, though both were becoming more +helpless, partly owing to the decrepitude of their governments, partly +owing to the pressure of European financial and trading interests. As +yet the empires of the Middle East seemed to form a region +comparatively free from European influence. But this was only seeming. +The influence of Europe was at work in them; and it was probably +inevitable that some degree of European political tutelage should +follow as the only means of preventing the disintegration which must +result from the pouring of new wine into the old bottles. + +In the Far East--in the vast empire of China--this result seemed to be +coming about inevitably and rapidly. The ancient pot-bound civilisation +of China had withstood the impact of the West in the mid-nineteenth +century without breaking down; but China had made no attempt, such as +Japan had triumphantly carried out, to adapt herself to the new +conditions, and her system was slowly crumbling under the influence of +the European traders, teachers, and missionaries whom she had been +compelled to admit. The first of the powers to take advantage of this +situation was France, who already possessed a footing in Cochin-China, +and was tempted during the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties to +transform it into a general supremacy over Annam and Tonking. As early +as 1874 she had obtained from the King of Annam a treaty which she +interpreted as giving her suzerain powers. The King of Annam himself +repudiated this interpretation, and maintained that he was a vassal of +China. China took the same view; and after long negotiations a war +between France and China broke out. It lasted for four years, and +demanded a large expenditure of strength. But it ended (1885) with the +formal recognition of French suzerainty over Annam, and a further +decline of Chinese prestige. + +Ten years later a still more striking proof of Chinese weakness was +afforded by the rapid and complete defeat of the vast, ill-organised +empire by Japan, the youngest of the great powers. The war gave to +Japan Formosa and the Pescadores Islands, and added her to the list of +imperialist powers. She would have won more still--the Liao-tang +Peninsula and a sort of suzerainty over Korea--but that the European +powers, startled by the signs of China's decay, and perhaps desiring a +share of the plunder, intervened to forbid these annexations, on the +pretext of defending the integrity of China. Russia, France and Germany +combined in this step; Britain stood aloof. Japan, unwillingly giving +way, and regarding Russia as the chief cause of her humiliation, began +to prepare herself for a coming conflict. As for unhappy China, she was +soon to learn how much sincerity there was in the zeal of Europe for +the maintenance of her integrity. In 1896 she was compelled to permit +Russia to build a railway across Manchuria; and to grant to France a +'rectification of frontiers' on the south, and the right of building a +railway through the province of Yunnan, which lies next to Tonking. The +partition of China seemed to be at hand. Britain and America vainly +urged upon the other powers that China should be left free to direct +her own affairs subject to the maintenance of 'the open door' for +European trade. The other powers refused to listen, and in 1897 the +beginning of the end seemed to have come. Germany, seizing on the +pretext afforded by the murder of two German missionaries, stretched +forth her 'mailed fist,' and seized the strong place and admirable +harbour of Kiao-chau, the most valuable strategic position on the +Chinese coast. That she meant to use it as a base for future expansion +was shown by her lavish expenditure upon its equipment and +fortification. Russia responded by seizing the strong place of Port +Arthur and the Liao-Tang Peninsula, while every day her hold upon the +great province of Manchuria was strengthened. Foreseeing a coming +conflict in which her immense trading interests would be imperilled, +Britain acquired a naval base on the Chinese coast by leasing +Wei-hai-Wei. Thus all the European rivals were clustered round the +decaying body of China; and in the last years of the century were +already beginning to claim 'spheres of influence,' despite the protests +of Britain and America. But the outburst of the Boxer Rising in +1900--caused mainly by resentment of foreign intervention--had the +effect of postponing the rush for Chinese territory. And when Britain +and Japan made an alliance in 1902 on the basis of guaranteeing the +status quo in the East, the overwhelming naval strength of the two +allies made a European partition of China impracticable; and China was +once more given a breathing-space. Only Russia could attack the Chinese +Empire by land; and the severe defeat which she suffered at the hands +of Japan in 1904-5 removed that danger also. The Far East was left with +a chance of maintaining its independence, and of voluntarily adapting +itself to the needs of a new age. + +The last region in which territories remained available for European +annexation consisted of the innumerable archipelagoes of the Pacific +Ocean. Here the preponderant influence had been in the hands of Britain +ever since the days of Captain Cook. She had made some annexations +during the first three quarters of the century, but had on the whole +steadfastly refused the requests of many of the island peoples to be +taken under her protection. France had, as we have seen, acquired New +Caledonia and the Marquesas Islands during the previous period, but her +activity in this region was never very great. The only other European +power in possession of Pacific territories was Spain, who held the +great archipelago of the Philippines, and claimed also the numerous +minute islands (nearly six hundred in number) which are known as +Micronesia. When the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties began, +Germany saw a fruitful field in the Pacific, and annexed the Bismarck +Archipelago and the north-eastern quarter of New Guinea. Under pressure +from Australia, who feared to see so formidable a neighbour established +so near her coastline, Britain annexed the south-eastern quarter of +that huge island. During the 'nineties the partition of the Pacific +Islands was completed; the chief participators being Germany, Britain, +and the United States of America. + +The entry of America into the race for imperial possessions in its last +phase was too striking an event to pass without comment. America +annexed Hawaii in 1898, and divided the Samoan group with Germany in +1899. But her most notable departure from her traditional policy of +self-imposed isolation from world-politics came when in 1898 she was +drawn by the Cuban question into a war with Spain. Its result was the +disappearance of the last relics of the Spanish Empire in the New World +and in the Pacific. Cuba became an independent republic. Porto Rico was +annexed by America. In the Pacific the Micronesian possessions of Spain +were acquired by Germany. Germany would fain have annexed also the +Philippine Islands. But America resolved herself to assume the task of +organising and governing these rich lands; and in doing so made a grave +breach with her traditions. Her new possession necessarily drew her +into closer relations with the problems of the Far East; it gave her +also some acquaintance with the difficulty of introducing Western +methods among a backward people. During these years of universal +imperialist excitement the spirit of imperialism seemed to have +captured America as it had captured the European states; and this was +expressed in a new interpretation of the Monroe doctrine, put forth by +the Secretary of State during the Venezuela controversy of 1895. 'The +United States,' said Mr. Olney, 'is practically sovereign on this +continent (meaning both North and South America), 'and its fiat is law +upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition.' No such +gigantic imperial claim had ever been put forward by any European +state; and it constituted an almost defiant challenge to the +imperialist powers of Europe. It may safely be said that this dictum +did not represent the settled judgment of the American people. But it +did appear, in the last years of the century, as if the great republic +were about to emerge from her self-imposed isolation, and to take her +natural part in the task of planting the civilisation of the West +throughout the world. Had she frankly done so, had she made it plain +that she recognised the indissoluble unity and the common interests of +the whole world, it is possible that her influence might have eased the +troubles of the next period, and exercised a deterrent influence upon +the forces of disturbance which were working towards the great +catastrophe. But her traditions were too strong; and after the brief +imperialist excitement of the 'nineties, she gradually relapsed once +more into something like her old attitude of aloofness. + +It is but a cursory and superficial view which we have been able to +take of this extraordinary quarter of a century, during which almost +the whole world was partitioned among a group of mighty empires, and +the political and economic unity of the globe was finally and +irrefragably established. Few regions had escaped the direct political +control of European powers; and most of these few were insensibly +falling under the influence of one or other of the powers: Turkey under +that of Germany, Persia under that of Russia and Britain. No region of +the earth remained exempt from the indirect influence of the European +system. The civilisation of the West had completed the domination of +the globe; and the interests of the great world-states were so +intertwined and intermingled in every corner of the earth that the +balance of power among them had become as precarious as was the +European balance in the eighteenth century. The era of the world-states +had very definitely opened. It remained to be seen in what spirit it +was to be used, and whether it was to be of long duration. These two +questions are one; for no system can last which is based upon injustice +and the denial of right. + +At this point we may well stop to survey the new world-states which had +been created by this quarter of a century of eager competition. + +First among them, in extent and importance, stood the new empire of +France. It covered a total area of five million square miles, and in +size ranked third in order, coming after the older empires of Russia +and Britain. It had been the result of the strenuous labours of +three-quarters of a century, dating from the first invasion of Algiers; +it included also some surviving fragments of the earlier French Empire. +But overwhelmingly the greater part of this vast dominion had been +acquired during the short period which we have surveyed in this +chapter; and its system of organisation and government had not yet had +time to establish itself. It had been built only at the cost of +strenuous labour, and many wars. Yet the French had shown in its +administration that they still retained to the full that imaginative +tact in the handling of alien peoples which had stood them in good +stead in India and America during the eighteenth century. Once their +rule was established the French had on the whole very little trouble +with their subjects; and it is impossible to praise too highly the +labours of civilisation which French administrators were achieving. So +far as their subjects were concerned, they may justly be said to have +regarded themselves as trustees. So far as the rest of the civilised +world was concerned, the same praise cannot be given; for the French +policy in the economic administration of colonies was definitely one of +monopoly and exclusion. The French Empire fell into three main blocks. +First, and most important, was the empire of Northern Africa, extending +from Algiers to the mouth of the Congo, and from the Atlantic to the +valley of the Nile. Next came the rich island of Madagascar; lastly the +eastern empire of Annam and Tonking, the beginnings of which dated back +to the eighteenth century. A few inconsiderable islands in the Pacific +and the West Indies, acquired long since, a couple of towns in India, +memories of the dreams of Dupleix, and the province of French Guiana in +South America, which dated back to the seventeenth century, completed +the list. For the most part a recent and rapid creation, it +nevertheless had roots in the past, and was the work of a people +experienced in the handling of backward races. + +Next may be named the curious dominion of the Congo Free State, +occupying the rich heart of the African continent. Nominally it +belonged to no European power, but was a recognised neutral territory. +In practice it was treated as the personal estate of the Belgian king, +Leopold II. Subject to closer international restrictions than any other +European domain in the non-European world, the Congo was nevertheless +the field of some of the worst iniquities in the exploitation of +defenceless natives that have ever disgraced the record of European +imperialism. International regulations are no safeguard against +misgovernment; the only real sanction is the character and spirit of +the government. For the Congo iniquities Leopold II. must be held +guilty at the bar of posterity. When he went to his judgment in 1908 +this rich realm passed under the direct control of the Belgian +government and parliament, and an immediate improvement resulted. + +The least successful of the new world-states was that of Italy. Its +story was a story of disaster and disappointment. It included some two +hundred thousand square miles of territory; but they were hot and arid +lands on the inhospitable shores of the Red Sea and in Somaliland. +Italy had as yet no real opportunity of showing how she would deal with +the responsibilities of empire. + +The most remarkable, in many respects, of all these suddenly acquired +empires was that of Germany. For it was practically all obtained within +a period of three years, without fighting or even serious friction. It +fell almost wholly within regions where Germany's interests had been +previously negligible, and British trade predominant. Yet its growth +had not been impeded, it had even been welcomed, by its rivals. This +easily-won empire was indeed relatively small, being not much over one +million square miles, little more than one-fifth of the French +dominions. But it was five times as large as Germany itself, and it +included territories which were, on the whole, richer than those of +France. The comparative smallness of its area was due to the fact that +Germany was actually the last to enter the race. She took no steps to +acquire territory, she showed no desire to acquire it, before 1883; if +she had chosen to begin ten years earlier, as she might easily have +done, or if she had shown any marked activity in exploring or +missionary work, without doubt she could have obtained a much larger +share of African soil. + +These rich lands afforded to their new masters useful supplies of raw +materials, which were capable of almost indefinite expansion. They +included, in East and South-West Africa, areas well suited for white +settlement; but German emigrants, despite every encouragement, refused +to settle in them. An elaborately scientific system of administration, +such as might be expected from the German bureaucracy, was devised for +the colonies; officials and soldiers have from the beginning formed a +larger proportion of their white population than in any other European +possessions. Undoubtedly the government of the German colonies was in +many respects extremely efficient. But over-administration, which has +its defects even in an old and well-ordered country, is fatal to the +development of a raw and new one. Although Germany has, in order to +increase the prosperity of her colonies, encouraged foreign trade, and +followed a far less exclusive policy than France, not one of her +colonies, except the little West African district of Togoland, has ever +paid its own expenses. In the first generation of its existence the +German colonial empire, small though it is in comparison with the +British or the French, actually cost the home government over +100,000,000 pounds in direct outlay. + +The main cause of this was that from the first the Germans showed +neither skill nor sympathy in the handling of their subject +populations. The uniformed official, with his book of rules, only +bewilders primitive folk, and arouses their resentment. But it was not +only official pedantry which caused trouble with the subject peoples; +still more it was the ruthless spirit of mere domination, and the total +disregard of native rights, which were displayed by the German +administration. The idea of trusteeship, which had gradually +established itself among the rulers of the British dominions, and in +the French colonies also, was totally lacking among the Germans. They +ruled their primitive subjects with the brutal intolerance of Zabern, +with the ruthless cruelty since displayed in occupied Belgium. This was +what made the rise of the German dominion a terrible portent in the +history of European imperialism. The spirit of mere domination, +regardless of the rights of the conquered, had often shown itself in +other European empires; but it had always had to struggle against +another and better ideal, the ideal of trusteeship; and, as we have +seen, the better ideal had, during the nineteenth century, definitely +got the upper hand, especially in the British realms, whose experience +had been longest. But the old and bad spirit reigned without check in +the German realms. And even when, in 1907, it began to be seriously +criticised, when its disastrous and unprofitable results began to be +seen, the ground on which it was challenged in discussions in Germany +was mainly the materialist ground that it did not pay. + +The justification for these assertions is to be found in the history of +the principal German colonies. In the Cameroons the native tribes, who +had been so ready to receive European government that they had +repeatedly asked for British protection, were driven to such incessant +revolts that the annals of the colony seem to be annals of continuous +bloodshed: forty-six punitive expeditions were chronicled in the +seventeen years from 1891--long after the establishment of the German +supremacy, which took place in 1884. The record of East Africa was even +more terrible for the ferocity with which constant revolts were +suppressed. But worst of all was the story of South-West Africa. There +were endless wars against the various tribes; but they culminated in +the hideous Herero war of 1903-6. The Hereros, driven to desperation by +maltreatment, had revolted and killed some white farmers. They were +punished by an almost complete annihilation. The spirit of this hideous +slaughter is sufficiently expressed by the proclamation of the +governor, General von Trotha, in 1904. 'The Herero people must now +leave the land. Within the German frontier every Herero, with or +without weapon, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall take +charge of no more women and children, but shall drive them back to +their people, or let them be shot at.' Ten thousand of these unhappy +people, mainly old men, women and children, were driven into the +desert, where they perished. There is no such atrocious episode in the +history of European imperialism since Pizarro's slaughter of the Incas; +if even that can be compared with it. + +The causes of these ceaseless and ruinous wars were to be found partly +in the total disregard of native custom, and in the hide-bound pedantry +with which German-made law and the Prussian system of regimentation +were enforced upon the natives; but it was to be found still more in +the assumption that the native had no rights as against his white lord. +His land might be confiscated; his cattle driven away; even downright +slavery was not unknown, not merely in the form of forced labour, which +has been common in German colonies, but in the form of the actual sale +and purchase of negroes. Herr Dernburg, who became Colonial Secretary +in 1907, himself recorded that he met in East Africa a young farmer who +told him that he had just bought a hundred and fifty negroes; he also +described the settlers' pleasing practice of sitting beside the wells +with revolvers, in order to prevent the natives from watering their +cattle, and to force them to leave them behind; and he noted that +officials nearly always carried negro whips with them. These practices, +indeed, were condemned by the German Government itself, but only after +many years, and mainly because they were wasteful. Government +representatives have told the Reichstag, as Herr Schleitwein did in +1904, that they must pursue a 'healthy egoism,' and forswear +'humanitarianism and irrational sentimentality.' 'The Hereros must be +forced to work, and to work without compensation and for their food +only. ... The sentiments of Christianity and philanthropy with which +the missionaries work must be repudiated with all energy.' This is what +is called Realpolitik. + +Is it too much to say that the appearance of the spirit thus expressed +was a new thing in the history of European imperialism? Is it not plain +that if this spirit should triumph, the ascendancy of Europe over the +non-European world must prove to be, not a blessing, but an unmitigated +curse? Yet the nation which had thus acquitted itself in the rich lands +which it had so easily acquired was not satisfied; it desired a wider +field for the exhibition of its Kultur, its conception of civilisation. + +From the beginning it was evident that the colonial enthusiasts of +Germany had no intention of resting satisfied with the considerable +dominions they had won, but regarded them only as a beginning, as bases +for future conquests. The colonies were not ends in themselves, but +means for the acquisition of further power; and it was this, even more +than the ruthlessness with which the subject peoples were treated, +which made the growth of the German dominions a terrible portent. For +since the whole world was now portioned out, new territories could only +be acquired at the cost of Germany's neighbours. This was, indeed, at +first the programme only of extremists; the mass of the German people, +like Bismarck, took little interest in colonies. But the extremists +proved that they could win over the government to their view; the +German people, most docile of nations, could be gradually indoctrinated +with it. And because this was so, because the ugly spirit of domination +and of unbridled aggressiveness was in these years gradually mastering +the ruling forces of a very powerful state, and leading them towards +the catastrophe which was to prove the culmination of European +imperialism, it is necessary to dwell, at what may seem +disproportionate length, upon the development of German policy during +the later years of our period. + +Filled with pride in her own achievements, believing herself to be, +beyond all rivalry, the greatest nation in the world, already the +leader, and destined to be the controller, of civilisation, Germany +could not bring herself to accept a second place in the imperial +sphere. She had entered late into the field, by no fault of her own, +and found all the most desirable regions of the earth already occupied. +Now that 'world-power' had become the test of greatness among states, +she could be content with nothing short of the first rank among +world-states; if this rank could not be achieved, she seemed to be +sentenced to the same sort of fate as had befallen Holland or Denmark: +she might be ever so prosperous, as these little states were, but she +would be dwarfed by the vast powers which surrounded her. But the +German world-state was not to be the result of a gradual and natural +growth, like the Russian, the British or the American world-states. The +possibility of gradual growth was excluded by the fact that the whole +world had been partitioned. Greatness in the non-European world must +be, and might be, carved out in a single generation, as supremacy in +Europe had been already attained, by the strong will, efficient +organisation, and military might of the German government. + +It was natural, perhaps inevitable, that a nation with the history of +the German nation, with its ruling ideas, and with its apparently +well-tried confidence in the power of its government to achieve its +ends by force, should readily accept such a programme. The date at +which this programme captured the government of Germany, and became the +national policy, can be quite clearly fixed: it was in 1890, when +Bismarck, the 'no colony man,' was driven from power, and the supreme +direction of national affairs fell into the hands of the Emperor +William II. An impressionable, domineering and magniloquent prince, +inflated by the hereditary self-assurance of the Hohenzollerns, and +sharing to the full the modern German belief in German superiority and +in Germany's imperial destiny, William II. became the spokesman and +leader of an almost insanely megalomaniac, but terribly formidable +nation. During the first decade of his government the new ambitions of +Germany were gradually formulated, and became more distinct. They were +not yet very apparent to the rest of the world, in spite of the fact +that they were expounded with vigour and emphasis in a multitude of +pamphlets and books. The world was even ready to believe the Emperor's +assertion that he was the friend of peace: he half believed it himself, +because he would have been very ready to keep the peace if Germany's +'rights' could be attained without war. But many episodes, such as +Kiao-Chau, and the Philippines, and the ceaseless warfare in the German +colonies, and the restless enterprises of Pan-German intrigue, provided +a commentary upon these pretensions which ought to have revealed the +dangerous spirit which was conquering the German people. + +It is difficult, in the midst of a war forced upon the world by German +ambition, to take a sane and balanced view of the aims which German +policy was setting before itself during these years of experiment and +preparation. What did average German opinion mean by the phrase +Weltmacht, world-power, which had become one of the commonplaces of its +political discussions? We may safely assume that by the mass of men the +implications of the term were never very clearly analysed; and that, if +they had been analysable, the results of the analysis would have been +widely different in 1890 and in 1914, except for a few fanatics and +extremists. Was the world-power at which Germany was aiming a real +supremacy over the whole world? In a vague way, no doubt, important +bodies of opinion held that such a supremacy was the ultimate destiny +of Germany in the more or less distant future; and the existence of +such a belief, however undefined, is important because it helped to +colour the attitude of the German mind towards more immediately +practical problems of national policy. But as a programme to be +immediately put into operation, world-power was not conceived in this +sense by any but a few Pan-German fanatics; and even they would have +recognised that of course other states, and even other world-powers, +would certainly survive the most successful German war, though they +would have to submit (for their own good) to Germany's will. Again, did +the demand for world-power mean no more than that Germany must have +extra-European territories, like Britain or France? She already +possessed such territories, though on a smaller scale than her rivals. +Did the claim mean, then, that her dominions must be as extensive and +populous as (say) those of Britain? Such an aim could only be obtained +if she could succeed in overthrowing all her rivals, at once or in +succession. And if she did that, she would then become, whatever her +intentions, a world-power in the first and all-embracing sense. It is +probably true that the German people, and even the extreme Pan-Germans, +did not definitely or consciously aim at world-supremacy. But they had +in the back of their minds the conviction that this was their ultimate +destiny, and in aiming at 'world-power' in a narrower sense, they so +defined their end as to make it impossible of achievement unless the +complete mastery of Europe (which, as things are, means the mastery of +most of the world) could be first attained. Certainly the ruling +statesmen of Germany must have been aware of the implications of their +doctrine of world-power. They were aware of it in 1914, when they +deliberately struck for the mastery of Europe; they must have been +aware of it in 1890, when they began to lay numerous plans and projects +in all parts of the world, such as were bound to arouse the fears and +suspicions of their rivals. + +It is necessary to dwell for a little upon these plans and projects of +the decade 1890-1900, because they illustrate the nature of the peril +which was looming over an unconscious world. It would be an error to +suppose that all these schemes were systematically and continuously +pursued with the whole strength of the German state. They appealed to +different bodies of opinion. Some of them were eagerly taken up for a +time, and then allowed to fall into the background, though seldom +wholly dropped. But taken as a whole they showed the existence of a +restless and insatiable ambition without very clearly defined aims, and +an eagerness to make use of every opening for the extension of power, +which constituted a very dangerous frame of mind in a nation so strong, +industrious, and persistent as the German nation. + +In spite of the disappointing results of colonisation in Africa, the +German colonial enthusiasts hoped that something suitably grandiose +might yet be erected there: if the Belgian Congo could somehow be +acquired, and if the Portuguese would agree to sell their large +territories on the east and west coasts, a great empire of Tropical +Africa might be brought into being. This vision has not been abandoned: +it is the theme of many pamphlets published during the course of the +war, and if Germany were to be able to impose her own terms, all the +peoples of Central Africa might yet hope to have extended to them the +blessings of German government as they have been displayed in the +Cameroons and in the South-West. + +In the 'nineties there seemed also to be hope in South Africa, where +use might be made of the strained relations between Britain and the +Boer Republics. German South-West Africa formed a convenient base for +operations in this region: it was equipped with a costly system of +strategic railways, far more elaborate than the commerce of the colony +required. There is no doubt that President Kruger was given reason to +anticipate that he would receive German help: in 1895 (before the +Jameson Raid) Kruger publicly proclaimed that the time had come 'to +form ties of the closest friendship between Germany and the Transvaal, +ties such as are natural between fathers and children'; in 1896 (after +the Jameson Raid) came the Emperor's telegram congratulating President +Kruger upon having repelled the invaders 'without recourse to the aid +of friendly powers'; in 1897 a formal treaty of friendship and commerce +was made between Germany and the Orange Free State, with which the +Transvaal had just concluded a treaty of perpetual alliance. And +meanwhile German munitions of war were pouring into the Transvaal +through Delagoa Bay. But when the crisis came, Germany did nothing. She +could not, because the British fleet stood in the way. + +South America, again, offered a very promising field. There were many +thousands of German settlers, especially in southern Brazil: the +Pan-German League assiduously laboured to organise these settlers, and +to fan their patriotic zeal, by means of schools, books, and +newspapers. But the Monroe Doctrine stood in the way of South American +annexations. Perhaps Germany might have been ready to see how far she +could go with the United States, the least military of great powers. +But there was good reason to suppose that the British fleet would have +to be reckoned with; and a burglarious expedition to South America with +that formidable watchdog at large and unmuzzled was an uninviting +prospect. + +In the Far East the prospects of immediate advance seemed more +favourable, since the Chinese Empire appeared to be breaking up. The +seizure of Kiao-chau in 1897 was a hopeful beginning. But the +Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 formed a serious obstacle to any +vigorous forward policy in this region. Once more the British fleet +loomed up as a barrier. + +Yet another dream, often referred to by the pamphleteers though never +brought to overt action by the government, was the dream that the rich +empire of the Dutch in the Malay Archipelago should be acquired by +Germany. Holland herself, according to all the political ethnologists +of the Pan-German League, ought to be part of the German Empire; and if +so, her external dominions would follow the destiny of the ruling +state. But this was a prospect to be talked about, not to be worked for +openly. It would naturally follow from a successful European war. + +A more immediately practicable field of operations was to be found in +the Turkish Empire. It was here that the most systematic endeavours +were made during this period: the Berlin-Bagdad scheme, which was to be +the keystone of the arch of German world-power, had already taken shape +before our period closed, though the rest of the world was strangely +blind to its significance. Abstractly regarded, a German dominion over +the wasted and misgoverned lands of the Turkish Empire would have meant +a real advance of civilisation, and would have been no more +unjustifiable than the British control of Egypt or India. This feeling +perhaps explained the acquiescence with which the establishment of +German influence in Turkey was accepted by most of the powers. They had +yet to realise that it was not pursued as an end in itself, but as a +means to further domination. + +But neither the great Berlin-Bagdad project, nor any of the other +dreams and visions, had been definitely put into operation during the +decade 1890-1900. Germany was as yet feeling the way, preparing the +ground, and building up her resources both military and industrial. +Perhaps the main result which emerged from the tentative experiments of +these years was that at every point the obstacle was the sprawling +British Empire, and the too-powerful British fleet. The conviction grew +that the overthrow of this fat and top-heavy colossus was the necessary +preliminary to the creation of the German world-state. + +This was a doctrine which had long been preached by the chief political +mentor of modern Germany, Treitschke, who died in 1896. He was never +tired of declaring that Britain was a decadent and degenerate state, +that her empire was an unreal empire, and that it would collapse before +the first serious attack. It would break up because it was not based +upon force, because it lacked organisation, because it was a medley of +disconnected and discordant fragments, worshipping an undisciplined +freedom. That it should ever have come into being was one of the +paradoxes of history; for it was manifestly not due to straightforward +brute force, like the German Empire; and the modern German mind could +not understand a state which did not rest upon power, but upon consent, +which had not been built up, like Prussia, by the deliberate action of +government, but which had grown almost at haphazard, through the +spontaneous activity of free and self-governing citizens. Treitschke +and his disciples could only explain the paradox by assuming that since +it had not been created by force, it must have been created by low +cunning; and they invented the theory that British statesmen had for +centuries pursued an undeviating and Machiavellian policy of keeping +the more virile states of Europe at cross-purposes with one another by +means of the cunning device called the Balance of Power, while behind +the backs of these tricked and childlike nations Britain was meanly +snapping up all the most desirable regions of the earth. According to +this view it was in some mysterious way Britain's fault that France and +Germany were not the best of friends, and that Russia had been +alienated from her ancient ally. But the day of reckoning would come +when these mean devices would no longer avail, and the pampered, +selfish, and overgrown colossus would find herself faced by +hard-trained and finely tempered Germany, clad in her shining armour. +Then, at the first shock, India would revolt; and the Dutch of South +Africa would welcome their German liberators; and the great colonies, +to which Britain had granted a degree of independence that no virile +state would ever have permitted, would shake off the last shreds of +subordination; and the ramshackle British Empire would fall to pieces; +and Germany would emerge triumphant, free to pursue all her great +schemes, and to create a lasting world-power, based upon Force and +System and upon 'a healthy egoism,' not upon 'irrational +sentimentalities' about freedom and justice. + +These were the doctrines and calculations of Realpolitik. They were +becoming more and more prevalent in the 'nineties. They seem definitely +to have got the upper hand in the direction of national policy during +the last years of the century, when Germany refused to consider the +projects of disarmament put forward at the Hague in 1899, when the +creation of the German navy was begun by the Navy Acts of 1898 and +1900, and when the Emperor announced that the future of Germany lay +upon the water, and that hers must be the admiralty of the Atlantic. At +the moment when the conquest of the world by European civilisation was +almost complete, two conceptions of the meaning of empire, the +conception of brutal domination pursued for its own sake, which has +never been more clearly displayed than in the administration of the +German colonies, and the conception of trusteeship, which had slowly +emerged during the long development of the British Empire, stood forth +already in sharp antithesis. + +The dreadful anticipation of coming conflict weighed upon the world. +France, still suffering from the wounds of 1870, was always aware of +it. Russia, threatened by German policy in the Balkans, was more and +more clearly realising it. But Britain was extraordinarily slow to +awaken to the menace. As late as 1898 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain was +advocating an alliance between Britain, Germany, and America to +maintain the peace of the world; and Cecil Rhodes, when he devised his +plan for turning Oxford into the training-ground of British youth from +all the free nations of the empire, found a place in his scheme for +German as well as for American students. The telegram to President +Kruger in 1896 caused only a passing sensation. The first real +illumination came with the extraordinary display of German venom +against Britain during the South African war, and with the ominous +doubling of the German naval programme adopted in the midst of that +war, in 1900. But even this made no profound impression. The majority +of the British people declined to believe that a 'great and friendly +nation,' or its rulers, could deliberately enter upon a scheme of such +unbridled ambition and of such unprovoked aggression. + + + + +VIII + +THE BRITISH EMPIRE AMID THE WORLD-POWERS, 1878-1914 + + +Throughout the period of rivalry for world-power which began in 1878 +the British Empire had continued to grow in extent, and to undergo a +steady change in its character and organisation. + +In the partition of Africa, Britain, in spite of the already immense +extent of her domains, obtained an astonishingly large share. The +protectorates of British East Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Nyasaland, and +Somaliland gave her nearly 25,000,000 new negro subjects, and these, +added to her older settlements of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, +whose area was now extended, outnumbered the whole population of the +French African empire. But besides these tropical territories she +acquired control over two African regions so important that they +deserve separate treatment: Egypt, on the one hand, and the various +extensions of her South African territories on the other. When the +partition of Africa was completed, the total share of Britain amounted +to 3,500,000 square miles, with a population of over 50,000,000 souls, +and it included the best regions of the continent: the British Empire, +in Africa alone, was more than three times as large as the colonial +empire of Germany, which was almost limited to Africa. + +It may well be asked why an empire already so large should have taken +also the giant's share of the last continent available for division +among the powers of Europe. No doubt this was in part due to the +sentiment of imperialism, which was stronger in Britain during this +period than ever before. But there were other and more powerful causes. +In the first place, during the period 1815-78 British influence and +trade had been established in almost every part of Africa save the +central ulterior, and no power had such definite relations with various +native tribes, many of which desired to come under the protectorate of +a power with whom the protection of native rights and customs was an +established principle. In the second place, Britain was the only +country which already possessed in Africa colonies inhabited by +enterprising European settlers, and the activity of these settlers +played a considerable part in the extension of the British African +dominions. And in the third place, since the continental powers had +adopted the policy of fiscal protection, the annexation of a region by +any of them meant that the trade of other nations might be restricted +or excluded; the annexation of a territory by Britain meant that it +would be open freely and on equal terms to the trade of all nations. +For this reason the trading interests in Britain, faced by the +possibility of exclusion from large areas with which they had carried +on traffic, were naturally anxious that as much territory as possible +should be brought under British supremacy, in order that it might +remain open to their trade. + +It is the main justification for British annexations that they opened +and developed new markets for all the world, instead of closing them; +and it was this fact chiefly which made the acquisition of such vast +areas tolerable to the other trading powers. The extension of the +British Empire was thus actually a benefit to all the non-imperial +states, especially to such active trading countries as Italy, Holland, +Scandinavia, or America. If at any time Britain should reverse her +traditional policy, and reserve for her own merchants the trade of the +immense areas which have been brought under her control, nothing is +more certain than that the world would protest, and protest with +reason, against the exorbitant and disproportionate share which has +fallen to her. Only so long as British control means the open door for +all the world will the immense extent of these acquisitions continue to +be accepted without protest by the rest of the world. + +In the new protectorates of this period Britain found herself faced by +a task with which she had never had to deal on so gigantic a scale, +though she had a greater experience in it than any other nation: the +task of governing justly whole populations of backward races, among +whom white men could not permanently dwell, and whom they visited only +for the purposes of commercial exploitation. The demands of industry +for the raw materials of these countries involved the employment of +labour on a very large scale; but the native disliked unfamiliar toil, +and as his wants were very few, could easily earn enough to keep him in +the idleness he loved. Slavery was the customary mode of getting +uncongenial tasks performed in Africa; but against slavery European +civilisation had set its face. Again, the ancient unvarying customs +whereby the rights and duties of individual tribesmen were enforced, +and the primitive societies held together, were often inconsistent with +Western ideas, and tended to break down altogether on contact with +Western industrial methods. How were the needs of industry to be +reconciled with justice to the subject peoples? How were their customs +to be reconciled with the legal ideas of their new masters? How were +these simple folk to be taught the habits of labour? How were the +resources of their land to be developed without interference with their +rights of property and with the traditional usages arising from them? +These were problems of extreme difficulty, which faced the rulers of +all the new European empires. The attempt to solve them in a +high-handed way, and with a view solely to the interests of the ruling +race, led to many evils: it produced the atrocities of the Congo; it +produced in the German colonies the practical revival of slavery, the +total disregard of native customs, and the horrible sequence of wars +and slaughters of which we have already spoken. In the British +dominions a long tradition and a long experience saved the subject +peoples from these iniquities. We dare not claim that there were no +abuses in the British lands; but at least it can be claimed that +government has always held it to be its duty to safeguard native +rights, and to prevent the total break-up of the tribal system which +could alone hold these communities together. The problem was not fully +solved; perhaps it is insoluble. But at least the native populations +were not driven to despair, and were generally able to feel that they +were justly treated. 'Let me tell you,' a Herero is recorded to have +written from British South Africa to his kinsmen under German rule, +'Let me tell you that the land of the English is a good land, since +there is no ill-treatment. White and black stand on the same level. +There is much work and much money, and your overseer does not beat you, +or if he does he breaks the law and is punished.' There was a very +striking contrast between the steady peace which has on the whole +reigned in all the British dominions, and the incessant warfare which +forms the history of the German colonies. The tradition of protection +of native rights, established during the period 1815-78, and the +experience then acquired, stood the British in good stead. During the +ordeal of the Great War it has been noteworthy that there has been no +serious revolt among these recently conquered subjects; and one of the +most touching features of the war has been the eagerness of chiefs and +their peoples to help the protecting power, and the innumerable humble +gifts which they have spontaneously offered. Much remains to be done +before a perfect solution is found for the problems of these dominions +of yesterday. But it may justly be claimed that trusteeship, not +domination, has been the spirit in which they have been administered; +and that this is recognised by their subjects, despite all the mistakes +and defects to which all human governments must be liable in dealing +with a problem so complex. + +Administrative problems of a yet more complex kind were raised in the +two greatest acquisitions of territory made by Britain during these +years, in Egypt and the Soudan, and in South Africa. The events +connected with these two regions have aroused greater controversy than +those connected with any other British dominions; the results of these +events have been more striking, and in different ways more instructive +as to the spirit and methods of British imperialism, than those +displayed in almost any other field; and for these reasons we shall not +hesitate to dwell upon them at some length. + +The establishment of British control over Egypt was due to the most +curious chain of unforeseen and unexpected events which even the +records of the British Empire contain. Nominally a part of the Turkish +Empire, Egypt had been in fact a practically independent state, paying +only a small fixed tribute to the Sultan, ever since the remarkable +Albanian adventurer, Mehemet Ali, had established himself as its Pasha +in the confusion following the French occupation (1806). Mehemet Ali +had been an extraordinarily enterprising prince. He had created a +formidable army, had conquered the great desert province of the Soudan +and founded its capital, Khartoum, and had nearly succeeded in +overthrowing the Turkish Empire and establishing his own power in its +stead: during the period 1825-40 he had played a leading role in +European politics. Though quite illiterate, he had posed as the +introducer of Western civilisation into Egypt; but his grandiose and +expensive policy had imposed terrible burdens upon the fellahin +(peasantry), and the heavy taxation which was necessary to maintain his +armies and the spurious civilisation of his capital was only raised by +cruel oppressions. + +The tradition of lavish expenditure, met by grinding the peasantry, was +accentuated by Mehemet's successors. It inevitably impoverished the +country. Large loans were raised in the West, to meet increasing +deficits; and the European creditors in course of time found it +necessary to insist that specific revenues should be ear-marked as a +security for their interest, and to claim powers of supervision over +finance. The construction of the Suez Canal (opened 1869), which was +due to the enterprise of the French, promised to bring increased +prosperity to Egypt; but in the meanwhile it involved an immense +outlay. At the beginning of our period Egypt was already on the verge +of bankruptcy, and the Khedive was compelled to sell his holding of +Suez Canal shares, which were shrewdly acquired for Britain by Disraeli. + +But financial chaos was not the only evil from which Egypt suffered. +There was administrative chaos also, and this was not diminished by the +special jurisdictions which had been allowed to the various groups of +Europeans settled in the country. The army, unpaid and undisciplined, +was ready to revolt; and above all, the helpless mass of the peasantry +were reduced to the last degree of penury, and exposed to the merciless +and arbitrary severity of the officials, who fleeced them of their +property under the lash. All the trading nations were affected by this +state of anarchy in an important centre of trade; all the creditors of +the Egyptian debt observed it with alarm. But the two powers most +concerned were France and Britain, which between them held most of the +debt, and conducted most of the foreign trade, of Egypt; while to +Britain Egypt had become supremely important, since it now controlled +the main avenue of approach to India. + +When a successful military revolt, led by Arabi Pasha, threatened to +complete the disorganisation of the country (1882), France and Britain +decided that they ought to intervene to restore order, the other powers +all agreeing. But at the last moment France withdrew, and the task was +undertaken by Britain single-handed.[7] In a short campaign Arabi was +overthrown; and now Britain had to address herself to the task of +reconstructing the political and economic organisation of Egypt. It was +her hope and intention that the work should be done as rapidly as +possible, in order that she might be able to withdraw from a difficult +and thankless task, which brought her into very delicate relations with +the other powers interested in Egypt. But withdrawal was not easy. The +task of reorganisation proved to be a much larger and more complicated +one than had been anticipated; and it was greatly increased when the +strange wave of religious fanaticism aroused by the preaching of the +Mahdi swept over the Soudan, raised a great upheaval, and led to the +destruction of the Egyptian armies of occupation. Britain had now to +decide whether the revolting province should be reconquered or +abandoned. Reconquest could not be effected by the utterly disorganised +Egyptian army; if it was to be attempted, it must be by means of +British troops. But this would not only mean a profitless expenditure, +it would also indefinitely prolong the British occupation, which +Britain was desirous of bringing to an end at the earliest possible +moment. + + +[7] See above, p. 164 + + +The romantic hero, Gordon, was therefore sent to Khartoum to carry out +the withdrawal from the Soudan of all the remaining Egyptian garrisons. +On his arrival he came to the conclusion that the position was not +untenable, and took no steps to evacuate. There was much dangerous +delay and vacillation; and in the end Gordon was besieged in Khartoum, +and killed by the bands of the Mahdi, before a relief force could reach +him. But this triumph of Mahdism increased its menace to Egypt. The +country could not be left to its own resources until this peril had +been removed, or until the Egyptian army had been fully reorganised. So +the occupation prolonged itself, year after year. + +The situation was, in fact, utterly anomalous. Egypt was a province of +Turkey, ruled by a semi-independent Khedive. Britain's chief agent in +the country was in form only in the position of a diplomatic +representative. But the very existence of the country depended upon the +British army of occupation, and upon the work of the British officers +who were reconstructing the Egyptian army. And its hope of future +stability depended upon the work of the British administrators, +financiers, jurists, and engineers who were labouring to set its +affairs in order. These officials, with Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) +at their head, had an extraordinarily difficult task to perform. Their +relations with the native government, which they constantly had to +overrule, were difficult enough. But besides this, they had to deal +with the agents of the other European powers, who, as representing the +European creditors of the Egyptian debt, had the right to interfere in +practically all financial questions, and could make any logical +financial reorganisation, and any free use of the country's financial +resources for the restoration of its prosperity, all but impossible. + +Yet in the space of a very few years an amazing work of restoration and +reorganisation was achieved. Financial stability was re-established, +while at the same time taxation was reduced. The forced labour which +had been exacted from the peasantry was abolished; they were no longer +robbed of their property under the lash; they obtained a secure tenure +in their land; and they found that its productive power was increased, +by means of great schemes of irrigation. An impartial system of justice +was organised--for the first time in all the long history of Egypt +since the fall of the Roman Empire. The army was remodelled by British +officers. Schools of lower and higher grade were established in large +numbers. In short, Egypt began to assume the aspect of a prosperous and +well-organised modern community. And all this was the work, in the +main, of some fifteen years. + +Meanwhile in the Soudan triumphant barbarism had produced an appalling +state of things. It is impossible to exaggerate the hideousness of the +regime of Mahdism. A ferocious tyranny terrorised and reduced to +desolation the whole of the upper basin of the Nile; and the population +is said to have shrunk from 12,000,000 to 2,000,000, although exact +figures are of course unattainable. One of the evil consequences of +this regime was that it prevented a scientific treatment of the flow of +the Nile, on which the very life of Egypt depended. Scientific +irrigation had already worked wonders in increasing the productivity of +Egypt, but to complete this work, and to secure avoidance of the +famines which follow any deficiency in the Nile-flow, it was necessary +to deal with the upper waters of the great river. On this ground, and +in order to remove the danger of a return of barbarism, which was +threatened by frequent Mahdist attacks, and finally in order to rescue +captives who were enduring terrible sufferings in the hands of the +Mahdi, it appeared that the reconquest of the Soudan must be undertaken +as the inevitable sequel to the reorganisation of Egypt. It was +achieved, with a wonderful efficiency which made the name of Kitchener +famous, in the campaigns of 1896-98. The reconquered province was +nominally placed under the joint administration of Britain and Egypt; +but in fact the very remarkable work of civilisation which was carried +out in it during the years preceding the Great War was wholly directed +by British agents and officers. + +The occupation of the Soudan necessitated a prolongation of the British +occupation of Egypt. But, indeed, such a prolongation was in any case +inevitable; for the beneficial reforms in justice, administration, +finance, and the organisation of the country's resources, which had +been effected in half a generation, required to be carefully watched +and nursed until they should be securely rooted: to a certainty they +would have collapsed if the guardianship of Britain had been suddenly +and completely withdrawn. The growing prosperity of Egypt, however, and +still more the diffusion of Western education among its people, has +naturally brought into existence a nationalist party, who resent what +they feel to be a foreign dominance in their country, and aspire after +the institutions of Western self-government. But it has to be noted +that the classes among whom this movement has sprung up are not the +classes who form the bulk of the population of Egypt--the fellahin, who +from the time of the Pharaohs downwards have been exploited and +oppressed by every successive conqueror who has imposed his rule on the +country. This class, which has profited more than any other from the +British regime, which has, under that regime, known for the first time +justice, freedom from tyranny, and the opportunity of enjoying a fair +share of the fruits of its own labour, is as yet unvocal. Accustomed +through centuries to submission, accepting good or bad seasons, just or +unjust masters, as the gods may send them, the fellah has not yet had +time even to begin to have thoughts or opinions about his place in +society and his right to a share in the control of his own destinies; +and if the rule which has endeavoured to nurture him into prosperity +and self-reliance were withdrawn, he would accept with blind +submissiveness whatever might take its place. The classes among whom +the nationalist movement finds its strength are the classes which have +been in the past accustomed to enjoy some degree of domination; the +relics of the conquering races, Arabs or Turks, who have succeeded one +another in the rule of Egypt, the small traders and shopkeepers of the +towns, drawn from many different races, the students who have been +influenced by the knowledge and the political ideas of the West. It is +natural and healthy that a desire to share in the government of their +country should grow up among these classes: it is in some degree a +proof that the influence of the regime under which they live has been +stimulating. But it is also obvious that if these classes were at once +to reassume, under parliamentary forms, the dominance which they +wielded so disastrously until thirty years ago, the result must be +unhappy. They are being, under British guidance, gradually introduced +to a share in public affairs. But the establishment of a system of full +self-government and national independence in Egypt, if it is to be +successful, must wait until not only these classes, but also the +classes beneath them, have been habituated to the sense of self-respect +and of civic obligation by a longer acquaintance with the working of +the Reign of Law. + +Since the Great War broke out, the British position in Egypt has been +regularised by the proclamation of a formal British protectorate. +Perhaps the happiest fate which can befall the country is that it +should make that gradual progress in political freedom, which is alone +lasting, under the guidance of the power which has already given it +prosperity, the ascendancy of an impartial law, freedom from arbitrary +authority, freedom of speech and thought, and emancipation from the +thraldom of foreign financial interests; and in the end it may possibly +be the destiny of this ancient land, after so many vicissitudes, to +take its place as one among a partnership of free nations in a +world-encircling British Commonwealth of self-governing peoples. + +The most vexed, difficult, and critical problems in the history of the +British Empire since 1878--perhaps the most difficult in the whole +course of its history--have been those connected with the South African +colonies. In 1878 there were four distinct European provinces in South +Africa, besides protected native areas, like Basutoland. All four had +sprung from the original Anglo-Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope. +In two of them--Cape Colony and Natal--the two European peoples, +British and Dutch, dwelt side by side, the Dutch being in a majority in +the former, the British in the latter; but in both the difficulty of +their relationship was complicated by the presence of large coloured +populations, which included not only the native African peoples, +Hottentots, Kaffirs, Zulus, and so forth, but also a large number of +Asiatics, Malays who had been brought in by the Dutch before the +British conquest, and Indians who had begun to come in more recently in +large numbers, especially to Natal. Difference of attitude towards +these peoples between the British authorities and the Dutch settlers +had been in the past, as we have seen, a main cause of friction between +the two European peoples, and had caused the long postponement of full +self-government. In the other two provinces, the Transvaal and the +Orange Free State, the white inhabitants were, in 1878, almost +exclusively Dutch. The native populations in these states were no +longer in a state of formal slavery, but they were treated as +definitely subject and inferior peoples: a law of the Transvaal laid it +down that 'there shall be no equality in Church or State between white +and black.' Thus the mutual distrust originally aroused by the native +question still survived. It was intensified by ill-feeling between the +Boers and British missionaries. When Livingstone, the British +missionary hero, reported the difficulties which the Boers had put in +his way, British opinion was made more hostile than ever. Of the two +Boer republics, the Orange Free State had enjoyed complete independence +since 1854; and no serious friction ever arose between it and the +British government. But the Transvaal, which had been turbulent and +restless from the first, had been annexed in 1878, largely because it +seemed to be drifting into a war of extermination with the Zulus. As a +consequence, Britain was drawn into a badly managed Zulu-War; and when +this dangerous tribe had been conquered, the Transvaal revolted. The +Boers defeated a small British force at Majuba; whereupon, instead of +pursuing the struggle, the British government resolved to try the +effect of magnanimity, and conceded (1881 and 1884) full local +independence to the Transvaal, subject only to a vague recognition of +British suzerainty. + +This was the beginning of many ills. The Transvaal Boers, knowing +little of the world, thought they had defeated Britain; and under the +lead of Paul Kruger, a shrewd old farmer who henceforth directed their +policy with all but autocratic power, began to pursue the aim of +creating a purely Dutch South Africa, and of driving the British into +the sea. Kruger's policy was one of pure racial dominance, not of +equality of rights. It was a natural aim, under all the conditions. But +it was the source of grave evils. Inevitably it stimulated a parallel +movement in Cape Colony, where Dutch and British were learning to live +peaceably together. The Boer extremists also began to look about for +allies, and were tempted to hope for aid from Germany, who had just +established herself in South-West Africa. Full of pride, the +Transvaalers, though they already held a great and rich country which +was very thinly peopled, began to push outwards, and especially to +threaten the native tribes in the barren region of Bechuanaland, which +lay between the Transvaal and the German territory. To this Britain +replied by establishing a protectorate over Bechuanaland (1884) at the +request of native chiefs: the motive of this annexation was, not +suspicion of Germany, for this suspicion did not yet exist, but the +desire to protect the native population. + +Kruger's vague project of a Dutch South Africa would probably have +caused little anxiety so long as his resources were limited to the +strength of the thinly scattered Boer farmers. But the situation was +fundamentally altered by the discovery of immense deposits first of +diamonds and then of gold in South Africa, and most richly of all in +the Rand district of the Transvaal. These discoveries brought a rapid +inrush of European miners, financiers, and their miscellaneous +camp-followers, and in a few years a very rich and populous European +community had established itself in the Transvaal, and had created as +its centre the mushroom new city of Johannesburg (founded 1884). These +immigrants, who came from many countries, but especially from Britain, +changed the situation in the Transvaal; it seemed as though the +majority among the white men in that state would soon be British. + +A simple and primitive organisation of government, such as sufficed for +the needs of Boer farmers, was manifestly inadequate for the needs of +the new population, which included, in the nature of things, many +undesirable elements; and it was natural that the mining population +should desire to be brought under a more modern type of government, or +to obtain an effective share in the control of their own affairs. But +this was precisely what the Boers of Kruger's way of thinking were +determined to refuse them. They were resolved that Boer ascendancy in +the Transvaal should not be weakened. They therefore denied to the new +immigrants all the rights of citizenship, and would not even permit +them to manage the local affairs of Johannesburg. At the same time +Kruger imposed heavy taxation upon the gold industry and the people who +conducted it; and out of the proceeds he was able not only to pay the +expenses of government without burdening the Boer farmers, but to build +up the military power by means of which he hoped ultimately to carry +out his great project. Thus the 'Uitlanders' found themselves treated +as an inferior race in the land which their industry was enriching. +They practically paid the cost of the government, but had no share in +directing it. + +The policy of racial ascendancy has seldom been pursued in a more +mischievous or dangerous form. One cannot but feel a certain sympathy +with the Boers' desire to maintain Boer ascendancy in the land which +they had conquered. Yet it must be remembered that they were themselves +very recent immigrants: the whole settlement of the Transvaal had taken +place in Paul Kruger's lifetime. + +The diamonds and the gold of the recent discoveries had produced in +South Africa a new element of power: the power of great wealth, wielded +by a small number of men. Some of these were, of course, mean and +sordid souls, to whom wealth was an end in itself. But among them one +emerged who was more than a millionaire, who was capable of dreaming +great dreams, and had acquired his wealth chiefly in order that he +might have the power to realise them. This was Cecil Rhodes, an almost +unique combination of the financier and the idealist. If he was +sometimes tempted to resort to the questionable devices that high +finance seems to cultivate, and if his ideals took on sometimes a +rather vulgar colour, reflected from his money-bags, nevertheless +ideals were the real governing factors in his life. + +He dreamed of a great united state of South Africa; it was to be a +British South Africa; but it was to be British, not in the sense in +which Kruger wished it to be Dutch, but in the sense that equality of +treatment between the white races should exist within it, as in all the +British lands. He dreamed also of a great brotherhood of British +communities, or communities governed by British ideals, girdling the +world, perhaps dominating it (for Rhodes was inclined to be a +chauvinist), and leading it to peace and liberty. As a lad fresh from +Oxford, in long journeyings over the African veldt, he had in a +curious, childlike way thought out a theology, a system of politics, +and a mode of life for himself; having reached the conclusion that the +British race had on the whole more capacity for leading the world +successfully than any other, he had resolved that it should be his +life's business to forward and increase the influence of British ideas +and of British modes of life; and he had systematically built up a +colossal fortune in order that he might have the means to do this work. +At the roots of this strange medley of poetry and chauvinism which +filled his mind was an unchanging and deep veneration for the +outstanding memory of his youth, Oxford, which in his mind stood for +all the august venerable past of England, and was the expression of her +moral essence. When he died, after a life of money-making and intrigue, +in a remote and half-developed colony, it was found that most of his +immense fortune had been left either to enrich the college where he had +spent a short time as a lad, or to bring picked youths from all the +British lands, and from what he regarded as the two great sister +communities of America and Germany, so that they might drink in the +spirit of England, at Oxford, its sanctuary. + +His immediate task lay in South Africa, where, from the moment of his +entry upon public life, he became the leader of the British cause as +Kruger was the leader of the Dutch: millionaire-dreamer and shrewd, +obstinate farmer, they form a strange contrast. The one stood for South +African unity based upon equality of the white races: the other also +for unity, but for unity based upon the ascendancy of one of the white +races. In the politics of Cape Colony Rhodes achieved a remarkable +success: he made friends with the Dutch party and its leader Hofmeyr, +who for a long time gave steady support to his schemes and maintained +him in the premiership. It was a good beginning for the policy of +racial co-operation. But Rhodes's most remarkable achievement was the +acquisition of the fertile upland regions of Mashonaland and +Matabililand, now called Rhodesia in his honour. There were episodes +which smelt of the shady practices of high finance in the events which +led up to this acquisition. But in the result its settlement was well +organised, after some initial difficulties, by the Chartered Company +which Rhodes formed for the purpose. Now one important result of the +acquisition of Rhodesia was that it hemmed in the Transvaal on the +north; and, joined with the earlier annexation of Bechuanaland, +isolated and insulated the two Dutch republics, which were now +surrounded, everywhere except on the east, by British territory. From +Cape Town up through Bechuanaland and through the new territories +Rhodes drove a long railway line. It was a business enterprise, but for +him it was also a great imaginative conception, a link of empire, and +he dreamed of the day when it should be continued to join the line +which was being pushed up the Nile from Cairo through the hot sands of +the Soudan. + +But Rhodes's final and most unhappy venture was the attempt to force, +by violent means, a solution of the Transvaal problem. He hoped that +the Uitlanders might be able, by a revolution, to overthrow Kruger's +government, and, perhaps in conjunction with the more moderate Boers, +to set up a system of equal treatment which would make co-operation +with the other British colonies easy, and possibly bring about a +federation of the whole group of South African States. He was too +impatient to let the situation mature quietly. He forced the issue by +encouraging the foolish Jameson Raid of 1895. This, like all wilful +resorts to violence, only made things worse. It alienated and angered +the more moderate Boers in the Transvaal, who were not without sympathy +with the Uitlanders. It aroused the indignation of the Cape Colony +Boers, and embittered racial feeling there. It put the British cause in +the wrong in the eyes of the whole world, and made the Boers appear as +a gallant little people struggling in the folds of a merciless +python-empire. It increased immensely the difficulty of the British +government in negotiating with the Transvaal for better treatment of +the Uitlanders. It stiffened the backs of Kruger and his party. The +German Kaiser telegraphed his congratulations on the defeat of the Raid +'without the aid of friendly powers,' and the implication that this aid +would be forthcoming in case of necessity led the Boers to believe that +they could count on German help in a struggle with Britain. So every +concession to the Uitlanders was obstinately refused; and after three +years more of fruitless negotiation, during which German munitions were +pouring into the Transvaal, the South African War began. It may be that +the war could have been avoided by the exercise of patience. It may be +that the imperialist spirit, which was very strong in Britain at that +period, led to the adoption of a needlessly high-handed tone. But it +was neither greed nor tyranny on Britain's part which brought about the +conflict, but simply the demand for equal rights. + +The war was one in which all the appearances were against Britain, and +the whole world condemned British greed and aggression. It was a case +of Goliath fighting David, the biggest empire in the world attacking +two tiny republics; yet the weaker side is not necessarily always in +the right. It seemed to be a conflict for the possession of gold-mines; +yet Britain has never made, and never hoped to make, a penny of profit +out of these mines, which remained after the war in the same hands as +before it. It was a case of the interests of financiers and +gold-hunters against those of simple and honest farmers; yet even +financiers have rights, and even farmers can be unjust. In reality the +issue was a quite simple and straightforward one. It was the issue of +racial ascendancy against racial equality, and as her traditions bade +her, Britain strove for racial equality. It was the issue of +self-government for the whole community as against the entrenched +dominion of one section; and there was no question on which side the +history of Britain must lead her to range herself. Whatever the rest of +the world might say, the great self-governing colonies, which were free +to help or not as they thought fit, had no doubts at all. They all sent +contingents to take part in the war, because they knew it to be a war +for principles fundamental to themselves. + +The war dragged its weary course, and the Boers fought with such +heroism, and often with such chivalry, as to win the cordial respect +and admiration of their enemies. It is always a pity when men fight; +but sometimes a fight lets bad blood escape, and makes friendship +easier between foes who have learnt mutual respect. Four years after +the peace which added the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as +conquered dominions to the British Empire, the British government +established in both of these provinces the full institutions of +responsible self-government. As in Canada sixty years earlier, the two +races were bidden to work together and make the best of one another; +because now their destinies were freely under their own control. Yet +this was even a bolder experiment than that of Canada, and showed a +more venturesome confidence in the healing power of self-government. +How has it turned out? Within five years more, the four divided +provinces which had presented such vexed problems in 1878, were +combined in the federal Union of South Africa, governed by institutions +which reproduced those of Britain and her colonies. + +In handing over to the now united states of South Africa the +unqualified control of their own affairs, Britain necessarily left to +them the vexed problem of devising a just relation between the ruling +races and their subjects of backward or alien stocks; the problem which +had been the source of most of the difficulties of South Africa for a +century past, and which had long delayed the concession of full +self-government. Nowhere in the world does this problem assume a more +acute form than in South Africa, where there is not only a majority of +negroes, mostly of the vigorous Bantu stock, but also a large number of +immigrants mainly from India, who as subjects of the British crown +naturally claim special rights. South Africa has to find her own +solution for this complex problem; and she has not yet fully found it. +But in two ways her association with the British Empire has helped, and +will help, her to find her way towards it. If the earlier policy of the +British government, guided by the missionaries, laid too exclusive an +emphasis upon native rights, and in various ways hampered the +development of the colony by the way in which it interpreted these +rights, at least it had established a tradition hostile to that policy +of mere ruthless exploitation of which such an ugly illustration was +being given in German South-West Africa. An absolute parity of +treatment between white and black must be not only impracticable, but +harmful to both sides. But between the two extremes of a visionary +equality and a white ascendancy ruthlessly employed for exploitation, a +third term is possible--the just tutelage of the white man over the +black, with a reasonable freedom for native custom. 'A practice has +grown up in South Africa,' says the greatest of South African +statesmen,[8] 'of creating parallel institutions, giving the natives +their own separate institutions on parallel lines with institutions for +whites. It may be that on these lines we may yet be able to solve a +problem which may otherwise be insoluble.' It is a solution which owes +much to the British experiments of the previous period; and the +principle which inspires it was incorporated in the Act of Union. This +is one of the innumerable fruitful experiments in government in which +the British system is so prolific. Again, the problem of the +relationship between Indian immigrants and white colonists is an +acutely difficult one. It cannot be said to have been solved. But at +least the fact that the South African Union and the Indian Empire are +both partners in the same British commonwealth improves the chances of +a just solution. It helped to find at least a temporary adjustment in +1914; in the future also it may contribute, in this as in many other +ways, to ensure that a fair consideration is given to both sides of the +thorny question of inter-racial relationship. + + +[8] General Smuts, May 22, 1917. + + +The events which led up to, and still more the events which followed, +the South African War had thus brought a solution for the South African +problem, which had been a continuous vexation since the moment of the +British conquest. It was solved by the British panacea of +self-government and equal rights. Who could have anticipated, twenty +years or fifty years ago, the part which has been played by South +Africa in the Great War? Is there any parallel to these events, which +showed the gallant general of the Boer forces playing the part of prime +minister in a united South Africa, crushing with Boer forces a revolt +stirred up among the more ignorant Boers by German intrigue, and then +leading an army, half Boer and half British, to the conquest of German +South-West Africa? + +The South African War had proved to be the severest test which the +modern British Empire had yet had to undergo. But it had emerged, not +broken, as in 1782, but rejuvenated, purged of the baser elements which +had alloyed its imperial spirit, and confirmed in its faith in the +principles on which it was built. More than that, on the first occasion +on which the essential principles or the power of the empire had been +challenged in war, all the self-governing colonies had voluntarily +borne their share. Apart from a small contingent sent from Australia to +the Soudan in 1885, British colonies had never before--indeed, no +European colony had ever before--sent men oversea to fight in a common +cause: and this not because their immediate interests were threatened, +but for the sake of an idea. For that reason the South African War +marks an epoch not merely in the history of the British Empire, but of +European imperialism as a whole. + +The unity of sentiment and aim which was thus expressed had, however, +been steadily growing throughout the period of European rivalry; and +doubtless in the colonies, as in Britain, the new value attached to the +imperial tie was due in a large degree to the very fact of the +eagerness of the other European powers for extra-European possessions. +Imperialist sentiment began to become a factor in British politics just +about the beginning of this period: in 1878 the Imperial Federation +Society was founded, and about the same time Disraeli, who had once +spoken of the colonies as 'millstones around our necks,' was making +himself the mouthpiece of the new imperialist spirit. To this wave of +feeling a very notable contribution was made by Sir John Seeley's +brilliant book, "The Expansion of England." Slight as it was, and +containing no facts not already familiar, it gave a new perspective to +the events of the last four centuries of British history, and made the +growth of the Empire seem something not merely casual and incidental, +but a vital and most significant part of the British achievement. Its +defect was, perhaps, that it concentrated attention too exclusively +upon the external aspects of the wonderful story, and dwelt too little +upon its inner spirit, upon the force and influence of the instinct of +self-government which has been the most potent factor in British +history. The powerful impression which it created was deepened by other +books, like Froude's "Oceana" and Sir Charles Dilke's "Greater +Britain," the title of which alone was a proclamation and a prophecy. +It was strengthened also by the wonderful imperial pageants, like +nothing else ever witnessed in the world, which began with the two +Jubilee celebrations of 1887 and 1897, and were continued in the +funerals of Queen Victoria and Edward VII., the coronations of Edward +VII. and George V., and the superb Durbars of Delhi. The imaginative +appeal of such solemn representations of a world-scattered fellowship +of peoples and nations and tongues must not be underestimated. At first +there was perhaps a suggestion of blatancy, and of mere pride in +dominion, in the way in which these celebrations were received; the +graver note of Kipling's 'Recessional,' inspired by the Jubilee of +1897, was not unneeded. But after the strain and anxiety of the South +African War, a different temper visibly emerged. + +More important than the pageants were the conferences of imperial +statesmen which arose out of them. The prime ministers of the great +colonies began to deliberate in common with the statesmen of Britain; +and the discussions, though at first quite informal and devoid of +authority, have become more intimate and vital as time has passed: a +beginning at least has been made in the common discussion of problems +affecting the Empire as a whole. And alongside of, and in consequence +of, all this, imperial questions have been treated with a new +seriousness in the British parliament, and the offices which deal with +them have ceased to be, as they once were, reserved for statesmen of +the second rank. The new attitude was pointedly expressed when in 1895 +Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the most brilliant politician of his +generation, who could have had almost any office he desired, +deliberately chose the Colonial Office. His tenure of that office was +not, perhaps, memorable for any far-reaching change in colonial policy, +though he introduced some admirable improvements in the administration +of the tropical colonies; but it was most assuredly memorable for the +increased intensity of interest which he succeeded in arousing in +imperial questions, both at home and in the colonies. The campaign +which he initiated, after the South African War, for the institution of +an Imperial Zollverein or a system of Colonial Preference was a +failure, and indeed was probably a blunder, since it implied an attempt +to return to that material basis of imperial unity which had formed the +core of the old colonial system, and had led to the most unhappy +results in regard to the American colonies. But at least it was an +attempt to realise a fuller unity than had yet been achieved, and in +its first form included an inspiring appeal to the British people to +face sacrifices, should they be necessary, for that high end. Whether +these ideas contribute to the ultimate solution of the imperial problem +or not, it was at least a good thing that the question should be raised +and discussed. + +One further feature among the many developments of this era must not be +left untouched. It is the rise of a definitely national spirit in the +greater members of the Empire. To this a great encouragement has been +given by the political unity which some of these communities have for +the first time attained during these years. National sentiment in the +Dominion of Canada was stimulated into existence by the Federation of +1867. The unification of Australia which was at length achieved in the +Federation of 1900 did not indeed create, but it greatly strengthened, +the rise of a similar spirit of Australian nationality. A national +spirit in South Africa, merging in itself the hostile racial sentiments +of Boer and Briton, may well prove to be the happiest result of the +Union of South Africa. In India also a national spirit is coming to +birth, bred among a deeply divided people by the political unity, the +peace, and the equal laws, which have been the greatest gifts of +British rule; its danger is that it may be too quick to imagine that +the unity which makes nationhood can be created merely by means of +resolutions declaring that it exists, but the desire to create it is an +altogether healthy desire. On the surface it might appear that the rise +of a national spirit in the great members of the Empire is a danger to +the ideal of imperial unity; but that need not be so, and if it were +so, the danger must be faced, since the national spirit is too valuable +a force to be restricted. The sense of nationhood is the inevitable +outcome of the freedom and co-operation which the British system +everywhere encourages; to attempt to repress it lest it should endanger +imperial unity would be as short-sighted as the old attempt to restrict +the natural growth of self-government because it also seemed a danger +to imperial unity. The essence of the British system is the free +development of natural tendencies, and the encouragement of variety of +types; and the future towards which the Empire seems to be tending is +not that of a highly centralised and unified state, but that of a +brotherhood of free nations, united by community of ideas and +institutions, co-operating for many common ends, and above all for the +common defence in case of need, but each freely following the natural +trend of its own development. + +That is the conception of empire, unlike any other ever entertained by +men upon this planet, which was already shaping itself among the +British communities when the terrible ordeal of the Great War came to +test it, and to prove as not even the staunchest believer could have +anticipated, that it was capable of standing the severest trial which +men or institutions have ever had to undergo. + + + + +IX + +THE GREAT CHALLENGE, 1900-1914 + + +At the opening of the twentieth century the long process whereby the +whole globe has been brought under the influence of European +civilisation was practically completed; and there had emerged a group +of gigantic empires, which in size far surpassed the ancient Empire of +Rome; each resting upon, and drawing its strength from, a unified +nation-state. In the hands of these empires the political destinies of +the world seemed to rest, and the lesser nation-states appeared to be +altogether overshadowed by them. Among the vast questions which fate +was putting to humanity, there were none more momentous than these: On +what principles, and in what spirit, were these nation-empires going to +use the power which they had won over their vast and varied multitudes +of subjects? What were to be their relations with one another? Were +they to be relations of conflict, each striving to weaken or destroy +its rivals in the hope of attaining a final world-supremacy? Or were +they to be relations of co-operation in the development of +civilisation, extending to the whole world those tentative but far from +unsuccessful efforts after international co-operation which the +European states had long been endeavouring to work out among +themselves?[9] At first it seemed as if the second alternative might be +adopted, for these were the days of the Hague Conferences; but the +development of events during the first fourteen years of the century +showed with increasing clearness that one of the new world-states was +resolute to make a bid for world-supremacy, and the gradual maturing of +this challenge, culminating in the Great War, constitutes the supreme +interest of these years. + + +[9] See the Essay on Internationalism (Nationalism and +Internationalism, p. 124 ff.). + + +The oldest, and (by the rough tests of area, population, and natural +resources) by far the greatest of these new composite world-states, was +the British Empire, which included 12,000,000 square miles, or +one-quarter of the land-surface of the globe. It rested upon the +wealth, vigour, and skill of a population of 45,000,000 in the +homeland, to which might be added, but only by their own consent, the +resources of five young daughter-nations, whose population only +amounted to about 15,000,000. Thus it stood upon a rather narrow +foundation. And while it was the greatest, it was also beyond +comparison the most loosely organised of all these empires. It was +rather a partnership of a multitude of states in every grade of +civilisation than an organised and consolidated dominion. Five of its +chief members were completely self-governing, and shared in the common +burdens only by their own free will. All the remaining members were +organised as distinct units, though subject to the general control of +the home government. The resources of each unit were employed +exclusively for the development of its own welfare. They paid no +tribute; they were not required to provide any soldiers beyond the +minimum needed for their own defence and the maintenance of internal +order. This empire, in short, was not in any degree organised for +military purposes. It possessed no great land-army, and was, therefore, +incapable of threatening the existence of any of its rivals. It +depended for its defence firstly upon its own admirable strategic +distribution, since it was open to attack at singularly few points +otherwise than from the sea; it depended mainly, for that reason, upon +naval power, and secure command of the sea-roads by which its members +were linked was absolutely vital to its existence. Only by sea-power +(which is always weak in the offensive) could it threaten its +neighbours or rivals; and its sea-power, during four centuries, had +always, in war, been employed to resist the threatened domination of +any single power, and had never, in time of peace, been employed to +restrict the freedom of movement of any of the world's peoples. On the +contrary, the Freedom of the Seas had been established by its +victories, and dated from the date of its ascendancy. The life-blood of +this empire was trade; its supreme interest was manifestly peace. The +conception of the meaning of empire which had been developed by its +history was not a conception of dominion for dominion's sake, or of the +exploitation of subjects for the advantage of a master. On the +contrary, it had come to mean (especially during the nineteenth +century) 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 theory or an +ideal, but of a fact and a practice, is sufficiently demonstrated by +two unquestionable facts: the first that the units which formed this +empire were not only free from all tribute in money or men, but were +not even required to make any contribution towards the upkeep of the +fleet, upon which the safety of all depended; the second that every +port and every market in this vast empire, so far as they were under +the control of the central government, were thrown open as freely to +the citizens of all other states as to its own. Finally, in this empire +there had never been any attempt to impose a uniformity of method or +even of laws upon the infinitely various societies which it included: +it not merely permitted, it cultivated and admired, varieties of type, +and to the maximum practicable degree believed in self-government. +Because these were the principles upon which it was administered, the +real strength of this empire was far greater than it appeared. But +beyond question it was ill-prepared and ill-organised for war; desiring +peace beyond all things, and having given internal peace to one-quarter +of the earth's population, it was apt to be over-sanguine about the +maintenance of peace. And if a great clash of empires should come, this +was likely to tell against it. + +The second oldest--perhaps it ought to be described as the oldest--of +the world-empires, and the second largest in area, was the Russian +Empire, which covered 8,500,000 square miles of territory. Its strength +was that its vast domains formed a single continuous block, and that +its population was far more homogeneous than that of its rivals, three +out of four of its subjects being either of the Russian or of kindred +Slavonic stock. Its weaknesses were that it was almost land-locked, +nearly the whole of its immense coastline being either inaccessible, or +ice-bound during half of the year; and that it had not adopted modern +methods of government, being subject to a despotism, working through an +inefficient, tyrannical, and corrupt bureaucracy. In the event of a +European war it was further bound to suffer from the facts that its +means of communication and its capacity for the movement of great +armies were ill-developed; and that it was far behind all its rivals in +the control of industrial machinery and applied science, upon which +modern warfare depends, and without which the greatest wealth of +man-power is ineffective. At the opening of the twentieth century +Russia was still pursuing the policy of Eastward expansion at the +expense of China, which the other Western powers had been compelled to +abandon by the formation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Able to bring +pressure upon China from the landward side, she was not deterred by the +naval predominance which this alliance enjoyed, and she still hoped to +control Manchuria, and to dominate the policy of China. But these aims +brought her in conflict with Japan, who had been preparing for the +conflict ever since 1895. The outcome of the war (1904), which ended in +a disastrous Russian defeat, had the most profound influence upon the +politics of the world. It led to an internal revolution in Russia. It +showed that the feet of the colossus were of clay, and that her +bureaucratic government was grossly corrupt and incompetent. It forbade +Russia to take an effective part in the critical events of the +following years, and notably disabled her from checking the progress of +German and Austrian ascendancy in the Balkans. Above all it increased +the self-confidence of Germany, and inspired her rulers with the +dangerous conviction that the opposing forces with which they would +have to deal in the expected contest for the mastery of Europe could be +more easily overthrown than they had anticipated. To the Russian defeat +must be mainly attributed the blustering insolence of German policy +during the next ten years, and the boldness of the final challenge in +1914. + +The third of the great empires was that of France, with 5,000,000 +square miles of territory, mostly acquired in very recent years, but +having roots in the past. It rested upon a home population of only +39,000,000, but these belonged to the most enlightened, the most +inventive, and the most chivalrous stock in Christendom. As France had, +a hundred years before, raised the standard of human rights among the +European peoples, so she was now bringing law and justice and peace to +the backward peoples of Africa and the East; and was finding in the +pride of this achievement some consolation for the brutality with which +she had been hurled from the leadership of Europe. + +The fourth of the great empires was America, with some 3,000,000 square +miles of territory, and a vague claim of suzerainty over the vast area +of Central and South America. Her difficult task of welding into a +nation masses of people of the most heterogeneous races had been made +yet more difficult by the enormous flood of immigrants, mainly from the +northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of Europe, which had poured +into her cities during the last generation: they proved to be in many +ways more difficult to digest than their predecessors, and they tended, +in a dangerous way, to live apart and to organise themselves as +separate communities. The presence of these organised groups made it +sometimes hard for America to maintain a quite clear and distinctive +attitude in the discussions of the powers, most of which had, as it +were, definite bodies of advocates among her citizens; and it was +perhaps in part for this reason that she had tended to fall back again +to that attitude of aloofness towards the affairs of the non-American +world from which she seemed to have begun to depart in the later years +of the last century. Although she had herself taken a hand in the +imperialist activities of the 'nineties, the general attitude of her +citizens towards the imperial controversies of Europe was one of +contempt or undiscriminating condemnation. Her old tradition of +isolation from the affairs of Europe was still very strong--still the +dominating factor in her policy. She had not yet grasped (indeed, who, +in any country, had?) the political consequences of the new era of +world-economy into which we have passed. And therefore she could not +see that the titanic conflict of Empires which was looming ahead was of +an altogether different character from the old conflicts of the +European states, that it was fundamentally a conflict of principles, a +fight for existence between the ideal of self-government and the ideal +of dominion, and that it must therefore involve, for good or ill, the +fortunes of the whole globe. She watched the events which led up to the +great agony with impartial and deliberate interest. Even when the war +began she clung with obstinate faith to the belief that her tradition +of aloofness might still be maintained. It is not surprising, when we +consider how deep-rooted this tradition was, that it took two and a +half years of carnage and horror to convert her from it. But it was +inevitable that in the end her still more deeply rooted tradition of +liberty should draw her into the conflict, and lead her at last to play +her proper part in the attempt to shape a new world-order. + +We cannot stop to analyse the minor world-states, Italy and Japan; both +of which might have stood aside from the conflict, but that both +realised its immense significance for themselves and for the world. + +Last among the world-states, both in the date of its foundation and in +the extent of its domains, was the empire of Germany, which covered +considerably less than 1,500,000 square miles, but rested upon a home +population of nearly 70,000,000, more docile, more industrious, and +more highly organised than any other human society. The empire of +Germany had been more easily and more rapidly acquired than any of the +others, yet since its foundation it had known many troubles, because +the hard and domineering spirit in which it was ruled did not know how +to win the affections of its subjects. A parvenu among the great +states--having only attained the dignity of nationhood in the +mid-nineteenth century--Germany has shown none of that 'genius for +equality' which is the secret of good manners and of friendship among +nations as among individuals. Her conversation, at home and abroad, had +the vulgar self-assertiveness of the parvenu, and turned always and +wholly upon her own greatness. And her conduct has been the echo of her +conversation. She has persuaded herself that she has a monopoly of +power, of wisdom, and of knowledge, and deserves to rule the earth. Of +the magnitude and far-reaching nature of her imperialist ambitions, we +have said something in a previous chapter. She had as yet failed to +realise any of these vaulting schemes, but she had not for that reason +abandoned any of them, and she kept her clever and insidious +preparations on foot in every region of the world upon which her +acquisitive eyes had rested. But the exasperation of her steady failure +to achieve the place in the world which she had marked out as her due +had driven her rulers more and more definitely to contemplate, and +prepared her people to uphold, a direct challenge to all her rivals. +The object of this challenge was to win for Germany her due share in +the non-European world, her 'place in the sun.' Her view of what that +share must be was such that it could not be attained without the +overthrow of all her European rivals, and this would bring with it the +lordship of the world. It must be all or nothing. Though not quite +realising this alternative, the mind of Germany was not afraid of it. +She was in the mood to make a bold attempt, if need be, to grasp even +the sceptre of world-supremacy. The world could not believe that any +sane people could entertain such megalomaniac visions; not even the +events of the decade 1904-14 were enough to bring conviction; it needed +the tragedy and desolation of the war to prove at once their reality +and their folly. For they were folly even if they could be momentarily +realised. They sprang from the traditions of Prussia, which seemed to +demonstrate that all things were possible to him who dared all, and +scrupled nothing, and calculated his chances and his means with +precision. By force and fraud the greatness of Prussia had been built; +by force and fraud Prussia-Germany had become the leading state of +Europe, feared by all her rivals and safe from all attack. Force and +fraud appeared to be the determining factors in human affairs; even the +philosophers of Germany devoted their powers to justifying and +glorifying them. By force and fraud, aided by science, Germany should +become the leader of the world, and perhaps its mistress. Never has the +doctrine of power been proclaimed with more unflinching directness as +the sole and sufficient motive for state action. There was practically +no pretence that Germany desired to improve the condition of the lands +she wished to possess, or that they were misgoverned, or that the +existing German territories were threatened: what pretence there was, +was invented after war began. The sole and sufficient reason put +forward by the advocates of the policy which Germany was pursuing was +that she wanted more power and larger dominions; and what she wanted +she proposed to take. + +On the surface it seemed mere madness for the least and latest of the +great empires to challenge all the rest, just as it had once seemed +madness for Frederick the Great, with his little state, to stand up +against all but one of the great European powers. But Germany had +calculated her chances, and knew that there were many things in her +favour. She knew that in the last resort the strength of the +world-states rested upon their European foundations, and here the +inequality was much less. In a European struggle she could draw great +advantage from her central geographical position, which she had +improved to the highest extent by the construction of a great system of +strategic railways. She could trust to her superbly organised military +system, more perfect than that of any other state, just because no +other state has ever regarded war as the final aim and the highest form +of state action. She commanded unequalled resources in all the +mechanical apparatus of war; she had spared no pains to build up her +armament works, which had, indeed, supplied a great part of the world; +she had developed all the scientific industries in such a way that +their factories could be rapidly and easily turned to war purposes; and +having given all her thoughts to the coming struggle as no other nation +had done, she knew, better than any other, how largely it would turn +upon these things. She counted securely upon winning an immense +advantage from the fact that she would herself fix the date of war, and +enter upon it with a sudden spring, fully prepared, against rivals who, +clinging to the hope of peace, would be unready for the onset. She +hoped to sow jealousies among her rivals; she trusted to catch them at +a time when they were engrossed in their domestic concerns, and in this +respect fate seemed to play into her hands, since at the moment which +she had predetermined, Britain, France, and Russia were all distracted +by domestic controversies. She trusted also to her reading of the minds +and temper of her opponents; and here she went wildly astray, as must +always be the fate of the nation or the man who is blinded by +self-complacency and by contempt for others. + +But, above all, she put her trust in a vast political combination which +she had laboriously prepared during the years preceding the great +conflict: the combination which we have learned to call Mittel-Europa. +None of us realised to how great an extent this plan had been put in +operation before the war began. Briefly it depended on the possibility +of obtaining an intimate union with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a +control over the Turkish Empire, and a sufficient influence or control +among the little Balkan states to ensure through communication. If the +scheme could be carried out in full, it would involve the creation of a +practically continuous empire stretching from the North Sea to the +Persian Gulf, and embracing a total population of over 150,000,000. +This would be a dominion worth acquiring for its own sake, since it +would put Germany on a level with her rivals. But it would have the +further advantage that it would hold a central position in relation to +the other world-powers, corresponding to Germany's central position in +relation to the other nation-states of Europe. Russia could be struck +at along the whole length of her western and south-western frontier; +the British Empire could be threatened in Egypt, the centre of its +ocean lines of communication, and also from the Persian Gulf in the +direction of India; the French Empire could be struck at the heart, in +its European centre; and all without seriously laying open the +attacking powers to the invasion of sea-power. + +It was a bold and masterful scheme, and it was steadily pursued during +the years before the war. Austro-Hungary was easily influenced. The +ascendancy of her ruling races--nay, the very existence of her +composite anti-national empire--was threatened by the nationalist +movements among her subject-peoples, who, cruelly oppressed at home, +were more and more beginning to turn towards their free brothers over +the border, in Serbia and Rumania; and behind these loomed Russia, the +traditional protector of the Slav peoples and of the Orthodox faith. +Austro-Hungary, therefore, leant upon the support of Germany, and her +dominant races would be very willing to join in a war which should +remove the Russian menace and give them a chance of subjugating the +Serbs. This latter aim suited the programme of Germany as well as it +suited that of Austria, since the railways to Constantinople and +Salonika ran through Serbia. Serbia, therefore, was doomed; she stood +right in the path of the Juggernaut car. + +The acquisition of influence in Turkey was also comparatively easy. +Constantinople is a city where lavish corruption can work wonders. +Moreover Turkey was, in the last years of the nineteenth century, in +bad odour with Europe; and Germany was able to earn in 1897 the lasting +gratitude of the infamous Sultan Abdul Hamid by standing between him +and the other European powers, who were trying to interfere with his +indulgence in the pastime of massacring the Armenians. Turkey had had +many protectors among the European powers. She had never before had one +so complaisant about the murder of Christians. From that date Germany +was all-powerful in Turkey. The Turkish army was reorganised under her +direction, and practically passed under her control. Most of the +Turkish railways were acquired and managed by German companies. And +presently the great scheme of the Bagdad railway began to be carried +through. The Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the fall of Abdul Hamid +gave, indeed, a shock to the German ascendancy; but only for a moment. +The Young Turks were as amenable to corruption as their predecessors; +and under the guidance of Enver Bey Turkey relapsed into German +suzerainty. Thus the most important parts of the great scheme were in a +fair way of success by 1910. One of the merits of this scheme was that +as the Sultan of Turkey was the head of the Mahomedan religion, the +German protectorate over Turkey gave a useful mode of appealing to the +religious sentiments of Mahomedans everywhere. Twice over, in 1898 and +in 1904, the Kaiser had declared that he was the protector of all +Mahomedans throughout the world. Most of the Mahomedans were subjects +either of Britain, France, or Russia--the three rival empires that were +to be overthrown. As General Bernhardi put it, Germany in her struggle +for Weltmacht must supplement her material weapons with spiritual +weapons. + +To obtain a similar ascendancy over the Balkan states was more +difficult; for the Turk was the secular enemy of all of them, and +Austria was the foe of two of the four, and to bring these little +states into partnership with their natural enemies seemed an all but +impossible task. Yet a good deal could be, and was, done. In two of the +four chief Balkan states German princes occupied the thrones, a +Hohenzollern in Rumania, a Coburger in Bulgaria; in a third, the +heir-apparent to the Greek throne was honoured with the hand of the +Kaiser's own sister. Western peoples had imagined that the day had gone +by when the policy of states could be deflected by such facts; +especially as the Balkan states all had democratic parliamentary +constitutions. But the Germans knew better than the West. They knew +that kings could still play a great part in countries where the bulk of +the electorate were illiterate, and where most of the class of +professional politicians were always open to bribes. Their calculations +were justified. King Carol of Rumania actually signed a treaty of +alliance with Germany without consulting his ministers or parliament. +King Ferdinand of Bulgaria was able to draw his subjects into an +alliance with the Turks, who had massacred their fathers in 1876, +against the Russians, who had saved them from destruction. King +Constantine of Greece was able to humiliate and disgrace the country +over which he ruled, in order to serve the purposes of his +brother-in-law. These sovereigns may have been the unconscious +implements of a policy which they did not understand. But they earned +their wages. + +There were, indeed, two moments when the great scheme came near being +wrecked. One was when Italy, the sleeping partner of the Triple +Alliance, who was not made a sharer in these grandiose and vile +projects, attacked and conquered the Turkish province of Tripoli in +1911, and strained to breaking-point the loyalty of the Turks to +Germany. The other was when, under the guidance of the two great +statesmen of the Balkans, Venizelos of Greece and Pashitch of Serbia, +the Balkan League was formed, and the power of Turkey in Europe broken. +If the League had held together, the great German project would have +been ruined, or at any rate gravely imperilled. But Germany and Austria +contrived to throw an apple of discord among the Balkan allies at the +Conference of London in 1912, and then stimulated Bulgaria to attack +Serbia and Greece. The League was broken up irreparably; its members +had been brought into a sound condition of mutual hatred; and Bulgaria, +isolated among distrustful neighbours, was ready to become the tool of +Germany in order that by her aid she might achieve (fond hope!) the +hegemony of the Balkans. This brilliant stroke was effected in +1913--the year before the Great War. All that remained was to ruin +Serbia. For that purpose Austria had long been straining at the leash. +She had been on the point of making an attack in 1909, in 1912, in +1913. In 1914 the leash was slipped. If the rival empires chose to look +on while Serbia was destroyed, well and good: in that case the +Berlin-Bagdad project could be systematically developed and +consolidated, and the attack on the rival empires could come later. If +not, still it was well; for all was ready for the great challenge. + +We have dwelt at some length upon this gigantic project, because it has +formed during all these years the heart and centre of the German +designs, and even to-day it is the dearest of German hopes. Not until +she is utterly defeated will she abandon it; because its abandonment +must involve the abandonment of every hope of a renewed attempt at +world-supremacy, after an interval for reorganisation and recovery. Not +until the German control over Austria and Turkey, more complete to-day, +after two and a half years of war, than it has ever been before, has +been destroyed by the splitting up of Austria among the nationalities +to which her territory belongs, and by the final overthrow of the +Turkish Empire, will the German dream of world-dominion be shattered. + +But while this fundamentally important project was being worked out, +other events, almost equally momentous in their bearing upon the coming +conflict, were taking place elsewhere. It was the obvious policy of +Germany to keep her rivals on bad terms with one another. The tradition +of Bismarck bade her isolate each victim before it was destroyed. But +the insolence and the megalomania of modern Germany made this +difficult. German writers were busily and openly explaining the fate +marked out for all the other powers. France was to be so crushed that +she would 'never again be able to stand in our path.' The bloated and +unconsolidated empire of Britain was to be shattered. The Russian +barbarians were to be thrust back into Asia. And what the pamphleteers +and journalists wrote was expressed with almost equal clearness in the +tone of German diplomacy. In face of all this, the clumsy attempts of +the German government to isolate their rivals met with small success, +even though these rivals had many grounds of controversy among +themselves. France knew what she had to fear; and the interpolation of +a few clumsy bids for her favour amid the torrent of insults against +her which filled the German press, were of no avail; especially as she +had to look on at the unceasing petty persecution practised in the lost +provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. Russia had been alienated by the first +evidences of German designs in the Balkans, and driven into a close +alliance with France. Britain, hitherto obstinately friendly to +Germany, began to be perturbed by the growing German programmes of +naval construction from 1900 onwards, by the absolute refusal of +Germany to consider any proposal for mutual disarmament or retardation +of construction, and above all by the repeated assertions of the head +of the German state that Germany aspired to naval supremacy, that her +future was on the sea, that the trident must be in her hands. Should +the trident fall into any but British hands, the existence of the +British Empire, and the very livelihood of the British homeland, would +rest at the mercy of him who wielded it. So, quite inevitably, the +three threatened empires drew together and reconciled their differences +in the Franco-British agreement of 1904 and the Russo-British agreement +of 1907. + +These agreements dealt wholly with extra-European questions, and +therefore deserve some analysis. In the Franco-British agreement the +main feature was that while France withdrew her opposition to the +British position in Egypt, Britain on her side recognised the paramount +political interest of France in Morocco. It was the agreement about +Morocco which counted for most; because it was the beginning of a +controversy which lasted for seven years, which was twice used by +Germany as a means for testing, and endeavouring to break, the +friendship of her rivals, and which twice brought Europe to the verge +of war. + +Morocco is a part of that single region of mountainous North Africa of +which France already controlled the remainder, Tunis and Algeria. +Peoples of the same type inhabited the whole region, but while in Tunis +and Algeria they were being brought under the influence of law and +order, in Morocco they remained in anarchy. Only a conventional line +divided Morocco from Algeria, and the anarchy among the tribesmen on +one side of the line inevitably had an unhappy effect upon the people +on the other side of the line. More than once France had been +compelled, for the sake of Algeria, to intervene in Morocco. It is +impossible to exaggerate the anarchy which existed in the interior of +this rich and wasted country. It was, indeed, the most lawless region +remaining in the world: when Mr. Bernard Shaw wished to find a scene +for a play in which the hero should be a brigand chief leading a band +of rascals and outlaws from all countries, Morocco presented the only +possible scene remaining in the world. And this anarchy was the more +unfortunate, not only because the country was naturally rich and ought +to have been prosperous, but also because it lay in close proximity to +great civilised states, and on one of the main routes of commerce at +the entrance to the Mediterranean. In its ports a considerable traffic +was carried on by European traders, but this traffic was, owing to the +anarchic condition of the country, nothing like as great as it ought to +have been. In 1905, 39 per cent. of it was controlled by French +traders, 32 per cent. by British traders, 12 per cent. by German +traders, and 5 per cent. by Spanish traders. Manifestly this was a +region where law and order ought to be established, in the interests of +civilisation. The powers most directly concerned were in the first +place France, with her neighbouring territory and her preponderant +trade; in the second place Britain, whose strategic interests as well +as her trading interests were involved; in the third place Spain, which +directly faced the Morocco coast; while Germany had only trading +interests involved, and so long as these were safeguarded, had no +ground of complaint. If any single power was to intervene, manifestly +the first claim was upon France. + +In 1900 France had directed the attention of Europe to the disorderly +condition of Morocco, and had proposed to intervene to restore order, +on the understanding that she should not annex the country, or +interfere with the trading rights of other nations. Some states agreed; +Germany made no reply, but made no objection. But owing to the +opposition of Britain, who was then on bad terms with France and feared +to see an unfriendly power controlling the entrance to the +Mediterranean, no action was taken; and in the next years the chaos in +Morocco grew worse. By the agreement of 1904 Britain withdrew her +objection to French intervention, and recognised the prior political +rights of France in Morocco, on the condition that the existing +government of Morocco should be maintained, that none of its territory +should be annexed, and that 'the open door' should be preserved for the +trade of all nations. But, of course, it was possible, and even +probable, that the existing Moroccan government could not be made +efficient. In that case, what should happen? The possibility had to be +contemplated by reasonable statesmen, and provided against. But to do +so in a public treaty would have been to condemn beforehand the +existing system. Therefore a hypothetical arrangement was made for this +possible future event in a secret treaty, to which Spain was made a +party; whereby it was provided that if the arrangement should break +down, and France should have to establish a definite protectorate, the +vital part of the north coast should pass under the control of Spain. + +To the public part of these arrangements, which alone were of immediate +importance, no objection was made by any of the other powers, and the +German Chancellor told the Reichstag that German interests were not +affected. France accordingly drew up a scheme of reforms in the +government of Morocco, which the Sultan was invited to accept. But +before he had accepted them the German Kaiser suddenly came to Tangier +in his yacht, had an interview with the Sultan in which he urged him to +reject the French demands, and made a public speech in which he +declared himself the protector of the Mahomedans, asserted that no +European power had special rights in Morocco, and announced his +determination to support the 'independence and integrity' of +Morocco--which in existing circumstances meant the maintenance of +anarchy. What was the reason for this sudden and insolent +intervention--made without any previous communication with France? The +main reason was that France's ally, Russia, had just been severely +defeated by Japan, and would not be able to take part in a European +war. Therefore, it appeared, France might be bullied; Britain might not +be willing to risk war on such an issue; the Entente of 1904 might be +destroyed; the extension of French influence might be prevented; and +the preservation of a state of anarchy in Morocco would leave open the +chance of a seizure of that country by Germany at a later date, thus +enabling her to dominate the entrance to the Mediterranean, and to +threaten Algeria. But this pretty scheme did not succeed. The Entente +held firm. Britain gave steady support to France, as indeed she was +bound in honour to do; and in the end a conference of the powers was +held at Algeciras (Spain). At this conference the predominating right +of France to political influence in Morocco was formally recognised; +and it was agreed that the government of the Sultan should be +maintained, and that all countries should have equal trading rights in +Morocco. This was, of course, the very basis of the Franco-British +agreement. On every point at which she tried to score a success over +France, Germany was defeated by the votes of the other powers, even her +own ally, Italy, deserting her. + +But the German intervention had had its effect. The Sultan had refused +the French scheme of reform. The elements of disorder in Morocco were +encouraged to believe that they had the protection of Germany, and the +activity of German agents strengthened this belief. The anarchy grew +steadily worse. In 1907 Sir Harry Maclean was captured by a brigand +chief, and the British government had to pay 20,000 pounds ransom for +his release. In the same year a number of European workmen engaged on +harbour works at Casablanca were murdered by tribesmen; and the French +had to send a force which had a year's fighting before it reduced the +district to order. In 1911 the Sultan was besieged in his capital +(where there were a number of European residents) by insurgent +tribesmen, and had to invite the French to send an army to his relief. + +This was seized upon by Germany as a pretext. Morocco was no longer +'independent.' The agreement of Algecras was dead. Therefore she +resumed her right to put forward what claims she pleased in Morocco. +Suddenly her gunboat, the Panther, appeared off Agadir. It was meant as +an assertion that Germany had as much right to intervene in Morocco as +France. And it was accompanied by a demand that if France wanted to be +left free in Morocco, she must buy the approval of Germany. The +settlement of Morocco was to be a question solely between France and +Germany. The Entente of 1904, the agreement of 1906, the Moroccan +interests of Britain (much more important than those of Germany), and +the interests of the other powers of the Algeciras Conference, were to +count for nothing. Germany's voice must be the determining factor. But +Germany announced that she was willing to be bought off by large +concessions of French territory elsewhere--provided that Britain was +not allowed to have anything to say: provided, that is, that the +agreement of 1904 was scrapped. This was a not too subtle way of trying +to drive a wedge between two friendly powers. It did not succeed. +Britain insisted upon being consulted. There was for a time a real +danger of war. In the end peace was maintained by the cession by France +of considerable areas in the Congo as the price of German abstention +from intervening in a sphere where she had no right to intervene. But +Morocco was left under a definite French protectorate. + +We have dwelt upon the Morocco question at some length, partly because +it attracted a vast amount of interest during the years of preparation +for the war; partly because it affords an extraordinarily good +illustration of the difficulty of maintaining peaceable relations with +Germany, and of the spirit in which Germany approached the delicate +questions of inter-imperial relationships--a spirit far removed indeed +from that friendly willingness for compromise and co-operation by which +alone the peace of the world could be maintained; and partly because it +illustrates the crudity and brutality of the methods by which Germany +endeavoured to separate her intended victims. It is improbable that she +ever meant to go to war on the Moroccan question. She meant to go to +war on whatever pretext might present itself when all her preparations +were ready; but in the meanwhile she would avoid war on all questions +but one: and that one was the great Berlin-Bagdad project, the keystone +of her soaring arch of Empire. She would fight to prevent the ruin of +that scheme. Otherwise she would preserve the peace, she would even +make concessions to preserve the peace, until the right moment had +come. In that sense Germany was a peace-loving power: in that sense +alone. + +On the agreement between Russia and Britain in 1907 it is unnecessary +to dwell with such fulness. The agreement turned mainly upon the +removal of causes of friction in the Middle East--in Persia and the +Persian Gulf, and in Tibet. These were in themselves interesting and +thorny questions, especially the question of Persia, where the two +powers established distinct spheres of interest and a sort of joint +protectorate. But they need not detain us, because they had no direct +bearing upon the events leading up to the war, except in so far as, by +removing friction between two rivals of long standing, they made it +possible for them to co-operate for their common defence against a +menace that became more and more apparent. + +From 1907 onwards Germany found herself confronted by united defensive +action on the part of the three empires whose downfall she intended to +compass. It was not (except as regarded France and Russia) a formal +alliance which bound these powers. There was no fixed agreement between +them as to military co-operation. France and Britain had indeed, in +1906 and in 1911, consulted as to the military steps they should take +if they were drawn into war, as seemed likely in those years, but +neither was in any way bound to help the other under all circumstances. +France and Britain had also agreed that the French fleet should be +concentrated in the Mediterranean, the main British fleet in the North +Sea. This arrangement (which was universally known, and, indeed, could +not be concealed) put Britain under a moral obligation to defend France +against naval attack, but only if France were the object of aggression. +It was, therefore, actually a safeguard of peace, since it ensured that +neither France nor, consequently, her ally, Russia, would begin a war +without being sure of the concurrence of Britain, the most pacific of +powers. As the diplomatic records show, at the opening of the Great War +they were not sure of this concurrence, even for naval purposes, until +August 1, when the die was already cast. The Triple Entente, therefore, +was not an alliance; it was only an agreement for common diplomatic +action in the hope of averting a terrible menace. + +Until 1911 Germany, or some elements in Germany, seem to have hoped +that she could get her own way by bullying and rattling her sabre, and +that by these means she could frighten her rivals, make them mutually +distrustful, and so break up their combination and deal with them in +detail. Those who held this view were the peace-party (so-called), and +they included the Kaiser and his Chancellor. They would probably not +themselves have accepted this description of their policy, but in +practice this is what it meant. But there was always a formidable and +influential party in Germany which had no patience with these +hesitations, and was eager to draw the sabre. It included the men of +the General Staff, backed by the numerous Pan-German societies and +newspapers. The issue of the Morocco question in 1911, which showed +that the policy of bullying had failed, played into the hands of the +men of violence; and from this moment began the last strenuous burst of +military preparation which preceded the war. In 1911 was passed the +first of a series of Army Acts for the increase of the already immense +German army, and still more for the provision of vast equipment and the +scientific apparatus of destruction; two further Acts for the same +purpose followed in 1912 and in 1913. In 1911 also was published +General Bernhardi's famous book, which defined and described the course +of future action, and the aim which Germany was henceforth to pursue +with all her strength: Weltmacht oder Niedergang, world-power or +downfall. + +The events in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913 completed the conversion of +those who still clung to the policy of peaceful bullying. The formation +and triumph of the Balkan League in 1912 formed a grave set-back for +the Berlin-Bagdad project, which would be ruined if these little states +became strong enough, or united enough, to be independent. The break-up +of the Balkan League and the second Balkan War of 1913 improved the +situation from the German point of view. But they left Serbia +unsatisfactorily strong, and Serbia distrusted Austria, and controlled +the communications with Constantinople. Serbia must be destroyed; +otherwise the Berlin-Bagdad project, and with it the world-power of +which it was to be the main pillar, would be always insecure. Austria +was for attacking Serbia at once in 1913. Germany held her back: the +widening of the Kiel Canal was not completed, and the fruits of the +latest Army Acts were not yet fully reaped. But all was ready in 1914; +and the Great Challenge was launched. It would have been launched at or +about that time even if an unpopular Austrian archduke, significantly +unguarded by the Austrian police, had NOT been most opportunely +murdered by an Austrian subject on Austrian territory. The murder was +only a pretext. The real cause of the war was the resolution of Germany +to strike for world-supremacy, and her belief that the time was +favourable for the great adventure. + +Meanwhile, what had the threatened empires been doing during the years +of strenuous German preparation which began in 1911? Their governments +could not but be aware of the enormous activity which was taking place +in that country--which was unthreatened on any side--though they +probably did not know how thorough and how elaborate it was. What steps +did they take to guard against the danger? Russia was busy constructing +strategic railways, to make the movement of troops easier; she was +erecting new munition factories. But neither could be quickly got +ready. France imposed upon the whole of her manhood the obligation of +serving for three instead of for two years in the army. Britain +reorganised her small professional army, created the Territorial Force, +and began the training of a large officer class in all the universities +and public schools. But she did not attempt to create a national army. +If she had done so, this would have been a signal for the precipitation +of the war. Besides, Britain obstinately clung to the belief that so +monstrous a crime as Germany seemed to be contemplating could never be +committed by a civilised nation; and she trusted mainly to her fleet +for her own security. + +But Britain unquestionably laboured with all her might to conjure away +the nightmare. From 1906 onwards she had made, in vain, repeated +attempts to persuade Germany to accept a mutual disarmament or +retardation of naval construction. In 1912 she resolved upon a more +definite step. The German newspapers were full of talk about the +British policy of 'encircling' Germany in order to attack and destroy +her, which they attributed mainly to Sir Edward Grey. It was a manifest +absurdity, since the Franco-Russian alliance was formed in 1894, at a +time when Britain was on bad terms with both France and Russia, and the +agreements later made with these two countries were wholly devoted to +removing old causes of dispute between them. But the German people +obviously believed it. Perhaps the German government also believed it? +Britain resolved to remove this apprehension. Accordingly in 1912 Lord +Haldane was sent to Germany with a formal and definite statement, +authorised by the Cabinet, to the effect that Britain had made no +alliance or understanding which was aimed against Germany, and had no +intention of doing so. That being so, since Germany need have no fear +of an attack from Britain, why should not the two powers agree to +reduce their naval expenditure? The German reply was that to stop the +naval programme was impossible, but that construction might be DELAYED, +on one condition--that both powers should sign a formal agreement drawn +up by Germany. Each power was to pledge itself to absolute neutrality +in any European war in which the other was engaged. Each power was to +undertake to make no new alliances. But this agreement was not to +affect existing alliances or the duties arising under them. This +proposal was an obvious trap, and the German ministers who proposed it +must have had the poorest opinion of the intelligence of English +statesmen if they thought it was likely to be accepted. For observe +that it left Germany, in conjunction with Austria, free to attack +France and Russia. It left the formidable Triple Alliance unimpaired. +But it tied the hands of Britain, who had no existing European +alliances, enforced neutrality upon her in such a war, and compelled +her to look on idly and wait her turn. In the present war, Germany +could have pleaded that she was bound to take part by the terms of her +alliance with Austria, who began it; but Britain would have been +compelled to stand aloof. A very convenient arrangement for Germany, +but not an arrangement that promised well for the peace of the world! + +Even this rebuff did not dishearten Britain. Feeling that Germany might +have some reasonable ground of complaint in the fact that her share of +the extra-European world was so much less than that of France or of +Britain herself, Britain attempted to come to an agreement on this +head, such as would show that she had no desire to prevent the imperial +expansion of Germany. A treaty was proposed and discussed, and was +ready to be submitted to the proper authorities for confirmation in +June 1914. It has never been made public, because the war cancelled it +before it came into effect, and we do not know its terms. But we do +know that the German colonial enthusiast, Paul Rohrbach, who has seen +the draft treaty, has said that the concessions made by Britain were +astonishingly extensive, and met every reasonable German demand. This +sounds as if the proposals of the treaty, whatever they were, had been +recklessly generous. But this much is clear, that the government which +had this treaty in its possession when it forced on the war was not to +be easily satisfied. It did not want merely external possessions. It +wanted supremacy; it wanted world-dominion. + +One last attempt the British government made in the frenzied days of +negotiation which preceded the war. Sir Edward Grey had begged the +German government to make ANY proposal which would make for peace, and +promised his support beforehand; he had received no reply. He had +undertaken that if Germany made any reasonable proposal, and France or +Russia objected, he would have nothing further to do with France or +Russia. Still there was no reply. Imagining that Germany might still be +haunted by what Bismarck called 'the nightmare of coalition,' and might +be rushing into war now because she feared a war in the future under +more unfavourable conditions, he had pledged himself, if Germany would +only say the word which would secure the peace, to use every effort to +bring about a general understanding among the great powers which would +banish all fears of an anti-German combination. It was of no use. The +reply was the suggestion that Britain should bind herself to neutrality +in this war on the following conditions: (a) that Germany should be +given a free hand to violate the neutrality of Belgium (which Britain +was bound by treaty to defend), on the understanding that Belgium +should be reinstated after she had served her purpose, if she had +offered no resistance; Belgium, be it noted, being bound in honour to +offer resistance by the very treaty which Germany proposed to violate; +and (b) that after France had been humiliated and beaten to the earth +for the crime of possessing territories which Germany coveted, she +should be restored to independence, and Germany should be content to +annex her 5,000,000 square miles of colonies. In return for this +undertaking Britain was to be--allowed to hold aloof from the war, and +await her turn. + +There is no getting over these facts. The aim of Germany had come to be +nothing less than world-supremacy. The destiny of the whole globe was +to be put to the test. Surely this was the very insanity of megalomania. + + + + +X + +WHAT OF THE NIGHT? + + +The gigantic conflict into which the ambitions of Germany have plunged +the world is the most tremendous event in human history, not merely +because of the vast forces engaged, and the appalling volume of +suffering which has resulted from it, but still more because of the +magnitude of the principles for which it is being fought. It is a war +to secure the right of communities which are linked together by the +national spirit to determine their own destinies; it is a war to +maintain the principles of humanity, the sanctity of formal +undertakings between states, and the possibility of the co-operation of +free peoples in the creation of a new and better world-order; it is a +war between two principles of government, the principle of military +autocracy and the principle of self-government. With all these aspects +of the mighty struggle we are not here immediately concerned, though +they have an intimate bearing upon our main theme: some of them have +been analysed elsewhere.[10] But what does concern us most directly, +and what makes this war the culmination of the long story which we have +endeavoured to survey, is that this is a war in which, as in no earlier +war, the whole fate and future of the now unified world is at stake. +For just because the world is now, as never before, an indissoluble +economic and political unity, the challenge of Germany, whatever view +we may take of the immediate aims of the German state, inevitably +raises the whole question of the principles upon which this unified +world, unified by the victory of European civilisation, is to be in +future directed. And the whole world knows, if vaguely, that these vast +issues are at stake, and that this is no merely European conflict. That +is why we see arrayed upon the fields of battle not only French, +British, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Belgian, Rumanian, Greek and +Portuguese soldiers, but Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South +Africans, Indians, Algerians, Senegalese, Cambodians; and now, +alongside of all these, the citizens of the American Republic. That is +why Brazil and other states are hovering on the edge of the fray; why +Japanese ships are helping to patrol the Mediterranean, why Arab armies +are driving the Turk from the holy places of Mahomedanism, why African +tribesmen are enrolled in new levies to clear the enemy out of his +footholds in that continent. Almost the whole world is arrayed against +the outlaw-power and her vassals. And the ultimate reason for this is +that the whole world is concerned to see this terrible debate rightly +determined. + + +[10] In Nationalism and Internationalism and in National +Self-Government. + + +For the issue is as simple as this. Now that the world has been made +one by the victory of Western civilisation, in what spirit is that +supremacy to be used? Is it to be in the spirit expressed in the German +Doctrine of Power, the spirit of mere dominion, ruthlessly imposed and +ruthlessly exploited for the sole advantage of the master-power? That +way ruin lies. Or is it to be in the spirit which has on the whole, and +in spite of lapses, guided the progress of Western civilisation in the +past, the spirit of respect for law and for the rights of the weak, the +spirit of liberty which rejoices in variety of type and method, and +which believes that the destiny towards which all peoples should be +guided is that of self-government in freedom, and the co-operation of +free peoples in the maintenance of common interests? Britain, France, +and America have been the great advocates and exponents of these +principles in the government of their own states: they are all ranged +on one side to-day. Britain, also, as we have tried to show, has been +led by Fate to take a chief part in the extension of these principles +of Western civilisation to the non-European regions of the world; and, +after many mistakes and failures, has in the direction of her own wide +dominions found her way to a system which reconciles freedom with +unity, and learned to regard herself as being only the trustee of +civilisation in the government of the backward peoples whom she rules. +For the just and final determination of such gigantic issues not even +the terrible price we are paying is too high. + +The issue of the great conflict lies still upon the lap of the gods. +Yet one thing is, we may hope, already assured. Although at the +beginning of the war they came near to winning it, the Germans are not +now likely to win that complete victory upon which they had calculated, +and which would have brought as its prize the mastery of the world. We +can now form some judgment of the extent of the calamity which this +would have meant for humanity. There would have remained in the world +no power capable of resisting this grim and ugly tyrant-state, with its +brute strength and bestial cruelty as of a gorilla in the primaeval +forest, reinforced by the cold and pitiless calculus of the man of +science in his laboratory; unless, perhaps, Russia had in time +recovered her strength, or unless America had not merely thrown over +her tradition of aloofness and made up her mind to intervene, but had +been allowed the time to organise her forces for resistance. Of the +great empires which the modern age has brought into being, the Russian +would have survived as a helpless and blinded mammoth; the French +Empire would have vanished, and the proud and noble land of France +would have sunk into vassalage and despair; the British Empire would +assuredly have dissolved into its component parts, for its strength is +still too much concentrated in the motherland for it to be able to hold +together once her power was broken. After a few generations, that will +no longer be the case; but to-day it is so, and the dream of a +partnership of free nations which had begun to dawn upon us would have +been shattered for ever by a complete German victory. Some of the atoms +of what once was an empire might have been left in freedom, but they +would have been powerless to resist the decrees of the Master-state. +There would have been one supreme world-power; and that a power whose +attitude towards backward races has been illustrated by the ruthless +massacre of the Hereros; whose attitude towards ancient but +disorganised civilisations has been illustrated by the history of +Kiao-chau and by the celebrated allocution of the Kaiser to his +soldiers on the eve of the Boxer expedition, when he bade them outdo +the ferocity of Attila and his Huns; whose attitude towards kindred +civilisations on the same level as their own has been illustrated +before the war in the treatment of Danes, Poles, and Alsatians, and +during the war in the treatment of Belgium, of the occupied districts +in France, of Poland and of Serbia. The world would have lain at the +mercy of an insolent and ruthless tyranny, the tyranny of a Kultur +whose ideal is the uniformity of a perfect mechanism, not the variety +of life. Such a fate humanity could not long have tolerated; yet before +the iron mechanism could have been shattered, if once it had been +established, there must have been inconceivable suffering, and +civilisation must have fallen back many stages towards barbarism. From +this fate, we may perhaps claim, the world was saved from the moment +when not Britain only, but the British Empire, refused to await its +turn according to the German plan, threw its whole weight into the +scale, and showed that, though not organised for war, it was not the +effete and decadent power, not the fortuitous combination of discordant +and incoherent elements, which German theory had supposed; but that +Freedom can create a unity and a virile strength capable of +withstanding even the most rigid discipline, capable of enduring defeat +and disappointment undismayed; but incapable of yielding to the +insolence of brute force. + +It is still possible that the war may end in what is called an +inconclusive peace; and as it is certain that of all her unrighteous +gains that to which Germany will most desperately cling will be her +domination over the Austrian and Turkish Empires, with the prospect +which it affords of a later and more fortunate attempt at world-power, +an inconclusive peace would mean that the whole world would live in +constant dread of a renewal of these agonies and horrors in a still +more awful form. What the effect of this would be upon the +extra-European dominions of powers which would be drained of their +manhood and loaded with the burden of the past war and the burden of +preparation for the coming war, it is beyond our power to imagine. But +it seems likely that the outer world would very swiftly begin to revise +its judgment as to the value of that civilisation which it has, upon +the whole, been ready to welcome; and chaos would soon come again. + +Finally, it is possible that the Evil Power may be utterly routed, and +the allied empires, tried by fire, may be given the opportunity and the +obligation of making, not merely a new Europe, but a new world. If that +chance should come, how will they use it? One thing at least is clear. +The task which will face the diplomats who take part in the coming +peace-congress will be different in kind as well as in degree from that +of any of their predecessors at any moment in human history. They will +be concerned not merely with the adjustment of the differences of a few +leading states, and not merely with the settlement of Europe: they will +have to deal with the whole world, and to decide upon what principles +and to what ends the leadership of the peoples of European stock over +the non-European world is to be exercised. Whether they realise it or +not, whether they intend it or not, they will create either a +world-order or a world-disorder. And it will inevitably be a +world-disorder which will result unless we do some hard thinking on +this gigantic problem which faces us, and unless we are prepared to +learn, from the history of the relations of Europe with the outer +world, what are the principles by which we ought to be guided. We are +too prone, when we think of the problems of the future peace, to fix +our attention almost wholly upon Europe, and, if we think of the +non-European world at all, to assume either that the problem is merely +one of power, or that the principles which will guide us in the +settlement of Europe can be equally applied outside of Europe. Both of +these assumptions are dangerous, because both disregard the teachings +of the past which we have been surveying. + +If, on the one hand, we are content to regard the problem as merely one +of power, and to divide out the non-European world among the victors as +the spoils of victory, we shall indeed have been conquered by the very +spirit which we are fighting; we shall have become converts to the +German Doctrine of Power, which has brought upon us all these ills, and +may bring yet more appalling evils in the future. The world will emerge +divided among a group of vast empires which will overshadow the lesser +states. These empires will continue to regard one another with fear and +suspicion, and to look upon their subject-peoples merely as providing +the implements for a war of destruction, to be waged by cut-throat +commercial rivalry in time of peace, and by man-power and machine-power +in war. If that should be the result of all our agonies, the burden +which must be laid upon the peoples of these empires, and the +intolerable anticipation of what is to come, will make their yoke seem +indeed a heavy one; will probably bring about their disintegration; and +will end that ascendancy of Western civilisation over the world which +the last four centuries have established. And justly; since Western +civilisation will thus be made to stand not for justice and liberty, +but for injustice and oppression. Such must be the inevitable result of +any settlement of the non-European world which is guided merely by the +ambitions of a few rival states and the Doctrine of Power. + +On the other hand, we are urged by enthusiasts for liberty, especially +in Russia, to believe that imperialism as such is the enemy; that we +must put an end for ever to all dominion exercised by one people over +another; and that outside of Europe as within it we must trust to the +same principles for the hope of future peace--the principles of +national freedom and self-government--and leave all peoples everywhere +to control freely their own destinies. But this is a misreading of the +facts as fatal as the other. It disregards the value of the work that +has been done in the extension of European civilisation to the rest of +the world by the imperial activities of the European peoples. It fails +to recognise that until Europe began to conquer the world neither +rational law nor political liberty had ever in any real sense existed +in the outer world, and that their dominion is even now far from +assured, but depends for its maintenance upon the continued tutelage of +the European peoples. It fails to realise that the economic demands of +the modern world necessitate the maintenance of civilised +administration after the Western pattern, and that this can only be +assured, in large regions of the earth, by means of the political +control of European peoples. Above all this view does not grasp the +essential fact that the idea of nationhood and the idea of +self-government are both modern ideas, which have had their origin in +Europe, and which can only be realised among peoples of a high +political development; that the sense of nationhood is but slowly +created, and must not be arbitrarily defined in terms of race or +language; and that the capacity for self-government is only formed by a +long process of training, and has never existed except among peoples +who were unified by a strongly felt community of sentiment, and had +acquired the habit and instinct of loyalty to the law. Assuredly it is +the duty of Europe and America to extend these fruitful conceptions to +the regions which have passed under their influence. But the process +must be a very slow one, and it can only be achieved under tutelage. It +is the control of the European peoples over the non-European world +which has turned the world into an economic unit, brought it within a +single political system, and opened to us the possibility of making a +world-order such as the most daring dreamers of the past could never +have conceived. This control cannot be suddenly withdrawn. For a very +long time to come the world-states whose rise we have traced must +continue to be the means by which the political discoveries of Europe, +as well as her material civilisation, are made available for the rest +of the world. The world-states are such recent things that we have not +yet found a place for them in our political philosophy. But unless we +find a place for them, and think in terms of them, in the future, we +shall be in danger of a terrible shipwreck. + +If, then, it is essential, not only for the economic development of the +world, but for the political advancement of its more backward peoples, +that the political suzerainty of the European peoples should survive, +and as a consequence that the world should continue to be dominated by +a group of great world-states, how are we to conjure away the nightmare +of inter-imperial rivalry which has brought upon us the present +catastrophe, and seems to threaten us with yet more appalling ruin in +the future? Only by resolving and ensuring, as at the great settlement +we may be able to do, that the necessary political control of Europe +over the outer world shall in future be exercised not merely in the +interests of the mistress-states, but in accordance with principles +which are just in themselves, and which will give to all peoples a fair +chance of making the best use of their powers. But how are we to +discover these principles, if the ideas of nationality and +self-government, to which we pin our faith in Europe, are to be held +inapplicable to the greater part of the non-European world? There is +only one possible source of instruction: our past experience, which has +now extended over four centuries, and which we have in this book +endeavoured to survey. + +Now while it is undeniably true that the mere lust of power has always +been present in the imperial activities of the European peoples, it is +certainly untrue (as our study ought to have shown) that it has ever +been the sole motive, except, perhaps, in the great German challenge. +And in the course of their experience the colonising peoples have +gradually worked out certain principles in their treatment of subject +peoples, which ought to be of use to us. The fullest and the most +varied experience is that of the British Empire: it is the oldest of +all the world-states; it alone includes regions of the utmost variety +of types, new lands peopled by European settlers, realms of ancient +civilisation like India, and regions inhabited by backward and +primitive peoples. It would be absurd to claim that its methods are +perfect and infallible. But they have been very varied, and quite +astonishingly successful. And it is because they seem to afford clearer +guidance than any other part of the experiments which we have recorded +that we have studied them, especially in their later developments, with +what may have seemed a disproportionate fulness. What are the +principles which experience has gradually worked out in the British +Empire? They cannot be embodied in a single formula, because they vary +according to the condition and development of the lands to which they +apply. + +But in the first place we have learnt by a very long experience that in +lands inhabited by European settlers, who bring with them European +traditions, the only satisfactory solution is to be found in the +concession of the fullest self-governing rights, since these settlers +are able to use them, and in the encouragement of that sentiment of +unity which we call the national spirit. And this involves a +recognition of the fact that nationality is never to be defined solely +in terms of race or language, but can arise, and should be encouraged +to arise, among racially divided communities such as Canada and South +Africa. Any attempt to interpret nationhood in terms of race is not +merely dangerous, but ruinous; and such endeavours to stimulate or +accentuate racial conflict, as Germany has been guilty of in Brazil, in +South Africa, and even in America, must be, if successful, fatal to the +progress of the countries affected, and dangerous to the peace of the +world. + +In the second place we have learnt that in lands of ancient +civilisation, where ruling castes have for centuries been in the habit +of exploiting their subjects, the supreme gift which Europe can offer +is that of internal peace and a firmly administered and equal law, +which will render possible the gradual rise of a sense of unity, and +the gradual training of the people in the habits of life that make +self-government possible. How soon national unity can be established, +or self-government made practicable in any full sense, must be matter +of debate. But the creation of these things is, or ought to be, the +ultimate aim of European government in such countries. And in the +meantime, and until they become fully masters of their own fate, these +lands, so our British experience tells us, ought to be treated as +distinct political units; they should pay no tribute; all their +resources should be devoted to their own development; and they should +not be expected or required to maintain larger forces than are +necessary for their own defence. At the same time, the ruling power +should claim no special privileges for its own citizens, but should +throw open the markets of such realms equally to all nations. In short +it should act not as a master, but as a trustee, on behalf of its +subjects and also on behalf of civilisation. + +In the third place we have learnt that in the backward regions of the +earth it is the duty of the ruling power, firstly, to protect its +primitive subjects from unscrupulous exploitation, to guard their +simple customs, proscribing only those which are immoral, and to afford +them the means of a gradual emancipation from barbarism; secondly, to +develop the economic resources of these regions for the needs of the +industrial world, to open them up by modern communications, and to make +them available on equal terms to all nations, giving no advantage to +its own citizens. + +In spite of lapses and defects, it is an undeniable historical fact +that these are the principles which have been wrought out and applied +in the administration of the British Empire during the nineteenth +century. They are not vague and Utopian dreams; they are a matter of +daily practice. If they can be applied by one of the world-states, and +that the greatest, why should they not be applied by the rest? But if +these principles became universal, is it not apparent that all danger +of a catastrophic war between these powers would be removed, since +every reason for it would have vanished? Thus the necessary and +advantageous tutelage of Europe over the non-European world, and the +continuance of the great world-states, could be combined with the +conjuring away of the ever-present terror of war, and with the gradual +training of the non-European peoples to enjoy the political methods of +Europe; while the lesser states without extra-European dominions need +no longer feel themselves stunted and reduced to economic dependence +upon their great neighbours. Thus, and thus alone, can the benefits of +the long development which we have traced be reaped in full; thus alone +can the dominion of the European peoples over the world be made to mean +justice and the chance for all peoples to make the best of their powers. + +But it is not only the principles upon which particular areas outside +of Europe should be governed which we must consider. We must reflect +also upon the nature of the relations that should exist between the +various members of these great world-empires, which must hence-forward +be the dominating factors in the world's politics. And here the problem +is urgent only in the case of the British Empire, because it alone is +developed to such a point that the problem is inevitably raised. +Whatever else may happen, the war must necessarily bring a crisis in +the history of the British Empire. On a vastly greater scale the +situation of 1763 is being reproduced. Now, as then, the Empire will +emerge from a war for existence, in which mother and daughter lands +alike have shared. Now, as then, the strain and pressure of the war +will have brought to light deficiencies in the system of the Empire. +Now, as then, the most patent of these deficiencies will be the fact +that, generous as the self-governing powers of the great Dominions have +been, they still have limits; and the irresistible tendency of +self-government to work towards its own fulfilment will once more show +itself. For there are two spheres in which even the most fully +self-governing of the empire-nations have no effective control: they do +not share in the determination of foreign policy, and they do not share +in the direction of imperial defence. The responsibility for foreign +policy, and the responsibility, and with it almost the whole burden, of +organising imperial defence, have hitherto rested solely with Britain. +Until the Great War, foreign policy seemed to be a matter of purely +European interest, not directly concerning the great Dominions; nor did +the problems of imperial defence appear very pressing or urgent. But +now all have realised that not merely their interests, but their very +existence, may depend upon the wise conduct of foreign relations; and +now all have contributed the whole available strength of their manhood +to support a struggle in whose direction they have had no effective +share. These things must henceforth be altered; and they can be altered +only in one or other of three ways. Either the great Dominions will +become independent states, as the American colonies did, and pursue a +foreign policy and maintain a system of defence of their own; or the +Empire must reshape itself as a sort of permanent offensive and +defensive alliance, whose external policy and modes of defence will be +arranged by agreement; or some mode of common management of these and +other questions must be devised. The first of these solutions is +unlikely to be adopted, not only because the component members of the +Empire are conscious of their individual weakness, but still more +because the memory of the ordeal through which all have passed must +form an indissoluble bond. Yet rashness or high-handedness in the +treatment of the great issue might lead even to this unlikely result. +If either of the other two solutions is adopted, the question will at +once arise of the place to be occupied, in the league or in the +reorganised super-state, of all those innumerable sections of the +Empire which do not yet enjoy, and some of which may never enjoy, the +full privileges of self-government; and above all, the place to be +taken by the vast dominion of India, which though it is not, and may +not for a long time become, a fully self-governing state, is yet a +definite and vitally important unit in the Empire, entitled to have its +needs and problems considered, and its government represented, on equal +terms with the rest. The problem is an extraordinarily difficult one; +perhaps the most difficult political problem that has ever faced the +sons of men. But it is essentially the same problem which has +continually recurred in the history of British imperialism, though it +now presents itself on a vastly greater scale, and in a far more +complex form, than ever before: it is the problem of reconciling unity +with liberty and variety; of combining nationality and self-government +with imperialism, without impairing the rights of either. And beyond +any doubt the most tremendous and fascinating political question which +now awaits solution in the world, is the question whether the political +instinct of the British peoples, and the genius of self-government, +will find a way out of these difficulties, as they have found a way out +of so many others. Patience, mutual tolerance, willingness to +compromise, will be required in the highest measure if the solution is +to be found; but these are the qualities which self-government +cultivates. + +'A thing that is wholly a sham,' said Treitschke, speaking of the +British Empire, 'cannot in this world of ours, endure for ever.' Why +did this Empire appear to Treitschke to be 'wholly a sham'? Was it not +because it did not answer to any definition of the word 'Empire' to be +found in German political philosophy; because it did not mean dominion +and uniformity, but liberty and variety; because it did not rest upon +Force, as, in his view, every firmly established state must do; because +it was not governed by a single master, whose edicts all its subjects +must obey? But for 'a thing that is wholly a sham' men do not lay down +their lives, in thousands and in hundreds of thousands, not under the +pressure of compulsion, but by a willing self-devotion; for the defence +of 'a thing that is wholly a sham' men will not stream in from all the +ends of the earth, abandoning their families and their careers, and +offering without murmur or hesitation themselves and all they have and +are. There must be a reality in the thing that calls forth such +sacrifices, a reality of the kind to which Realpolitik, with its +concentration upon purely material concerns, is wholly blind: it is the +reality of an ideal of honour, and justice, and freedom. And if the +Germans have been deceived in their calculations of Realpolitik, is it +not perhaps because they have learnt to regard honour, and justice, and +freedom as 'things that are wholly shams'? + +This amazing political structure, which refuses to fall within any of +the categories of political science, which is an empire and yet not an +empire, a state and yet not a state, a super-nation incorporating in +itself an incredible variety of peoples and races, is not a structure +which has been designed by the ingenuity of man, or created by the +purposive action of a government; it is a natural growth, the product +of the spontaneous activity of innumerable individuals and groups +springing from among peoples whose history has made liberty and the +tolerance of differences their most fundamental instincts; it is the +outcome of a series of accidents, unforeseen, but turned to advantage +by the unfailing and ever-new resourcefulness of men habituated to +self-government. There is no logic or uniformity in its system, which +has arisen from an infinite number of makeshifts and tentative +experiments, yet in all of these a certain consistency appears, because +they have been presided over by the genius of self-government. It is +distributed over every continent, is washed by every ocean, includes +half the dust of islands that Nature has scattered about the seas of +the world, controls almost all the main avenues of the world's +sea-going commerce, and is linked together by ten thousand ships +perpetually going to and fro. Weak for offensive purposes, because its +resources are so scattered, it is, except at a few points, almost +impregnable against attack, if its forces are well organised. It +includes among its population representatives of almost every human +race and religion, and every grade of civilisation, 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 and of government known to man is +represented in its complex and many-hued fabric. It embodies five of +the most completely self-governing communities which the world has +known, and four of these control the future of the great empty spaces +that remain for the settlement of white men. 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 common ideas and of common institutions. To the ancient +civilisations of India or of 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 world, 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 ideas of +the modern world. It has fostered the rise of a sense of nationhood in +the young communities of the new lands, and in the old and decaying +civilisations of the most ancient historic countries. It has given a +freedom of development to self-government such as history has never +before known. 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. + +Truly this empire is a fabric so wonderful, so many-sided, and so +various in its aspects, that it may well escape the rigid categories of +a German professor, and seem to him 'wholly a sham.' Now is the crisis +of its fate: and if the wisdom of its leaders can solve the riddle of +the Sphinx which is being put to them, the Great War will indeed have +brought, for a quarter of the world, the culmination of modern history. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expansion of Europe, by Ramsay Muir + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 4326.txt or 4326.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/4326/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE + +THE CULMINATION OF MODERN HISTORY + +BY RAMSAY MUIR + +PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER + +SECOND EDITION + +TO MY MOTHER + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The purpose of this book is twofold. + +We realise to-day, as never before, that the fortunes of the +world, and of every individual in it, are deeply affected by the +problems of world-politics and by the imperial expansion and the +imperial rivalries of the greater states of Western civilisation. +But when men who have given no special attention to the history of +these questions try to form a sound judgment on them, they find +themselves handicapped by the lack of any brief and clear resume +of the subject. I have tried, in this book, to provide such a +summary, in the form of a broad survey, unencumbered with detail, +but becoming fuller as it comes nearer to our own time. That is my +first purpose. In fulfilling it I have had to cover much well- +trodden ground. But I hope I have avoided the aridity of a mere +compendium of facts. + +My second purpose is rather more ambitious. In the course of my +narrative I have tried to deal with ideas rather than with mere +facts. I have tried to bring out the political ideas which are +implicit in, or which result from, the conquest of the world by +Western civilisation; and to show how the ideas of the West have +affected the outer world, how far they have been modified to meet +its needs, and how they have developed in the process. In +particular I have endeavoured to direct attention to the +significant new political form which we have seen coming into +existence, and of which the British Empire is the oldest and the +most highly developed example--the world-state, embracing peoples +of many different types, with a Western nation-state as its +nucleus. The study of this new form seems to me to be a neglected +branch of political science, and one of vital importance. Whether +or not it is to be a lasting form, time alone will show. Finally I +have tried to display, in this long imperialist conflict, the +strife of two rival conceptions of empire: the old, sterile, and +ugly conception which thinks of empire as mere domination, +ruthlessly pursued for the sole advantage of the master, and which +seems to me to be most fully exemplified by Germany; and the +nobler conception which regards empire as a trusteeship, and which +is to be seen gradually emerging and struggling towards victory +over the more brutal view, more clearly and in more varied forms +in the story of the British Empire than in perhaps any other part +of human history. That is why I have given a perhaps +disproportionate attention to the British Empire. The war is +determining, among other great issues, which of these conceptions +is to dominate the future. + +In its first form this book was completed in the autumn of 1916; +and it contained, as I am bound to confess, some rather acidulated +sentences in the passages which deal with the attitude of America +towards European problems. These sentences were due to the deep +disappointment which most Englishmen and most Frenchmen felt with +the attitude of aloofness which America seemed to have adopted +towards the greatest struggle for freedom and justice ever waged +in history. It was an indescribable satisfaction to be forced by +events to recognise that I was wrong, and that these passages of +my book ought not to have been written as I wrote them. There is a +sort of solemn joy in feeling that America, France, and Britain, +the three nations which have contributed more than all the rest of +the world put together to the establishment of liberty and justice +on the earth, are now comrades in arms, fighting a supreme battle +for these great causes. May this comradeship never be broken. May +it bring about such a decision of the present conflict as will +open a new era in the history of the world--a world now unified, +as never before, by the final victory of Western civilisation +which it is the purpose of this book to describe. + +Besides rewriting and expanding the passages on America, I have +seized the opportunity of this new issue to alter and enlarge +certain other sections of the book, notably the chapter on the +vital period 1878-1900, which was too slightly dealt with in the +original edition. In this work, which has considerably increased +the size of the book, I have been much assisted by the criticisms +and suggestions of some of my reviewers, whom I wish to thank. + +Perhaps I ought to add that though this book is complete in +itself, it is also a sort of sequel to a little book entitled +Nationalism and Internationalism, and was originally designed to +be printed along with it: that is the explanation of sundry +footnote references. The two volumes are to be followed by a +third, on National Self-government, and it is my hope that the +complete series may form a useful general survey of the +development of the main political factors in modern history. + +In its first form the book had the advantage of being read by my +friend Major W. L. Grant, Professor of Colonial History at Queen's +University Kingston, Ontario. The pressure of the military duties +in which he is engaged has made it impossible for me to ask his +aid in the revision of the book. + +R. M. July 1917 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface + I. The Meaning and the Motives of Imperialism + II. The Era of Iberian Monopoly + III. The Rivalry of the Dutch, the French, and + the English, 1588-1763 + (a) The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660 + (b) The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713 + (c) The Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763 + IV. The Era of Revolution, 1763-1825 + V. Europe and the Non-European World, 1815-1878 + VI. The Transformation of the British Empire, 1815-1878 + VII. The Era of the World States, 1878-1900 +VIII. The British Empire amid the World-Powers, 1878-1914 + IX. The Great Challenge, 1900-1914 + X. What of the Night? + + + + + +I + +THE MEANING AND THE MOTIVES OF IMPERIALISM + + +One of the most remarkable features of the modern age has been the +extension of the influence of European civilisation over the whole +world. This process has formed a very important element in the +history of the last four centuries, and it has been strangely +undervalued by most historians, whose attention has been too +exclusively centred upon the domestic politics, diplomacies, and +wars of Europe. It has been brought about by the creation of a +succession of 'Empires' by the European nations, some of which +have broken up, while others survive, but all of which have +contributed their share to the general result; and for that reason +the term 'Imperialism' is commonly employed to describe the spirit +which has led to this astonishing and world-embracing movement of +the modern age. + +The terms 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' are in some respects +unfortunate, because of the suggestion of purely military dominion +which they convey; and their habitual employment has led to some +unhappy results. It has led men of one school of thought to +condemn and repudiate the whole movement, as an immoral product of +brute force, regardless of the rights of conquered peoples. They +have refused to study it, and have made no endeavour to understand +it; not realising that the movement they were condemning was as +inevitable and as irresistible as the movement of the tides--and +as capable of being turned to beneficent ends. On the other hand, +the implications of these terms have perhaps helped to foster in +men of another type of mind an unhealthy spirit of pride in mere +domination, as if that were an end in itself, and have led them to +exult in the extension of national power, without closely enough +considering the purposes for which it was to be used. Both +attitudes are deplorable, and in so far as the words 'Empire,' +'Imperial,' and 'Imperialism' tend to encourage them, they are +unfortunate words. They certainly do not adequately express the +full significance of the process whereby the civilisation of +Europe has been made into the civilisation of the world. + +Nevertheless the words have to be used, because there are no +others which at all cover the facts. And, after all, they are in +some ways entirely appropriate. A great part of the world's area +is inhabited by peoples who are still in a condition of barbarism, +and seem to have rested in that condition for untold centuries. +For such peoples the only chance of improvement was that they +should pass under the dominion of more highly developed peoples; +and to them a European 'Empire' brought, for the first time, not +merely law and justice, but even the rudiments of the only kind of +liberty which is worth having, the liberty which rests upon law. +Another vast section of the world's population consists of peoples +who have in some respects reached a high stage of civilisation, +but who have failed to achieve for themselves a mode of +organisation which could give them secure order and equal laws. +For such peoples also the 'Empire' of Western civilisation, even +when it is imposed and maintained by force, may bring advantages +which will far outweigh its defects. In these cases the word +'Empire' can be used without violence to its original +significance, and yet without apology; and these cases cover by +far the greater part of the world. + +The words 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' come to us from ancient Rome; +and the analogy between the conquering and organising work of Rome +and the empire-building work of the modern nation-states is a +suggestive and stimulating analogy. The imperialism of Rome +extended the modes of a single civilisation, and the Reign of Law +which was its essence, over all the Mediterranean lands. The +imperialism of the nations to which the torch of Rome has been +handed on, has made the Reign of Law, and the modes of a single +civilisation, the common possession of the whole world. Rome made +the common life of Europe possible. The imperial expansion of the +European nations has alone made possible the vision--nay, the +certainty--of a future world-order. For these reasons we may +rightly and without hesitation continue to employ these terms, +provided that we remember always that the justification of any +dominion imposed by a more advanced upon a backward or +disorganised people is to be found, not in the extension of mere +brute power, but in the enlargement and diffusion, under the +shelter of power, of those vital elements in the life of Western +civilisation which have been the secrets of its strength, and the +greatest of its gifts to the world: the sovereignty of a just and +rational system of law, liberty of person, of thought, and of +speech, and, finally, where the conditions are favourable, the +practice of self-government and the growth of that sentiment of +common interest which we call the national spirit. These are the +features of Western civilisation which have justified its conquest +of the world [Footnote: See the first essay in Nationalism and +Internationalism, in which an attempt is made to work out this +idea]; and it must be for its success or failure in attaining +these ends that we shall commend or condemn the imperial work of +each of the nations which have shared in this vast achievement. + +Four main motives can be perceived at work in all the imperial +activities of the European peoples during the last four centuries. +The first, and perhaps the most potent, has been the spirit of +national pride, seeking to express itself in the establishment of +its dominion over less highly organised peoples. In the exultation +which follows the achievement of national unity each of the +nation-states in turn, if the circumstances were at all +favourable, has been tempted to impose its power upon its +neighbours,[Footnote: Nationalism and Imperialism, pp. 60, 64, +104.] or even to seek the mastery of the world. From these +attempts have sprung the greatest of the European wars. From them +also have arisen all the colonial empires of the European states. +It is no mere coincidence that all the great colonising powers +have been unified nation-states, and that their imperial +activities have been most vigorous when the national sentiment was +at its strongest among them. Spain, Portugal, England, France, +Holland, Russia: these are the great imperial powers, and they are +also the great nation-states. Denmark and Sweden have played a +more modest part, in extra-European as in European affairs. +Germany and Italy only began to conceive imperial ambitions after +their tardy unification in the nineteenth century. Austria, which +has never been a nation-state, never became a colonising power. +Nationalism, then, with its eagerness for dominion, may be +regarded as the chief source of imperialism; and if its effects +are unhappy when it tries to express itself at the expense of +peoples in whom the potentiality of nationhood exists, they are +not necessarily unhappy in other cases. When it takes the form of +the settlement of unpeopled lands, or the organisation and +development of primitive barbaric peoples, or the reinvigoration +and strengthening of old and decadent societies, it may prove +itself a beneficent force. But it is beneficent only in so far as +it leads to an enlargement of law and liberty. + +The second of the blended motives of imperial expansion has been +the desire for commercial profits; and this motive has played so +prominent a part, especially in our own time, that we are apt to +exaggerate its force, and to think of it as the sole motive. No +doubt it has always been present in some degree in all imperial +adventures. But until the nineteenth century it probably formed +the predominant motive only in regard to the acquisition of +tropical lands. So long as Europe continued to be able to produce +as much as she needed of the food and the raw materials for +industry that her soil and climate were capable of yielding, the +commercial motive for acquiring territories in the temperate zone, +which could produce only commodities of the same type, was +comparatively weak; and the European settlements in these areas, +which we have come to regard as the most important products of the +imperialist movement, must in their origin and early settlement be +mainly attributed to other than commercial motives. But Europe has +always depended for most of her luxuries upon the tropics: gold +and ivory and gems, spices and sugar and fine woven stuffs, from a +very early age found their way into Europe from India and the +East, coming by slow and devious caravan routes to the shores of +the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Until the end of the +fifteenth century the European trader had no direct contact with +the sources of these precious commodities; the supply of them was +scanty and the price high. The desire to gain a more direct access +to the sources of this traffic, and to obtain control of the +supply, formed the principal motive for the great explorations. +But these, in their turn, disclosed fresh tropical areas worth +exploiting, and introduced new luxuries, such as tobacco and tea, +which soon took rank as necessities. They also brought a colossal +increment of wealth to the countries which had undertaken them. +Hence the acquisition of a share in, or a monopoly of, these +lucrative lines of trade became a primary object of ambition to +all the great states. In the nineteenth century Europe began to be +unable to supply her own needs in regard to the products of the +temperate zone, and therefore to desire control over other areas +of this type; but until then it was mainly in regard to the +tropical or sub-tropical areas that the commercial motive formed +the predominant element in the imperial rivalries of the nation- +states. And even to-day it is over these areas that their +conflicts are most acute. + +A third motive for imperial expansion, which must not be +overlooked, is the zeal for propaganda: the eagerness of virile +peoples to propagate the religious and political ideas which they +have adopted. But this is only another way of saying that nations +are impelled upon the imperial career by the desire to extend the +influence of their conception of civilisation, their Kultur. In +one form or another this motive has always been present. At first +it took the form of religious zeal. The spirit of the Crusaders +was inherited by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, whose whole +history had been one long crusade against the Moors. When the +Portuguese started upon the exploration of the African coast, they +could scarcely have sustained to the end that long and arduous +task if they had been allured by no other prospect than the +distant hope of finding a new route to the East. They were buoyed +up also by the desire to strike a blow for Christianity. They +expected to find the mythical Christian empire of Prester John, +and to join hands with him in overthrowing the infidel. When +Columbus persuaded Queen Isabella of Castile to supply the means +for his madcap adventure, it was by a double inducement that he +won her assent: she was to gain access to the wealth of the +Indies, but she was also to be the means of converting the heathen +to a knowledge of Christianity; and this double motive continually +recurs in the early history of the Spanish Empire. France could +scarcely, perhaps, have persisted in maintaining her far from +profitable settlements on the barren shores of the St. Lawrence if +the missionary motive had not existed alongside of the motives of +national pride and the desire for profits: her great work of +exploration in the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi +Valley was due quite as much to the zeal of the heroic +missionaries of the Jesuit and other orders as to the enterprise +of trappers and traders. In English colonisation, indeed, the +missionary motive was never, until the nineteenth century, so +strongly marked. But its place was taken by a parallel political +motive. The belief that they were diffusing the free institutions +in which they took so much pride certainly formed an element in +the colonial activities of the English. It is both foolish and +unscientific to disregard this element of propaganda in the +imperialist movement, still more to treat the assertion of it by +the colonising powers as mere hypocrisy. The motives of imperial +expansion, as of other human activities, are mixed, and the +loftier elements in them are not often predominant. But the +loftier elements are always present. It is hypocrisy to pretend +that they are alone or even chiefly operative. But it is cynicism +wholly to deny their influence. And of the two sins cynicism is +the worse, because by over-emphasising it strengthens and +cultivates the lower among the mixed motives by which men are +ruled. + +The fourth of the governing motives of imperial expansion is the +need of finding new homes for the surplus population of the +colonising people. This was not in any country a very powerful +motive until the nineteenth century, for over-population did not +exist in any serious degree in any of the European states until +that age. Many of the political writers in seventeenth-century +England, indeed, regarded the whole movement of colonisation with +alarm, because it seemed to be drawing off men who could not be +spared. But if the population was nowhere excessive, there were in +all countries certain classes for which emigration to new lands +offered a desired opportunity. There were the men bitten with the +spirit of adventure, to whom the work of the pioneer presented an +irresistible attraction. Such men are always numerous in virile +communities, and when in any society their numbers begin to +diminish, its decay is at hand. The imperial activities of the +modern age have more than anything else kept the breed alive in +all European countries, and above all in Britain. To this type +belonged the conquistadores of Spain, the Elizabethan seamen, the +French explorers of North America, the daring Dutch navigators. +Again, there were the younger sons of good family for whom the +homeland presented small opportunities, but who found in colonial +settlements the chance of creating estates like those of their +fathers at home, and carried out with them bands of followers +drawn from among the sons of their fathers' tenantry. To this +class belonged most of the planter-settlers of Virginia, the +seigneurs of French Canada, the lords of the great Portuguese +feudal holdings in Brazil, and the dominant class in all the +Spanish colonies. Again, there were the 'undesirables' of whom the +home government wanted to be rid--convicts, paupers, political +prisoners; they were drafted out in great numbers to the new +lands, often as indentured servants, to endure servitude for a +period of years and then to be merged in the colonial population. +When the loss of the American colonies deprived Britain of her +dumping-ground for convicts, she had to find a new region in which +to dispose of them; and this led to the first settlement of +Australia, six years after the establishment of American +independence. Finally, in the age of bitter religious controversy +there was a constant stream of religious exiles seeking new homes +in which they could freely follow their own forms of worship. The +Puritan settlers of New England are the outstanding example of +this type. But they were only one group among many. Huguenots from +France, Moravians from Austria, persecuted 'Palatines' and +Salzburgers from Germany, poured forth in an almost unbroken +stream. It was natural that they should take refuge in the only +lands where full religious freedom was offered to them; and these +were especially some of the British settlements in America, and +the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. + +It is often said that the overflow of Europe over the world has +been a sort of renewal of the folk-wandering of primitive ages. +That is a misleading view: the movement has been far more +deliberate and organised, and far less due to the pressure of +external circumstances, than the early movements of peoples in the +Old World. Not until the nineteenth century, when the industrial +transformation of Europe brought about a really acute pressure of +population, can it be said that the mere pressure of need, and the +shortage of sustenance in their older homes, has sent large bodies +of settlers into the new lands. Until that period the imperial +movement has been due to voluntary and purposive action in a far +higher degree than any of the blind early wanderings of peoples. +The will-to-dominion of virile nations exulting in their +nationhood; the desire to obtain a more abundant supply of +luxuries than had earlier been available, and to make profits +therefrom; the zeal of peoples to impose their mode of +civilisation upon as large a part of the world as possible; the +existence in the Western world of many elements of restlessness +and dissatisfaction, adventurers, portionless younger sons, or +religious enthusiasts: these have been the main operative causes +of this huge movement during the greater part of the four +centuries over which it has extended. And as it has sprung from +such diverse and conflicting causes, it has assumed an infinite +variety of forms; and both deserves and demands a more respectful +study as a whole than has generally been given to it. + + + + + +II + +THE ERA OF IBERIAN MONOPOLY + + +During the Middle Ages the contact of Europe with the rest of the +world was but slight. It was shut off by the great barrier of the +Islamic Empire, upon which the Crusades made no permanent +impression; and although the goods of the East came by caravan to +the Black Sea ports, to Constantinople, to the ports of Syria, and +to Egypt, where they were picked up by the Italian traders, these +traders had no direct knowledge of the countries which were the +sources of their wealth. The threat of the Empire of Genghis Khan +in the thirteenth century aroused the interest of Europe, and the +bold friars, Carpini and Rubruquis, made their way to the centres +of that barbaric sovereign's power in the remote East, and brought +back stories of what they had seen; later the Poli, especially the +great Marco, undertook still more daring and long-continued +journeys, which made India and Cathay less unreal to Europeans, +and stimulated the desire for further knowledge. The later +mediaeval maps of the world, like that of Fra Mauro +(1459),[Footnote: Simplified reproductions of this and the other +early maps alluded to are printed in Philip's Students' Atlas of +Modern History, which also contains a long series of maps +illustrating the extra-Europeans activities of the European +states.] which incorporate this knowledge, are less wildly +imaginative than their predecessors, and show a vague notion of +the general configuration of the main land-masses in the Old +World. But beyond the fringes of the Mediterranean the world was +still in the main unknown to, and unaffected by, European +civilisation down to the middle of the fifteenth century. + +Then, suddenly, came the great era of explorations, which were +made possible by the improvements in navigation worked out during +the fifteenth century, and which in two generations incredibly +transformed the aspect of the world. The marvellous character of +this revelation can perhaps be illustrated by the comparison of +two maps, that of Behaim, published in 1492, and that of Schoener, +published in 1523. Apart from its adoption of the theory that the +earth was globular, not round and flat, Behaim's map shows little +advance upon Fra Mauro, except that it gives a clearer idea of the +shape of Africa, due to the earlier explorations of the +Portuguese. But Schoener's map shows that the broad outlines of +the distribution of the land-masses of both hemispheres were +already in 1523 pretty clearly understood. This astonishing +advance was due to the daring and enterprise of the Portuguese +explorers, Diaz, Da Gama, Cabral, and of the adventurers in the +service of Spain, Columbus, Balboa, Vespucci, and--greatest of +them all--Magellan. + +These astonishing discoveries placed for a time the destinies of +the outer world in the hands of Spain and Portugal, and the first +period of European imperialism is the period of Iberian monopoly, +extending to 1588. A Papal award in 1493 confirmed the division of +the non-European world between the two powers, by a judgment which +the orthodox were bound to accept, and did accept for two +generations. All the oceans, except the North Atlantic, were +closed to the navigators of other nations; and these two peoples +were given, for a century, the opportunity of showing in what +guise they would introduce the civilisation of Europe to the rest +of the globe. Pioneers as they were in the work of imperial +development, it is not surprising that they should have made great +blunders; and in the end their foreign dominions weakened rather +than strengthened the home countries, and contributed to drag them +down from the high place which they had taken among the nations. + +The Portuguese power in the East was never more than a commercial +dominion. Except in Goa, on the west coast of India, no +considerable number of settlers established themselves at any +point; and the Goanese settlement is the only instance of the +formation of a mixed race, half Indian and half European. Wherever +the Portuguese power was established, it proved itself hard and +intolerant; for the spirit of the Crusader was ill-adapted to the +establishment of good relations with the non-Christian peoples. +The rivalry of Arab traders in the Indian Ocean was mercilessly +destroyed, and there was as little mercy for the Italian +merchants, who found the stream of goods that the Arabs had sent +them by way of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf almost wholly +intercepted. No doubt any other people, finding itself in the +position which the Portuguese occupied in the early sixteenth +century, would have been tempted to use their power in the same +way to establish a complete monopoly; but the success with which +the Portuguese attained their aim was in the end disastrous to +them. It was followed by, if it did not cause, a rapid +deterioration of the ability with which their affairs were +directed; and when other European traders began to appear in the +field, they were readily welcomed by the princes of India and the +chieftains of the Spice Islands. In the West the Portuguese +settlement in Brazil was a genuine colony, or branch of the +Portuguese nation, because here there existed no earlier civilised +people to be dominated. But both in East and West the activities +of the Portuguese were from the first subjected to an over-rigid +control by the home government. Eager to make the most of a great +opportunity for the national advantage, the rulers of Portugal +allowed no freedom to the enterprise of individuals. The result +was that in Portugal itself, in the East, and in Brazil, +initiative was destroyed, and the brilliant energy which this +gallant little nation had displayed evaporated within a century. +It was finally destroyed when, in 1580, Portugal and her empire +fell under the dominion of Spain, and under all the reactionary +influences of the government of Philip II. By the time this heavy +yoke was shaken off, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the +Portuguese dominion had fallen into decay. To-day nothing of it +remains save 'spheres of influence' on the western and eastern +coasts of Africa, two or three ports on the coast of India, the +Azores, and the island of Magao off the coast of China. + +The Spanish dominion in Central and South America was of a +different character. When once they had realised that it was not a +new route to Asia, but a new world, that Columbus had discovered +for them, the Spaniards sought no longer mainly for the riches to +be derived from traffic, but for the precious metals, which they +unhappily discovered in slight quantities in Hispaniola, but in +immense abundance in Mexico and Peru. It is impossible to +exaggerate the heroic valour and daring of Cortez, Pizarro, +Hernando de Soto, Orellana, and the rest of the conquistadores who +carved out in a single generation the vast Spanish empire in +Central and South America; but it is equally impossible to +exaggerate their cruelty, which was born in part of the fact that +they were a handful among myriads, in part of the fierce +traditions of crusading warfare against the infidel. Yet without +undervaluing their daring, it must be recognised that they had a +comparatively easy task in conquering the peoples of these +tropical lands. In the greater islands of the West Indies they +found a gentle and yielding people, who rapidly died out under the +forced labour of the mines and plantations, and had to be replaced +by negro slave-labour imported from Africa. In Mexico and Peru +they found civilisations which on the material side were developed +to a comparatively high point, and which collapsed suddenly when +their governments and capitals had been overthrown; while their +peoples, habituated to slavery, readily submitted to a new +servitude. It must be recognised, to the honour of the government +of Charles V. and his successors, that they honestly attempted to +safeguard the usages and possessions of the conquered peoples, and +to protect them in some degree against the exploitation of their +conquerors. But it was the protection of a subject race doomed to +the condition of Helotage; they were protected, as the Jews were +protected by the kings of mediaeval England, because they were a +valuable asset of the crown. The policy of the Spanish government +did not avail to prevent an intermixture of the races, because the +Spaniards themselves came from a sub-tropical country, and the +Mexicans and Peruvians especially were separated from them by no +impassable gulf such as separates the negro or the Australian +bushman from the white man. Central and Southern America thus came +to be peopled by a hybrid race, speaking Spanish, large elements +of which were conscious of their own inferiority. This in itself +would perhaps have been a barrier to progress. But the +concentration of attention upon the precious metals, and the +neglect of industry due to this cause and to the employment of +slave-labour, formed a further obstacle. And in addition to all, +the Spanish government, partly with a view to the execution of its +native policy, partly because it regarded the precious metals as +the chief product of these lands and wished to maintain close +control over them, and partly because centralised autocracy was +carried to its highest pitch in Spain, allowed little freedom of +action to the local governments, and almost none to the settlers. +It treated the trade of these lands as a monopoly of the home +country, to be carried on under the most rigid control. It did +little or nothing to develop the natural resources of the empire, +but rather discouraged them lest they should compete with the +labours of the mine; and in what concerned the intellectual +welfare of its subjects, it limited itself, as in Spain, to +ensuring that no infection of heresy or freethought should reach +any part of its dominions. All this had a deadening effect; and +the surprising thing is, not that the Spanish Empire should have +fallen into an early decrepitude, but that it should have shown +such comparative vigour, tenacity, and power of expansion as it +actually exhibited. Not until the nineteenth century did the vast +natural resources of these regions begin to undergo any rapid +development; that is to say, not until most of the settlements had +discarded the connection with Spain; and even then, the defects +bred into the people by three centuries of reactionary and +unenlightened government produced in them an incapacity to use +their newly won freedom, and condemned these lands to a long +period of anarchy. It would be too strong to say that it would +have been better had the Spaniards never come to America; for, +when all is said, they have done more than any other people, save +the British, to plant European modes of life in the non-European +world. But it is undeniable that their dominion afforded a far +from happy illustration of the working of Western civilisation in +a new field, and exercised a very unfortunate reaction upon the +life of the mother-country. + +The conquest of Portugal and her empire by Philip II., in 1580, +turned Spain into a Colossus bestriding the world, and it was +inevitable that this world-dominion should be challenged by the +other European states which faced upon the Atlantic. The challenge +was taken up by three nations, the English, the French, and the +Dutch, all the more readily because the very existence of all +three and the religion of two of them were threatened by the +apparently overwhelming strength of Spain in Europe. As in so many +later instances, the European conflict was inevitably extended to +the non-European world. From the middle of the sixteenth century +onwards these three peoples attempted, with increasing daring, to +circumvent or to undermine the Spanish power, and to invade the +sources of the wealth which made it dangerous to them; but the +attempt, so far as it was made on the seas and beyond them, was in +the main, and for a long time, due to the spontaneous energies of +volunteers, not to the action of governments. Francis I. of France +sent out the Venetian Verazzano to explore the American shores of +the North Atlantic, as Henry VII. of England had earlier sent the +Genoese Cabots. But nothing came of these official enterprises. +More effective were the pirate adventurers who preyed upon the +commerce between Spain and her possessions in the Netherlands as +it passed through the Narrow Seas, running the gauntlet of +English, French, and Dutch. More effective still were the attempts +to find new routes to the East, not barred by the Spanish +dominions, by a north-east or a north-west passage; for some of +the earlier of these adventures led to fruitful unintended +consequences, as when the Englishman Chancellor, seeking for a +north-east passage, found the route to Archangel and opened up a +trade with Russia, or as when the Frenchman Cartier, seeking for a +north-west passage, hit upon the great estuary of the St. +Lawrence, and marked out a claim for France to the possession of +the area which it drained. Most effective of all were the +smuggling and piratical raids into the reserved waters of West +Africa and the West Indies, and later into the innermost +penetralia of the Pacific Ocean, which were undertaken with +rapidly increasing boldness by the navigators of all three +nations, but above all by the English. Drake is the supreme +exponent of these methods; and his career illustrates in the +clearest fashion the steady diminution of Spanish prestige under +these attacks, and the growing boldness and maritime skill of its +attackers. + +From the time of Drake's voyage round the world (1577) and its +insulting defiance of the Spanish power on the west coast of South +America, it became plain that the maintenance of Spanish monopoly +could not last much longer. It came to its end, finally and +unmistakably, in the defeat of the Grand Armada. That supreme +victory threw the ocean roads of trade open, not to the English +only, but to the sailors of all nations. In its first great +triumph the English navy had established the Freedom of the Seas, +of which it has ever since been the chief defender. Since 1588 no +power has dreamt of claiming the exclusive right of traversing any +of the open seas of the world, as until that date Spain and +Portugal had claimed the exclusive right of using the South +Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. + +So ends the first period in the imperial expansion of the Western +peoples, the period of Spanish and Portuguese monopoly. Meanwhile, +unnoticed in the West, a remarkable eastward expansion was being +effected by the Russian people. By insensible stages they had +passed the unreal barrier between Europe and Asia, and spread +themselves thinly over the vast spaces of Siberia, subduing and +assimilating the few and scattered tribes whom they met; by the +end of the seventeenth century they had already reached the +Pacific Ocean. It was a conquest marked by no great struggles or +victories, an insensible permeation of half a continent. This +process was made the easier for the Russians, because in their own +stock were blended elements of the Mongol race which they found +scattered over Siberia: they were only reversing the process which +Genghis Khan had so easily accomplished in the thirteenth century. +And as the Russians had scarcely yet begun to be affected by +Western civilisation, there was no great cleavage or contrast +between them and their new subjects, and the process of +assimilation took place easily. But the settlement of Siberia was +very gradual. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the total +population of this vast area amounted to not more than 300,000 +souls, and it was not until the nineteenth century that there was +any rapid increase. + + + + + +III + +THE RIVALRY OP THE DUTCH, THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH, 1588-1763 + + +The second period of European imperialism was filled with the +rivalries of the three nations which had in different degrees +contributed to the breakdown of the Spanish monopoly, the Dutch, +the French, and the English; and we have next to inquire how far, +and why, these peoples were more successful than the Spaniards in +planting in the non-European world the essentials of European +civilisation. The long era of their rivalry extended from 1588 to +1763, and it can be most conveniently divided into three sections. +The first of these extended from 1588 to about 1660, and may be +called the period of experiment and settlement; during its course +the leadership fell to the Dutch. The second extended from 1660 to +1713, and may be called the period of systematic colonial policy, +and of growing rivalry between France and England. The third, from +1713 to 1763, was dominated by the intense rivalry of these two +countries, decadent Spain joining in the conflict on the side of +France, while the declining power of the Dutch was on the whole +ranged on the side of Britain; and it ended with the complete +ascendancy of Britain, supreme at once in the West and in the +East. + +(a) The Period of Settlement, 1588-1660 + +The special interest of the first half of the seventeenth century +is that in the trading and colonial experiments of this period the +character of the work which was to be done by the three new +candidates for extra-European empire was already very clearly and +instructively displayed. They met as rivals in every field: in the +archipelago of the West Indies, and the closely connected slaving +establishments of West Africa, in the almost empty lands of North +America, and in the trading enterprises of the far East; and +everywhere a difference of spirit and method appeared. + +The Dutch, who made a far more systematic and more immediately +profitable use of the opportunity than either of their rivals, +regarded the whole enterprise as a great national commercial +venture. It was conducted by two powerful trading corporations, +the Company of the East Indies and the Company of the West Indies; +but though directed by the merchants of Amsterdam, these were +genuinely national enterprises; their shareholders were drawn from +every province and every class; and they were backed by all the +influence which the States-General of the United Provinces-- +controlled during this period mainly by the commercial interest-- +was able to wield. + +The Company of the East Indies was the richer and the more +powerful of the two, because the trade of the Far East was beyond +comparison the most lucrative in the world. Aiming straight at the +source of the greatest profits--the trade in spices--the Dutch +strove to establish a monopoly control over the Spice Islands and, +in general, over the Malay Archipelago; and they were so +successful that their influence remains to-day predominant in this +region. Their first task was to overthrow the ascendancy of the +Portuguese, and in this they were willing to co-operate with the +English traders. But the bulk of the work was done by the Dutch, +for the English East India Company was poor in comparison with the +Dutch, was far less efficiently organised, and, in especial, could +not count upon the steady support of the national government. It +was mainly the Dutch who built forts and organised factories, +because they alone had sufficient capital to maintain heavy +standing charges. Not unnaturally they did not see why the English +should reap any part of the advantage of their work, and set +themselves to establish a monopoly. In the end the English were +driven out with violence. After the Massacre of Amboyna (1623) +their traders disappeared from these seas, and the Dutch supremacy +remained unchallenged until the nineteenth century. + +It was a quite intolerant commercial monopoly which they had +instituted, but from the commercial point of view it was +administered with great intelligence. Commercial control brought +in its train territorial sovereignty, over Java and many of the +neighbouring islands; and this sovereignty was exercised by the +directors of the company primarily with a view to trade interests. +It was a trade despotism, but a trade despotism wisely +administered, which gave justice and order to its native subjects. +On the mainland of India the Dutch never attained a comparable +degree of power, because the native states were strong enough to +hold them in check. But in this period their factories were more +numerous and more prosperous than those of the English, their +chief rivals; and over the island of Ceylon they established an +ascendancy almost as complete as that which they had created in +the archipelago. + +They were intelligent enough also to see the importance of good +calling-stations on the route to the East. For this purpose they +planted a settlement in Mauritius, and another at the Cape of Good +Hope. But these settlements were never regarded as colonies. They +were stations belonging to a trading company; they remained under +its complete control, and were allowed no freedom of development, +still less any semblance of self-government. If Cape Colony grew +into a genuine colony, or offshoot of the mother-country, it was +in spite of the company, not by reason of its encouragement, and +from first to last the company's relations with the settlers were +of the most unhappy kind. For the company would do nothing at the +Cape that was not necessary for the Eastern trade, which was its +supreme interest, and the colonists naturally did not take the +same view. It was this concentration upon purely commercial aims +which also prevented the Dutch from making any use of the superb +field for European settlement opened up by the enterprise of their +explorers in Australia and New Zealand. These fair lands were left +unpeopled, largely because they promised no immediate trade +profits. + +In the West the enterprises of the Dutch were only less vigorous +than in the East, and they were marked by the same feature of an +intense concentration upon the purely commercial aspect. While the +English and (still more) the French adventurers made use of the +lesser West Indian islands, unoccupied by Spain, as bases for +piratical attacks upon the Spanish trade, the Dutch, with a shrewd +instinct, early deserted this purely destructive game for the more +lucrative business of carrying on a smuggling trade with the +Spanish mainland; and the islands which they acquired (such as +Curayoa) were, unlike the French and English islands, especially +well placed for this purpose. They established a sugar colony in +Guiana. But their main venture in this region was the conquest of +a large part of Northern Brazil from the Portuguese (1624); and +here their exploitation was so merciless, under the direction of +the Company of the West Indies, that the inhabitants, though they +had been dissatisfied with the Portuguese government, and had at +first welcomed the Dutch conquerors, soon revolted against them, +and after twenty years drove them out. + +On the mainland of North America the Dutch planted a single +colony--the New Netherlands, with its capital at New Amsterdam, +later New York. Their commercial instinct had once more guided +them wisely. They had found the natural centre for the trade of +North America; for by way of the river Hudson and its affluent, +the Mohawk, New York commands the only clear path through the +mountain belt which everywhere shuts off the Atlantic coast region +from the central plain of America. Founded and controlled by the +Company of the West Indies, this settlement was intended to be, +not primarily the home of a branch of the Dutch nation beyond the +seas, but a trading-station for collecting the furs and other +products of the inland regions. At Orange (Albany), which stands +at the junction of the Mohawk and the Hudson, the Dutch traders +collected the furs brought in by Indian trappers from west and +north; New Amsterdam was the port of export; and if settlers were +encouraged, it was only that they might supply the men and the +means and the food for carrying on this traffic. The Company of +the West Indies administered the colony purely from this point of +view. No powers of self-government were allowed to the settlers; +and, as in Cape Colony, the relations between the colonists and +the governing company were never satisfactory, because the +colonists felt that their interests were wholly subordinated. + +The distinguishing feature of French imperial activity during this +period was its dependence upon the support and direction of the +home government, which was the natural result of the highly +centralised regime established in France during the modern era. +Only in one direction was French activity successfully maintained +by private enterprise, and this was in the not very reputable +field of West Indian buccaneering, in which the French were even +more active than their principal rivals and comrades, the English. +The word 'buccaneer' itself comes from the French: boucan means +the wood-fire at which the pirates dried and smoked their meat, +and these fires, blazing on deserted islands, must often have +warned merchant vessels to avoid an ever-present danger. The +island of Tortuga, which commands the passage between Cuba and +Hispaniola through which the bulk of the Spanish traffic passed on +its way from Mexico to Europe, was the most important of the +buccaneering bases, and although it was at first used by the +buccaneers of all nations, it soon became a purely French +possession, as did, later, the adjoining portion of the island of +Hispaniola (San Domingo). The French did, indeed, like the +English, plant sugar colonies in some of the lesser Antilles; but +during the first half of the seventeenth century they attained no +great prosperity. + +For the greater enterprises of trade in the East and colonisation +in the West, the French relied almost wholly upon government +assistance, and although both Henry IV. in the first years of the +century, and Richelieu in its second quarter, were anxious to give +what help they could, internal dissensions were of such frequent +occurrence in France during this period that no systematic or +continuous governmental aid was available. Hence the French +enterprises both in the East and in the West were on a small +scale, and achieved little success. The French East India Company +was all but extinct when Colbert took it in hand in 1664; it was +never able to compete with its Dutch or even its English rival. + +But the period saw the establishment of two French colonies in +North America: Acadia (Nova Scotia) on the coast, and Canada, with +Quebec as its centre, in the St. Lawrence valley, separated from +one another on land by an almost impassable barrier of forest and +mountain. These two colonies were founded, the first in 1605 and +the second in 1608, almost at the same moment as the first English +settlement on the American continent. They had a hard struggle +during the first fifty years of their existence; for the number of +settlers was very small, the soil was barren, the climate severe, +and the Red Indians, especially the ferocious Iroquois towards the +south, were far more formidable enemies than those who bordered on +the English colonies. + +There is no part of the history of European colonisation more full +of romance and of heroism than the early history of French Canada; +an incomparable atmosphere of gallantry and devotion seems to +overhang it. From the first, despite their small numbers and their +difficulties, these settlers showed a daring in exploration which +was only equalled by the Spaniards, and to which there is no +parallel in the records of the English colonies. At the very +outset the great explorer Champlain mapped out the greater part of +the Great Lakes, and thus reached farther into the continent than +any Englishman before the end of the eighteenth century; and +although this is partly explained by the fact that the St. +Lawrence and the lakes afforded an easy approach to the interior, +while farther south the forest-clad ranges of the Alleghanies +constituted a very serious barrier, this does not diminish the +French pre-eminence in exploration. Nor can anything in the +history of European colonisation surpass the heroism of the French +missionaries among the Indians, who faced and endured incredible +tortures in order to bring Christianity to the barbarians. No +serious missionary enterprise was ever undertaken by the English +colonists; this difference was in part due to the fact that the +missionary aim was definitely encouraged by the home government in +France. From the outset, then, poverty, paucity of numbers, +gallantry, and missionary zeal formed marked features of the +French North American colonies. + +In other respects they very clearly reproduced some of the +features of the motherland. Their organisation was strictly feudal +in character. The real unit of settlement and government was the +seigneurie, an estate owned by a Frenchman of birth, and +cultivated by his vassals, who found refuge from an Indian raid, +or other danger, in the stockaded house which took the place of a +chateau, much as their remote ancestors had taken refuge from the +raids of the Northmen in the castles of their seigneur's +ancestors. And over this feudal society was set, as in France, a +highly centralised government wielding despotic power, and in its +turn absolutely subject to the mandate of the Crown at home. This +despotic government had the right to require the services of all +its subjects in case of need; and it was only the centralised +government of the colony, and the warlike and adventurous +character of its small feudalised society, which enabled it to +hold its own for so long against the superior numbers but laxer +organisation of its English neighbours. A despotic central power, +a feudal organisation, and an entire dependence upon the will of +the King of France and upon his support, form, therefore, the +second group of characteristics which marked the French colonies. +They were colonies in the strictest sense, all the more because +they reproduced the main features of the home system. + +Nothing could have differed more profoundly from this system than +the methods which the English were contemporaneously applying, +without plan or clearly defined aim, and guided only by immediate +practical needs, and by the rooted traditions of a self-governing +people. Their enterprises received from the home government little +direct assistance, but they throve better without it; and if there +was little assistance, there was also little interference. In the +East the English East India Company had to yield to the Dutch the +monopoly of the Malayan trade, and bitterly complained of the lack +of government support; but it succeeded in establishing several +modest factories on the coast of India, and was on the whole +prosperous. But it was in the West that the distinctive work of +the English was achieved during this period, by the establishment +of a series of colonies unlike any other European settlements +which had yet been instituted. Their distinctive feature was self- +government, to which they owed their steadily increasing +prosperity. No other European colonies were thus managed on the +principle of autonomy. Indeed, these English settlements were in +1650 the only self-governing lands in the world, apart from +England herself, the United Provinces, and Switzerland. + +The first English colony, Virginia, was planted in 1608 by a +trading company organised for the purpose, whose subscribers +included nearly all the London City Companies, and about seven +hundred private individuals of all ranks. Their motives were +partly political ('to put a bit in the ancient enemy's (Spain's) +mouth'), and partly commercial, for they hoped to find gold, and +to render England independent of the marine supplies which came +from the Baltic. But profit was not their sole aim; they were +moved also by the desire to plant a new England beyond the seas. +They made, in fact, no profits; but they did create a branch of +the English stock, and the young squires' and yeomen's sons who +formed the backbone of the colony showed themselves to be +Englishmen by their unwillingness to submit to an uncontrolled +direction of their affairs. In 1619, acting on instructions +received from England, the company's governor summoned an assembly +of representatives, one from each township, to consult on the +needs of the colony. This was the first representative body that +had ever existed outside Europe, and it indicated what was to be +the character of English colonisation. Henceforth the normal +English method of governing a colony was through a governor and an +executive council appointed by the Crown or its delegate, and a +representative assembly, which wielded full control over local +legislation and taxation. 'Our present happiness,' said the +Virginian Assembly in 1640, 'is exemplified by the freedom of +annual assemblies and by legal trials by juries in all civil and +criminal causes.' + +The second group of English colonies, those of New England, far to +the north of Virginia, reproduced in an intensified form this note +of self-government. Founded in the years following 1620, these +settlements were the outcome of Puritan discontents in England. +The commercial motive was altogether subsidiary in their +establishment; they existed in order that the doctrine and +discipline of Puritanism might find a home where its ascendancy +would be secure. It was indeed under the guise of a commercial +company that the chief of these settlements was made, but the +company was organised as a means of safe-guarding the colonists +from Crown interference, and at an early date its headquarters +were transferred to New England itself. Far from desiring to +restrict this freedom, the Crown up to a point encouraged it. +Winthrop, one of the leading colonists, tells us that he had +learnt from members of the Privy Council 'that his Majesty did not +intend to impose the ceremonies of the Church of England upon us; +for that it was considered that it was the freedom from such +things that made people come over to us.' The contrast between +this licence and the rigid orthodoxy enforced upon French Canada +or Spanish America is very instructive. It meant that the New +World, so far as it was controlled by England, was to be open as a +place of refuge for those who disliked the restrictions thought +necessary at home. The same note is to be found in the colony of +Maryland, planted by the Roman Catholic Lord Baltimore in 1632, +largely as a place of refuge for his co-religionists. He was +encouraged by the government of Charles I. in this idea, and the +second Lord Baltimore reports that his father 'had absolute +liberty to carry over any from his Majesty's Dominions willing to +go. But he found very few but such as ... could not conform to the +laws of England relating to religion. These declared themselves +willing to plant in this province, if they might have a general +toleration settled by law.' Maryland, therefore, became the first +place in the world of Western civilisation in which full religious +toleration was allowed; for the aim of the New Englanders was not +religious freedom, but a free field for the rigid enforcement of +their own shade of orthodoxy. + +Thus, in these first English settlements, the deliberate +encouragement of varieties of type was from the outset a +distinguishing note, and the home authorities neither desired nor +attempted to impose a strict uniformity with the rules and methods +existing in England. There was as great a variety in social and +economic organisation as in religious beliefs between the +aristocratic planter colonies of the south and the democratic +agricultural settlements of New England. In one thing only was +there uniformity: every settlement possessed self-governing +institutions, and prized them beyond all other privileges. None, +indeed, carried self-government to so great an extent as the New +Englanders. They came out organised as religious congregations, in +which every member possessed equal rights, and they took the +congregational system as the basis of their local government, and +church membership as the test of citizenship; nor did any other +colonies attain the right, long exercised by the New Englanders, +of electing their own governors. But there was no English +settlement, not even the little slave-worked plantations in the +West Indian islands, like Barbados, which did not set up, as a +matter of course, a representative body to deal with problems of +legislation and taxation, and the home government never dreamt of +interfering with this practice. Already in 1650, the English +empire was sharply differentiated from the Spanish, the Dutch, and +the French empires by the fact that it consisted of a scattered +group of self-governing communities, varying widely in type, but +united especially by the common possession of free institutions, +and thriving very largely because these institutions enabled local +needs to be duly considered and attracted settlers of many types. + +(b) The Period of Systematic Colonial Policy, 1660-1713 + +The second half of the seventeenth century was a period of +systematic imperial policy on the part of both England and France; +for both countries now realised that in the profitable field of +commerce, at any rate, the Dutch had won a great advantage over +them. + +France, after many internal troubles and many foreign wars, had at +last achieved, under the government of Louis XIV., the boon of +firmly established order. She was now beyond all rivalry the +greatest of the European states, and her king and his great +finance minister, Colbert, resolved to win for her also supremacy +in trade and colonisation. But this was to be done absolutely +under the control and direction of the central government. Until +the establishment of the German Empire, there has never been so +marked an instance of the centralised organisation of the whole +national activity as France presented in this period. The French +East India Company was revived under government direction, and +began for the first time to be a serious competitor for Indian +trade. An attempt was made to conquer Madagascar as a useful base +for Eastern enterprises. The sugar industry in the French West +Indian islands was scientifically encouraged and developed, though +the full results of this work were not apparent until the next +century. France began to take an active share in the West African +trade in slaves and other commodities. In Canada a new era of +prosperity began; the population was rapidly increased by the +dispatch of carefully selected parties of emigrants, and the +French activity in missionary work and in exploration became +bolder than ever. Pere Marquette and the Sieur de la Salle traced +out the courses of the Ohio and the Mississippi; French trading- +stations began to arise among the scattered Indian tribes who +alone occupied the vast central plain; and a strong French claim +was established to the possession of this vital area, which was +not only the most valuable part of the American continent, but +would have shut off the English coastal settlements from any +possibility of westward expansion. These remarkable explorations +led, in 1717, to the foundation of New Orleans at the mouth of the +great river, and the organisation of the colony of Louisiana. But +the whole of the intense and systematic imperial activity of the +French during this period depended upon the support and direction +of government; and when Colbert died in 1683, and soon afterwards +all the resources of France were strained by the pressure of two +great European wars, the rapid development which Colbert's zeal +had brought about was checked for a generation. Centralised +administration may produce remarkable immediate results, but it +does not encourage natural and steady growth. Meanwhile the +English had awakened to the fact that England had, almost by a +series of accidents, become the centre of an empire, and to the +necessity of giving to this empire some sort of systematic +organisation. It was the statesmen of the Commonwealth who first +began to grope after an imperial system. The aspect of the +situation which most impressed them was that the enterprising +Dutch were reaping most of the trading profits which arose from +the creation of the English colonies: it was said that ten Dutch +ships called at Barbados for every English ship. To deal with this +they passed the Navigation Act of 1651, which provided that the +trade of England and the colonies should be carried only in +English or colonial ships. They thus gave a logical expression to +the policy of imperial trade monopoly which had been in the minds +of those who were interested in colonial questions from the +outset; and they also opened a period of acute trade rivalry and +war with the Dutch. The first of the Dutch wars, which was waged +by the Commonwealth, was a very even struggle, but it secured the +success of the Navigation Act. Cromwell, though he hastened to +make peace with the Dutch, was a still stronger imperialist than +his parliamentary predecessors; he may justly be described as the +first of the Jingoes. He demanded compensation from the Dutch for +the half-forgotten outrage of Amboyna in 1623. He made a quite +unprovoked attack upon the Spanish island of Hispaniola, and +though he failed to conquer it, gained a compensation in the +seizure of Jamaica (1655). And he insisted upon the obedience of +the colonies to the home government with a severity never earlier +shown. With him imperial aims may be said to have become, for the +first time, one of the ruling ends of the English government. + +But it was the reign of Charles II. which saw the definite +organisation of a clearly conceived imperial policy; in the +history of English imperialism there are few periods more +important. The chief statesmen and courtiers of the reign, Prince +Rupert, Clarendon, Shaftesbury, Albemarle, were all enthusiasts +for the imperial idea. They had a special committee of the Privy +Council for Trade and Plantations, [Footnote: It was not till +1696, however, that this Board became permanent.] and appointed +John Locke, the ablest political thinker of the age, to be its +secretary. They pushed home the struggle against the maritime +ascendancy of the Dutch, and fought two Dutch wars; and though the +history-books, influenced by the Whig prejudice against Charles +II., always treat these wars as humiliating and disgraceful, while +they treat the Dutch war of the Commonwealth as just and glorious, +the plain fact is that the first Dutch war of Charles II. led to +the conquest of the Dutch North American colony of the New +Netherlands (1667), and so bridged the gap between the New England +and the southern colonies. They engaged in systematic +colonisation, founding the new colony of Carolina to the south of +Virginia, while out of their Dutch conquests they organised the +colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware; and the end of the +reign saw the establishment of the interesting and admirably +managed Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. They started the Hudson Bay +Company, which engaged in the trade in furs to the north of the +French colonies. They systematically encouraged the East India +Company, which now began to be more prosperous than at any earlier +period, and obtained in Bombay its first territorial possession in +India. + +More important, they worked out a new colonial policy, which was +to remain, in its main features, the accepted British policy down +to the loss of the American colonies in 1782. The theory at the +base of this policy was that while the mother-country must be +responsible for the defence of all the scattered settlements, +which in their weakness were exposed to attack from many sides, in +she might reasonably expect to be put in possession of definite +trade advantages. Hence the Navigation Act of 1660 provided not +only that inter-imperial trade should be carried in English or +colonial vessels, but that certain 'enumerated articles,' +including some of the most important colonial products, should be +sent only to England, so that English merchants should have the +profits of selling them to other countries, and the English +government the proceeds of duties upon them; and another Act +provided that imports to the colonies should only come from, or +through, England. In other words, England was to be the commercial +entrepot of the whole empire; and the regulation of imperial trade +as a whole was to belong to the English government and parliament. +To the English government also must necessarily fall the conduct +of the relations of the empire as a whole with other powers. This +commercial system was not, however, purely one-sided. If the +colonies were to send their chief products only to England, they +were at the same time to have a monopoly, or a marked advantage, +in English markets. Tobacco-growing had been for a time a +promising industry in England; it was prohibited in order that it +might not compete with the colonial product; and differential +duties were levied on the competing products of other countries +and their colonies. In short, the new policy was one of Imperial +Preference; it aimed at turning the empire into an economic unit, +of which England should be the administrative and distributing +centre. So far the English policy did not differ in kind from the +contemporary colonial policy of other countries, though it left to +the colonies a greater freedom of trade (for example, in the 'non- +enumerated articles') than was ever allowed by Spain or France, or +by the two great trading companies which controlled the foreign +possessions of Holland. + +But there is one respect in which the authors of this system +differed very widely from the colonial statesmen of other +countries. Though they were anxious to organise and consolidate +the empire on the basis of a trade system, they had no desire or +intention of altering its self-governing character, or of +discouraging the growth of a healthy diversity of type and method. +Every one of the new colonies of this period was provided with the +accustomed machinery of representative government: in the case of +Carolina, the philosopher, John Locke, was invited to draw up a +model constitution, and although his scheme was quite unworkable, +the fact that he was asked to make it affords a striking proof of +the seriousness with which the problems of colonial government +were regarded. In several of the West Indian settlements self- +governing institutions were organised during these years. In the +Frame of Government which Penn set forth on the foundation of +Pennsylvania, in 1682, he laid it down that 'any government is +free where the laws rule, and where the people are a party to +these rules,' and on this basis proceeded to organise his system. +According to this definition all the English colonies were free, +and they were almost the only free communities in the world. And +though it is true that there was an almost unceasing conflict +between the government and the New England colonies, no one who +studies the story of these quarrels can fail to see that the +demands of the New Englanders were often unreasonable and +inconsistent with the maintenance of imperial unity, while the +home government was extremely patient and moderate. Above all, +almost the most marked feature of the colonial policy of Charles +II. was the uniform insistence upon complete religious toleration +in the colonies. Every new charter contained a clause securing +this vital condition. + +It has long been our habit to condemn the old colonial system as +it was defined in this period, and to attribute to it the +disruption of the empire in the eighteenth century. But the +judgment is not a fair one; it is due to those Whig prejudices by +which so much of the modern history of England has been distorted. +The colonial policy of Shaftesbury and his colleagues was +incomparably more enlightened than that of any contemporary +government. It was an interesting experiment--the first, perhaps, +in modern history--in the reconciliation of unity and freedom. +And it was undeniably successful: under it the English colonies +grew and throve in a very striking way. Everything, indeed, goes +to show that this system was well designed for the needs of a +group of colonies which were still in a state of weakness, still +gravely under-peopled and undeveloped. Evil results only began to +show themselves in the next age, when the colonies were growing +stronger and more independent, and when the self-complacent Whigs, +instead of revising the system to meet new conditions, actually +enlarged and emphasised its most objectionable features. + +(c) The, Conflict of French and English, 1713-1763 + +While France and England were defining and developing their +sharply contrasted imperial systems, the Dutch had fallen into the +background, content with the rich dominion which they had already +acquired; and the Spanish and Portuguese empires had both fallen +into stagnation. New competitors, indeed, now began to press into +the field: the wildly exaggerated notions of the wealth to be made +from colonial ventures which led to the frenzied speculations of +the early eighteenth century, John Law's schemes, and the South +Sea Bubble, induced other powers to try to obtain a share of this +wealth; and Austria, Brandenburg, and Denmark made fitful +endeavours to become colonising powers. But the enterprises of +these states were never of serious importance. The future of the +non-European world seemed to depend mainly upon France and +England; and it was yet to be determined which of the two systems, +centralised autocracy enforcing uniformity, or self-government +encouraging variety of type, would prove the more successful and +would play the greater part. Two bodies of ideas so sharply +contrasted were bound to come into conflict. In the two great wars +between England and Louis XIV. (1688-1713), though the questions +at issue were primarily European, the conflict inevitably spread +to the colonial field; and in the result France was forced to cede +in 1713 the province of Acadia (which had twice before been in +English hands), the vast basin of Hudson's Bay, and the island of +Newfoundland, to which the fishermen of both nations had resorted, +though the English had always claimed it. But these were only +preliminaries, and the main conflict was fought out during the +half-century following the Peace of Utrecht, 1713-63. + +During this half-century Britain was under the rule of the Whig +oligarchy, which had no clearly conceived ideas on imperial +policy. Under the influence of the mercantile class the Whigs +increased the severity of the restrictions on colonial trade, and +prohibited the rise of industries likely to compete with those of +the mother-country. But under the influence of laziness and +timidity, and of the desire quieta non movere, they made no +attempt seriously to enforce either the new or the old +restrictions, and in these circumstances smuggling trade between +the New England colonies and the French West Indies, in defiance +of the Navigation Act and its companions, grew to such dimensions +that any serious interference with it would be felt as a real +grievance. The Whigs and their friends later took credit for their +neglect. George Grenville, they said, lost the colonies because he +read the American dispatches; he would have done much better to +leave the dispatches and the colonies alone. But this is a damning +apology. If the old colonial system, whose severity, on paper, the +Whigs had greatly increased, was no longer workable, it should +have been revised; but no Whig showed any sign of a sense that +change was necessary. Yet the prevalence of smuggling was not the +only proof of the need for change. There was during the period a +long succession of disputes between colonial governors and their +assemblies, which showed that the restrictions upon their +political freedom, as well as those upon their economic freedom, +were beginning to irk the colonists; and that self-government was +following its universal and inevitable course, and demanding its +own fulfilment. But the Whigs made no sort of attempt to consider +the question whether the self-government of the colonies could be +increased without impairing the unity of the empire. The single +device of their statesmanship was--not to read the dispatches. +And, in the meanwhile, no evil results followed, because the +loyalty of the colonists was ensured by the imminence of the +French danger. The mother-country was still responsible for the +provision of defence, though she was largely cheated of the +commercial advantages which were to have been its recompense. + +After 1713 there was a comparatively long interval of peace +between Britain and France, but it was occupied by an acute +commercial rivalry, in which, on the whole, the French seemed to +be getting the upper hand. Their sugar islands in the West Indies +were more productive than the British; their traders were rapidly +increasing their hold over the central plain of North America, to +the alarm of the British colonists; their intrigues kept alive a +perpetual unrest in the recently conquered province of Acadia; and +away in India, under the spirited direction of Franois Dupleix, +their East India Company became a more formidable competitor for +the Indian trade than it had hitherto been. Hence the imperial +problem presented itself to the statesmen of that generation as a +problem of power rather than as a problem of organisation; and the +intense rivalry with France dwarfed and obscured the need for a +reconsideration of colonial relations. At length this rivalry +flamed out into two wars. The first of these was fought, on both +sides, in a strangely half-hearted and lackadaisical way. But in +the second (the Seven Years' War, 1756-63) the British cause, +after two years of disaster, fell under the confident and daring +leadership of Pitt, which brought a series of unexampled +successes. The French flag was almost swept from the seas. The +French settlements in Canada were overrun and conquered. With the +fall of Quebec it was determined that the system of self- +government, and not that of autocracy, should control the +destinies of the North American continent; and Britain emerged in +1763 the supreme colonial power of the world. The problem of power +had been settled in her favour; but the problem of organisation +remained unsolved. It emerged in an acute and menacing form as +soon as the war was over. + +During the course of these two wars, and in the interval between +them, an extraordinary series of events had opened a new scene for +the rivalry of the two great imperial powers, and a new world +began to be exposed to the influence of the political ideas of +Europe. The vast and populous land of India, where the Europeans +had hitherto been content to play the part of modest traders, +under the protection and control of great native rulers, had +suddenly been displayed as a field for the imperial ambitions of +the European peoples. Ever since the first appearance of the +Dutch, the English, and the French in these regions, Northern +India had formed a consolidated empire ruled from Delhi by the +great Mogul dynasty; the shadow of its power was also cast over +the lesser princes of Southern India. But after 1709, and still +more after 1739, the Mogul Empire collapsed, and the whole of +India, north and south, rapidly fell into a condition of complete +anarchy. A multitude of petty rulers, nominal satraps of the +powerless Mogul, roving adventurers, or bands of Mahratta raiders, +put an end to all order and security; and to protect themselves +and maintain their trade the European traders must needs enlist +considerable bodies of Indian troops. It had long been proved that +a comparatively small number of troops, disciplined in the +European fashion, could hold their own against the loose and +disorderly mobs who followed the standards of Indian rulers. And +it now occurred to the ambitious mind of the Frenchman Dupleix +that it should be possible, by the use of this military +superiority, to intervene with effect in the unceasing strife of +the Indian princes, to turn the scale on one side or the other, +and to obtain over the princes whose cause he embraced a +commanding influence, which would enable him to secure the +expulsion of his English rivals, and the establishment of a French +trade monopoly based upon political influence. + +This daring project was at first triumphantly successful. The +English had to follow suit in self-defence, but could not equal +the ability of Dupleix. In 1750 a French protege occupied the most +important throne of Southern India at Hyderabad, and was protected +and kept loyal by a force of French sepoys under the Marquis de +Bussy, whose expenses were met out of the revenues of large +provinces (the Northern Sarkars) placed under French +administration; while in the Carnatic, the coastal region where +all the European traders had their south-eastern headquarters, a +second French protege had almost succeeded in crushing his rival, +whom the English company supported. But the genius of Clive +reversed the situation with dramatic swiftness; the French +authorities at home, alarmed at these dangerous adventures, +repudiated and recalled Dupleix (1754), and the British power was +left to apply the methods which he had invented. When the Seven +Years' War broke out (1756), the French, repenting of their +earlier decision, sent a substantial force to restore their lost +influence in the Carnatic, but the result was complete failure. A +British protege henceforward ruled in the Carnatic; a British +force replaced the French at Hyderabad; and the revenues of the +Northern Sarkars, formerly assigned for the maintenance of the +French force, were handed over to its successor. Meanwhile in the +rich province of Bengal a still more dramatic revolution had taken +place. Attacked by the young Nawab, Siraj-uddaula, the British +traders at Calcutta had been forced to evacuate that prosperous +centre (1756). But Clive, coming up with a fleet and an army from +Madras, applied the lessons he had learnt in the Carnatic, set up +a rival claimant to the throne of Bengal, and at Plassey (1757) +won for his puppet a complete victory. From 1757 onwards the +British East India Company was the real master in Bengal, even +more completely than in the Carnatic. It had not, in either +region, conquered any territory; it had only supported +successfully a claimant to the native throne. The native +government, in theory, continued as before; the company, in +theory, was its subject and vassal. But in practice these great +and rich provinces lay at its mercy, and if it did not yet choose +to undertake their government, this was only because it preferred +to devote itself to its original business of trade. + +Thus by 1763 the British power had achieved a dazzling double +triumph. It had destroyed the power of its chief rival both in the +East and in the West. It had established the supremacy of the +British peoples and of British methods of government throughout +the whole continent of North America; and it had entered, blindly +and without any conception of what the future was to bring forth, +upon the path which was to lead to dominion over the vast +continent of India, and upon the tremendous task of grafting the +ideas of the West upon the East. + +Such was the outcome of the first two periods in the history of +European imperialism. It left Central and South America under the +stagnant and reactionary government of Spain and Portugal; the +eastern coast of North America under the control of groups of +self-governing Englishmen; Canada, still inhabited by Frenchmen, +under British dominance; Java and the Spice Islands, together with +the small settlement of Cape Colony, in the hands of the Dutch; a +medley of European settlements in the West Indian islands, and a +string of European factories along the coast of West Africa; and +the beginning of an anomalous British dominion established at two +points on the coast of India. But of all the European nations +which had taken part in this vast process of expansion, one alone, +the British, still retained its vitality and its expansive power. + + + + + +IV + +THE ERA OF REVOLUTION, 1763-1825 + + +'Colonies are like fruits,' said Turgot, the eighteenth-century +French economist and statesman: 'they cling to the mother-tree +only until they are ripe.' This generalisation, which represented +a view very widely held during that and the next age, seemed to be +borne out in the most conclusive way by the events of the sixty +years following the Seven Years' War. In 1763 the French had lost +almost the whole of the empire which they had toilsomely built up +during a century and a half. Within twenty years their triumphant +British rivals were forced to recognise the independence of the +American colonies, and thus lost the bulk of what may be called +the first British Empire. They still retained the recently +conquered province of French Canada, but it seemed unlikely that +the French Canadians would long be content to live under an alien +dominion: if they had not joined in the American Revolution, it +was not because they loved the British, but because they hated the +Americans. The French Revolutionary wars brought further changes. +One result of these wars was that the Dutch lost Cape Colony, +Ceylon, and Java, though Java was restored to them in 1815. A +second result was that when Napoleon made himself master of Spain +in 1808, the Spanish colonies in Central and South America ceased +to be governed from the mother-country; and having tasted the +sweets of independence, and still more, the advantages of +unrestricted trade, could never again be brought into +subordination. By 1825 nothing was left of the vast Spanish Empire +save the Canaries, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands; +nothing was left of the Portuguese Empire save a few decaying +posts on the coasts of Africa and India; nothing was left of the +Dutch Empire save Java and its dependencies, restored in 1815; +nothing was left of the French Empire save a few West Indian +islands; and what had been the British American colonies were now +the United States, a great power declaring to Europe, through the +mouth of President Monroe, that she would resist any attempt of +the European powers to restore the old regime in South America. It +appeared that the political control of European states over non- +European regions must be short-lived and full of trouble; and that +the influence of Europe upon the non-European world would +henceforth be exercised mainly through new independent states +imbued with European ideas. Imperial aspirations thus seemed to +that and the next generation at once futile and costly. + +Of all these colonial revolutions the most striking was that which +tore away the American colonies from Britain (1764-82); not only +because it led to the creation of one of the great powers of the +world, and was to afford the single instance which has yet arisen +of a daughter-nation outnumbering its mother-country, but still +more because it seemed to prove that not even the grant of +extensive powers of self-government would secure the permanent +loyalty of colonies. Indeed, from the standpoint of Realpolitik, +it might be argued that in the case of America self-government was +shown to be a dangerous gift; for the American colonies, which +alone among European settlements had obtained this supreme +endowment, were the first, and indeed the only, European +settlements to throw off deliberately their connection with the +mother-country. France and Holland lost their colonies by war, and +even the Spanish colonies would probably never have thought of +severing their relations with Spain but for the anomalous +conditions created by the Napoleonic conquest. + +The American Revolution is, then, an event unique at once in its +causes, its character, and its consequences; and it throws a most +important illumination upon some of the problems of imperialism. +It cannot be pretended that the revolt of the colonists was due to +oppression or to serious misgovernment. The paltry taxes which +were its immediate provoking cause would have formed a quite +negligible burden upon a very prosperous population; they were to +have been spent exclusively within the colonies themselves, and +would have been mainly used to meet a part of the cost of colonial +defence, the bulk of which was still to be borne by the mother- +country. If the colonists had been willing to suggest any other +means of raising the required funds, their suggestions would have +been readily accepted. This was made plain at several stages in +the course of the discussion, but the invitation to suggest +alternative methods of raising money met with no response. The +plain fact is that Britain, already heavily loaded with debt, was +bearing practically the whole burden of colonial defence, and was +much less able than the colonies themselves to endure the strain. +As for the long-established restrictions on colonial trade, which +in fact though not in form contributed as largely as the proposals +of direct taxation to cause the revolt, they were far less severe, +even if they had been strictly enforced, than the restrictions +imposed upon the trade of other European settlements. + +It is equally misleading to attribute the blame of the revolt +wholly to George III. and the ministers by whom he was served +during the critical years. No doubt it is possible to imagine a +more tactful man than George Grenville, a more far-seeing and +courageous statesman than Lord North, a less obstinate prince than +George III. himself. But it may be doubted whether any change of +men would have done more than postpone the inevitable. The great +Whig apologists who have dictated the accepted view of British +history in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have laboured +to create the impression that if only Burke, Chatham, and Charles +Fox had had the handling of the issue, the tragedy of disruption +would have been avoided. But there is no evidence that any of +these men, except perhaps Burke, appreciated the magnitude and +difficulty of the questions that had been inevitably raised in +1764, and must have been raised whoever had been in power; or that +they would have been able to suggest a workable new scheme of +colonial government which would have met the difficulty. If they +had put forward such a scheme, it would have been wrecked on the +resistance of British opinion, which was still dominated by the +theories and traditions of the old colonial system; and even if it +had overcome this obstacle, it would very likely have been ruined +by the captious and litigious spirit to which events had given +birth among the colonists, especially in New England. + +The root of the matter was that the old colonial system, which had +suited well enough the needs of the colonies as they were when it +was devised by the statesmen of Charles II.'s reign, was no longer +suitable to their condition now that they had become great and +prosperous communities of freemen. They enjoyed self-government on +a scale more generous than any other communities in the world +outside of Britain; indeed, in one sense they enjoyed it on a more +generous scale than Britain herself, since political rights were +much more widely exercised in the colonies, owing to the natural +conditions of a new and prosperous land, than they were to be, or +could be, in Britain until nearly a century later. No direct +taxation had as yet been imposed upon them without their own +consent. They made the laws by which their own lives were +regulated. They were called upon to pay no tribute to the home +government, except the very indirect levy on goods passing through +England to or from their ports, and this was nearly balanced by +the advantages which they enjoyed in the British market, and far +more than balanced by the protection afforded to them by the +British fleet. They were not even required to raise troops for the +defence of their own frontiers except of their own free will, and +the main burden of defending even their landward frontier was +borne by the mother-country. But being British they had the +instinct of self-government in their blood and bones, and they +found that the control of their own affairs was qualified or +limited in two principal ways. + +In the first place, the executive and judicial officers who +carried out the laws were not appointed by them but by the Crown +in England: the colonies were not responsible for the +administration of their own laws. In the second place, the +regulations by which their foreign trade was governed were +determined, not by themselves, but by the British parliament: they +were not responsible for the control of their own traffic with the +outside world. It is true that the salaries of the executive +officials and the judges depended upon their grant, and that any +governor who acted in the teeth of colonial opinion would find his +position quite untenable, so that the colonists exercised a real +if indirect control over administration. It is true also that they +accepted the general principles of the commercial system, and had +reaped great benefits from it. + +But it is the unfailing instinct of the citizens in a self- +governing community to be dissatisfied unless they feel that they +have a full and equal share in the control of their own destinies. +Denied responsibility, they are apt to become irresponsible; and +when all allowance has been made for the stupidities of governors +and for the mistakes of the home authorities, it must be +recognised that the thirteen American colonial legislatures often +behaved in a very irresponsible way, and were extremely difficult +to handle. They refused to vote fixed salaries to their judges in +order to make their power felt, simply because the judges were +appointed by the Crown, although in doing so they were dangerously +undermining judicial independence. They refused in many cases to +supply anything like adequate contingents for the war against the +French and their Indian allies, partly because each legislature +was afraid of being more generous than the others, partly because +they could trust to the home government to make good their +deficiencies. Yet at the same time they did nothing to check, but +rather encouraged, the wholesale smuggling by which the trade +regulations were reduced to a nullity, though these regulations +were not only accepted in principle by themselves, but afforded +the only compensation to the mother-country for the cost of +colonial defence. It is as unscientific to blame the colonists and +their legislatures for this kind of action, as it is to blame the +British statesmen for their proposals. It was the almost +inevitable result of the conditions among a free, prosperous, and +extremely self-confident people; it was, indeed, the proof that in +this young people the greatest political ideal of western +civilisation, the ideal of self-government, had taken firm root. +The denial of responsibility was producing irresponsibility; and +even if the Stamp Act and the Tea Duties had never been proposed, +this state of things was bound to lead to increasing friction. Nor +must it be forgotten that this friction was accentuated by the +contrast between the democratic conditions of colonial life, and +the aristocratic organisation of English society. + +It ought to have been obvious, long before Grenville initiated his +new policy in 1764, that the colonial system was not working well; +and the one circumstance which had prevented serious conflict was +the danger which threatened the colonists in the aggressive +attitude of the French to the north and west. Since the individual +colonies refused to raise adequate forces for their own defence, +or to co-operate with one another in a common scheme, they were +dependent for their security upon the mother-country. But as soon +as the danger was removed, as it was in 1763, this reason for +restraint vanished; and although the great majority of the +colonists were quite sincerely desirous of retaining their +membership of the British commonwealth, the conditions would +inevitably have produced a state of intensifying friction, unless +the whole colonial system had been drastically reconstructed. + +Reconstruction was therefore inevitable in 1764. The Whig policy +of simply ignoring the issue and 'not reading the dispatches' +could no longer be pursued; it was indeed largely responsible for +the mischief. George III. and Grenville deserve the credit of +seeing this. But their scheme of reconstruction not unnaturally +amounted to little more than a tightening-up of the old system. +The trade laws were to be more strictly enforced. The governors +and the judges were to be made more independent of the assemblies +by being given fixed salaries. The colonists were to bear a larger +share of the cost of defence, which fell so unfairly on the +mother-country. If the necessary funds could be raised by means +approved by the colonists themselves, well and good; but if not, +then they must be raised by the authority of the imperial +parliament. For the existing system manifestly could not continue +indefinitely, and it was better to have the issue clearly raised, +even at the risk of conflict, than to go on merely drifting. + +When the colonists (without suggesting any alternative proposals) +contented themselves with repudiating the right of parliament to +tax them, and proceeded to outrageous insults to the king's +authority, and the most open defiance of the trade regulations, +indignation grew in Britain. It seemed, to the average Englishman, +that the colonists proposed to leave every public burden, even the +cost of judges' salaries, on the shoulders of the mother-country, +already loaded with a debt which had been largely incurred in +defence of the colonies; but to disregard every obligation imposed +upon themselves. A system whereunder the colony has all rights and +no enforcible duties, the mother-country all duties and no +enforcible rights, obviously could not work. That was the system +which, in the view of the gentlemen of England, the colonists were +bent upon establishing; and, taking this view, they cannot be +blamed for refusing to accept such a conclusion. There was no one, +either in Britain or in America, capable of grasping the +essentials of the problem, which were that, once established, +self-government inevitably strives after its own fulfilment; that +these British settlers, in whom the British tradition of self- +government had been strengthened by the freedom of a new land, +would never be content until they enjoyed a full share in the +control of their own affairs; and that although they seemed, even +to themselves, to be fighting about legal minutiae, about the +difference between internal and external duties, about the +legality of writs of assistance, and so forth, the real issue was +the deeper one of the fulfilment of self-government. Could fully +responsible self-government be reconciled with imperial unity? +Could any means be devised whereby the units in a fellowship of +free states might retain full control over their own affairs, and +at the same time effectively combine for common purposes? That was +and is the ultimate problem of British imperial organisation, as +it was and is the ultimate problem of international relations. But +the problem, though it now presented itself in a comparatively +simple form, was never fairly faced on either side of the +Atlantic. For the mother and her daughters too quickly reached the +point of arguing about their legal rights against one another, and +when friends begin to argue about their legal rights, the breach +of their friendship is at hand. So the dreary argument, which +lasted for eleven years (1764-75), led to the still more dreary +war, which lasted for seven years (1775-82); and the only family +of free self-governing communities existing in the world was +broken up in bitterness. This was indeed a tragedy. For if the +great partnership of freedom could have been reorganised on +conditions that would have enabled it to hold together, the cause +of liberty in the world would have been made infinitely more +secure. + +The Revolution gave to the Americans the glory of establishing the +first fully democratic system of government on a national scale +that had yet existed in the world, and of demonstrating that by +the machinery of self-government a number of distinct and jealous +communities could be united for common purposes. The new American +Commonwealth became an inspiration for eager Liberals in the old +world as well as in the new, and its successful establishment +formed the strongest of arguments for the democratic idea in all +lands. Unhappily the pride of this great achievement helped to +persuade the Americans that they were different from the rest of +the world, and unaffected by its fortunes. They were apt to think +of themselves as the inventors and monopolists of political +liberty. Cut off by a vast stretch of ocean from the Old World, +and having lost that contact with its affairs which the relation +with Britain had hitherto maintained, they followed but dimly, and +without much comprehension, the obscure and complex struggles +wherein the spirit of liberty was working out a new Europe, in the +face of difficulties vastly greater than any with which the +Americans had ever had to contend. They had been alienated from +Britain, the one great free state of Europe, and had been +persuaded by their reading of their own experience that she was a +tyrant-power; and they thus found it hard to recognise her for +what, with all her faults, she genuinely was--the mother of free +institutions in the modern world, the founder and shaper of their +own prized liberties. All these things combined to persuade the +great new republic that she not only might, but ought to, stand +aloof from the political problems of the rest of the world, and +take no interest in its concerns. This attitude, the natural +product of the conditions, was to last for more than a century, +and was to weaken greatly the cause of liberty in the world. + +Although the most obvious features of the half-century following +the great British triumph of 1763 were the revolt of the American +colonies and the apparently universal collapse of the imperialist +ambitions of the European nations, a more deeply impressive +feature of the period was that, in spite of the tragedy and +humiliation of the great disruption, the imperial impetus +continued to work potently in Britain, alone among the European +nations; and to such effect that at the end of the period she +found herself in control of a new empire more extensive than that +which she had lost, and far more various in its character. Having +failed to solve one great imperial problem, she promptly addressed +herself to a whole series of others even more difficult, and for +these she was to find more hopeful solutions. + +When the American revolt began, the Canadian colonies to the north +were in an insecure and unorganised state. On the coast, in Nova +Scotia and Newfoundland, there was a small British population; but +the riverine colony of Canada proper, with its centre at Quebec, +was still purely French, and was ruled by martial law. Accustomed +to a despotic system, and not yet reconciled to the British +supremacy, the French settlers were obviously unready for self- +government. But the Quebec Act of 1774, by securing the +maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion and of French civil +law, ensured the loyalty of the French; and this Act is also +noteworthy as the first formal expression of willingness to admit +or even welcome the existence, within the hospitable limits of the +Empire, of a variety of types of civilisation. In the new British +Empire there was to be no uniformity of Kultur. + +The close of the American struggle, however, brought a new +problem. Many thousands of exiles from the revolting colonies, +willing to sacrifice everything in order to retain their British +citizenship, poured over the borders into the Canadian lands. They +settled for the first time the rich province of Ontario, greatly +increased the population of Nova Scotia, and started the +settlement of New Brunswick. To these exiles Britain felt that she +owed much, and, despite her own financial distress, expended large +sums in providing them with the means to make a good beginning in +their new homes. But it was impossible to deny these British +settlers, and the emigrants from Britain who soon began to join +them, the rights of self-government, to which they were +accustomed. Their advent, however, in a hitherto French province, +raised the very difficult problem of racial relationship. They +might have been used as a means for Anglicising the earlier French +settlers and for forcing them into a British mould; it may fairly +be said that most European governments would have used them in +this way, and many of the settlers would willingly have fallen in +with such a programme. But that would have been out of accord with +the genius of the British system, which believes in freedom and +variety. Accordingly, by the Act of 1791, the purely French region +of Quebec or Lower Canada was separated from the British region of +Ontario or Upper Canada, and both districts, as well as the +coastal settlements, were endowed with self-governing institutions +of the familiar pattern--an elected assembly controlling +legislation and taxation, a nominated governor and council +directing the executive. Thus within eighteen years of their +conquest the French colonists were introduced to self-government. +And within nine years of the loss of the American colonies, a new +group of self-governing American colonies had been organised. They +were sufficiently content with the system to resist with vigour +and success an American invasion in 1812. While the American +controversy was proceeding, one of the greatest of British +navigators, Captain Cook, was busy with his remarkable +explorations. He was the first to survey the archipelagoes of the +Pacific; more important, he was the real discoverer of Australia +and New Zealand; for though the Dutch explorers had found these +lands more than a century earlier, they had never troubled to +complete their explorations. Thus a vast new field, eminently +suitable for European settlement, was placed at the disposal of +Britain. It was utilised with extraordinary promptitude. The loss +of the American colonies had deprived Britain of her chief +dumping-ground for convicts. In 1788, six years after the +recognition of their independence, she decided to use the new +continent for this purpose, and the penal settlement of Botany Bay +began (under unfavourable auspices) the colonisation of Australia. + +But the most important, and the most amazing, achievement of +Britain in this period was the establishment and extension of her +empire in India, and the planting within it of the first great +gift of Western civilisation, the sovereignty of a just and +impartial law. This was a novel and a very difficult task, such as +no European people had yet undertaken; and it is not surprising +that there should have been a period of bewildered misgovernment +before it was achieved. That it should have been achieved at all +is one of the greatest miracles of European imperialism. + +By 1763 the East India Company had established a controlling +influence over the Nawabs of two important regions, Bengal and the +Carnatic, and had shown, in a series of struggles, that its +control was not to be shaken off. But the company had not annexed +any territory, or assumed any responsibility for the government of +these rich provinces. Its agents in the East, who were too far +from London to be effectively controlled, enjoyed power without +responsibility. They were privileged traders, upon whom the native +governments dared not impose restrictions, and (as any body of +average men would have done under similar circumstances) they +gravely abused their position to build up huge fortunes for +themselves. During the fifteen years following the battle of +Plassey (1757) there is no denying that the political power of the +British in India was a mere curse to the native population, and +led to the complete disorganisation of the already decrepit native +system of government in the provinces affected. It was vain for +the directors at home to scold their servants. There were only two +ways out of the difficulty. One was that the company should +abandon India, which was not to be expected. The other was that, +possessing power, of which it was now impossible to strip +themselves, they should assume the responsibility for its +exercise, and create for their subjects a just and efficient +system of government. But the company would not see this. They had +never desired political power, but had drifted into the possession +of it in spite of themselves. They honestly disliked the idea of +establishing by force an alien domination over subject peoples, +and this feeling was yet more strongly held by the most +influential political circles in England. The company desired +nothing but trade. Their business was that of traders, and they +wanted only to be left free to mind their business. So the evils +arising from power without responsibility continued, and half- +hearted attempts to amend them in 1765 and in 1769 only made the +conditions worse. The events of the years from 1757 to 1772 showed +that when the superior organisation of the West came in contact +with the East, mere trading exploitation led to even worse results +than a forcibly imposed dominion; and the only solution lay in the +wise adaptation of western methods of government to eastern +conditions. + +Thus Britain found herself faced with an imperial problem of +apparently insuperable difficulty, which reached its most acute +stage just at the time when the American trouble was at its +height. The British parliament and government intervened, and in +1773 for the first time assumed some responsibility for the +affairs of the East India Company. But they did not understand the +Indian problem--how, indeed, should they?--and their first +solution was a failure. By a happy fortune, however, the East +India Company had conferred the governorship of Bengal (1772) upon +the greatest Englishman of the eighteenth century, Warren +Hastings. Hastings pensioned off the Nawab, took over direct +responsibility for the government of Bengal, and organised a +system of justice which, though far from perfect, established for +the first time the Reign of Law in an Indian realm. His firm and +straightforward dealings with the other Indian powers still +further strengthened the position of the company; and when in the +midst of the American war, at a moment when no aid could be +expected from Britain, a combination of the most formidable Indian +powers, backed by a French fleet, threatened the downfall of the +company's authority, Hastings' resourceful and inspiring +leadership was equal to every emergency. He not only brought the +company with heightened prestige out of the war, but throughout +its course no hostile army was ever allowed to cross the frontiers +of Bengal. In the midst of the unceasing and desolating wars of +India, the territories under direct British rule formed an island +of secure peace and of justice. That was Hastings' supreme +contribution: it was the foundation upon which arose the fabric of +the Indian Empire. Hastings was not a great conqueror or annexer +of territory; the only important acquisition made during his +regime was effected, in defiance of his protests, by the hostile +majority which for a time overrode him in his own council, and +which condemned him for ambition. His work was to make the British +rule mean security and justice in place of tyranny; and it was +because it had come to mean this that it grew, after his time, +with extraordinary rapidity. + +It was not by the desire of the directors or the home government +that it grew. They did everything in their power to check its +growth, for they shrank from any increase to their +responsibilities. They even prohibited by law all annexations, or +the making of alliances with Indian powers. [Footnote: India Act +of 1784] But fate was too strong for them. Even a governor like +Lord Cornwallis, a convinced supporter of the policy of non- +expansion and non-intervention, found himself forced into war, and +compelled to annex territories; because non-intervention was +interpreted by the Indian powers as a confession of weakness and +an invitation to attack. Non-intervention also gave openings to +the French, who, since the outbreak of the Revolution, had revived +their old Indian ambitions; and while Bonaparte was engaged in the +conquest of Egypt as a half-way house to India (1797), French +agents were busy building up a new combination of Indian powers +against the company. + +This formidable coalition was about to come to a head when, in +1798, there landed in India a second man of genius, sent by fate +at the critical moment. In five years, by an amazing series of +swiftly successful wars and brilliantly conceived treaties, the +Marquess Wellesley broke the power of every member of the hostile +coalitions, except two of the Mahratta princes. The area of +British territory was quadrupled; the most important of the Indian +princes became vassals of the company; and the Great Mogul of +Delhi himself, powerless now, but always a symbol of the over- +lordship of India, passed under British protection. When Wellesley +left India in 1805, the East India Company was already the +paramount power in India south-east of the Sutlej and the Indus. +The Mahratta princes, indeed, still retained a restricted +independence, and for an interval the home authorities declined to +permit any interference with them, even though they were +manifestly giving protection to bands of armed raiders who +terrorised and devastated territories which were under British +protection. But the time came when the Mahrattas themselves broke +the peace. Then their power also was broken; and in 1818 Britain +stood forth as the sovereign ruler of India. + +This was only sixty years after the battle of Plassey had +established British influence, though not British rule, in a +single province of India; only a little over thirty years after +Warren Hastings returned to England, leaving behind him an empire +still almost limited to that single province. There is nothing in +history that can be compared with the swiftness of this +achievement, which is all the more remarkable when we remember +that almost every step in the advance was taken with extreme +unwillingness. But the most impressive thing about this astounding +fabric of power, which extended over an area equal to half of +Europe and inhabited by perhaps one-sixth of the human race, was +not the swiftness with which it was created, but the results which +flowed from it. It had begun in corruption and oppression, but it +had grown because it had come to stand for justice, order, and +peace. In 1818 it could already be claimed for the British rule in +India that it had brought to the numerous and conflicting races, +religions, and castes of that vast and ancient land, three boons +of the highest value: political unity such as they had never known +before; security from the hitherto unceasing ravages of internal +turbulence and war; and, above all, the supreme gift which the +West had to offer to the East, the substitution of an unvarying +Reign of Law for the capricious wills of innumerable and shifting +despots. This is an achievement unexampled in history, and it +alone justified the imposition of the rule of the West over the +East, which had at first seemed to produce nothing but evil. It +took place during the age of Revolution, when the external empires +of Europe were on all sides falling into ruin; and it passed at +the time almost unregarded, because it was overshadowed by the +drama of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. + +The construction of the Indian Empire would of itself suffice to +make an age memorable, but it does not end the catalogue of the +achievements of British imperialism in this tremendous period. As +a result of the participation of Holland in the war on the side of +France, the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope was occupied by +Britain. It was first occupied in 1798, restored for a brief +period in 1801, reoccupied in 1806, and finally retained under the +treaty settlement of 1815. The Cape was, in fact, the most +important acquisition secured to Britain by that treaty; and it is +worth noting that while the other great powers who had joined in +the final overthrow of Napoleon helped themselves without +hesitation to immense and valuable territories, Britain, which had +alone maintained the struggle from beginning to end without +flagging, actually paid the sum of 2,000,000 pounds to Holland as +a compensation for this thinly peopled settlement. She retained it +mainly because of its value as a calling-station on the way to +India. But it imposed upon her an imperial problem of a very +difficult kind. As in Canada, she had to deal here with an alien +race of European origin and proud traditions; but this racial +problem was accentuated by the further problem of dealing with a +preponderant and growing negro population. How were justice, +peace, liberty, and equality of rights to be established in such a +field? + +It was, then, an astonishing new empire which had grown up round +Britain during the period when the world was becoming convinced +that colonial empires were not worth acquiring, because they could +not last. It was an empire of continents or sub-continents-- +Canada, Australia, India, South Africa--not to speak of +innumerable scattered islands and trading-posts dotted over all +the seas of the world, which had either survived from an earlier +period, or been acquired in order that they might serve as naval +bases. It was spread round the whole globe; it included almost +every variety of soil, products, and climate; it was inhabited by +peoples of the most varying types; it presented an infinite +variety of political and racial problems. In 1825 this empire was +the only extra-European empire of importance still controlled by +any of the historic imperial powers of Western Europe. And at the +opening of the nineteenth century, when extra-European empires +seemed to have gone out of fashion, the greatest of all imperial +questions was the question whether the political capacity of the +British peoples, having failed to solve the comparatively simple +problem of finding a mode of organisation which could hold +together communities so closely akin as those of America and the +parent islands, would be capable of achieving any land of +effective organisation for this new astounding fabric, while at +the same time securing to all its members that liberty and variety +of development which in the case of America had only been fully +secured at the cost of disruption. + + + + + +V + +EUROPE AND THE NON-EUROPEAN WORLD 1815-1878 + + +When the European peoples settled down, in 1815, after the long +wars of the French Revolution, they found themselves faced by many +problems, but there were few Europeans who would have included +among these problems the extension of Western civilisation over +the as yet unsubjugated portions of the world. Men's hearts were +set upon the organisation of permanent peace: that seemed the +greatest of all questions, and, for a time, it appeared to have +obtained a satisfactory solution with the organisation of the +great League of Peace of 1815. But the peace was to be short- +lived, because it was threatened by the emergence of a number of +other problems of great complexity. First among these stood the +problem of nationality: the increasingly clamorous demand of +divided or subject peoples for unity and freedom. Alongside of +this arose the sister-problem of liberalism: the demand raised +from all sides, among peoples who had never known political +liberty, for the institutions of self-government which had been +proved practicable by the British peoples, and turned into the +object of a fervent belief by the preachings of the French. These +two causes were to plunge Europe into many wars, and to vex and +divide the peoples of every European country, throughout the +period 1815-78. And to add to the complexity, there was growing in +intensity during all these years the problem of Industrialism--the +transformation of the very bases of life in all civilised +communities, and the consequent development of wholly new, and +terribly difficult, social issues. Preoccupied with all these +questions, the statesmen and the peoples of most European states +had no attention to spare for the non-European world. They +neglected it all the more readily because the events of the +preceding period seemed to demonstrate that colonial empires were +not worth the cost and labour necessary for their attainment, +since they seemed doomed to fall asunder as soon as they began to +be valuable. + +Yet the period 1815-78 was to see an extension of European +civilisation in the non-European world more remarkable than that +of any previous age. The main part in this extension was played by +Britain, who found herself left free, without serious rivalry in +any part of the globe, to expand and develop the extraordinary +empire which she possessed in 1815, and to deal with the +bewildering problems which it presented. So marked was the British +predominance in colonial activity during this age that it has been +called the age of British monopoly, and so far as trans-oceanic +activities were concerned, this phrase very nearly represents the +truth. But there were other developments of the period almost as +remarkable as the growth and reorganisation of the British Empire; +and it will be convenient to survey these in the first instance +before turning to the British achievement. + +The place of honour, as always in any great story of European +civilisation, belongs to France. Undeterred by the loss of her +earlier empire, and unexhausted by the strain of the great ordeal +through which she had just passed, France began in these years the +creation of her second colonial empire, which was to be in many +ways more splendid than the first. Within fifteen years of the +fall of Napoleon, the French flag was flying in Algiers. + +The northern coast of Africa, from the Gulf of Syrtis to the +Atlantic, which has been in modern times divided into the three +districts of Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, forms essentially a +single region, whose character is determined by the numerous +chains of the Atlas Mountains. This region, shut off from the rest +of Africa not only by the Atlas but by the most impassable of all +geographical barriers, the great Sahara desert, really belongs to +Europe rather than to the continent of which it forms a part. Its +fertile valleys were once the homes of brilliant civilisations: +they were the seat of the Carthaginian Empire, and at a later date +they constituted one of the richest and most civilised provinces +of the Roman Empire. Their civilisation was wrecked by that +barbarous German tribe, the Vandals, in the fifth century. It +received only a partial and temporary revival after the Mahomedan +conquest at the end of the seventh century, and since that date +this once happy region has gradually lapsed into barbarism. During +the modern age it was chiefly known as the home of ruthless and +destructive pirates, whose chief headquarters were at Algiers, and +who owned a merely nominal allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. +Ever since the time of Khair-ed-din Barbarossa, in the early +sixteenth century, the powers of Europe have striven in vain to +keep the Barbary corsairs in check. Charles V., Philip II., Louis +XIV. attacked them with only temporary success: they continued to +terrorise the trade of the Mediterranean, to seize trading-ships, +to pillage the shores of Spain and Italy, and to carry off +thousands of Christians into a cruel slavery; Robinson Crusoe, it +may be recalled, was one of their victims. The powers at Vienna +endeavoured to concert action against them in 1815. They were +attacked by a British fleet in 1816, and by a combined British and +French fleet in 1819. But all such temporary measures were +insufficient. The only cure for the ill was that the headquarters +of the pirate chiefs should be conquered, and brought under +civilised government. + +This task France was rather reluctantly drawn into undertaking, as +the result of a series of insults offered by the pirates to the +French flag between 1827 and 1830. At first the aim of the +conquerors was merely to occupy and administer the few ports which +formed the chief centres of piracy. But experience showed that +this was futile, since it involved endless wars with the unruly +clansmen of the interior. Gradually, therefore, the whole of +Algeria was systematically conquered and organised. The process +took nearly twenty years, and was not completed until 1848. In all +the records of European imperialism there has been no conquest +more completely justified both by the events which led up to it +and by the results which have followed from it. Peace and Law +reign throughout a country which had for centuries been given over +to anarchy. The wild tribesmen are unlearning the habits of +disorder, and being taught to accept the conditions of a civilised +life. The great natural resources of the country are being +developed as never since the days of Roman rule. No praise can be +too high for the work of the French administrators who have +achieved these results. And it is worth noting that, alone among +the provinces conquered by the European peoples, Algeria has been +actually incorporated in the mother-country; it is part of the +French Republic, and its elected representatives sit in the French +Parliament. + +In the nature of things the conquest of Algeria could not stand +alone. Algeria is separated by merely artificial lines from Tunis +on the east and Morocco on the west, where the old conditions of +anarchy still survived; and the establishment of order and peace +in the middle area of this single natural region was difficult, so +long as the areas on either side remained in disorder and war. In +1844 France found it necessary to make war upon Morocco because of +the support which it had afforded to a rebellious Algerian chief, +and this episode illustrated the close connection of the two +regions. But the troops were withdrawn as soon as the immediate +purpose was served. France had not yet begun to think of extending +her dominion over the areas to the east and west of Algeria. That +was to be the work of the next period. + +Further south in Africa, France retained, as a relic of her older +empire, a few posts on the coast of West Africa, notably Senegal. +From these her intrepid explorers and traders began to extend +their influence, and the dream of a great French empire in +Northern Africa began to attract French minds. But the realisation +of this dream also belongs to the next period. In the Far East, +too, this was a period of beginnings. Ever since 1787--before the +Revolution--the French had possessed a foothold on the coast of +Annam, from which French missionaries carried on their labours +among the peoples of Indo-China. Maltreatment of these +missionaries led to a war with Annam in 1858, and in 1862 the +extreme south of the Annamese Empire--the province of Cochin- +China--was ceded to France. Lastly, the French obtained a foothold +in the Pacific, by the annexation of Tahiti and the Marquesas +Islands in 1842, and of New Caledonia in 1855. But in 1878 the +French dominions in the non-European world were, apart from +Algeria, of slight importance. They were quite insignificant in +comparison with the far-spreading realms of her ancient rival, +Britain. + +On a much greater scale than the expansion of France was the +expansion of the already vast Russian Empire during this period. +The history of Russia in the nineteenth century is made up of a +series of alternations between a regime of comparative liberalism, +when the interest of government and people was chiefly turned +towards the west, and a regime of reaction, when the government +endeavoured to pursue what was called a 'national' or purely +Russian policy, and to exclude all Western influences. During +these long intervals of reaction, attention was turned eastward; +and it was in the reactionary periods, mainly, that the Russian +power was rapidly extended in three directions--over the Caucasus, +over Central Asia, and in the Far East. + +Before this advance, the huge Russian Empire had been (everywhere +except on the west, in the region of Poland) marked off by very +clearly defined barriers. The Caucasus presented a formidable +obstacle between Russia and the Turkish and Persian Empires; the +deserts of Central Asia separated her from the Moslem peoples of +Khiva, Bokhara and Turkestan; the huge range of the Altai +Mountains and the desert of Gobi cut off her thinly peopled +province of Eastern Siberia from the Chinese Empire; while in the +remote East her shores verged upon ice-bound and inhospitable +seas. Hers was thus an extraordinarily isolated and self-contained +empire, except on the side of Europe; and even on the side of +Europe she was more inaccessible than any other state, being all +but land-locked, and divided from Central Europe by a belt of +forests and marshes. + +The part she had played in the Napoleonic Wars, and in the events +which followed them, had brought her more fully into contact with +Europe than she had ever been before. The acquisition of Poland +and Finland, which she obtained by the treaties of 1815, had +increased this contact, for both of these states were much +influenced by Western ideas. Russia had promised that their +distinct national existence, and their national institutions, +should be preserved; and this seemed to suggest that the Russian +Empire might develop into a partnership of nations of varying +types, not altogether unlike the form into which the British +Empire was developing. But this conception had no attraction for +the Russian mind, or at any rate for the Russian government; and +the reactionary or pure-Russian school, which strove to exclude +all alien influences, was inevitably hostile to it. Hence the +period of reaction, and of eastward conquest, saw also the denial +of the promises made in 1815. Poland preserved her distinct +national organisation, in any full degree, only for fifteen years; +even in the faintest degree, it was preserved for less than fifty +years. Finland was allowed a longer grace, but only, perhaps, +because she was isolated and had but a small population: her turn +for 'Russification' was to come in due course. The exclusion of +Western influence, the segregation of Russia from the rest of the +world, and the repudiation of liberty and of varieties of type +thus form the main features of the reactionary periods which +filled the greater part of this age; and the activity of Russia in +eastward expansion was in part intended to forward this policy, by +diverting the attention of the Russian people from the west +towards the east, and by substituting the pride of dominion for +the desire for liberty. Hence imperialism came to be identified, +for the Russian people, with the denial of liberty. + +But it is a very striking fact that each of the three main lines +of territorial advance followed by Russia in Asia during this +period led her to overstep the natural barriers which had made her +an isolated and self-dependent empire, brought her into relation +with other civilisations, and compelled her to play her part as +one of the factors in world-politics. + +Russia had begun the conquest of the wild Caucasus region as early +as 1802; after a long series of wars, she completed it by the +acquisition of the region of Kars in 1878. The mastery of the +Caucasus brought her into immediate relation with the Armenian +province of the Turkish Empire, which she henceforward threatened +from the east as well as from the west. It brought her into +contact also with the Persian Empire, over whose policy, from 1835 +onwards, she wielded a growing influence, to the perturbation of +Britain. And besides bringing her into far closer relations with +the two greatest Mahomedan powers, it gave her a considerable +number of Mahomedan subjects, since some of the Caucasus tribes +belonged to that faith. + +Again, the conquest of Central Asia led her to overstep the +barrier of the Kirghiz deserts. The wandering Kirghiz and Turkoman +tribes of this barren region lived largely upon the pillage of +caravans, and upon raids into neighbouring countries; they +disposed of their spoil (which often included Russian captives) +mainly in the bazars of Bokhara, Khiva, Samarkand and Khokand-- +Mahomedan Khanates which occupied the more fertile areas in the +southern and south-eastern part of the desert region. The attempt +to control the Turkoman raiders brought Russia into conflict with +these outposts of Islam. Almost the whole of this region was +conquered in a long series of campaigns between 1848 and 1876. +These conquests (which covered an area 1200 miles from east to +west and 600 miles from north to south) made Russia a great +Mahomedan power. They also brought her into direct contact with +Afghanistan. Russian agents were at work in Afghanistan from 1838 +onwards. The shadow of her vast power, looming over Persia and the +Persian Gulf on the one hand, and over the mountain frontiers of +India on the other, naturally appeared highly menacing to Britain. +It was the direct cause of the advance of the British power from +the Indus over North-Western India, until it could rest upon the +natural frontier of the mountains--an advance which took place +mainly during the years 1839-49. And it formed the chief source of +the undying suspicion of Russia which was the dominant note of +British foreign policy throughout the period. + +Another feature of these conquests was that, taken in conjunction +with the French conquest of Algeria and the British conquest of +India, they constituted the first serious impact of European +civilisation upon the vast realm of Islam. Until now the regions +of the Middle East which had been subjugated by the followers of +Mahomed had repelled every attack of the West. More definite in +its creed, and more exacting in its demands upon the allegiance of +its adherents, than any other religion, Mahomedanism had for more +than a thousand years been able to resist with extraordinary +success the influence of other civilisations; and it had been, +from the time of the Crusades onwards, the most formidable +opponent of the civilisation of the West. Under the rule of the +Turk the Mahomedan world had become stagnant and sterile, and it +had shut out not merely the direct control of the West (which +would have been legitimate enough), but the influence of Western +ideas. All the innumerable schemes of reform which were based upon +the retention of the old regime in the Turkish Empire have +hopelessly broken down; and the only chance for an awakening in +these lands of ancient civilisation seemed to depend upon the +breakdown of the old system under the impact of Western +imperialism or insurgent nationalism. It has only been during the +nineteenth century, as a result of Russian, French, and British +imperialism, that the resisting power of Islam has begun to give +way to the influence of Europe. + +The third line of Russian advance was on the Pacific coast, where +in the years 1858 and 1860 Russia obtained from China the Amur +province, with the valuable harbour of Vladivostok. It was an +almost empty land, but its acquisition made Russia a Pacific +power, and brought her into very close neighbourhood with China, +into whose reserved markets, at the same period, the maritime +powers of the West were forcing an entrance. At the same time +Russian relations with Japan, which were to have such pregnant +consequences, were beginning: in 1875 the Japanese were forced to +cede the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, and perhaps we +may date from this year the suspicion of Russia which dominated +Japanese policy for a long time to come. + +Thus, while in Europe Russia was trying to shut herself off from +contact with the world, her advances in Asia had brought her at +three points into the full stream of world-politics. Her vast +empire, though for the most part very thinly peopled, formed +beyond all comparison the greatest continuous area ever brought +under a single rule, since it amounted to between eight and nine +million square miles; and when the next age, the age of rivalry +for world-power, began, this colossal fabric of power haunted and +dominated the imaginations of men. + +A demonstration of the growing power of Western civilisation, even +more impressive than the expansion of the Russian Empire, was +afforded during these years by the opening to Western influence of +the ancient, pot-bound empires of the Far East, China and Japan. +The opening of China began with the Anglo-Chinese War of 1840, +which led to the acquisition of Hong-Kong and the opening of a +group of treaty ports to European trade. It was carried further by +the combined Franco-British war of 1857-58, which was ended by a +treaty permitting the free access of European travellers, traders, +and missionaries to the interior, and providing for the permanent +residence of ambassadors of the signatory powers at the court of +Pekin. All the European states rushed to share these privileges, +and the Westernising of China had begun. It did not take place +rapidly or completely, and it was accompanied by grave +disturbances, notably the Taiping rebellion, which was only +suppressed by the aid of the British General Gordon, in command of +a Chinese army. But though the process was slow, it was fully at +work by 1878. The external trade of China, nearly all in European +hands, had assumed great proportions. The missionaries and +schoolmasters of Europe and America were busily at work in the +most populous provinces. Shanghai had become a European city, and +one of the great trade-centres of the world. In a lame and +incompetent way the Chinese government was attempting to organise +its army on the European model, and to create a navy after the +European style. Steamboats were plying on the Yang-tse-kiang, and +the first few miles of railway were open. Chinese students were +beginning to resort to the universities and schools of the West; +and although the conservatism of the Chinese mind was very slow to +make the plunge, it was already plain that this vast hive of +patient, clever, and industrious men was bound to enter the orbit +of Western civilisation. + +Meanwhile, after a longer and stiffer resistance, Japan had made +up her mind to a great change with amazing suddenness and +completeness. There had been some preliminary relations with the +Western peoples, beginning with the visits of the American +Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and a few ports had been opened +to European trade. But then came a sudden, violent reaction +(1862). The British embassy was attacked; a number of British +subjects were murdered; a mixed fleet of British, French, Dutch, +and American ships proved the power of Western arms, and Japan +began to awaken to the necessity of adopting, in self-defence, the +methods of these intrusive foreigners. The story of the internal +revolution in Japan, which began in 1866, cannot be told here; +enough that it led to the most astounding change in history. +Emerging from her age-long isolation and from her contentment with +her ancient, unchanging modes of life, Japan realised that the +future lay with the restless and progressive civilisation of the +West; and with a national resolve to which there is no sort of +parallel or analogy in history, decided that she must not wait to +be brought under subjection, but must adopt the new methods and +ideas for herself, if possible without shedding too much of her +ancient traditions. By a deliberate exercise of the will and an +extraordinary effort of organisation, she became industrial +without ceasing to be artistic; she adopted parliamentary +institutions without abandoning her religious veneration for the +person of the Mikado; she borrowed the military methods of the +West without losing the chivalrous and fatalist devotion of her +warrior-caste; and devised a Western educational system without +disturbing the deep orientalism of her mind. It was a +transformation almost terrifying, and to any Western quite +bewildering, in its deliberation, rapidity, and completeness. +Europe long remained unconvinced of its reality. But in 1878 the +work was, in its essentials, already achieved, and the one state +of non-European origin which has been able calmly to choose what +she would accept and what she would reject among the systems and +methods of the West, stood ready to play an equal part with the +European nations in the later stages of the long imperial +struggle. + +One last sphere of activity remains to be surveyed before we turn +to consider the development of the new British Empire: the +expansion of the independent states which had arisen on the ruins +of the first colonial empires in the New World. Of the Spanish and +Portuguese states of Central and South America it is not necessary +to say much. They had established their independence between 1815 +and 1825. But the unhappy traditions of the long Spanish +ascendancy had rendered them incapable of using freedom well, and +Central and South America became the scene of ceaseless and futile +revolutions. The influence of the American Monroe Doctrine +forbade, perhaps fortunately, the intervention of any of the +European states to put an end to this confusion, and America +herself made no serious attempt to restrain it. It was not until +the later years of our period that any large stream of immigration +began to flow into these lands from other European countries than +Spain and Portugal, and that their vast natural resources began to +be developed by the energy and capital of Europe. But by 1878 the +more fertile of these states, Argentina, Brazil, and Chili, were +being enriched by these means, were becoming highly important +elements in the trade-system of the world, and were consequently +beginning to achieve a more stable and settled civilisation. In +some regards this work (though it belongs mainly to the period +after 1878) constitutes one of the happiest results of the extra- +European activities of the European peoples during the nineteenth +century. It was carried on, in the main, not by governments or +under government encouragement, but by the private enterprises of +merchants and capitalists; and while a very large part in these +enterprises was played by British and American traders and +settlers, one of the most notable features of the growth of South +America was that it gave play to some of the European peoples, +notably the Germans and the Italians, whose part in the political +division of the world was relatively small. + +Far more impressive was the almost miraculous expansion which came +to the United States during this period. When the United States +started upon their career as an independent nation in 1782, their +territory was limited to the lands east of the Mississippi, +excluding Florida, which was still retained by Spain. Only the +eastern margin of this area was at all fully settled; and the +population numbered at most 2,000,000, predominantly of British +blood. In 1803, by a treaty with Napoleon, the French colony of +Louisiana, with vast and ill-defined claims to the territory west +of the Mississippi, was purchased from France. Meanwhile the +stream of immigrants from the eastern states, and in a less degree +from Europe, was pouring over the Alleghany Mountains and +occupying the great central plain; and by 1815 the population had +risen to almost 9,000,000, still mainly of British stock, though +it also included substantial French and German elements, as well +as large numbers of negro slaves. In 1819 Florida was acquired by +purchase from Spain. In 1845-48 a revolution in Texas (then part +of Mexico), followed by two Mexican wars, led to the annexation of +a vast area extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific +coast, including the paradise of California; while treaties with +Britain in 1818 and 1846 determined the northern boundary of the +States, and secured their control over the regions of Washington +and Oregon. + +Thus the imperialist spirit was working as irresistibly in the +democratic communities of the New World as in the monarchies of +Europe. Not content with the possession of vast and almost +unpeopled areas, they had spread their dominion from ocean to +ocean, and built up an empire less extensive indeed than that of +Russia, but even more compact, far richer in resources, and far +better suited to be the home of a highly civilised people. Into +this enormous area there began to pour a mighty flood of +immigration from Europe, as soon as the Napoleonic wars were over. +By 1878 the population of the States had risen to about +50,000,000, and was greater than that of any European state save +Russia. A new world-state of the first rank had arisen. It was +made up of contributions from all the European peoples. Those of +British stock, especially the Irish, still predominated throughout +this period, but the Germans and the Scandinavians were becoming +increasingly numerous, and the Italians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, +Russian Jews, and other stocks were beginning to form very +substantial elements. It was a melting-pot of races, which had to +be somehow welded into a nation by the moulding-power of the +traditions implanted by the earlier British settlers. It may +fairly be said that no community has ever had imposed upon it a +more difficult task than the task imposed by Fate upon the +American people of creating a national unity out of this +heterogeneous material. The great experiment was, during this +period, singularly successful. The strength of the national +sentiment and of the tradition of freedom was very powerfully +exhibited in the strain of the great Civil War (1861-65) which +maintained at a great cost the threatened unity of the republic, +and brought about the emancipation of the negro slaves. And the +Civil War produced in Abraham Lincoln a national hero, and an +exponent of the national character and ideals, worthy to be set +beside Washington. The America of Lincoln manifestly stood for +Liberty and Justice, the fundamental ideals of Western +civilisation. + +But in this great moulding tradition of freedom there was one +dubious and narrowing element. Accustomed to regard herself as +having achieved liberty by shaking off her connection with the Old +World, America was tempted to think of this liberty as something +peculiar to herself, something which the 'effete monarchies' of +the Old World did not, and could not, fully understand or share, +something which exempted her from responsibility for the non- +American world, and from the duty of aiding and defending liberty +beyond her own limits. In the abounding prosperity of this +fortunate land, liberty was apt to be too readily identified +merely with the opportunity of securing material prosperity, and +the love of liberty was apt to become, what indeed it too often is +everywhere, a purely self-regarding emotion. The distance of the +republic from Europe and its controversies, its economic self- +sufficiency, its apparent security against all attack, fostered +and strengthened this feeling. While the peoples of the Old World +strove with agony and travail towards freedom and justice, or +wrestled with the task of sharing their own civilisation with the +backward races of the globe, the echo of their strivings +penetrated but faintly into the mind of America, like the noises +of the street dimly heard through the shuttered windows of a +warmed and lighted room. To the citizens of the Middle West and +the Far West, especially, busy as they were with the development +of vast untapped resources, the affairs of the outer world +necessarily appeared remote and insignificant. Even their +newspapers told them little about these far-off events. Naturally +it appeared that the function of the republic in the progress of +the world was to till its own garden, and to afford a haven of +refuge to the oppressed and impoverished who poured in from all +lands; and this idea was strengthened by the great number of +immigrants who were driven to the New World by the failure of the +successive European revolutions of the nineteenth century, and by +the oppressive tyranny of the Habsburg monarchy and the Russian +despots. + +This attitude of aloofness from, and contempt, or, at the best, +indifference, to the Old World was further encouraged by the +traditional treatment of American history. The outstanding event +of that story was, of course, the breach with Britain, with which +the independent existence of the Republic began, and which +constituted also almost its only direct contact with the politics +of the Old World. The view of this conflict which was driven into +the national mind by the school-books, by the annual celebrations +of the Fourth of July, and by incessant newspaper writing, +represented the great quarrel not as a dispute in a family of free +communities, in which a new and very difficult problem was raised, +and in which there were faults on both sides, but as one in which +all the right was on one side, as a heroic resistance of free men +against malevolent tyranny. This view has been profoundly modified +by the work of American historians, whose researches during the +last generation have transformed the treatment of the American +Revolution. To-day the old one-sided view finds expression, in +books of serious pretensions, only in England; and it is to +American scholars that we must have recourse for a more scientific +and impartial treatment. But the new and saner view has scarcely +yet made its way into the school-books and the newspapers. If +Britain, the mother of political liberty in the modern world, the +land from which these freemen had inherited their own liberties +and the spirit which made them insist upon their enlargement, was +made to appear a tyrant power, how could it be expected that the +mass of Americans, unversed in world-politics, should follow with +sympathy the progress of liberty beyond the limits of their own +republic? It was in the light of this traditional attitude that +the bulk of Americans regarded not only the wars and controversies +of Europe, but the vast process of European expansion. All these +things did not appear to concern them; they seemed to be caused by +motives and ideas which the great republic had outgrown, though, +as we have already seen, and shall see again, the republic had by +no means outgrown them. The strength of this traditional attitude, +fostered as it was by every circumstance, naturally made the bulk +of the American people slow to realise, when the great challenge +of Germany was forced upon the world, that the problems of world- +politics were as vitally important for them as for all other +peoples, and that no free nation could afford to be indifferent to +the fate of liberty upon the earth. + +At one moment, indeed, almost at the beginning of the period, it +appeared as if this narrow outlook was about to be abandoned. The +League of Peace of the great European powers of 1815 [Footnote: +See "Nationalism and Internationalism," p. 155 ff.] had, by 1822, +developed into a league of despots for the suppression of +revolutionary tendencies. They had intervened to crush +revolutionary outbreaks in Naples and Piedmont; they had +authorised France to enter Spain in order to destroy the +democratic system which had been set up in that country in 1820. +Britain alone protested against these interventions, claiming that +every state ought to be left free to fix its own form of +government; and in 1822 Canning had practically withdrawn from the +League of Peace, because it was being turned into an engine of +oppression. It was notorious that, Spain once subjugated, the +monarchs desired to go on to the reconquest of the revolting +Spanish colonies in South America. Britain could not undertake a +war on the Continent against all the Continental powers combined, +but she could prevent their intervention in America, and Canning +made it plain that the British fleet would forbid any such action. +To strengthen his hands, he suggested to the American ambassador +that the United States might take common action in this sense. The +result was the famous message of President Monroe to Congress in +December 1823, which declared that the United States accepted the +doctrine of non-intervention, and that they would resist any +attempt on the part of the European monarchs to establish their +reactionary system in the New World. + +In effect this was a declaration of support for Britain. It was so +regarded by Monroe's most influential adviser, Thomas Jefferson. +'Great Britain,' he wrote, 'is the nation which can do us the most +harm of any one, or all, on earth, and with her on our side we +need not fear the whole world. With her, then, we should the most +sedulously cherish a cordial friendship; and nothing would tend +more to knit our affection than to be fighting once more side by +side hi the same cause.' To be fighting side by side with Britain +in the same cause--the cause of the secure establishment of +freedom in the world--this seemed to the Democrat Jefferson an +object worth aiming at; and the promise of this seemed to be the +main recommendation of the Monroe Doctrine. It was intended as an +alliance for the defence of freedom, not as a proclamation of +aloofness; and thus America seemed to be taking her natural place +as one of the powers concerned to strengthen law and liberty, not +only within her own borders, but throughout the world. + +The Monroe Doctrine was rapidly accepted as expressing the +fundamental principle of American foreign policy. But under the +influence of the powerful tradition which we have attempted to +analyse, its significance was gradually changed; and instead of +being interpreted as a proclamation that the great republic could +not be indifferent to the fate of liberty, and would co-operate to +defend it from attack in all cases where such co-operation was +reasonably practicable, it came to be interpreted by average +public opinion as meaning that America had no concern with the +politics of the Old World, and that the states of the Old World +must not be allowed to meddle in any of the affairs of either +American continent. The world of civilisation was to be divided +into water-tight compartments; as if it were not indissolubly one. +Yet even in this rather narrow form, the Monroe doctrine has on +the whole been productive of good; it has helped to save South +America from becoming one of the fields of rivalry of the European +powers. + +But it may be doubted whether the mere enunciation of the +doctrine, even in this precise and definite form, has of itself +been sufficient to secure this end. There is good reason to +believe that the doctrine would not have been safe from challenge +if it had not been safeguarded by the supremacy of the British +Fleet. For throughout the last half-century all the world has +known that any defiance of this doctrine, and any attack upon +America, would bring Britain into the field. During all this +period one of the factors of world-politics has been the existence +of an informal and one-sided alliance between Britain and America. +The alliance has been informal, because it has not rested upon any +treaty or even upon any definite understanding. It has been one- +sided, because while average opinion in America has been +distrustful of Britain, has been apt to put unfavourable +constructions upon British policy, and has generally failed to +appreciate the value and significance of the work which Britain +has done in the outer world, Britain, on the other hand, has +always known that America stood for justice and freedom; and +therefore, however difficult the relations between the two powers +might occasionally become, Britain has steadfastly refused to +consider the possibility of a breach with America, and with rare +exceptions has steadily given her support to American policy. The +action of the British squadron off the Philippines in 1898, in +quietly interposing itself between the threatening German guns and +the American Fleet, has, in fact, been broadly typical of the +British attitude. This factor has not only helped to preserve the +Monroe Doctrine from challenge, it has indirectly contributed to +deepen the American conviction that it was possible, even in the +changed conditions of the modern world, to maintain a complete +isolation from the political controversies of the powers. + +During the period 1815-1878, then, while the greater part of +Europe was still indifferent to extra-European affairs, America +had developed into a vast state wherein freedom and law were +enthroned, a huge melting-pot wherein diverse peoples were being +gradually unified and turned into a new nation under the moulding +power of a great tradition of liberty. But her geographical +position, and certain elements in her tradition, had hitherto led +her to abstain from, and even to repudiate, that great part in the +shaping of the common destinies of civilisation to which she was +manifestly called by her wealth, her numbers, her freedom, and her +share in the traditions of all the European peoples. In the nature +of things, whatever some Americans might think, this voluntary +isolation could not continue for ever. It was to be brought to an +end by the fevered developments of the next era, and by the great +challenge to the liberties of the world in which it culminated. + + + + + +VI + +THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1815-1878 + + +Mighty as had been the achievements of other lands which have been +surveyed in the last section, the main part in the expansion of +European civilisation over the world during the first three- +quarters of the nineteenth century was played by Britain. For she +was engaged in opening out new continents and sub-continents; and +she was giving an altogether new significance to the word +'Empire.' Above all, she was half-blindly laying the foundations +of a system whereby freedom and the enriching sense of national +unity might be realised at once in the new and vacant lands of the +earth, and among its oldest civilised peoples; she was feeling her +way towards a mode of linking diverse and free states in a common +brotherhood of peace and mutual respect. There is no section of +the history of European imperialism more interesting than the +story of the growth and organisation of the heterogeneous and +disparate empire with which Britain entered upon the new age. + +This development appeared, on the surface, to be quite haphazard, +and to be governed by no clearly grasped theories or policy. It is +indeed true that at all times British policy has not been governed +by theory, but by the moulding force of a tradition of ordered +freedom. The period produced in Britain no imperialist statesman +of the first rank, nor did imperial questions play a leading part +in the deliberations of parliament. In fact, the growth of the +British Empire and its organisation were alike spontaneous and +unsystematic; their only guide (but it proved to be a good guide) +was the spirit of self-government, existing in every scattered +section of the people; and the part played by the colonists +themselves, and by the administrative officers in India and +elsewhere, was throughout more important than the part played by +colonial secretaries, East Indian directors, parliamentarians and +publicists at home. For that reason the story is not easily +handled in a broad and simple way. + +Enjoying almost a monopoly of oversea activity, Britain was free, +in most parts of the world, to expand her dominions as she thought +fit. Her statesmen, however, were far from desiring further +expansion: they rightly felt that the responsibilities already +assumed were great enough to tax the resources of any state, +however rich and populous. But, try as they would, they could not +prevent the inevitable process of expansion. Several causes +contributed to produce this result. Perhaps the most important was +the unexampled growth of British trade, which during these years +dominated the whole world; and the flag is apt to follow trade. A +second cause was the pressure of economic distress and the +extraordinarily rapid increase of population at home, leading to +wholesale emigration; in the early years of the century an +extravagantly severe penal code, which inflicted the penalty of +death, commonly commuted into transportation, for an incredible +number of offences, gave an artificial impetus to this movement. +The restless and adventurous spirit of the settlers in huge and +unexplored new countries contributed another motive for expansion. +And in some cases, notably in India, political necessity seemed to +demand annexations. Over a movement thus stimulated, the home +authorities found themselves, with the best will in the world, +unable to exercise any effective restraint; and the already +colossal British Empire continued to grow. It is no doubt to be +regretted that other European nations were not able during this +period to take part in the development of the non-European world +in a more direct way than by sending emigrants to America or the +British lands. But it is quite certain that the growth of British +territory is not to be attributed in any degree to the deliberate +policy, or to the greed, of the home government, which did +everything in its power to check it. + +In India the Russian menace seemed to necessitate the adoption of +a policy towards the independent states of the North-West which +brought an extension of the frontier, between 1839 and 1849, to +the great mountain ranges which form the natural boundary of India +in this direction; while a succession of intolerable and quite +unprovoked aggressions by the Burmese led to a series of wars +which resulted in the annexation of very great territories in the +east and north-east: Assam, Aracan, and Tenasserim hi 1825; Pegu +and Rangoon in 1853; finally, in 1885-86, the whole remainder of +the Burmese Empire. In North America settlers found their way +across the Rocky Mountains or over the Isthmus of Panama into the +region of British Columbia, which was given a distinct colonial +organisation in 1858; and the colonisation of the Red River +Settlement, 1811-18, which became hi 1870 the province of +Manitoba, began the development of the great central plain. In +South Africa frontier wars with the Kaffirs, and the restless +movements of Boer trekkers, brought about an expansion of the +limits of Cape Colony, the annexation of Natal, and the temporary +annexation of the Orange River Settlement and the Transvaal; but +all these additions were most reluctantly accepted; the Orange +River Settlement and the Transvaal soon had their independence +restored, though the former, at any rate, accepted it unwillingly. +In Australia, drafts of new settlers planting themselves at new +points led to the organisation of six distinct colonies between +1825 and 1859; and this implied the definite annexation of the +whole continent. New Zealand was annexed in 1839, but only because +British traders had already established themselves in the islands, +were in unhappy relations with the natives, and had to be brought +under control. + +But it was not the territorial expansion of the British Empire +which gave significance to this period in its history, but, in a +far higher degree, the new principles of government which were +developed during its course. The new colonial policy which +gradually shaped itself during this age was so complete a +departure from every precedent of the past, and represented so +remarkable an experiment in imperial government, that its sources +deserve a careful analysis. It was brought into being by a number +of distinct factors and currents of opinion which were at work +both in Britain and in the colonies. + +In the first place, there existed in Britain, as in other European +countries, a large body of opinion which held that all colonies +were sure to demand and obtain their independence as soon as they +became strong enough to desire it; that as independent states they +could be quite as profitable to the mother-country as they could +ever be while they remained attached to her, more especially if +the parting took place without bitterness; and that the wisest +policy for Britain to pursue was therefore to facilitate their +development, to place no barrier in the way of the increase of +their self-government, and to enable them at the earliest moment +to start as free nations on their own account. This was not, +indeed, the universal, nor perhaps even the preponderant, attitude +in regard to the colonies in the middle of the nineteenth century. +But it was pretty common. It appeared in the most unexpected +quarters, as when Disraeli said that the colonies were 'millstones +about our necks,' or as when The Times advocated in a leading +article the cession of Canada to the United States, on the ground +that annexation to the great Republic was the inevitable destiny +of that colony, and that it was much better that it should be +carried out in a peaceable and friendly way than after a conflict. +It is difficult to-day to realise that men could ever have +entertained such opinions. But they were widely held; and it must +at least be obvious that the prevalence of these views is quite +inconsistent with the idea that Britain was deliberately following +a policy of expansion and annexation in this age. Men who held +these opinions (and they were to be found in every party) regarded +with resentment and alarm every addition to what seemed to them +the useless burdens assumed by the nation, and required to be +satisfied that every new annexation of territory was not merely +justifiable, but inevitable. + +A second factor which contributed to the change of attitude +towards the colonies was the growing influence of a new school of +economic thought, the school of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus. +Their ideas had begun to affect national policy as early as the +twenties, when Huskisson took the first steps on the way to free +trade. In the thirties the bulk of the trading and industrial +classes had become converts to these ideas, which won their +definite victories in the budgets of Sir Robert Peel, 1843-46, and +in those of his disciple Gladstone. The essence of this doctrine, +as it affected colonial policy, was that the regulation of trade +by government, which had been the main object of the old colonial +policy, brought no advantages, but only checked its free +development. And for a country in the position which Britain then +occupied, this was undeniably true; so overwhelming was her +preponderance in world-trade that every current seemed to set in +her direction, and the removal of artificial barriers, originally +designed to train the current towards her shores, allowed it to +follow its natural course. The only considerable opposition to +this body of economic doctrine came from those who desired to +protect British agriculture; but this motive had (at this period) +no bearing upon colonial trade. The triumph of the doctrine of +free trade meant that the principal motive which had earlier led +to restrictions upon the self-government of the colonies--the +desire to secure commercial advantages for the mother-country--was +no longer operative. The central idea of the old colonial system +was destroyed by the disciples of Adam Smith; and there no longer +remained any apparent reason why the mother-country should desire +to control the fiscal policy of the colonies. An even more +important result of the adoption of this new economic doctrine was +that it destroyed every motive which would lead the British +government to endeavour to secure for British traders a monopoly +of the traffic with British possessions. Henceforth all +territories administered under the direct control of the home +government were thrown open as freely to the merchants of other +countries as to those of Britain herself. The part which Britain +now undertook in the undeveloped regions of her empire (except in +so far as they were controlled by fully self-governing colonies) +was simply that of maintaining peace and law; and in these regions +she adopted an attitude which may fairly be described as the +attitude, not of a monopolist, but of a trustee for civilisation. +It was this policy which explains the small degree of jealousy +with which the rapid expansion of her territory was regarded by +the rest of the civilised world. If the same policy had been +followed, not necessarily at home, but in their colonial +possessions, by all the colonising powers, the motives for +colonial rivalry would have been materially diminished, and the +claims of various states to colonial territories, when the period +of rivalry began, would have been far more easily adjusted. + +These were negative forces, leading merely to the abandonment of +the older colonial theories. But there were also positive and +constructive forces at work. First among them may be noted a new +body of definite theory as to the function which colonies ought to +play in the general economy of the civilised world. It was held to +be their function not (as in the older theory) to afford lucrative +opportunities for trade to the mother-country: so far as trade was +concerned it seemed to matter little whether a country was a +colony or an independent state. But the main object of +colonisation was, on this view, the systematic draining-off of the +surplus population of the older lands. This, it was felt, could +not safely be left to the operation of mere chance; and one of the +great advantages of colonial possessions was that they enabled the +country which controlled them to deal in a scientific way with its +surplus population, and to prevent the reproduction of unhealthy +conditions in the new communities, which was apt to result if +emigrants were allowed to drift aimlessly wheresoever chance took +them, and received no guidance as to the proper modes of +establishing themselves in their new homes. The great apostle of +this body of colonial theory was Edward Gibbon Wakefield; and his +book, A View of the Art of Colonisation (1847), deserves to be +noted as one of the classics of the history of imperialism. He did +not confine himself to theory, but was tireless in organising +practical experiments. They were carried out, in a curious revival +of the methods of the seventeenth century, by means of a series of +colonising companies which Wakefield promoted. The settlement of +South Australia, the first considerable settlement in the North +Island of New Zealand, and the two admirably designed and executed +settlements of Canterbury and Otago in the South Island of New +Zealand, were all examples of his methods: with the exception of +the North Island settlement, they were all very successful. Nor +were these the only instances of organised and assisted +emigration. In 1820 a substantial settlement, financed by +government, was made in the eastern part of Cape Colony, in the +region of Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, and this brought the +first considerable body of British inhabitants into South Africa, +hitherto almost exclusively Dutch. An unsuccessful plantation at +Swan River in West Australia may also be noted. Systematic and +scientific colonisation was thus being studied in Britain during +this period as never before. In the view of its advocates Britain +was the trustee of civilisation for the administration of the most +valuable unpeopled regions of the earth, and it was her duty to +see that they were skilfully utilised. So high a degree of success +attended some of their efforts that it is impossible not to regret +that they were not carried further. But they depended upon Crown +control of undeveloped lands. With the growth of full self- +government in the colonies the exercise of these Crown functions +was transferred from the ministry and parliament of Britain to the +ministries and parliaments of the colonies; and this transference +put an end to the possibility of a centralised organisation and +direction of emigration. + +A second constructive factor very potently at work during this age +was the humanitarian spirit, which had become a powerful factor in +British life during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth +centuries. It had received perhaps its most practical expression +in the abolition of the slave-trade in 1806, and the campaign +against the slave-trade in the rest of the world became an +important object of British policy from that time onwards. Having +abolished the slave-trade, the humanitarians proceeded to advocate +the complete abolition of negro slavery throughout the British +Empire. They won their victory in 1833, when the British +parliament declared slavery illegal throughout the Empire, and +voted 20,000,000 pounds--at a time when British finance was still +suffering from the burdens of the Napoleonic War--to purchase from +their masters the freedom of all the slaves then existing in the +Empire. It was a noble deed, but it was perhaps carried out a +little too suddenly, and it led to grave difficulties, especially +in the West Indies, whose prosperity was seriously impaired, and +in South Africa, where it brought about acute friction with the +slave-owning Boer farmers. But it gave evidence of the adoption of +a new attitude towards the backward races, hitherto mercilessly +exploited by all the imperialist powers. One expression of this +attitude had already been afforded by the organisation (1787) of +the colony of Sierra Leone, on the West African coast, as a place +of refuge for freed slaves desiring to return to the land of their +fathers. + +It was principally through the activity of missionaries that this +new point of view was expressed and cultivated. Organised +missionary activity in Britain dates from the end of the +eighteenth century, but its range grew with extraordinary rapidity +throughout the period. And wherever the missionaries went, they +constituted themselves the protectors and advocates of the native +races among whom they worked. Often enough they got themselves +into bad odour with the European traders and settlers with whom +they came in contact. But through their powerful home +organisations they exercised very great influence over public +opinion and over government policy. The power of 'Exeter Hall,' +where the religious bodies and the missionary societies held their +meetings in London, was at its height in the middle of the +nineteenth century, and politicians could not afford to disregard +it, even if they had desired to do so. This influence, supporting +the trend of humanitarian opinion, succeeded in establishing it as +one of the principles of British imperial policy that it was the +duty of the British government to protect the native races against +the exploitation of the European settlers, and to guide them +gently into a civilised way of life. It is a sound and noble +principle, and it may fairly be said that it has been honestly +carried out, so far as the powers of the home government rendered +possible. No government in the world controls a greater number or +variety of subjects belonging to the backward races than the +British; no trading nation has had greater opportunities for the +oppressive exploitation of defenceless subjects. Yet the grave +abuse of these opportunities has been infrequent. There have been +in the history of modern British imperialism sporadic instances of +injustice, like the forced labour of Kanakas in the Pacific. But +there have been no Congo outrages, no Putumayo atrocities, no +Pequena slave scandals, no merciless slaughter like that of the +Hereros in German South-West Africa. + +The principle of the protection of backward peoples has, however, +sometimes had an unfortunate influence upon colonial policy; and +there was no colony in which it exercised a more unhappy effect +than South Africa. Here the Boer farmers still retained towards +their native neighbours the attitude which had been characteristic +of all the European peoples in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries: they regarded the negro as a natural inferior, born to +servitude. It is not surprising that no love was lost between the +Boers and the missionaries, who appeared as the protectors of the +negroes, and whose representations turned British opinion +violently against the whole Boer community. This was in itself a +sufficiently unfortunate result: it lies largely at the base of +the prolonged disharmony which divided the two peoples in South +Africa. The belief that the Boers could not be trusted to deal +fairly with the natives formed, for a long period, the chief +reason which urged the British Government to retain their control +over the Boers, even when they had trekked away from the Cape +(1836) and established themselves beyond the Orange and the Vaal +rivers; and the conflict of this motive with the desire to avoid +any increase of colonial responsibilities, and with the feeling +that if the Boers disliked the British system, they had better be +left in freedom to organise themselves in their own way, accounts +for the curious vacillation in the policy of the period on this +question. At first the trekkers were left to themselves; then the +lands which they had occupied were annexed; then their +independence was recognised; and finally, when, at the end of the +period, they seemed to be causing a dangerous excitement among the +Zulus and other native tribes, the Transvaal was once more +annexed; with the result that revolt broke out, and the Majuba +campaign had to be fought. + +Again, tenderness for the natives led to several curious and not +very successful experiments in organisation. The annexation of +Natal was long delayed because it was held that this area ought to +form a native reserve, and fruitless attempts were made to +restrict the settlement of Europeans in this empty and fertile +land. An attempt was also made to set up a series of native areas +under British protection, from which the white settler was +excluded. British Kaffraria, Griqualand East and Griqualand West +were examples of this policy, which is still represented, not +unsuccessfully, by the great protected area of Basutoland. But, on +the whole, these experiments in the handling of the native problem +in South Africa did more harm than good. They were unsuccessful +mainly because South Africa was a white man's country, into which +the most vigorous of the native races, those of the Bantu stock +(Kaffirs, Zulus, Matabili, etc.), were more recent immigrants than +the white men themselves. Owing to their warlike character and +rapidly growing numbers they constituted for a long time a very +formidable danger; and neither the missionaries nor the home +authorities sufficiently recognised these facts. + +Perhaps the most unhappy result of this friction over the native +question, apart from the alienation of Boer and Briton which it +produced, was the fact that it was the principal cause of the long +delay in establishing self-governing institutions in South Africa. +The home government hesitated to give to the colonists full +control over their own affairs, because it distrusted the use +which they were likely to make of their powers over the natives; +even the normal institutions of all British colonies were not +established in Cape Colony till 1854, and in Natal till 1883. But +although in this case the new attitude towards the backward races +led to some unhappy results, the spirit which inspired it was +altogether admirable, and its growing strength accounts in part +for the real degree of success which has been achieved by British +administrators in the government of regions not suited for the +settlement of Europeans in large numbers. Indeed, this spirit has +come to be one of the outstanding features of modern British +imperialism. + +It was not only in the treatment of backward races that the +humanitarian spirit made itself felt. It was at work also in the +government of the highly developed civilisations of India, where, +during this period, British power began to be boldly used to put +an end to barbarous or inhumane practices which were supported or +tolerated by the religious beliefs or immemorial social usages of +India. Such practices as thagi, or meria sacrifices, or female +infanticide, or, above all, sati, had been left undisturbed by the +earlier rulers of British India, because they feared that +interference with them would be resented as an infraction of +Indian custom or religion. They were now boldly attacked, and +practically abolished, without evil result. + +Alongside of this new courage in measures that seemed to be +dictated by the moral ideas of the West, there was to be seen +growing throughout this period a new temper of respect for Indian +civilisation and a desire to study and understand it, and to +safeguard its best features. The study of early Indian literature, +law, and religious philosophy had indeed been begun in the +eighteenth century by Sir William Jones and Nathaniel Halhed, with +the ardent encouragement of Warren Hastings. But in this as in +other respects Hastings was ahead of the political opinion of his +time; the prevalent idea was that the best thing for India would +be the introduction, so far as possible, of British methods. This +led to the absurdities of the Supreme Court, established in 1773 +to administer English law to Indians. It led also to the great +blunder of Cornwallis's settlement of the land question in Bengal, +which was an attempt to assimilate the Indian land-system to that +of England, and resulted in an unhappy weakening of the village +communities, the most healthy features of Indian rural life. In +the nineteenth century this attitude was replaced by a spirit of +respect for Indian traditions and methods of organisation, and by +a desire to retain and strengthen their best features. The new +attitude was perhaps to be seen at its best in the work of +Mountstuart Elphinstone, a great administrator who was also a +profound student of Indian history, and a very sympathetic +observer and friend of Indian customs and modes of life. But the +same spirit was exemplified by the whole of the remarkable +generation of statesmen of whom Elphinstone was one. They +established the view that it was the duty of the British power to +reorganise India, indeed, but to reorganise it on lines in +accordance with its own traditions. Above all, the principle was +in this generation very definitely established that India, like +other great dependencies, must be administered in the interests of +its own people, and not in the interests of the ruling race. That +seems to us to-day a platitude. It would not have seemed a +platitude in the eighteenth century. It would not seem a platitude +in modern Germany. And it may safely be said that the enunciation +of such a doctrine would have seemed merely absurd in any of the +earlier historical empires. In 1833 an official report laid before +the British parliament contained these remarkable words: 'It is +recognised 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.' In all the +records of imperialism it would be hard to find a parallel to this +formal statement of policy by the supreme government of a ruling +race. When such a statement could be made, it is manifest that the +meaning of the word Empire had undergone a remarkable +transformation. No one can read the history of British rule in +India during this period without feeling that, in spite of +occasional lapses, this was its real spirit. + +But the most powerful constructive element in the shaping of the +new imperial policy of Britain was the strength of the belief in +the idea of self-government, as not only morally desirable but +practically efficacious, which was to be perceived at work in the +political circles of Britain during this age. Self-government had +throughout the modern age been a matter of habit and practice with +the British peoples; now it became a matter of theory and belief. +And from this resulted a great change of attitude towards the +problems of colonial administration. The American problem in the +eighteenth century had arisen ultimately out of the demand of the +Americans for unqualified and responsible control over their own +affairs: the attitude of the Englishman in reply to this demand +(though he never clearly analysed it) was, in effect, that self- +government was a good and desirable thing, but that on the scale +on which the Americans claimed it, it would be fatal to the unity +of the Empire, and the unity of the Empire must come first. Faced +by similar problems in the nineteenth century, the Englishman's +response generally was that self-government on the fullest scale +was the right of all who were fit to exercise it, and the most +satisfactory working solution of political problems. Therefore the +right must be granted; and the unity of the Empire must take care +of itself. No doubt this attitude was more readily adopted because +of the widespread belief that in fact the colonies would all +sooner or later cut their connection with the mother-country. But +it was fully shared by men who did not hold this view, and who +believed strongly in the possibility and desirability of +maintaining imperial unity. It was shared, for example, by +Wakefield, a convinced imperialist if ever there was one, and by +that great colonial administrator, Sir George Grey. It was shared +by Lord Durham and by Lord John Russell, who were largely +responsible for the adoption of the new policy. Their belief and +hope was that the common possession of free institutions of +kindred types would in fact form the most effective tie between +the lands which enjoyed them. This hope obtained an eloquent +expression in the speech in which, in 1852, Russell introduced the +bill for granting to the Australian colonies self-government on +such a scale as amounted almost to independence. It is not true, +as is sometimes said, that the self-governing institutions of the +colonies were established during this period owing to the +indifference of the home authorities, and their readiness to put +an end to the connection. The new policy of these years was +deliberately adopted; and although its acceptance by parliament +was rendered easier by the prevalence of disbelief in the +permanence of the imperial tie, yet, on the part of the +responsible men, it was due to far-sighted statesmanship. + +The critical test of the new colonial policy, and the most +dramatic demonstration of its efficacy, were afforded by Canada, +where, during the thirties, the conditions which preceded the +revolt of the American colonies were being reproduced with curious +exactness. The self-governing institutions established in the +Canadian colonies in 1791 very closely resembled those of the +American colonies before the revolution: they gave to the +representative houses control over taxation and legislation, but +neither control over, nor responsibility for, the executive. And +the same results were following. Incomplete self-government was +striving after its own fulfilment: the denial of responsibility +was producing irresponsibility. These was the same unceasing +friction between governors and their councils on the one hand, and +the representative bodies on the other hand; and the assemblies +were showing the same unreasonableness in refusing to meet +manifest public obligations. This state of things was becoming +steadily more acute in all the colonies, but it was at its worst +in the province of Quebec, where the constitutional friction was +embittered by a racial conflict, the executive body being British, +while the great majority of the assembly was French; and the +conflict was producing a very dangerous alienation between the two +peoples. The French colonists had quite forgotten the gratitude +they had once felt for the maintenance of their religion and of +their social organisation, and there was a strong party among them +who were bent upon open revolt, and hoped to be able to establish +a little isolated French community upon the St. Lawrence. This +party of hotheads got the upper hand, and their agitation +culminated in the rebellion of Papineau in 1837. In the other +colonies, and especially in Upper Canada, the conditions were +almost equally ominous; when Papineau revolted in Quebec, William +Mackenzie led a sympathetic rising in Ontario. The situation was +quite as alarming as the situation in the American colonies had +been in 1775. It is true that the risings were easily put down. +But mere repression formed no solution, any more than a British +victory in 1775 would have formed a solution of the American +question. + +Realising this, the Whig government sent out Lord Durham, one of +their own number, to report on the whole situation. Durham was one +of the most advanced Liberals in Britain, a convinced believer in +the virtues of self-government, and he took out with him two of +the ablest advocates of scientific colonisation, Edward Gibbon +Wakefield and Charles Buller. Durham's administrative work was not +a success: his high-handed deportation of some of the rebel +leaders was strongly condemned, and he was very quickly recalled. +But he had had time to study and understand the situation, and he +presented a masterly Report on Canada, which is one of the +classics in the history of British imperialism. His explanation of +the unhappy condition of Canadian politics was not (as some were +tempted to say) that the colonists had been given too much +liberty, but that they had not been given enough. They must be +made to feel their responsibility for the working of the laws +which they adopted, and for the welfare of the whole community. As +for the conflict of races, its only cure was that both should be +made to feel their common responsibility for the destinies of the +community in which both must remain partners. + +Lord Durham's recommendations were fully carried into effect, +partly in the Canada Act of 1840, but more especially by a simple +instruction issued to governors, that their ministries must +henceforward be chosen, in the British fashion, on the ground that +they commanded the support of a majority in the elected house; and +that the governors themselves must be guided by their advice. A +crucial test of this new policy came in 1849, when the ministers +and the parliamentary majority proposed to vote compensation for +property destroyed in 1837. This to many seemed compensation for +rebels, and the indignant loyalists were urgent that the governor, +Lord Elgin, should veto it. He firmly declined to do so; and thus +gave an invaluable lesson to both parties. The Canadian people, +acting through their representatives, were now responsible for +their actions. If they chose to vote for irresponsible and +dangerous devices, they must henceforward realise that they must +themselves answer for the consequences. + +Thus, within a few years of the outbreak of rebellion in two +provinces, full power had been entrusted to the rebels themselves. +It was a daring policy, only to be justified by a very confident +belief in the virtues of self-government. But it was completely +and triumphantly successful. Henceforward friction between the +Canadian colonies and the mother-country ceased: if there were +grounds for complaint in the state of Canadian affairs, the +Canadians must now blame their own ministers, and the remedy lay +in their own hands. And what was the outcome? Twenty years later +the various colonies, once as full of mutual jealousies as the +American colonies had been before 1775, began to discuss the +possibility of federation. With the cordial approval and co- +operation of the home government, they drew up a scheme for the +formation of a united Dominion of Canada, including distant +British Columbia and the coastal colonies of Nova Scotia, New +Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island; and the adoption of this +scheme, in 1867, turned Canada from a bundle of separate +settlements into a great state. To this state the home government +later made over the control of all the vast and rich lands of the +North-West, and so the destinies of half a continent passed under +its direction. It was a charge, the magnitude and challenge of +which could not but bring forth all that there was of +statesmanship among the Canadian people; and it has not failed to +do so. + +One feature of Canadian constitutional development remains to be +noted. It might have been expected that the Canadians would have +been tempted to follow the political model of their great +neighbour the United States; and if their development had been the +outcome of friction with the mother-country, no doubt they would +have done so. But they preferred to follow the British model. The +keynote of the American system is division of power: division +between the federal government and the state governments, which +form mutual checks upon one another; division between the +executive and the legislature, which are independent of one +another at once in the states and in the federal government, both +being directly elected by popular vote. The keynote of the British +system is concentration of responsibility by the subordination of +the executive to the legislature. The Canadians adopted the +British principle: what had formerly been distinct colonies +became, not 'states' but 'provinces,' definitely subordinated to +the supreme central government; and whether in the federal or in +the provincial system, the control of government by the +representative body was finally established. This concord with the +British system is a fact of real import. It means that the +political usages of the home-country and the great Dominion are so +closely assimilated that political co-operation between them is +far easier than it otherwise might be; it increases the +possibility of a future link more intimate than that of mere co- +operation. + +Not less whole-hearted or generous than the treatment of the +problems of Canadian government was the treatment of the same +problem in Australia. Here, as a matter of course, all the +colonies had been endowed, at the earliest possible date, with the +familiar system of representative but not responsible government. +No such acute friction as had occurred in Canada had yet shown +itself, though signs of its development were not lacking. But in +1852 an astonishing step was taken by the British parliament: the +various Australian colonies were empowered to elect single-chamber +constituent assemblies to decide the forms of government under +which they wished to live. They decided in every case to reproduce +as nearly as possible the British system: legislatures of two +chambers, with ministries responsible to them. Thus, in Australia +as in Canada, the daughter-peoples were made to feel the community +of their institutions with those of the mother-country, and the +possibility of intimate and easy co-operation was increased. Two +years later, in 1854, New Zealand was endowed with the same +system. Among all the British realms in which the white man was +predominant, only South Africa was as yet excluded from this +remarkable development. The reasons for this exclusion we have +already noted: its consequences will occupy our attention in later +pages. + +Very manifestly the empire which was developing on such lines was +not an empire in the old sense--a dominion imposed by force upon +unwilling subjects. That old word, which has been used in so many +senses, was being given a wholly new connotation. It was being +made to mean a free partnership of self-governing peoples, held +together not by force, but in part by common interests, and in a +still higher degree by common sentiment and the possession of the +same institutions of liberty. + +In the fullest sense, however, this new conception of empire +applied only to the group of the great self-governing colonies. +There were many other regions, even before 1878, included within +the British Empire, though as yet it had not incorporated those +vast protectorates over regions peopled by backward races which +have been added during the last generation. There were tropical +settlements like British Honduras, British Guiana, Sierra Leone, +and Cape Coast Castle; there were many West Indian Islands, and +scattered possessions like Mauritius and Hong-Kong and Singapore +and the Straits Settlements; there were garrison towns or coaling- +stations like Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, St. Helena. To none of these +were the institutions of full responsible self-government granted. +Some of them possessed representative institutions without +responsible ministries; in others the governor was assisted by a +nominated council, intended to express local opinion, but not +elected by the inhabitants; in yet others the governor ruled +autocratically. But in all these cases the ultimate control of +policy was retained by the home government. And in this general +category, as yet, the South African colonies were included. Why +were these distinctions drawn? Why did the generation of British +statesmen, who had dealt so generously with the demand for self- +government in Canada and Australia, stop short and refuse to carry +out their principles in these other cases? + +It is characteristic of British politics that they are never +merely or fully logical, and that even when political doctrines +seem to enjoy the most complete ascendancy, they are never put +into effect without qualifications or exceptions. The exceptions +already named to the establishment of full self-government were +due to many and varying causes. In the first place, there was in +most of these cases no effective demand for full self-government; +and it may safely be asserted that any community in which there is +no demand for self-governing institutions is probably not in a +condition to work them with effect. Some of these possessions were +purely military posts, like Gibraltar and Aden, and were +necessarily administered as such. Others were too small and weak +to dream of assuming the full privileges. But in the majority of +cases one outstanding common feature will appear on closer +analysis. Nearly all these territories were tropical or semi- +tropical lands, whose British inhabitants were not permanent +settlers, but were present solely for the purposes of trade or +other exploitation, while the bulk of the population consisted of +backward peoples, whose traditions and civilisation rendered their +effective participation in public affairs quite impracticable. In +such cases, to have given full political power to the small and +generally shifting minority of white men would have been to give +scope to many evils; and to have enfranchised, on a mere theory, +the mass of the population would have been to produce still worse +results. It would have sentenced these communities to the sort of +fate which has befallen the beautiful island of Hayti, where the +self-government of a population of emancipated negro slaves has +brought nothing but anarchy and degradation. In such conditions +the steady Reign of Law is the greatest boon that can be given to +white settlers and coloured subjects alike; and the final +authority is rightly retained by the home government, inspired, as +British opinion has long required that it should be, by the +principle that the rights of the backward peoples must be +safeguarded. Under this system, both law and a real degree of +liberty are made possible; whereas under a doctrinaire application +of the theory of self-government, both would vanish. + +But there remains the vast dominion of India, which falls neither +into the one category nor into the other. Though there are many +primitive and backward elements among its vast population, there +are also peoples and castes whose members are intellectually +capable of meeting on equal terms the members of any of the ruling +races of the West. Yet during this age, when self-government on +the amplest scale was being extended to the chief regions of the +British Empire, India, the greatest dominion of them all, did not +obtain the gift of representative institutions even on the most +modest scale. Why was this? + +It was not because the ruling race was hostile to the idea, or +desired merely to retain its own ascendancy. On the contrary, both +in Britain and among the best of the British administrators in +India, it was increasingly held that the only ultimate +justification for the British power in India would be that under +its guidance the Indian peoples should be gradually enabled to +govern themselves. As early as 1824, when in Europe sheer reaction +was at its height, this view was being strongly urged by one of +the greatest of Anglo-Indian administrators, Sir Thomas Munro, a +soldier of distinction, then serving as governor of Madras. 'We +should look upon India,' he wrote, 'not as a temporary possession, +but as one which is to be maintained permanently, until the +natives shall have abandoned most of their superstitions and +prejudices, and become sufficiently enlightened to frame a regular +government for themselves, and to conduct and preserve it. +Whenever such a time shall arrive, it will probably be best for +both countries that the British control over India should be +gradually withdrawn. That the desirable change contemplated may in +some after age be effected in India, there is no cause to despair. +Such a change was at one time in Britain itself at least as +hopeless as it is here. When we reflect how much the character of +nations has always been influenced by that of governments, and +that some, once the most cultivated, have sunk into barbarism, +while others, formerly the rudest, have attained the highest point +of civilisation, we shall see no reason to doubt that if we pursue +steadily the proper measures, we shall in time so far improve the +character of our Indian subjects as to make them able to govern +and protect themselves.' + +In other words, self-government was the desirable end to be +pursued in India as elsewhere; but in India there were many and +grave obstacles to its efficient working, which could only slowly +be overcome. In the first place, India is more deeply divided in +race, language, and religion than any other region of the world. +Nowhere else is there such a medley of peoples of every grade of +development, from the almost savage Bhil to the cultivated and +high-bred Brahmin or Rajput or Mahomedan chief. There are sharp +regional differences, as great as those between the European +countries; but cutting across these there are everywhere the rigid +and impermeable distinctions of caste, which have no parallel +anywhere else in the world. The experience of the Austro-Hungarian +Empire, whose confusion of races is simplicity itself in +comparison with the chaos of India, affords a significant +demonstration of the fact that parliamentary institutions, if they +are established among deeply divided peoples, must almost +inevitably be exploited for the purpose of racial ascendancy by +the most vigorous or the best-organised elements among the people; +and a very ugly tyranny is apt to result, as it has resulted in +Austro-Hungary. This consequence would almost certainly follow the +establishment of a full representative system in India. In the +cities of mediaeval Italy, when the conflict of parties became so +acute that neither side could expect justice from the other, the +practice grew up of electing a podesta from some foreign city to +act as an impartial arbiter. The British power in India has played +the part of a podesta in restraining and mediating between the +conflicting peoples and religions of India. + +But again (and this is even more fundamental), for thousands of +years the history of India has been one long story of conquests +and tyrannies by successive ruling races. Always Might has been +Right, so that the lover of righteousness could only pursue it, +like the mediaeval ascetic, by cutting himself off from the world, +abjuring all social ties, and immolating the flesh in order to +live by the spirit. Always Law had been, in the last resort, the +Will of the Stronger, not the decree of impartial justice. Always +the master-races, the predatory bands, the ruling castes, had +expected to receive, and the mass of the people had been +accustomed to give, the most abject submission; and these habits +were difficult to overcome. 'In England,' says Sir Thomas Munro, +'the people resist oppression, and it is their spirit which gives +efficacy to the law: in India the people rarely resist oppression, +and the law intended to secure them from it can therefore derive +no aid from themselves. ... It is in vain to caution them against +paying by telling them that the law is on their side, and will +support them in refusing to comply with unauthorised demands. All +exhortations on this head are thrown away, and after listening to +them they will the very next day submit to extortion as quietly as +before.' How could representative institutions be expected to work +under such conditions? They would have lacked the very foundation +upon which alone they can firmly rest: respect for law, and public +co-operation in the enforcement of it. Thus the supreme service +which the government of India could render to its people was the +establishment and maintenance of the Reign of Law, and of the +liberty which it shelters. In such conditions representative +government would be liable to bring, not liberty, but anarchy and +the renewal of lawless oppression. + +But although the extension of the representative system to India +neither was nor could be attempted in this age, very remarkable +advances were made towards turning India in a real sense into a +self-governing country. It ceased to be regarded or treated as a +subject dominion existing solely for the advantage of its +conquerors. That had always been its fate in all the long +centuries of its history; and in the first period of British rule +the trading company which had acquired this amazing empire had +naturally regarded it as primarily a source of profit. In 1833 the +company was forbidden to engage in trade, and the profit-making +motive disappeared. The shareholders still continued to receive a +fixed dividend out of the Indian revenues, but this may be +compared to a fixed debt-charge, an annual payment for capital +expended in the past; and it came to an end when the company was +abolished in 1858. Apart from this dividend, no sort of tribute +was exacted from India by the ruling power. India was not even +required to contribute to the upkeep of the navy, which protected +her equally with the rest of the Empire, or of the diplomatic +service, which was often concerned with her interests. She paid +for the small army which guarded her frontiers; but if any part of +it was borrowed for service abroad, its whole pay and charges were +met by Britain. She paid the salaries and pensions of the handful +of British administrators who conducted her government, but this +was a very small charge in comparison with the lavish outlay of +the native princes whom they had replaced. India had become a +self-contained state, whose whole resources were expended +exclusively upon her own needs, and expended with the most +scrupulous honesty, and under the most elaborate safeguards. + +They were expended, moreover, especially during the later part of +this period, largely in equipping her with the material apparatus +of modern civilisation. Efficient police, great roads, a postal +service cheaper than that of any other country, a well-planned +railway system, and, above all, a gigantic system of irrigation +which brought under cultivation vast regions hitherto desert-- +these were some of the boons acquired by India during the period. +They were rendered possible partly by the economical management of +her finances, partly by the liberal expenditure of British +capital. Above all, the period saw the beginning of a system of +popular education, of which the English language became the main +vehicle, because none of the thirty-eight recognised vernacular +tongues of India either possessed the necessary literature, or +could be used as a medium for instruction in modern science. In +1858 three universities were established; and although their +system was ill-devised, under the malign influence of the analogy +of London University, a very large and increasing number of young +graduates, trained for modern occupations, began to filter into +Indian society, and to modify its point of view. All speaking and +writing English, and all trained in much the same body of ideas, +they possessed a similarity of outlook and a vehicle of +communication such as had never before linked together the various +races and castes of India. This large and growing class, educated +in some measure in the learning of the West, formed already, at +the end of the period, a very important new element in the life of +India. They were capable of criticising the work of their +government; they were not without standards of comparison by which +to measure its achievements; and, aided by the large freedom +granted to the press under the British system, they were able to +begin the creation of an intelligent public opinion, which was +apt, in its first movements, to be ill-guided and rash, but which +was nevertheless a healthy development. That this newly created +class of educated men should produce a continual stream of +criticism, and that it should even stimulate into existence public +discontents, is by no means a condemnation of the system of +government which has made these developments possible. On the +contrary, it is a proof that the system has had an invigorating +effect. For the existence and the expression of discontent is a +sign of life; it means that there is an end of that utter docility +which marks a people enslaved body and soul. India has never been +more prosperous than she is to-day; she has never before known so +impartial a system of justice as she now possesses; and these are +legitimate grounds of pride to her rulers. But they may even more +justly pride themselves upon the fact that in all her history +India has never been so frankly and incessantly critical of her +government as she is to-day; never so bold in the aspirations for +the future which her sons entertain. + +The creation of the new class of Western-educated Indians also +facilitated another development which the British government +definitely aimed at encouraging: the participation of Indians in +the conduct of administration in their own land. The Act of 1833 +had laid it down as a fundamental principle that 'no native of the +said territories ... shall by reason only of his religion, place +of birth, descent, or any of them, be disabled from holding any +place, office, or employment.' The great majority of the minor +administrative posts had always been held by Indians; but until +1833 it had been held that the maintenance of British supremacy +required that the higher offices should be reserved to members of +the ruling race. This restriction was now abolished; but it was +not until the development of the educational system had produced a +body of sufficiently trained men that the new principle could +produce appreciable results; and even then, the deficiencies of an +undeveloped system of training, combined with the racial and +religious jealousies which the government of India must always +keep in mind, imposed limitations upon the rapid increase of the +number of Indians holding the higher posts. Still, the principle +had been laid down, and was being acted upon. And that also +constituted a great step towards self-government. + +India in 1878 was governed, under the terms of a code of law based +upon Indian custom, by a small body of British officials, among +whom leading Indians were gradually taking their place, and who +worked in detail through an army of minor officials, nearly all of +Indian birth, and selected without regard to race or creed. She +was a self-contained country whose whole resources were devoted to +her own needs. She was prospering to a degree unexampled in her +history; she had achieved a political unity never before known to +her; she had been given the supreme boon of a just and impartial +law, administered without fear or favour; and she had enjoyed a +long period of peace, unbroken by any attack from external foes. +Here also, as fully as in the self-governing colonies, membership +of the British Empire did 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 meant the +establishment among a vast population of the essential gifts of +Western civilisation, rational law, and the liberty which exists +under its shelter. Empire had come to mean, not merely domination +pursued for its own sake, but trusteeship for the extension of +civilisation. + +The period of practical British monopoly, 1815-1878, had thus +brought about a very remarkable transformation in the character of +the British Empire. It had greatly increased in extent, and by +every test of area, population, and natural resources, it was +beyond comparison the greatest power that had ever existed in the +world. But its organisation was of an extreme laxity; it possessed +no real common government; and its principal members were united +rather by a community of institutions and ideas than by any formal +ties. Moreover, it presented a more amazing diversity of racial +types, of religions, and of grades of civilisation, than any other +political fabric which had existed in history. Its development had +assuredly brought about a very great expansion of the ideas of +Western civilisation over the face of the globe, and, above all, a +remarkable diffusion of the institutions of political liberty. But +it remained to be proved whether this loosely compacted bundle of +states possessed any real unity, or would be capable of standing +any severe strain. The majority of observers, both in Britain +itself and throughout the world, would have been inclined, in +1878, to give a negative answer to these questions. + + + + + +VII + +THE ERA OF THE WORLD-STATES, 1878-1900 + + +The Congress of Berlin in 1878 marks the close of the era of +nationalist revolutions and wars in Europe. By the same date all +the European states had attained to a certain stability in their +constitutional systems. With equal definiteness this year may be +said to mark the opening of a new era in the history of European +imperialism; an era of eager competition for the control of the +still unoccupied regions of the world, in which the concerns of +remote lands suddenly became matters of supreme moment to the +great European powers, and the peace of the world was endangered +by questions arising in China or Siam, in Morocco or the Soudan, +or the islands of the Pacific. The control of Europe over the non- +European world was in a single generation completed and confirmed. +And the most important of the many questions raised by this +development was the question whether the spirit in which this +world-supremacy of Europe was to be wielded should be the spirit +which long experience had inspired in the oldest of the colonising +nations, the spirit of trusteeship on behalf of civilisation; or +whether it was to be the old, brutal, and sterile spirit of mere +domination for its own sake. + +On a superficial view the most obvious feature of this strenuous +period was that all the remaining unexploited regions of the world +were either annexed by one or other of the great Western states, +or were driven to adopt, with greater or less success, the modes +of organisation of the West. But what was far more important than +any new demarcation of the map was that not only the newly annexed +lands, but also the half-developed territories of earlier European +dominions, were with an extraordinary devouring energy penetrated +during this generation by European traders and administrators, +equipped with railways, steam-boats, and all the material +apparatus of modern life, and in general organised and exploited +for the purposes of industry and trade. This astonishing +achievement was almost as thorough as it was swift. And its result +was, not merely that the political control of Europe over the +backward regions of the world was strengthened and secured by +these means, but that the whole world was turned into a single +economic and political unit, no part of which could henceforth +dwell in isolation. This might have meant that we should have been +brought nearer to some sort of world-order; but unhappily the +spirit in which the great work was undertaken by some, at least, +of the nations which participated in it has turned this wonderful +achievement into a source of bitterness and enmity, and led the +world in the end to the tragedy and agony of the Great War. + +The causes of this gigantic outpouring of energy were manifold. +The main impelling forces were perhaps economic rather than +political. But the economic needs of this strenuous age might have +been satisfied without resort to the brutal arbitrament of war: +their satisfaction might even have been made the means of +diminishing the danger of war. It was the interpretation of these +economic needs in terms of an unhappy political theory which has +led to the final catastrophe. + +On a broad view, the final conquest of the world by European +civilisation was made possible, and indeed inevitable, by the +amazing development of the material aspects of that civilisation +during the nineteenth century; by the progressive command over the +forces of nature which the advance of science had placed in the +hands of man, by the application of science to industry in the +development of manufacturing methods and of new modes of +communication, and by the intricate and flexible organisation of +modern finance. These changes were already in progress before +1878, and were already transforming the face of the world. Since +1878 they have gone forward with such accelerating speed that we +have been unable to appreciate the significance of the revolution +they were effecting. We have been carried off our feet; and have +found it impossible to adjust our moral and political ideas to the +new conditions. + +The great material achievements of the last two generations have +been mainly due to an intense concentration and specialisation of +functions among both men of thought and men of action. But the +result of this has been that there have been few to attempt the +vitally important task of appreciating the movement of our +civilisation as a whole, and of endeavouring to determine how far +the political conceptions inherited from an earlier age were valid +in the new conditions. For under the pressure of the great +transformation political forces also have been transformed, and in +all countries political thought is baffled and bewildered by the +complexity of the problems by which it is faced. To this in part +we owe the dimness of vision which overtook us as we went whirling +together towards the great catastrophe. It is only in the glare of +a world-conflagration that we begin to perceive, in something like +their true proportions, the great forces and events which have +been shaping our destinies. In the future, if the huge soulless +mechanism which man has created is not to get out of hand and +destroy him, we must abandon that contempt for the philosopher and +the political thinker which we have latterly been too ready to +express, and we must recognise that the task of analysing and +relating to one another the achievements of the past and the +problems of the present is at least as important as the increase +of our knowledge and of our dangerous powers by intense and narrow +concentration within very limited fields of thought and work. + +In the meantime we must observe (however briefly and +inadequately), how the dazzling advances of science and industry +have affected the conquest of the world by European civilisation, +and why it has come about that instead of leading to amity and +happiness, they have brought us to the most hideous catastrophe in +human history. + +Science and industry, in the first place, made the conquest and +organisation of the world easy. In the first stages of the +expansion of Europe the material superiority of the West had +unquestionably afforded the means whereby its political ideas and +institutions could be made operative in new fields. The invention +of ocean-going ships, the use of the mariner's compass, the +discovery of the rotundity of the earth, the development of +firearms--these were the things which made possible the creation +of the first European empires; though these purely material +advantages could have led to no stable results unless they had +been wielded by peoples possessing a real political capacity. In +the same way the brilliant triumphs of modern engineering have +alone rendered possible the rapid conquest and organisation of +huge undeveloped areas; the deadly precision of Western weapons +has made the Western peoples irresistible; the wonderful progress +of medical science has largely overcome the barriers of disease +which long excluded the white man from great regions of the earth; +and the methods of modern finance, organising and making available +the combined credit of whole communities, have provided the means +for vast enterprises which without them could never have been +undertaken. + +Then, in the next place, science has found uses for many +commodities which were previously of little value, and many of +which are mainly produced in the undeveloped regions of the earth. +Some of these, like rubber, or nitrates, or mineral and vegetable +oils, have rapidly become quite indispensable materials, consumed +by the industrial countries on an immense scale. Accordingly, the +more highly industrialised a country is, the more dependent it +must be upon supplies drawn from all parts of the world; not only +supplies of food for the maintenance of its teeming population, +but, even more, supplies of material for its industries. The days +when Europe, or even America, was self-sufficient are gone for +ever. And in order that these essential supplies may be available, +it has become necessary that all the regions which produce them +should be brought under efficient administration. The anarchy of +primitive barbarism cannot be allowed to stand in the way of +access to these vital necessities of the new world-economy. It is +merely futile for well-meaning sentimentalists to talk of the +wickedness of invading the inalienable rights of the primitive +occupants of these lands: for good or for ill, the world has +become a single economic unit, and its progress cannot be stopped +out of consideration for the time-honoured usages of uncivilised +and backward tribes. Of course it is our duty to ensure that these +simple folks are justly treated, led gently into civilisation, and +protected from the iniquities of a mere ruthless exploitation, +such as, in some regions, we have been compelled to witness. But +Western civilisation has seized the reins of the world, and it +will not be denied. Its economic needs drive it to undertake the +organisation of the whole world. What we have to secure is that +its political principles shall be such as will ensure that its +control will be a benefit to its subjects as well as to itself. +But the development of scientific industry has made European +control and civilised administration inevitable throughout the +world. + +It did not, however, necessarily follow from these premises that +the great European states which did not already possess extra- +European territories were bound to acquire such lands. So far as +their purely economic needs were concerned, it would have been +enough that they should have freedom of access, on equal terms +with their neighbours, to the sources of the supplies they +required. It is quite possible, as events have shown, for a +European state to attain very great success in the industrial +sphere without possessing any political control over the lands +from which its raw materials are drawn, or to which its finished +products are sold. Norway has created an immense shipping industry +without owning a single port outside her own borders. The +manufactures of Switzerland are as thriving as these of any +European country, though Switzerland does not possess any +colonies. Germany herself, the loudest advocate of the necessity +of political control as the basis of economic prosperity, has +found it possible to create a vast and very prosperous industry, +though her colonial possessions have been small, and have +contributed scarcely at all to her wealth. Her merchants and +capitalists have indeed found the most profitable fields for their +enterprises, not in their own colonies, which they have on the +whole tended to neglect, but in a far greater degree in South and +Central America, and in India and the other vast territories of +the British Empire, which have been open to them as freely as to +British merchants. All that the prosperity of European industry +required was that the sources of supply should be under efficient +administration, and that access to them should be open. And these +conditions were fulfilled, before the great rush began, over the +greater part of the earth. If in 1878, when the European nations +suddenly awoke to the importance of the non-European world, they +had been able to agree upon some simple principle which would have +secured equal treatment to all, how different would have been the +fate of Europe and the world! If it could have been laid down, as +a principle of international law, that in every area whose +administration was undertaken by a European state, the 'open door' +should be secured for the trade of all nations equally, and that +this rule should continue in force until the area concerned +acquired the status of a distinctly organised state controlling +its own fiscal system, the industrial communities would have felt +secure, the little states quite as fully as the big states. +Moreover, since, under these conditions, the annexation of +territory by a European state would not have threatened the +creation of a monopoly, but would have meant the assumption of a +duty on behalf of civilisation, the acrimonies and jealousies +which have attended the process of partition would have been +largely conjured away. In 1878 such a solution would have +presented few difficulties. For at that date the only European +state which controlled large undeveloped areas was Britain; and +Britain, as we have seen, had on her own account arrived at this +solution, and had administered, as she still administers, all +those regions of her Empire which do not possess self-governing +rights in the spirit of the principle we have suggested. + +Why was it that this solution, or some solution on these lines, +was not then adopted, and had no chance of being adopted? It was +because the European states, and first and foremost among them +Germany, were still dominated by a political theory which forbade +their taking such a view. We may call this theory the Doctrine of +Power. It is the doctrine that the highest duty of every state is +to aim at the extension of its own power, and that before this +duty every other consideration must give way. The Doctrine of +Power has never received a more unflinching expression than it +received from the German Treitschke, whose influence was at its +height during the years of the great rush for extra-European +possessions. The advocate of the Doctrine of Power is not, and +cannot be, satisfied with equality of opportunity; he demands +supremacy, he demands monopoly, he demands the means to injure and +destroy his rivals. It would not be just to say that this doctrine +was influential only in Germany; it was in some degree potent +everywhere, especially in this period, which was the period par +excellence of 'imperialism' in the bad sense of the term. But it +is certainly true that no state has ever been so completely +dominated by it as Germany; and no state less than Britain. It was +in the light of this doctrine that the demands of the new +scientific industry were interpreted. Hag-ridden by this +conception, when the statesmen of Europe awoke to the importance +of the non-European world, it was not primarily the economic needs +of their countries that they thought of, for these were, on the +whole, not inadequately met: what struck their imagination was +that, in paying no attention to the outer world, they had missed +great opportunities of increasing their power. This oversight, +they resolved, must be rectified before it was too late. + +For when the peoples of Western and Central Europe, no longer +engrossed by the problems of Nationalism and Liberalism, cast +their eyes over the world, lo! the scale of things seemed to have +changed. Just as, in the fifteenth century, civilisation had +suddenly passed from the stage of the city-state or the feudal +principality to the stage of the great nation-state, so now, while +the European peoples were still struggling to realise their +nationhood, civilisation seemed to have stolen a march upon them, +and to have advanced once more, this time into the stage of the +world-state. For to the east of the European nations lay the vast +Russian Empire, stretching from Central Europe across Asia to the +Pacific; and in the west the American Republic extended from ocean +to ocean, across three thousand miles of territory; and between +these and around them spread the British Empire, sprawling over +the whole face of the globe, on every sea and in every continent. +In contrast with these giant empires, the nation-states of Europe +felt themselves out of scale, just as the Italian cities in the +sixteenth century must have felt themselves out of scale in +comparison with the new nation-states of Spain and France. To +achieve the standard of the world-state, to make their own nations +the controlling factors in wide dominions which should include +territories and populations of varied types, became the ambition +of the most powerful European states. A new political ideal had +captivated the mind of Europe. + +These powerful motives were reinforced by others which arose from +the development of affairs within Europe itself. In the first +place, the leading European states had by 1878 definitely +abandoned that tendency towards free trade which had seemed to be +increasing in strength during the previous generation; and, +largely in the hope of combating the overwhelming mercantile and +industrial supremacy of Britain, had adopted the fiscal policy of +protection. The ideal of the protectionist creed is national self- +sufficiency in the economic sphere. But, as we have seen, economic +self-sufficiency was no longer attainable in the conditions of +modern industry by any European state. Only by large foreign +annexations, especially in the tropical regions, did it seem +possible of achievement. But when a protectionist state begins to +acquire territory, the anticipation that it will use its power to +exclude or destroy the trade of its rivals must drive other states +to safeguard themselves by still further annexations. It was, +indeed, this fear which mainly drove Britain, in spite of, or +perhaps because of, her free trade theories, into a series of +large annexations in regions where her trade had been hitherto +predominant. + +Again, the most perturbing feature of the relations between the +European powers also contributed to produce an eagerness for +colonial possessions. Europe had entered upon the era of huge +national armies; the example of Prussia, and the rancours which +had been created by her policy, had set all the nations arming +themselves. They had learned to measure their strength by their +available man-power, and in two ways the desire to increase the +reserve of military manhood formed a motive for colonisation. In +the first place, the surplus manhood of a nation was lost to it if +it was allowed to pass under an alien flag by emigration. Those +continental states from which emigration took place on a large +scale began to aspire after the possession of colonies of their +own, where their emigrants could still be kept under control, and +remain subject to the obligations of service. Germany, the state +which beyond all others measures its strength by its fighting man- +power, was most affected by this motive, which formed the chief +theme of the colonial school among her politicians and +journalists, and continued to be so even when the stream of her +emigrants had dwindled to very small proportions. In a less +degree, Italy was influenced by the same motive. In the second +place, conquered subjects even of backward races might be made +useful for the purposes of war. This motive appealed most strongly +to France. Her home population was stationary. She lived in +constant dread of a new onslaught from her formidable neighbour; +and she watched with alarm the rapid increase of that neighbour's +population, and the incessant increases in the numbers of his +armies. At a later date Germany also began to be attracted by the +possibility of drilling and arming, among the negroes of Central +Africa, or the Turks of Asia Minor, forces which might aid her to +dominate the world. + +Thus the political situation in Europe had a very direct influence +upon the colonising activity of this period. The dominant fact of +European politics during this generation was the supreme prestige +and influence of Germany, who, not content with an unquestioned +military superiority to any other power, had buttressed herself by +the formation (1879 and 1882) of the most formidable standing +alliance that has ever existed in European history, and completely +dominated European politics. France, having been hurled from the +leadership of Europe in 1870, dreaded nothing so much as the +outbreak of a new European war, in which she must he inevitably +involved, and in which she might be utterly ruined. She strove to +find a compensation for her wounded pride in colonial adventures, +and therefore became, during the first part of the period, the +most active of the powers in this field. She was encouraged to +adopt this policy by Bismarck, partly in the hope that she might +thus forget Alsace, partly in order that she might be kept on bad +terms with Britain, whose interests seemed to be continually +threatened by her colonising activity. But she hesitated to take a +very definite line in regard to territories that lay close to +Europe and might involve European complications. + +Bismarck himself took little interest in colonial questions, +except in so far as they could be used as a means of alienating +the other powers from one another, and so securing the European +supremacy of Germany. He therefore at first made no attempt to use +the dominant position of Germany as a means of acquiring extra- +European dominions. But the younger generation in Germany was far +from sharing this view. It was determined to win for Germany a +world-empire, and in 1884 and the following years--rather late in +the day, when most of the more desirable territories were already +occupied--it forced Bismarck to annex large areas. After +Bismarck's fall, in 1890, this party got the upper hand in German +politics, and the creation of a great world-empire became, as we +shall see, the supreme aim of William II. and his advisers. The +formidable and threatening power of Germany began to be +systematically employed not merely for the maintenance of +supremacy in Europe, which could be secured by peaceful means, but +for the acquisition of a commanding position in the outer world; +and since this could only be attained by violence, the world being +now almost completely partitioned, the new policy made Germany the +source of unrest and apprehension, as she had earlier been, and +still continued to be, the main cause of the burden of military +preparation in Europe. + +Among the other powers which participated in the great partition, +Russia continued her pressure in two of the three directions which +she had earlier followed-south-eastwards in Central Asia, +eastwards towards China. In both directions her activity aroused +the nervous fears of Britain, while her pressure upon China helped +to bring Japan into the ranks of the militant and aggressive +powers. But Russia took no interest in the more distant quarters +of the world. Nor did Austria, though during these years her old +ambition to expand south-eastwards at the expense of Turkey and +the Balkan peoples revived under German encouragement. Italy, +having but recently achieved national unity and taken her place +among the Great Powers, felt that she could not be left out of the +running, now that extra-European possessions had come to appear an +almost essential mark of greatness among states; and, disappointed +of Tunis, she endeavoured to find compensation on the shores of +the Red Sea. Spain and Portugal, in the midst of all these eager +rivalries, were tempted to furbish up their old and half-dormant +claims. Even the United States of America joined in the rush +during the fevered period of the 'nineties. + +Lastly, Britain, the oldest and the most fully endowed of all the +colonising powers, was drawn, half unwilling, into the +competition; and having an immense start over her rivals, actually +acquired more new territory than any of them. She was, indeed, +like the other states, passing through an 'imperialist' phase in +these years. The value attached by other countries to oversea +possessions awakened among the British people a new pride in their +far-spread dominions. Disraeli, who was in the ascendant when the +period opened, had forgotten his old opinion of the uselessness of +colonies, and had become a prophet of Empire. An Imperial +Federation Society was founded in 1878. The old unwillingness to +assume new responsibilities died out, or diminished; and the rapid +annexations of other states, especially France, in regions where +British influence had hitherto been supreme, and whose chieftains +had often begged in vain for British protection, aroused some +irritation. The ebullient energy of the colonists themselves, +especially in South Africa and Australia, demanded a forward +policy. Above all, the fact that the European powers, now so eager +for colonial possessions, had all adopted the protectionist policy +aroused a fear lest British traders should find themselves shut +out from lands whose trade had hitherto been almost wholly in +their hands; and the militant and aggressive temper sometimes +shown by the agents of these powers awakened some nervousness +regarding the safety of the existing British possessions. Hence +Britain, after a period of hesitancy, became as active as any of +the other states in annexation. Throughout this period her main +rival was France, whose new claims seemed to come in conflict with +her own in almost every quarter of the globe. This rivalry +produced acute friction, which grew in intensity until it reached +its culminating point in the crisis of Fashoda in 1898, and was +not removed until the settlement of 1904 solved all the +outstanding difficulties. It would be quite untrue to say that +Britain deliberately endeavoured to prevent or to check the rapid +colonial expansion of France. The truth is that British trading +interests had been predominant in many of the regions where the +French were most active, and that the protectionist policy which +France had adopted stimulated into a new life the ancient rivalry +of these neighbour and sister nations. Towards the colonial +ambitions of Germany, and still more of Italy, Britain was far +more complaisant. + +It is difficult to give in a brief space a clear summary of the +extremely complicated events and intrigues of this vitally +important period. But perhaps it will be easiest if we consider in +turn the regions in which the strenuous rivalries of the powers +displayed themselves. The most important was Africa, which lay +invitingly near to Europe, and was the only large region of the +world which was still for the most part unoccupied. Here all the +competitors, save Russia, Japan, and America, played a part. +Western Asia formed a second field, in which three powers only, +Russia, Germany, and Britain, were immediately concerned. The Far +East, where the vast Empire of China seemed to be falling into +decrepitude, afforded the most vexed problems of the period. +Finally, the Pacific Islands were the scene of an active though +less intense rivalry. + +It is a curious fact that Africa, the continent whose outline was +the first outside of Europe itself to be fully mapped out by the +European peoples, was actually the last to be effectively brought +under the influence of European civilisation. This was because the +coasts of Africa are for the most part inhospitable; its vast +interior plateau is almost everywhere shut off either by belts of +desert land, or by swampy and malarious regions along the coast; +even its great rivers do not readily tempt the explorer inland, +because their course is often interrupted by falls or rapids not +far from their mouths, where they descend from the interior +plateau to the coastal plain; and its inhabitants, warlike and +difficult to deal with, are also peoples of few and simple wants, +who have little to offer to the trader. Hence eight generations of +European mariners had circumnavigated the continent without +seriously attempting to penetrate its central mass; and apart from +the Anglo-Dutch settlements at the Southern extremity, the French +empire in Algeria in the north, a few trading centres on the West +Coast, and some half-derelict Portuguese stations in Angola and +Mozambique, the whole continent remained available for European +exploitation in 1878. + +What trade was carried on, except in Egypt, in Algeria, and in the +immediate vicinity of the old French settlements on the West +Coast, was mainly in the hands of British merchants. Over the +greater part of the coastal belts only the British power was known +to the native tribes and chieftains. Many of them (like the Sultan +of Zanzibar and the chiefs of the Cameroons) had repeatedly begged +to be taken under British protection, and had been refused. During +the two generations before 1878 the interior of the continent had +begun to be known. But except in the north and north-west, where +French explorers and a few Germans had been active, the work had +been mainly done by British travellers. Most of the great names of +African exploration--Livingstone, Burton, Speke, Baker, Cameron +and the Anglo-American Stanley--were British names. These facts, +of course, gave to Britain, already so richly endowed, no sort of +claim to a monopoly of the continent. But they naturally gave her +a right to a voice in its disposal. Only the French had shown +anything like the same activity, or had established anything like +the same interests; and they were far behind their secular rivals. + +But these facts bring out one feature which differentiated the +settlement of Africa from that of any other region of the non- +European world. It was not a gradual, but an extraordinarily rapid +achievement. It was based not upon claims established by work +already done, but, for the most part, upon the implicit assumption +that extra-European empire was the due of the European peoples, +simply because they were civilised and powerful. This was the +justification, in a large degree, of all the European empires in +Africa. But it was especially so in the case of the empire which +Germany created in the space of three years. This empire was not +the product of German enterprise in the regions included within +it; it was the product of Germany's dominating position in Europe, +and the expression of her resolve to create an external empire +worthy of that position. + +Africa falls naturally into two great regions. The northern coast, +separated from the main mass of the continent by the broad belt of +deserts which runs from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, has always +been far more ultimately connected with the other Mediterranean +lands than with the rest of Africa. Throughout the course of +history, indeed, the northern coast-lands have belonged rather to +the realms of Western or of Asiatic civilisation than to the +primitive barbarism of the sons of Ham. In the days of the +Carthaginians and of the Roman Empire, all these lands, from Egypt +to Morocco, had known a high civilisation. They were racially as +well as historically distinct from the rest of the continent. They +had been in name part of the Turkish Empire, and any European +interference in their affairs was as much a question of European +politics as the problems of the Balkans. Two countries in this +area fell under European direction during the period with which we +are concerned, and in each case the effects upon European politics +were very great. In 1881 France, with the deliberate encouragement +of Bismarck, sent armies into Tunis, and assumed the protectorate +of that misgoverned region. She had good grounds for her action. +Not only had she large trade-interests in Tunis, but the country +was separated from her earlier dominion in Algeria only by an +artificial line, and its disorders increased the difficulty of +developing the efficient administration which she had established +there. Unhappily Italy also had interests in Tunis. There were +more Italian than French residents in the country, which is +separated from Sicily only by a narrow belt of sea. And Italy, who +was beginning to conceive colonial ambitions, had not unnaturally +marked down Tunis as her most obvious sphere of influence. The +result was to create a long-lived ill-feeling between the two +Latin countries. As a consequence of the annexation of Tunis, +Italy was persuaded in the next year (1882) to join the Triple +Alliance; and France, having burnt her fingers, became chary of +colonial adventures in regions that were directly under the eye of +Europe. Isolated, insecure, and eternally suspicious of Germany, +she could not afford to be drawn into European quarrels. This is +in a large degree the explanation of her vacillating action in +regard to Egypt. + +In Egypt the political influence of France had been preponderant +ever since the time of Mehemet Ali; perhaps we should say, ever +since the time of Napoleon. And political influence had been +accompanied by trading and financial interests. France had a +larger share of the trade of Egypt, and had lent more money to the +ruling princes of the country, than any other country save +England. She had designed and executed the Suez Canal. But this +waterway, once opened, was used mainly by British ships on the way +to India, Australia, and the Far East. It became a point of vital +strategic importance to Britain, who, though she had opposed its +construction, eagerly seized the chance of buying a great block of +shares in the enterprise from the bankrupt Khedive. Thus French +and British interests in Egypt were equally great; greater than +those of all the rest of Europe put together. When the native +government of Egypt fell into bankruptcy (1876), the two powers +set up a sort of condominium, or joint control of the finances, in +order to ensure the payment of interest on the Egyptian debt held +by their citizens. To bankruptcy succeeded political chaos; and it +became apparent that if the rich land of Egypt was not to fall +into utter anarchy, there must be direct European intervention. +The two powers proposed to take joint action; the rest of Europe +assented. But the Sultan of Turkey, as suzerain of Egypt, +threatened to make difficulties. At the last moment France, +fearful of the complications that might result, and resolute to +avoid the danger of European war, withdrew from the project of +joint intervention. Britain went on alone; and although she hoped +and believed that she would quickly be able to restore order, and +thereupon to evacuate the country, found herself drawn into a +labour of reconstruction that could not be dropped. We shall in +the next chapter have more to say on the British occupation of +Egypt, as part of the British achievement during this period. In +the meanwhile, its immediate result was continuous friction +between France and Britain. France could not forgive herself or +Britain for the opportunity which she had lost. The embitterment +caused by the Egyptian question lasted throughout the period, and +was not healed till the Entente of 1904. It intensified and +exacerbated the rivalry of the two countries in other fields. It +made each country incapable of judging fairly the actions of the +other. To wounded and embittered France, the perfectly honest +British explanations of the reasons for delay in evacuating Egypt +seemed only so many evidences of hypocrisy masking greed. To +Britain the French attitude seemed fractious and unreasonable, and +she suspected in every French forward movement in other fields-- +notably in the Eastern Soudan and the upper valley of the Nile--an +attempt to attack or undermine her. Thus Egypt, like Tunis, +illustrated the influence of European politics in the extra- +European field. The power that profited most was Germany, who had +strengthened herself by drawing Italy into the Triple Alliance, +and had kept France at her mercy by using colonial questions as a +means of alienating her from her natural friends. It was, in +truth, only from this point of view that colonial questions had +any interest for Bismarck. He was, as he repeatedly asserted +almost to the day of his death, 'no colony man.' But the time was +at hand when he was to be forced out of this attitude. For already +the riches of tropical Africa were beginning to attract the +attention of Europe. + +The most active and energetic of the powers in tropical Africa was +France. From her ancient foothold at Senegal she was already, in +the late 'seventies, pushing inland towards the upper waters of +the Niger; while further south her vigorous explorer de Brazza was +penetrating the hinterland behind the French coastal settlements +north of the Congo mouth. Meanwhile the explorations of +Livingstone and Stanley had given the world some conception of the +wealth of the vast exterior. In 1876 Leopold, King of the +Belgians, summoned a conference at Brussels to consider the +possibility of setting the exploration and settlement of Africa +upon an international basis. Its result was the formation of an +International African Association, with branches in all the +principal countries. But from the first the branches dropped all +serious pretence of international action. They became (so far as +they exercised any influence) purely national organisations for +the purpose of acquiring the maximum amount of territory for their +own states. And the central body, after attempting a few +unsuccessful exploring expeditions, practically resolved itself +into the organ of King Leopold himself, and aimed at creating a +neutral state in Central Africa under his protection. In 1878 H. +M. Stanley returned from the exploration of the Congo. He was at +once invited by King Leopold to undertake the organisation of the +Congo basin for his Association, and set out again for that +purpose in 1879. But he soon found himself in conflict with the +active French agents under de Brazza, who had made their way into +the Congo valley from the north-west. And at the same time +Portugal, reviving ancient and dormant claims, asserted that the +Congo belonged to her. It was primarily to find a solution for +these disputes that the Berlin Conference was summoned in December +1884. Meanwhile the rush for territory was going on furiously in +other regions of Africa. Not only on the Congo, but on the Guinea +Coast and its hinterland, France was showing an immense activity, +and was threatening to reduce to small coastal enclaves the old +British settlements on this coast. Only the energy shown by a +group of British merchants, who formed themselves into a National +African Company in 1881, and the vigorous action of their leader, +Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Taubman Goldie, prevented the +extrusion of British interests from the greater part of the Niger +valley, where they had hitherto been supreme. In Madagascar, too, +the ancient ambitions of France had revived. Though British +trading and missionary activities in the island were at this date +probably greater than French, France claimed large rights, +especially in the north-east of the island. These claims drew her +into a war with the native power of the Hovas, which began in +1883, and ended in 1885 with a vague recognition of French +suzerainty. Again, Italy had, in 1883, obtained her first foothold +in Eritrea, on the shore of the Red Sea. And Germany, also, had +suddenly made up her mind to embark upon the career of empire. In +1883 the Bremen merchant, Luderitz, appeared in South-west Africa, +where there were a few German mission stations and trading- +centres, and annexed a large area which Bismarck was persuaded to +take under the formal protection of Germany. This region had +hitherto been vaguely regarded as within the British sphere, but +though native princes, missionaries, and in 1868 even the Prussian +government, had requested Britain to establish a formal +protectorate, she had always declined to do so. In the next year +another German agent, Dr. Nachtigal, was commissioned by the +German government to report on German trade interests on the West +Coast, and the British government was formally acquainted with his +mission and requested to instruct its agents to assist him. The +real purpose of the mission was shown when Nachtigal made a treaty +with the King of Togoland, on the Guinea Coast, whereby he +accepted German suzerainty. A week later a similar treaty was made +with some of the native chiefs in the Cameroons. In this region +British interests had hitherto been predominant, and the chiefs +had repeatedly asked for British protection, which had always been +refused. A little later the notorious Karl Peters, with a few +companions disguised as working engineers, arrived at Zanzibar on +the East Coast, with a commission from the German Colonial Society +to peg out German claims. In the island of Zanzibar British +interests had long been overwhelmingly predominant; and the +Sultan, who had large and vague claims to supremacy over a vast +extent of the mainland, had repeatedly asked the British +government to take these regions under its protectorate. He had +always been refused. Peters' luggage consisted largely of draft +treaty-forms; and he succeeded in making treaties with native +princes (usually unaware of the meaning of the documents they were +signing) whereby some 60,000 square miles were brought under +German control. The protectorate over these lands had not been +accepted by the German government when the Conference of Berlin +met. It was formally accepted in the next year (1885). Far from +being opposed by Britain, the establishment of German power in +East Africa was actually welcomed by the British government, whose +foreign secretary, Earl Granville, wrote that his government +'views with favour these schemes, the realisation of which will +entail the civilisation of large tracts over which hitherto no +European influence has been exercised.' And when a group of +British traders began to take action further north, in the +territory which later became British East Africa, and in which +Peters had done nothing, the British government actually consulted +the German government before licensing their action. Thus before +the meeting of the Conference of Berlin the foundations of the +German empire in Africa were already laid; the outlines of the +vast French empire in the north had begun to appear; and the +curious dominion of Leopold of Belgium in the Congo valley had +begun to take shape. + +The Conference of Berlin (Dec. 1884-Feb. 1885), which marks the +close of the first stage in the partition of Africa, might have +achieved great things if it had endeavoured to lay down the +principles upon which European control over backward peoples +should be exercised. But it made no such ambitious attempt. It +prescribed the rules of the game of empire-building, ordaining +that all protectorates should be formally notified by the power +which assumed them to the other powers, and that no annexation +should be made of territory which was not 'effectively' occupied; +but evidently the phrase 'effective occupation' can be very laxly +interpreted. It provided that there should be free navigation of +the Congo and Niger rivers, and freedom of trade for alienations +within the Congo valley and certain other vaguely defined areas. +But it made no similar provision for other parts of Africa; and it +whittled away the value of what it did secure by the definite +proviso that should parts of these areas be annexed by independent +states, the restriction upon their control of trade should lapse. +It recognised the illegality of the slave-trade, and imposed upon +annexing powers the duty of helping to suppress it; this provision +was made much fuller and more definite by a second conference at +Brussels in 1890, on the demand of Britain, who had hitherto +contended almost alone against the traffic in human flesh. But no +attempt was made to define native rights, to safeguard native +customs, to prohibit the maintenance of forces larger than would +be necessary for the maintenance of order: in short, no attempt +was made to lay down the doctrine that the function of a ruling +power among backward peoples is that of a trustee on behalf of its +simple subjects and on behalf of civilisation. That the partition +of Africa should have been effected without open war, and that the +questions decided at Berlin should have been so easily and +peacefully agreed upon, seemed at the moment to be a good sign. +But the spirit which the conference expressed was not a healthy +spirit. + +After 1884 the activity of the powers in exploration, annexation +and development became more furious than ever. Britain now began +seriously to arouse herself to the danger of exclusion from vast +areas where her interests had hitherto been predominant; and it +was during these years that all her main acquisitions of territory +in Africa were made: Rhodesia and Central Africa in the south, +East Africa and Somaliland in the East, Nigeria and the expansion +of her lesser protectorates in the West. To these years also +belonged the definite, and most unfortunate, emergence of Italy as +a colonising power. She had got a foothold in Eritrea in 1883; in +1885 it was, with British aid, enlarged by the annexation of +territory which had once been held by Egypt, but had been +abandoned when she lost the Soudan. But the Italian claims in +Eritrea brought on conflict with the neighbouring native power of +Abyssinia. In spite of a sharp defeat at Dogali in 1887, she +succeeded in holding her own in this conflict; and in 1889 +Abyssinia accepted a treaty which Italy claimed to be a +recognition of her suzerainty. But the Abyssinians repudiated this +interpretation; and in a new war, which began in 1896, inflicted +upon the Italians so disastrous a defeat at Adowa that they were +constrained to admit the complete independence of Abyssinia--the +sole native state which has so far been able to hold its own +against the pressure of Europe. Meanwhile in 1889 and the +following years Italy had, once more with the direct concurrence +of Britain, marked out a new territory in Somaliland. + +The main features of the years from 1884 to 1900 were the rapidity +with which the territories earlier annexed were expanded and +organised, more especially by France. In the 'nineties her +dominions extended from the Mediterranean to the Guinea Coast, and +she had conceived the ambition of extending them also across +Africa from West to East. This ambition led her into a new and +more acute conflict with Britain, who, having undertaken the +reconquest of the Egyptian Soudan and the upper valley of the +Nile, held that she could not permit a rival to occupy the upper +waters of the great river, or any part of the territory that +belonged to it. Hence when the intrepid explorer, Marchand, after +a toilsome expedition which lasted for two years, planted the +French flag at Fashoda in 1898, he was promptly disturbed by +Kitchener, fresh from the overthrow of the Khalifa and the +reconquest of Khartoum, and was compelled to withdraw. The tension +was severe; no episode in the partition of Africa had brought the +world so near to the outbreak of a European war. But in the end +the dispute was settled by the Anglo-French agreement of 1898, +which may be said to mark the conclusion of the process of +partition. It was the last important treaty in a long series which +filled the twenty years following 1878, and which had the result +of leaving Africa, with the exception of Morocco, Tripoli, and +Abyssinia, completely divided among the chief European states. +Africa was the main field of the ambitions and rivalries of the +European powers during this period; the other fields may be more +rapidly surveyed. In Central Asia and the Near East the main +features of the period were two. The first was the steady advance +of Russia towards the south-east, which awakened acute alarms in +Britain regarding India, and led to the adoption of a 'forward +policy' among the frontier tribes in the north-west of India. The +second was the gradual and silent penetration of Turkey by German +influence. Here there was no partition or annexation, But Germany +became the political protector of the Turk; undertook the +reorganisation of his armies; obtained great commercial +concessions; bought up his railways, ousting the earlier British +and French concerns which had controlled them, and built new +lines. The greatest of these was the vitally important project of +the Bagdad railway, which was taken in hand just before the close +of the period. It was a project whose political aims outweighed +its commercial aims. And it provided a warning of the gigantic +designs which Germany was beginning to work out. But as yet, in +1900, the magnitude of these designs was unperceived. And the +problems of the Middle East were not yet very disturbing. The +Turkish Empire remained intact; so did the Persian Empire, though +both were becoming more helpless, partly owing to the decrepitude +of their governments, partly owing to the pressure of European +financial and trading interests. As yet the empires of the Middle +East seemed to form a region comparatively free from European +influence. But this was only seeming. The influence of Europe was +at work in them; and it was probably inevitable that some degree +of European political tutelage should follow as the only means of +preventing the disintegration which must result from the pouring +of new wine into the old bottles. + +In the Far East--in the vast empire of China--this result seemed +to be coming about inevitably and rapidly. The ancient pot-bound +civilisation of China had withstood the impact of the West in the +mid-nineteenth century without breaking down; but China had made +no attempt, such as Japan had triumphantly carried out, to adapt +herself to the new conditions, and her system was slowly crumbling +under the influence of the European traders, teachers, and +missionaries whom she had been compelled to admit. The first of +the powers to take advantage of this situation was France, who +already possessed a footing in Cochin-China, and was tempted +during the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties to transform it +into a general supremacy over Annam and Tonking. As early as 1874 +she had obtained from the King of Annam a treaty which she +interpreted as giving her suzerain powers. The King of Annam +himself repudiated this interpretation, and maintained that he was +a vassal of China. China took the same view; and after long +negotiations a war between France and China broke out. It lasted +for four years, and demanded a large expenditure of strength. But +it ended (1885) with the formal recognition of French suzerainty +over Annam, and a further decline of Chinese prestige. + +Ten years later a still more striking proof of Chinese weakness +was afforded by the rapid and complete defeat of the vast, ill- +organised empire by Japan, the youngest of the great powers. The +war gave to Japan Formosa and the Pescadores Islands, and added +her to the list of imperialist powers. She would have won more +still--the Liao-tang Peninsula and a sort of suzerainty over +Korea--but that the European powers, startled by the signs of +China's decay, and perhaps desiring a share of the plunder, +intervened to forbid these annexations, on the pretext of +defending the integrity of China. Russia, France and Germany +combined in this step; Britain stood aloof. Japan, unwillingly +giving way, and regarding Russia as the chief cause of her +humiliation, began to prepare herself for a coming conflict. As +for unhappy China, she was soon to learn how much sincerity there +was in the zeal of Europe for the maintenance of her integrity. In +1896 she was compelled to permit Russia to build a railway across +Manchuria; and to grant to France a 'rectification of frontiers' +on the south, and the right of building a railway through the +province of Yunnan, which lies next to Tonking. The partition of +China seemed to be at hand. Britain and America vainly urged upon +the other powers that China should be left free to direct her own +affairs subject to the maintenance of 'the open door' for European +trade. The other powers refused to listen, and in 1897 the +beginning of the end seemed to have come. Germany, seizing on the +pretext afforded by the murder of two German missionaries, +stretched forth her 'mailed fist,' and seized the strong place and +admirable harbour of Kiao-chau, the most valuable strategic +position on the Chinese coast. That she meant to use it as a base +for future expansion was shown by her lavish expenditure upon its +equipment and fortification. Russia responded by seizing the +strong place of Port Arthur and the Liao-Tang Peninsula, while +every day her hold upon the great province of Manchuria was +strengthened. Foreseeing a coming conflict in which her immense +trading interests would be imperilled, Britain acquired a naval +base on the Chinese coast by leasing Wei-hai-Wei. Thus all the +European rivals were clustered round the decaying body of China; +and in the last years of the century were already beginning to +claim 'spheres of influence,' despite the protests of Britain and +America. But the outburst of the Boxer Rising in 1900--caused +mainly by resentment of foreign intervention--had the effect of +postponing the rush for Chinese territory. And when Britain and +Japan made an alliance in 1902 on the basis of guaranteeing the +status quo in the East, the overwhelming naval strength of the two +allies made a European partition of China impracticable; and China +was once more given a breathing-space. Only Russia could attack +the Chinese Empire by land; and the severe defeat which she +suffered at the hands of Japan in 1904-5 removed that danger also. +The Far East was left with a chance of maintaining its +independence, and of voluntarily adapting itself to the needs of a +new age. + +The last region in which territories remained available for +European annexation consisted of the innumerable archipelagoes of +the Pacific Ocean. Here the preponderant influence had been in the +hands of Britain ever since the days of Captain Cook. She had made +some annexations during the first three quarters of the century, +but had on the whole steadfastly refused the requests of many of +the island peoples to be taken under her protection. France had, +as we have seen, acquired New Caledonia and the Marquesas Islands +during the previous period, but her activity in this region was +never very great. The only other European power in possession of +Pacific territories was Spain, who held the great archipelago of +the Philippines, and claimed also the numerous minute islands +(nearly six hundred in number) which are known as Micronesia. When +the colonial enthusiasm of the 'eighties began, Germany saw a +fruitful field in the Pacific, and annexed the Bismarck +Archipelago and the north-eastern quarter of New Guinea. Under +pressure from Australia, who feared to see so formidable a +neighbour established so near her coastline, Britain annexed the +south-eastern quarter of that huge island. During the 'nineties +the partition of the Pacific Islands was completed; the chief +participators being Germany, Britain, and the United States of +America. + +The entry of America into the race for imperial possessions in its +last phase was too striking an event to pass without comment. +America annexed Hawaii in 1898, and divided the Samoan group with +Germany in 1899. But her most notable departure from her +traditional policy of self-imposed isolation from world-politics +came when in 1898 she was drawn by the Cuban question into a war +with Spain. Its result was the disappearance of the last relics of +the Spanish Empire in the New World and in the Pacific. Cuba +became an independent republic. Porto Rico was annexed by America. +In the Pacific the Micronesian possessions of Spain were acquired +by Germany. Germany would fain have annexed also the Philippine +Islands. But America resolved herself to assume the task of +organising and governing these rich lands; and in doing so made a +grave breach with her traditions. Her new possession necessarily +drew her into closer relations with the problems of the Far East; +it gave her also some acquaintance with the difficulty of +introducing Western methods among a backward people. During these +years of universal imperialist excitement the spirit of +imperialism seemed to have captured America as it had captured the +European states; and this was expressed in a new interpretation of +the Monroe doctrine, put forth by the Secretary of State during +the Venezuela controversy of 1895. 'The United States,' said Mr. +Olney, 'is practically sovereign on this continent (meaning both +North and South America), 'and its fiat is law upon the subjects +to which it confines its interposition.' No such gigantic imperial +claim had ever been put forward by any European state; and it +constituted an almost defiant challenge to the imperialist powers +of Europe. It may safely be said that this dictum did not +represent the settled judgment of the American people. But it did +appear, in the last years of the century, as if the great republic +were about to emerge from her self-imposed isolation, and to take +her natural part in the task of planting the civilisation of the +West throughout the world. Had she frankly done so, had she made +it plain that she recognised the indissoluble unity and the common +interests of the whole world, it is possible that her influence +might have eased the troubles of the next period, and exercised a +deterrent influence upon the forces of disturbance which were +working towards the great catastrophe. But her traditions were too +strong; and after the brief imperialist excitement of the +'nineties, she gradually relapsed once more into something like +her old attitude of aloofness. + +It is but a cursory and superficial view which we have been able +to take of this extraordinary quarter of a century, during which +almost the whole world was partitioned among a group of mighty +empires, and the political and economic unity of the globe was +finally and irrefragably established. Few regions had escaped the +direct political control of European powers; and most of these few +were insensibly falling under the influence of one or other of the +powers: Turkey under that of Germany, Persia under that of Russia +and Britain. No region of the earth remained exempt from the +indirect influence of the European system. The civilisation of the +West had completed the domination of the globe; and the interests +of the great world-states were so intertwined and intermingled in +every corner of the earth that the balance of power among them had +become as precarious as was the European balance in the eighteenth +century. The era of the world-states had very definitely opened. +It remained to be seen in what spirit it was to be used, and +whether it was to be of long duration. These two questions are +one; for no system can last which is based upon injustice and the +denial of right. + +At this point we may well stop to survey the new world-states +which had been created by this quarter of a century of eager +competition. + +First among them, in extent and importance, stood the new empire +of France. It covered a total area of five million square miles, +and in size ranked third in order, coming after the older empires +of Russia and Britain. It had been the result of the strenuous +labours of three-quarters of a century, dating from the first +invasion of Algiers; it included also some surviving fragments of +the earlier French Empire. But overwhelmingly the greater part of +this vast dominion had been acquired during the short period which +we have surveyed in this chapter; and its system of organisation +and government had not yet had time to establish itself. It had +been built only at the cost of strenuous labour, and many wars. +Yet the French had shown in its administration that they still +retained to the full that imaginative tact in the handling of +alien peoples which had stood them in good stead in India and +America during the eighteenth century. Once their rule was +established the French had on the whole very little trouble with +their subjects; and it is impossible to praise too highly the +labours of civilisation which French administrators were +achieving. So far as their subjects were concerned, they may +justly be said to have regarded themselves as trustees. So far as +the rest of the civilised world was concerned, the same praise +cannot be given; for the French policy in the economic +administration of colonies was definitely one of monopoly and +exclusion. The French Empire fell into three main blocks. First, +and most important, was the empire of Northern Africa, extending +from Algiers to the mouth of the Congo, and from the Atlantic to +the valley of the Nile. Next came the rich island of Madagascar; +lastly the eastern empire of Annam and Tonking, the beginnings of +which dated back to the eighteenth century. A few inconsiderable +islands in the Pacific and the West Indies, acquired long since, a +couple of towns in India, memories of the dreams of Dupleix, and +the province of French Guiana in South America, which dated back +to the seventeenth century, completed the list. For the most part +a recent and rapid creation, it nevertheless had roots in the +past, and was the work of a people experienced in the handling of +backward races. + +Next may be named the curious dominion of the Congo Free State, +occupying the rich heart of the African continent. Nominally it +belonged to no European power, but was a recognised neutral +territory. In practice it was treated as the personal estate of +the Belgian king, Leopold II. Subject to closer international +restrictions than any other European domain in the non-European +world, the Congo was nevertheless the field of some of the worst +iniquities in the exploitation of defenceless natives that have +ever disgraced the record of European imperialism. International +regulations are no safeguard against misgovernment; the only real +sanction is the character and spirit of the government. For the +Congo iniquities Leopold II. must be held guilty at the bar of +posterity. When he went to his judgment in 1908 this rich realm +passed under the direct control of the Belgian government and +parliament, and an immediate improvement resulted. + +The least successful of the new world-states was that of Italy. +Its story was a story of disaster and disappointment. It included +some two hundred thousand square miles of territory; but they were +hot and arid lands on the inhospitable shores of the Red Sea and +in Somaliland. Italy had as yet no real opportunity of showing how +she would deal with the responsibilities of empire. + +The most remarkable, in many respects, of all these suddenly +acquired empires was that of Germany. For it was practically all +obtained within a period of three years, without fighting or even +serious friction. It fell almost wholly within regions where +Germany's interests had been previously negligible, and British +trade predominant. Yet its growth had not been impeded, it had +even been welcomed, by its rivals. This easily-won empire was +indeed relatively small, being not much over one million square +miles, little more than one-fifth of the French dominions. But it +was five times as large as Germany itself, and it included +territories which were, on the whole, richer than those of France. +The comparative smallness of its area was due to the fact that +Germany was actually the last to enter the race. She took no steps +to acquire territory, she showed no desire to acquire it, before +1883; if she had chosen to begin ten years earlier, as she might +easily have done, or if she had shown any marked activity in +exploring or missionary work, without doubt she could have +obtained a much larger share of African soil. + +These rich lands afforded to their new masters useful supplies of +raw materials, which were capable of almost indefinite expansion. +They included, in East and South-West Africa, areas well suited +for white settlement; but German emigrants, despite every +encouragement, refused to settle in them. An elaborately +scientific system of administration, such as might be expected +from the German bureaucracy, was devised for the colonies; +officials and soldiers have from the beginning formed a larger +proportion of their white population than in any other European +possessions. Undoubtedly the government of the German colonies was +in many respects extremely efficient. But over-administration, +which has its defects even in an old and well-ordered country, is +fatal to the development of a raw and new one. Although Germany +has, in order to increase the prosperity of her colonies, +encouraged foreign trade, and followed a far less exclusive policy +than France, not one of her colonies, except the little West +African district of Togoland, has ever paid its own expenses. In +the first generation of its existence the German colonial empire, +small though it is in comparison with the British or the French, +actually cost the home government over 100,000,000 pounds in +direct outlay. + +The main cause of this was that from the first the Germans showed +neither skill nor sympathy in the handling of their subject +populations. The uniformed official, with his book of rules, only +bewilders primitive folk, and arouses their resentment. But it was +not only official pedantry which caused trouble with the subject +peoples; still more it was the ruthless spirit of mere domination, +and the total disregard of native rights, which were displayed by +the German administration. The idea of trusteeship, which had +gradually established itself among the rulers of the British +dominions, and in the French colonies also, was totally lacking +among the Germans. They ruled their primitive subjects with the +brutal intolerance of Zabern, with the ruthless cruelty since +displayed in occupied Belgium. This was what made the rise of the +German dominion a terrible portent in the history of European +imperialism. The spirit of mere domination, regardless of the +rights of the conquered, had often shown itself in other European +empires; but it had always had to struggle against another and +better ideal, the ideal of trusteeship; and, as we have seen, the +better ideal had, during the nineteenth century, definitely got +the upper hand, especially in the British realms, whose experience +had been longest. But the old and bad spirit reigned without check +in the German realms. And even when, in 1907, it began to be +seriously criticised, when its disastrous and unprofitable results +began to be seen, the ground on which it was challenged in +discussions in Germany was mainly the materialist ground that it +did not pay. + +The justification for these assertions is to be found in the +history of the principal German colonies. In the Cameroons the +native tribes, who had been so ready to receive European +government that they had repeatedly asked for British protection, +were driven to such incessant revolts that the annals of the +colony seem to be annals of continuous bloodshed: forty-six +punitive expeditions were chronicled in the seventeen years from +1891--long after the establishment of the German supremacy, which +took place in 1884. The record of East Africa was even more +terrible for the ferocity with which constant revolts were +suppressed. But worst of all was the story of South-West Africa. +There were endless wars against the various tribes; but they +culminated in the hideous Herero war of 1903-6. The Hereros, +driven to desperation by maltreatment, had revolted and killed +some white farmers. They were punished by an almost complete +annihilation. The spirit of this hideous slaughter is sufficiently +expressed by the proclamation of the governor, General von Trotha, +in 1904. 'The Herero people must now leave the land. Within the +German frontier every Herero, with or without weapon, with or +without cattle, will be shot. I shall take charge of no more women +and children, but shall drive them back to their people, or let +them be shot at.' Ten thousand of these unhappy people, mainly old +men, women and children, were driven into the desert, where they +perished. There is no such atrocious episode in the history of +European imperialism since Pizarro's slaughter of the Incas; if +even that can be compared with it. + +The causes of these ceaseless and ruinous wars were to be found +partly in the total disregard of native custom, and in the hide- +bound pedantry with which German-made law and the Prussian system +of regimentation were enforced upon the natives; but it was to be +found still more in the assumption that the native had no rights +as against his white lord. His land might be confiscated; his +cattle driven away; even downright slavery was not unknown, not +merely in the form of forced labour, which has been common in +German colonies, but in the form of the actual sale and purchase +of negroes. Herr Dernburg, who became Colonial Secretary in 1907, +himself recorded that he met in East Africa a young farmer who +told him that he had just bought a hundred and fifty negroes; he +also described the settlers' pleasing practice of sitting beside +the wells with revolvers, in order to prevent the natives from +watering their cattle, and to force them to leave them behind; and +he noted that officials nearly always carried negro whips with +them. These practices, indeed, were condemned by the German +Government itself, but only after many years, and mainly because +they were wasteful. Government representatives have told the +Reichstag, as Herr Schleitwein did in 1904, that they must pursue +a 'healthy egoism,' and forswear 'humanitarianism and irrational +sentimentality.' 'The Hereros must be forced to work, and to work +without compensation and for their food only. ... The sentiments +of Christianity and philanthropy with which the missionaries work +must be repudiated with all energy.' This is what is called +Realpolitik. + +Is it too much to say that the appearance of the spirit thus +expressed was a new thing in the history of European imperialism? +Is it not plain that if this spirit should triumph, the ascendancy +of Europe over the non-European world must prove to be, not a +blessing, but an unmitigated curse? Yet the nation which had thus +acquitted itself in the rich lands which it had so easily acquired +was not satisfied; it desired a wider field for the exhibition of +its Kultur, its conception of civilisation. + +From the beginning it was evident that the colonial enthusiasts of +Germany had no intention of resting satisfied with the +considerable dominions they had won, but regarded them only as a +beginning, as bases for future conquests. The colonies were not +ends in themselves, but means for the acquisition of further +power; and it was this, even more than the ruthlessness with which +the subject peoples were treated, which made the growth of the +German dominions a terrible portent. For since the whole world was +now portioned out, new territories could only be acquired at the +cost of Germany's neighbours. This was, indeed, at first the +programme only of extremists; the mass of the German people, like +Bismarck, took little interest in colonies. But the extremists +proved that they could win over the government to their view; the +German people, most docile of nations, could be gradually +indoctrinated with it. And because this was so, because the ugly +spirit of domination and of unbridled aggressiveness was in these +years gradually mastering the ruling forces of a very powerful +state, and leading them towards the catastrophe which was to prove +the culmination of European imperialism, it is necessary to dwell, +at what may seem disproportionate length, upon the development of +German policy during the later years of our period. + +Filled with pride in her own achievements, believing herself to +be, beyond all rivalry, the greatest nation in the world, already +the leader, and destined to be the controller, of civilisation, +Germany could not bring herself to accept a second place in the +imperial sphere. She had entered late into the field, by no fault +of her own, and found all the most desirable regions of the earth +already occupied. Now that 'world-power' had become the test of +greatness among states, she could be content with nothing short of +the first rank among world-states; if this rank could not be +achieved, she seemed to be sentenced to the same sort of fate as +had befallen Holland or Denmark: she might be ever so prosperous, +as these little states were, but she would be dwarfed by the vast +powers which surrounded her. But the German world-state was not to +be the result of a gradual and natural growth, like the Russian, +the British or the American world-states. The possibility of +gradual growth was excluded by the fact that the whole world had +been partitioned. Greatness in the non-European world must be, and +might be, carved out in a single generation, as supremacy in +Europe had been already attained, by the strong will, efficient +organisation, and military might of the German government. + +It was natural, perhaps inevitable, that a nation with the history +of the German nation, with its ruling ideas, and with its +apparently well-tried confidence in the power of its government to +achieve its ends by force, should readily accept such a programme. +The date at which this programme captured the government of +Germany, and became the national policy, can be quite clearly +fixed: it was in 1890, when Bismarck, the 'no colony man,' was +driven from power, and the supreme direction of national affairs +fell into the hands of the Emperor William II. An impressionable, +domineering and magniloquent prince, inflated by the hereditary +self-assurance of the Hohenzollerns, and sharing to the full the +modern German belief in German superiority and in Germany's +imperial destiny, William II. became the spokesman and leader of +an almost insanely megalomaniac, but terribly formidable nation. +During the first decade of his government the new ambitions of +Germany were gradually formulated, and became more distinct. They +were not yet very apparent to the rest of the world, in spite of +the fact that they were expounded with vigour and emphasis in a +multitude of pamphlets and books. The world was even ready to +believe the Emperor's assertion that he was the friend of peace: +he half believed it himself, because he would have been very ready +to keep the peace if Germany's 'rights' could be attained without +war. But many episodes, such as Kiao-Chau, and the Philippines, +and the ceaseless warfare in the German colonies, and the restless +enterprises of Pan-German intrigue, provided a commentary upon +these pretensions which ought to have revealed the dangerous +spirit which was conquering the German people. + +It is difficult, in the midst of a war forced upon the world by +German ambition, to take a sane and balanced view of the aims +which German policy was setting before itself during these years +of experiment and preparation. What did average German opinion +mean by the phrase Weltmacht, world-power, which had become one of +the commonplaces of its political discussions? We may safely +assume that by the mass of men the implications of the term were +never very clearly analysed; and that, if they had been +analysable, the results of the analysis would have been widely +different in 1890 and in 1914, except for a few fanatics and +extremists. Was the world-power at which Germany was aiming a real +supremacy over the whole world? In a vague way, no doubt, +important bodies of opinion held that such a supremacy was the +ultimate destiny of Germany in the more or less distant future; +and the existence of such a belief, however undefined, is +important because it helped to colour the attitude of the German +mind towards more immediately practical problems of national +policy. But as a programme to be immediately put into operation, +world-power was not conceived in this sense by any but a few Pan- +German fanatics; and even they would have recognised that of +course other states, and even other world-powers, would certainly +survive the most successful German war, though they would have to +submit (for their own good) to Germany's will. Again, did the +demand for world-power mean no more than that Germany must have +extra-European territories, like Britain or France? She already +possessed such territories, though on a smaller scale than her +rivals. Did the claim mean, then, that her dominions must be as +extensive and populous as (say) those of Britain? Such an aim +could only be obtained if she could succeed in overthrowing all +her rivals, at once or in succession. And if she did that, she +would then become, whatever her intentions, a world-power in the +first and all-embracing sense. It is probably true that the German +people, and even the extreme Pan-Germans, did not definitely or +consciously aim at world-supremacy. But they had in the back of +their minds the conviction that this was their ultimate destiny, +and in aiming at 'world-power' in a narrower sense, they so +defined their end as to make it impossible of achievement unless +the complete mastery of Europe (which, as things are, means the +mastery of most of the world) could be first attained. Certainly +the ruling statesmen of Germany must have been aware of the +implications of their doctrine of world-power. They were aware of +it in 1914, when they deliberately struck for the mastery of +Europe; they must have been aware of it in 1890, when they began +to lay numerous plans and projects in all parts of the world, such +as were bound to arouse the fears and suspicions of their rivals. + +It is necessary to dwell for a little upon these plans and +projects of the decade 1890-1900, because they illustrate the +nature of the peril which was looming over an unconscious world. +It would be an error to suppose that all these schemes were +systematically and continuously pursued with the whole strength of +the German state. They appealed to different bodies of opinion. +Some of them were eagerly taken up for a time, and then allowed to +fall into the background, though seldom wholly dropped. But taken +as a whole they showed the existence of a restless and insatiable +ambition without very clearly defined aims, and an eagerness to +make use of every opening for the extension of power, which +constituted a very dangerous frame of mind in a nation so strong, +industrious, and persistent as the German nation. + +In spite of the disappointing results of colonisation in Africa, +the German colonial enthusiasts hoped that something suitably +grandiose might yet be erected there: if the Belgian Congo could +somehow be acquired, and if the Portuguese would agree to sell +their large territories on the east and west coasts, a great +empire of Tropical Africa might be brought into being. This vision +has not been abandoned: it is the theme of many pamphlets +published during the course of the war, and if Germany were to be +able to impose her own terms, all the peoples of Central Africa +might yet hope to have extended to them the blessings of German +government as they have been displayed in the Cameroons and in the +South-West. + +In the 'nineties there seemed also to be hope in South Africa, +where use might be made of the strained relations between Britain +and the Boer Republics. German South-West Africa formed a +convenient base for operations in this region: it was equipped +with a costly system of strategic railways, far more elaborate +than the commerce of the colony required. There is no doubt that +President Kruger was given reason to anticipate that he would +receive German help: in 1895 (before the Jameson Raid) Kruger +publicly proclaimed that the time had come 'to form ties of the +closest friendship between Germany and the Transvaal, ties such as +are natural between fathers and children'; in 1896 (after the +Jameson Raid) came the Emperor's telegram congratulating President +Kruger upon having repelled the invaders 'without recourse to the +aid of friendly powers'; in 1897 a formal treaty of friendship and +commerce was made between Germany and the Orange Free State, with +which the Transvaal had just concluded a treaty of perpetual +alliance. And meanwhile German munitions of war were pouring into +the Transvaal through Delagoa Bay. But when the crisis came, +Germany did nothing. She could not, because the British fleet +stood in the way. + +South America, again, offered a very promising field. There were +many thousands of German settlers, especially in southern Brazil: +the Pan-German League assiduously laboured to organise these +settlers, and to fan their patriotic zeal, by means of schools, +books, and newspapers. But the Monroe Doctrine stood in the way of +South American annexations. Perhaps Germany might have been ready +to see how far she could go with the United States, the least +military of great powers. But there was good reason to suppose +that the British fleet would have to be reckoned with; and a +burglarious expedition to South America with that formidable +watchdog at large and unmuzzled was an uninviting prospect. + +In the Far East the prospects of immediate advance seemed more +favourable, since the Chinese Empire appeared to be breaking up. +The seizure of Kiao-chau in 1897 was a hopeful beginning. But the +Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 formed a serious obstacle to any +vigorous forward policy in this region. Once more the British +fleet loomed up as a barrier. + +Yet another dream, often referred to by the pamphleteers though +never brought to overt action by the government, was the dream +that the rich empire of the Dutch in the Malay Archipelago should +be acquired by Germany. Holland herself, according to all the +political ethnologists of the Pan-German League, ought to be part +of the German Empire; and if so, her external dominions would +follow the destiny of the ruling state. But this was a prospect to +be talked about, not to be worked for openly. It would naturally +follow from a successful European war. + +A more immediately practicable field of operations was to be found +in the Turkish Empire. It was here that the most systematic +endeavours were made during this period: the Berlin-Bagdad scheme, +which was to be the keystone of the arch of German world-power, +had already taken shape before our period closed, though the rest +of the world was strangely blind to its significance. Abstractly +regarded, a German dominion over the wasted and misgoverned lands +of the Turkish Empire would have meant a real advance of +civilisation, and would have been no more unjustifiable than the +British control of Egypt or India. This feeling perhaps explained +the acquiescence with which the establishment of German influence +in Turkey was accepted by most of the powers. They had yet to +realise that it was not pursued as an end in itself, but as a +means to further domination. + +But neither the great Berlin-Bagdad project, nor any of the other +dreams and visions, had been definitely put into operation during +the decade 1890-1900. Germany was as yet feeling the way, +preparing the ground, and building up her resources both military +and industrial. Perhaps the main result which emerged from the +tentative experiments of these years was that at every point the +obstacle was the sprawling British Empire, and the too-powerful +British fleet. The conviction grew that the overthrow of this fat +and top-heavy colossus was the necessary preliminary to the +creation of the German world-state. + +This was a doctrine which had long been preached by the chief +political mentor of modern Germany, Treitschke, who died in 1896. +He was never tired of declaring that Britain was a decadent and +degenerate state, that her empire was an unreal empire, and that +it would collapse before the first serious attack. It would break +up because it was not based upon force, because it lacked +organisation, because it was a medley of disconnected and +discordant fragments, worshipping an undisciplined freedom. That +it should ever have come into being was one of the paradoxes of +history; for it was manifestly not due to straightforward brute +force, like the German Empire; and the modern German mind could +not understand a state which did not rest upon power, but upon +consent, which had not been built up, like Prussia, by the +deliberate action of government, but which had grown almost at +haphazard, through the spontaneous activity of free and self- +governing citizens. Treitschke and his disciples could only +explain the paradox by assuming that since it had not been created +by force, it must have been created by low cunning; and they +invented the theory that British statesmen had for centuries +pursued an undeviating and Machiavellian policy of keeping the +more virile states of Europe at cross-purposes with one another by +means of the cunning device called the Balance of Power, while +behind the backs of these tricked and childlike nations Britain +was meanly snapping up all the most desirable regions of the +earth. According to this view it was in some mysterious way +Britain's fault that France and Germany were not the best of +friends, and that Russia had been alienated from her ancient ally. +But the day of reckoning would come when these mean devices would +no longer avail, and the pampered, selfish, and overgrown colossus +would find herself faced by hard-trained and finely tempered +Germany, clad in her shining armour. Then, at the first shock, +India would revolt; and the Dutch of South Africa would welcome +their German liberators; and the great colonies, to which Britain +had granted a degree of independence that no virile state would +ever have permitted, would shake off the last shreds of +subordination; and the ramshackle British Empire would fall to +pieces; and Germany would emerge triumphant, free to pursue all +her great schemes, and to create a lasting world-power, based upon +Force and System and upon 'a healthy egoism,' not upon 'irrational +sentimentalities' about freedom and justice. + +These were the doctrines and calculations of Realpolitik. They +were becoming more and more prevalent in the 'nineties. They seem +definitely to have got the upper hand in the direction of national +policy during the last years of the century, when Germany refused +to consider the projects of disarmament put forward at the Hague +in 1899, when the creation of the German navy was begun by the +Navy Acts of 1898 and 1900, and when the Emperor announced that +the future of Germany lay upon the water, and that hers must be +the admiralty of the Atlantic. At the moment when the conquest of +the world by European civilisation was almost complete, two +conceptions of the meaning of empire, the conception of brutal +domination pursued for its own sake, which has never been more +clearly displayed than in the administration of the German +colonies, and the conception of trusteeship, which had slowly +emerged during the long development of the British Empire, stood +forth already in sharp antithesis. + +The dreadful anticipation of coming conflict weighed upon the +world. France, still suffering from the wounds of 1870, was always +aware of it. Russia, threatened by German policy in the Balkans, +was more and more clearly realising it. But Britain was +extraordinarily slow to awaken to the menace. As late as 1898 Mr. +Joseph Chamberlain was advocating an alliance between Britain, +Germany, and America to maintain the peace of the world; and Cecil +Rhodes, when he devised his plan for turning Oxford into the +training-ground of British youth from all the free nations of the +empire, found a place in his scheme for German as well as for +American students. The telegram to President Kruger in 1896 caused +only a passing sensation. The first real illumination came with +the extraordinary display of German venom against Britain during +the South African war, and with the ominous doubling of the German +naval programme adopted in the midst of that war, in 1900. But +even this made no profound impression. The majority of the British +people declined to believe that a 'great and friendly nation,' or +its rulers, could deliberately enter upon a scheme of such +unbridled ambition and of such unprovoked aggression. + + + + + +VIII + +THE BRITISH EMPIRE AMID THE WORLD-POWERS, 1878-1914 + + +Throughout the period of rivalry for world-power which began in +1878 the British Empire had continued to grow in extent, and to +undergo a steady change in its character and organisation. + +In the partition of Africa, Britain, in spite of the already +immense extent of her domains, obtained an astonishingly large +share. The protectorates of British East Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, +Nyasaland, and Somaliland gave her nearly 25,000,000 new negro +subjects, and these, added to her older settlements of Sierra +Leone and the Gold Coast, whose area was now extended, outnumbered +the whole population of the French African empire. But besides +these tropical territories she acquired control over two African +regions so important that they deserve separate treatment: Egypt, +on the one hand, and the various extensions of her South African +territories on the other. When the partition of Africa was +completed, the total share of Britain amounted to 3,500,000 square +miles, with a population of over 50,000,000 souls, and it included +the best regions of the continent: the British Empire, in Africa +alone, was more than three times as large as the colonial empire +of Germany, which was almost limited to Africa. + +It may well be asked why an empire already so large should have +taken also the giant's share of the last continent available for +division among the powers of Europe. No doubt this was in part due +to the sentiment of imperialism, which was stronger in Britain +during this period than ever before. But there were other and more +powerful causes. In the first place, during the period 1815-78 +British influence and trade had been established in almost every +part of Africa save the central ulterior, and no power had such +definite relations with various native tribes, many of which +desired to come under the protectorate of a power with whom the +protection of native rights and customs was an established +principle. In the second place, Britain was the only country which +already possessed in Africa colonies inhabited by enterprising +European settlers, and the activity of these settlers played a +considerable part in the extension of the British African +dominions. And in the third place, since the continental powers +had adopted the policy of fiscal protection, the annexation of a +region by any of them meant that the trade of other nations might +be restricted or excluded; the annexation of a territory by +Britain meant that it would be open freely and on equal terms to +the trade of all nations. For this reason the trading interests in +Britain, faced by the possibility of exclusion from large areas +with which they had carried on traffic, were naturally anxious +that as much territory as possible should be brought under British +supremacy, in order that it might remain open to their trade. + +It is the main justification for British annexations that they +opened and developed new markets for all the world, instead of +closing them; and it was this fact chiefly which made the +acquisition of such vast areas tolerable to the other trading +powers. The extension of the British Empire was thus actually a +benefit to all the non-imperial states, especially to such active +trading countries as Italy, Holland, Scandinavia, or America. If +at any time Britain should reverse her traditional policy, and +reserve for her own merchants the trade of the immense areas which +have been brought under her control, nothing is more certain than +that the world would protest, and protest with reason, against the +exorbitant and disproportionate share which has fallen to her. +Only so long as British control means the open door for all the +world will the immense extent of these acquisitions continue to be +accepted without protest by the rest of the world. + +In the new protectorates of this period Britain found herself +faced by a task with which she had never had to deal on so +gigantic a scale, though she had a greater experience in it than +any other nation: the task of governing justly whole populations +of backward races, among whom white men could not permanently +dwell, and whom they visited only for the purposes of commercial +exploitation. The demands of industry for the raw materials of +these countries involved the employment of labour on a very large +scale; but the native disliked unfamiliar toil, and as his wants +were very few, could easily earn enough to keep him in the +idleness he loved. Slavery was the customary mode of getting +uncongenial tasks performed in Africa; but against slavery +European civilisation had set its face. Again, the ancient +unvarying customs whereby the rights and duties of individual +tribesmen were enforced, and the primitive societies held +together, were often inconsistent with Western ideas, and tended +to break down altogether on contact with Western industrial +methods. How were the needs of industry to be reconciled with +justice to the subject peoples? How were their customs to be +reconciled with the legal ideas of their new masters? How were +these simple folk to be taught the habits of labour? How were the +resources of their land to be developed without interference with +their rights of property and with the traditional usages arising +from them? These were problems of extreme difficulty, which faced +the rulers of all the new European empires. The attempt to solve +them in a high-handed way, and with a view solely to the interests +of the ruling race, led to many evils: it produced the atrocities +of the Congo; it produced in the German colonies the practical +revival of slavery, the total disregard of native customs, and the +horrible sequence of wars and slaughters of which we have already +spoken. In the British dominions a long tradition and a long +experience saved the subject peoples from these iniquities. We +dare not claim that there were no abuses in the British lands; but +at least it can be claimed that government has always held it to +be its duty to safeguard native rights, and to prevent the total +break-up of the tribal system which could alone hold these +communities together. The problem was not fully solved; perhaps it +is insoluble. But at least the native populations were not driven +to despair, and were generally able to feel that they were justly +treated. 'Let me tell you,' a Herero is recorded to have written +from British South Africa to his kinsmen under German rule, 'Let +me tell you that the land of the English is a good land, since +there is no ill-treatment. White and black stand on the same +level. There is much work and much money, and your overseer does +not beat you, or if he does he breaks the law and is punished.' +There was a very striking contrast between the steady peace which +has on the whole reigned in all the British dominions, and the +incessant warfare which forms the history of the German colonies. +The tradition of protection of native rights, established during +the period 1815-78, and the experience then acquired, stood the +British in good stead. During the ordeal of the Great War it has +been noteworthy that there has been no serious revolt among these +recently conquered subjects; and one of the most touching features +of the war has been the eagerness of chiefs and their peoples to +help the protecting power, and the innumerable humble gifts which +they have spontaneously offered. Much remains to be done before a +perfect solution is found for the problems of these dominions of +yesterday. But it may justly be claimed that trusteeship, not +domination, has been the spirit in which they have been +administered; and that this is recognised by their subjects, +despite all the mistakes and defects to which all human +governments must be liable in dealing with a problem so complex. + +Administrative problems of a yet more complex kind were raised in +the two greatest acquisitions of territory made by Britain during +these years, in Egypt and the Soudan, and in South Africa. The +events connected with these two regions have aroused greater +controversy than those connected with any other British dominions; +the results of these events have been more striking, and in +different ways more instructive as to the spirit and methods of +British imperialism, than those displayed in almost any other +field; and for these reasons we shall not hesitate to dwell upon +them at some length. + +The establishment of British control over Egypt was due to the +most curious chain of unforeseen and unexpected events which even +the records of the British Empire contain. Nominally a part of the +Turkish Empire, Egypt had been in fact a practically independent +state, paying only a small fixed tribute to the Sultan, ever since +the remarkable Albanian adventurer, Mehemet Ali, had established +himself as its Pasha in the confusion following the French +occupation (1806). Mehemet Ali had been an extraordinarily +enterprising prince. He had created a formidable army, had +conquered the great desert province of the Soudan and founded its +capital, Khartoum, and had nearly succeeded in overthrowing the +Turkish Empire and establishing his own power in its stead: during +the period 1825-40 he had played a leading role in European +politics. Though quite illiterate, he had posed as the introducer +of Western civilisation into Egypt; but his grandiose and +expensive policy had imposed terrible burdens upon the fellahin +(peasantry), and the heavy taxation which was necessary to +maintain his armies and the spurious civilisation of his capital +was only raised by cruel oppressions. + +The tradition of lavish expenditure, met by grinding the +peasantry, was accentuated by Mehemet's successors. It inevitably +impoverished the country. Large loans were raised in the West, to +meet increasing deficits; and the European creditors in course of +time found it necessary to insist that specific revenues should be +ear-marked as a security for their interest, and to claim powers +of supervision over finance. The construction of the Suez Canal +(opened 1869), which was due to the enterprise of the French, +promised to bring increased prosperity to Egypt; but in the +meanwhile it involved an immense outlay. At the beginning of our +period Egypt was already on the verge of bankruptcy, and the +Khedive was compelled to sell his holding of Suez Canal shares, +which were shrewdly acquired for Britain by Disraeli. + +But financial chaos was not the only evil from which Egypt +suffered. There was administrative chaos also, and this was not +diminished by the special jurisdictions which had been allowed to +the various groups of Europeans settled in the country. The army, +unpaid and undisciplined, was ready to revolt; and above all, the +helpless mass of the peasantry were reduced to the last degree of +penury, and exposed to the merciless and arbitrary severity of the +officials, who fleeced them of their property under the lash. All +the trading nations were affected by this state of anarchy in an +important centre of trade; all the creditors of the Egyptian debt +observed it with alarm. But the two powers most concerned were +France and Britain, which between them held most of the debt, and +conducted most of the foreign trade, of Egypt; while to Britain +Egypt had become supremely important, since it now controlled the +main avenue of approach to India. + +When a successful military revolt, led by Arabi Pasha, threatened +to complete the disorganisation of the country (1882), France and +Britain decided that they ought to intervene to restore order, the +other powers all agreeing. But at the last moment France withdrew, +and the task was undertaken by Britain single-handed. [Footnote: +See above, p. 164] In a short campaign Arabi was overthrown; and +now Britain had to address herself to the task of reconstructing +the political and economic organisation of Egypt. It was her hope +and intention that the work should be done as rapidly as possible, +in order that she might be able to withdraw from a difficult and +thankless task, which brought her into very delicate relations +with the other powers interested in Egypt. But withdrawal was not +easy. The task of reorganisation proved to be a much larger and +more complicated one than had been anticipated; and it was greatly +increased when the strange wave of religious fanaticism aroused by +the preaching of the Mahdi swept over the Soudan, raised a great +upheaval, and led to the destruction of the Egyptian armies of +occupation. Britain had now to decide whether the revolting +province should be reconquered or abandoned. Reconquest could not +be effected by the utterly disorganised Egyptian army; if it was +to be attempted, it must be by means of British troops. But this +would not only mean a profitless expenditure, it would also +indefinitely prolong the British occupation, which Britain was +desirous of bringing to an end at the earliest possible moment. + +The romantic hero, Gordon, was therefore sent to Khartoum to carry +out the withdrawal from the Soudan of all the remaining Egyptian +garrisons. On his arrival he came to the conclusion that the +position was not untenable, and took no steps to evacuate. There +was much dangerous delay and vacillation; and in the end Gordon +was besieged in Khartoum, and killed by the bands of the Mahdi, +before a relief force could reach him. But this triumph of Mahdism +increased its menace to Egypt. The country could not be left to +its own resources until this peril had been removed, or until the +Egyptian army had been fully reorganised. So the occupation +prolonged itself, year after year. + +The situation was, in fact, utterly anomalous. Egypt was a +province of Turkey, ruled by a semi-independent Khedive. Britain's +chief agent in the country was in form only in the position of a +diplomatic representative. But the very existence of the country +depended upon the British army of occupation, and upon the work of +the British officers who were reconstructing the Egyptian army. +And its hope of future stability depended upon the work of the +British administrators, financiers, jurists, and engineers who +were labouring to set its affairs in order. These officials, with +Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) at their head, had an +extraordinarily difficult task to perform. Their relations with +the native government, which they constantly had to overrule, were +difficult enough. But besides this, they had to deal with the +agents of the other European powers, who, as representing the +European creditors of the Egyptian debt, had the right to +interfere in practically all financial questions, and could make +any logical financial reorganisation, and any free use of the +country's financial resources for the restoration of its +prosperity, all but impossible. + +Yet in the space of a very few years an amazing work of +restoration and reorganisation was achieved. Financial stability +was re-established, while at the same time taxation was reduced. +The forced labour which had been exacted from the peasantry was +abolished; they were no longer robbed of their property under the +lash; they obtained a secure tenure in their land; and they found +that its productive power was increased, by means of great schemes +of irrigation. An impartial system of justice was organised--for +the first time in all the long history of Egypt since the fall of +the Roman Empire. The army was remodelled by British officers. +Schools of lower and higher grade were established in large +numbers. In short, Egypt began to assume the aspect of a +prosperous and well-organised modern community. And all this was +the work, in the main, of some fifteen years. + +Meanwhile in the Soudan triumphant barbarism had produced an +appalling state of things. It is impossible to exaggerate the +hideousness of the regime of Mahdism. A ferocious tyranny +terrorised and reduced to desolation the whole of the upper basin +of the Nile; and the population is said to have shrunk from +12,000,000 to 2,000,000, although exact figures are of course +unattainable. One of the evil consequences of this regime was that +it prevented a scientific treatment of the flow of the Nile, on +which the very life of Egypt depended. Scientific irrigation had +already worked wonders in increasing the productivity of Egypt, +but to complete this work, and to secure avoidance of the famines +which follow any deficiency in the Nile-flow, it was necessary to +deal with the upper waters of the great river. On this ground, and +in order to remove the danger of a return of barbarism, which was +threatened by frequent Mahdist attacks, and finally in order to +rescue captives who were enduring terrible sufferings in the hands +of the Mahdi, it appeared that the reconquest of the Soudan must +be undertaken as the inevitable sequel to the reorganisation of +Egypt. It was achieved, with a wonderful efficiency which made the +name of Kitchener famous, in the campaigns of 1896-98. The +reconquered province was nominally placed under the joint +administration of Britain and Egypt; but in fact the very +remarkable work of civilisation which was carried out in it during +the years preceding the Great War was wholly directed by British +agents and officers. + +The occupation of the Soudan necessitated a prolongation of the +British occupation of Egypt. But, indeed, such a prolongation was +in any case inevitable; for the beneficial reforms in justice, +administration, finance, and the organisation of the country's +resources, which had been effected in half a generation, required +to be carefully watched and nursed until they should be securely +rooted: to a certainty they would have collapsed if the +guardianship of Britain had been suddenly and completely +withdrawn. The growing prosperity of Egypt, however, and still +more the diffusion of Western education among its people, has +naturally brought into existence a nationalist party, who resent +what they feel to be a foreign dominance in their country, and +aspire after the institutions of Western self-government. But it +has to be noted that the classes among whom this movement has +sprung up are not the classes who form the bulk of the population +of Egypt--the fellahin, who from the time of the Pharaohs +downwards have been exploited and oppressed by every successive +conqueror who has imposed his rule on the country. This class, +which has profited more than any other from the British regime, +which has, under that regime, known for the first time justice, +freedom from tyranny, and the opportunity of enjoying a fair share +of the fruits of its own labour, is as yet unvocal. Accustomed +through centuries to submission, accepting good or bad seasons, +just or unjust masters, as the gods may send them, the fellah has +not yet had time even to begin to have thoughts or opinions about +his place in society and his right to a share in the control of +his own destinies; and if the rule which has endeavoured to +nurture him into prosperity and self-reliance were withdrawn, he +would accept with blind submissiveness whatever might take its +place. The classes among whom the nationalist movement finds its +strength are the classes which have been in the past accustomed to +enjoy some degree of domination; the relics of the conquering +races, Arabs or Turks, who have succeeded one another in the rule +of Egypt, the small traders and shopkeepers of the towns, drawn +from many different races, the students who have been influenced +by the knowledge and the political ideas of the West. It is +natural and healthy that a desire to share in the government of +their country should grow up among these classes: it is in some +degree a proof that the influence of the regime under which they +live has been stimulating. But it is also obvious that if these +classes were at once to reassume, under parliamentary forms, the +dominance which they wielded so disastrously until thirty years +ago, the result must be unhappy. They are being, under British +guidance, gradually introduced to a share in public affairs. But +the establishment of a system of full self-government and national +independence in Egypt, if it is to be successful, must wait until +not only these classes, but also the classes beneath them, have +been habituated to the sense of self-respect and of civic +obligation by a longer acquaintance with the working of the Reign +of Law. + +Since the Great War broke out, the British position in Egypt has +been regularised by the proclamation of a formal British +protectorate. Perhaps the happiest fate which can befall the +country is that it should make that gradual progress in political +freedom, which is alone lasting, under the guidance of the power +which has already given it prosperity, the ascendancy of an +impartial law, freedom from arbitrary authority, freedom of speech +and thought, and emancipation from the thraldom of foreign +financial interests; and in the end it may possibly be the destiny +of this ancient land, after so many vicissitudes, to take its +place as one among a partnership of free nations in a world- +encircling British Commonwealth of self-governing peoples. + +The most vexed, difficult, and critical problems in the history of +the British Empire since 1878--perhaps the most difficult in the +whole course of its history--have been those connected with the +South African colonies. In 1878 there were four distinct European +provinces in South Africa, besides protected native areas, like +Basutoland. All four had sprung from the original Anglo-Dutch +colony of the Cape of Good Hope. In two of them--Cape Colony and +Natal--the two European peoples, British and Dutch, dwelt side by +side, the Dutch being in a majority in the former, the British in +the latter; but in both the difficulty of their relationship was +complicated by the presence of large coloured populations, which +included not only the native African peoples, Hottentots, Kaffirs, +Zulus, and so forth, but also a large number of Asiatics, Malays +who had been brought in by the Dutch before the British conquest, +and Indians who had begun to come in more recently in large +numbers, especially to Natal. Difference of attitude towards these +peoples between the British authorities and the Dutch settlers had +been in the past, as we have seen, a main cause of friction +between the two European peoples, and had caused the long +postponement of full self-government. In the other two provinces, +the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the white inhabitants +were, in 1878, almost exclusively Dutch. The native populations in +these states were no longer in a state of formal slavery, but they +were treated as definitely subject and inferior peoples: a law of +the Transvaal laid it down that 'there shall be no equality in +Church or State between white and black.' Thus the mutual distrust +originally aroused by the native question still survived. It was +intensified by ill-feeling between the Boers and British +missionaries. When Livingstone, the British missionary hero, +reported the difficulties which the Boers had put in his way, +British opinion was made more hostile than ever. Of the two Boer +republics, the Orange Free State had enjoyed complete independence +since 1854; and no serious friction ever arose between it and the +British government. But the Transvaal, which had been turbulent +and restless from the first, had been annexed in 1878, largely +because it seemed to be drifting into a war of extermination with +the Zulus. As a consequence, Britain was drawn into a badly +managed Zulu-War; and when this dangerous tribe had been +conquered, the Transvaal revolted. The Boers defeated a small +British force at Majuba; whereupon, instead of pursuing the +struggle, the British government resolved to try the effect of +magnanimity, and conceded (1881 and 1884) full local independence +to the Transvaal, subject only to a vague recognition of British +suzerainty. + +This was the beginning of many ills. The Transvaal Boers, knowing +little of the world, thought they had defeated Britain; and under +the lead of Paul Kruger, a shrewd old farmer who henceforth +directed their policy with all but autocratic power, began to +pursue the aim of creating a purely Dutch South Africa, and of +driving the British into the sea. Kruger's policy was one of pure +racial dominance, not of equality of rights. It was a natural aim, +under all the conditions. But it was the source of grave evils. +Inevitably it stimulated a parallel movement in Cape Colony, where +Dutch and British were learning to live peaceably together. The +Boer extremists also began to look about for allies, and were +tempted to hope for aid from Germany, who had just established +herself in South-West Africa. Full of pride, the Transvaalers, +though they already held a great and rich country which was very +thinly peopled, began to push outwards, and especially to threaten +the native tribes in the barren region of Bechuanaland, which lay +between the Transvaal and the German territory. To this Britain +replied by establishing a protectorate over Bechuanaland (1884) at +the request of native chiefs: the motive of this annexation was, +not suspicion of Germany, for this suspicion did not yet exist, +but the desire to protect the native population. + +Kruger's vague project of a Dutch South Africa would probably have +caused little anxiety so long as his resources were limited to the +strength of the thinly scattered Boer farmers. But the situation +was fundamentally altered by the discovery of immense deposits +first of diamonds and then of gold in South Africa, and most +richly of all in the Rand district of the Transvaal. These +discoveries brought a rapid inrush of European miners, financiers, +and their miscellaneous camp-followers, and in a few years a very +rich and populous European community had established itself in the +Transvaal, and had created as its centre the mushroom new city of +Johannesburg (founded 1884). These immigrants, who came from many +countries, but especially from Britain, changed the situation in +the Transvaal; it seemed as though the majority among the white +men in that state would soon be British. + +A simple and primitive organisation of government, such as +sufficed for the needs of Boer farmers, was manifestly inadequate +for the needs of the new population, which included, in the nature +of things, many undesirable elements; and it was natural that the +mining population should desire to be brought under a more modern +type of government, or to obtain an effective share in the control +of their own affairs. But this was precisely what the Boers of +Kruger's way of thinking were determined to refuse them. They were +resolved that Boer ascendancy in the Transvaal should not be +weakened. They therefore denied to the new immigrants all the +rights of citizenship, and would not even permit them to manage +the local affairs of Johannesburg. At the same time Kruger imposed +heavy taxation upon the gold industry and the people who conducted +it; and out of the proceeds he was able not only to pay the +expenses of government without burdening the Boer farmers, but to +build up the military power by means of which he hoped ultimately +to carry out his great project. Thus the 'Uitlanders' found +themselves treated as an inferior race in the land which their +industry was enriching. They practically paid the cost of the +government, but had no share in directing it. + +The policy of racial ascendancy has seldom been pursued in a more +mischievous or dangerous form. One cannot but feel a certain +sympathy with the Boers' desire to maintain Boer ascendancy in the +land which they had conquered. Yet it must be remembered that they +were themselves very recent immigrants: the whole settlement of +the Transvaal had taken place in Paul Kruger's lifetime. + +The diamonds and the gold of the recent discoveries had produced +in South Africa a new element of power: the power of great wealth, +wielded by a small number of men. Some of these were, of course, +mean and sordid souls, to whom wealth was an end in itself. But +among them one emerged who was more than a millionaire, who was +capable of dreaming great dreams, and had acquired his wealth +chiefly in order that he might have the power to realise them. +This was Cecil Rhodes, an almost unique combination of the +financier and the idealist. If he was sometimes tempted to resort +to the questionable devices that high finance seems to cultivate, +and if his ideals took on sometimes a rather vulgar colour, +reflected from his money-bags, nevertheless ideals were the real +governing factors in his life. + +He dreamed of a great united state of South Africa; it was to be a +British South Africa; but it was to be British, not in the sense +in which Kruger wished it to be Dutch, but in the sense that +equality of treatment between the white races should exist within +it, as in all the British lands. He dreamed also of a great +brotherhood of British communities, or communities governed by +British ideals, girdling the world, perhaps dominating it (for +Rhodes was inclined to be a chauvinist), and leading it to peace +and liberty. As a lad fresh from Oxford, in long journeyings over +the African veldt, he had in a curious, childlike way thought out +a theology, a system of politics, and a mode of life for himself; +having reached the conclusion that the British race had on the +whole more capacity for leading the world successfully than any +other, he had resolved that it should be his life's business to +forward and increase the influence of British ideas and of British +modes of life; and he had systematically built up a colossal +fortune in order that he might have the means to do this work. At +the roots of this strange medley of poetry and chauvinism which +filled his mind was an unchanging and deep veneration for the +outstanding memory of his youth, Oxford, which in his mind stood +for all the august venerable past of England, and was the +expression of her moral essence. When he died, after a life of +money-making and intrigue, in a remote and half-developed colony, +it was found that most of his immense fortune had been left either +to enrich the college where he had spent a short time as a lad, or +to bring picked youths from all the British lands, and from what +he regarded as the two great sister communities of America and +Germany, so that they might drink in the spirit of England, at +Oxford, its sanctuary. + +His immediate task lay in South Africa, where, from the moment of +his entry upon public life, he became the leader of the British +cause as Kruger was the leader of the Dutch: millionaire-dreamer +and shrewd, obstinate farmer, they form a strange contrast. The +one stood for South African unity based upon equality of the white +races: the other also for unity, but for unity based upon the +ascendancy of one of the white races. In the politics of Cape +Colony Rhodes achieved a remarkable success: he made friends with +the Dutch party and its leader Hofmeyr, who for a long time gave +steady support to his schemes and maintained him in the +premiership. It was a good beginning for the policy of racial co- +operation. But Rhodes's most remarkable achievement was the +acquisition of the fertile upland regions of Mashonaland and +Matabililand, now called Rhodesia in his honour. There were +episodes which smelt of the shady practices of high finance in the +events which led up to this acquisition. But in the result its +settlement was well organised, after some initial difficulties, by +the Chartered Company which Rhodes formed for the purpose. Now one +important result of the acquisition of Rhodesia was that it hemmed +in the Transvaal on the north; and, joined with the earlier +annexation of Bechuanaland, isolated and insulated the two Dutch +republics, which were now surrounded, everywhere except on the +east, by British territory. From Cape Town up through Bechuanaland +and through the new territories Rhodes drove a long railway line. +It was a business enterprise, but for him it was also a great +imaginative conception, a link of empire, and he dreamed of the +day when it should be continued to join the line which was being +pushed up the Nile from Cairo through the hot sands of the Soudan. + +But Rhodes's final and most unhappy venture was the attempt to +force, by violent means, a solution of the Transvaal problem. He +hoped that the Uitlanders might be able, by a revolution, to +overthrow Kruger's government, and, perhaps in conjunction with +the more moderate Boers, to set up a system of equal treatment +which would make co-operation with the other British colonies +easy, and possibly bring about a federation of the whole group of +South African States. He was too impatient to let the situation +mature quietly. He forced the issue by encouraging the foolish +Jameson Raid of 1895. This, like all wilful resorts to violence, +only made things worse. It alienated and angered the more moderate +Boers in the Transvaal, who were not without sympathy with the +Uitlanders. It aroused the indignation of the Cape Colony Boers, +and embittered racial feeling there. It put the British cause in +the wrong in the eyes of the whole world, and made the Boers +appear as a gallant little people struggling in the folds of a +merciless python-empire. It increased immensely the difficulty of +the British government in negotiating with the Transvaal for +better treatment of the Uitlanders. It stiffened the backs of +Kruger and his party. The German Kaiser telegraphed his +congratulations on the defeat of the Raid 'without the aid of +friendly powers,' and the implication that this aid would be +forthcoming in case of necessity led the Boers to believe that +they could count on German help in a struggle with Britain. So +every concession to the Uitlanders was obstinately refused; and +after three years more of fruitless negotiation, during which +German munitions were pouring into the Transvaal, the South +African War began. It may be that the war could have been avoided +by the exercise of patience. It may be that the imperialist +spirit, which was very strong in Britain at that period, led to +the adoption of a needlessly high-handed tone. But it was neither +greed nor tyranny on Britain's part which brought about the +conflict, but simply the demand for equal rights. + +The war was one in which all the appearances were against Britain, +and the whole world condemned British greed and aggression. It was +a case of Goliath fighting David, the biggest empire in the world +attacking two tiny republics; yet the weaker side is not +necessarily always in the right. It seemed to be a conflict for +the possession of gold-mines; yet Britain has never made, and +never hoped to make, a penny of profit out of these mines, which +remained after the war in the same hands as before it. It was a +case of the interests of financiers and gold-hunters against those +of simple and honest farmers; yet even financiers have rights, and +even farmers can be unjust. In reality the issue was a quite +simple and straightforward one. It was the issue of racial +ascendancy against racial equality, and as her traditions bade +her, Britain strove for racial equality. It was the issue of self- +government for the whole community as against the entrenched +dominion of one section; and there was no question on which side +the history of Britain must lead her to range herself. Whatever +the rest of the world might say, the great self-governing +colonies, which were free to help or not as they thought fit, had +no doubts at all. They all sent contingents to take part in the +war, because they knew it to be a war for principles fundamental +to themselves. + +The war dragged its weary course, and the Boers fought with such +heroism, and often with such chivalry, as to win the cordial +respect and admiration of their enemies. It is always a pity when +men fight; but sometimes a fight lets bad blood escape, and makes +friendship easier between foes who have learnt mutual respect. +Four years after the peace which added the Transvaal and the +Orange Free State as conquered dominions to the British Empire, +the British government established in both of these provinces the +full institutions of responsible self-government. As in Canada +sixty years earlier, the two races were bidden to work together +and make the best of one another; because now their destinies were +freely under their own control. Yet this was even a bolder +experiment than that of Canada, and showed a more venturesome +confidence in the healing power of self-government. How has it +turned out? Within five years more, the four divided provinces +which had presented such vexed problems in 1878, were combined in +the federal Union of South Africa, governed by institutions which +reproduced those of Britain and her colonies. + +In handing over to the now united states of South Africa the +unqualified control of their own affairs, Britain necessarily left +to them the vexed problem of devising a just relation between the +ruling races and their subjects of backward or alien stocks; the +problem which had been the source of most of the difficulties of +South Africa for a century past, and which had long delayed the +concession of full self-government. Nowhere in the world does this +problem assume a more acute form than in South Africa, where there +is not only a majority of negroes, mostly of the vigorous Bantu +stock, but also a large number of immigrants mainly from India, +who as subjects of the British crown naturally claim special +rights. South Africa has to find her own solution for this complex +problem; and she has not yet fully found it. But in two ways her +association with the British Empire has helped, and will help, her +to find her way towards it. If the earlier policy of the British +government, guided by the missionaries, laid too exclusive an +emphasis upon native rights, and in various ways hampered the +development of the colony by the way in which it interpreted these +rights, at least it had established a tradition hostile to that +policy of mere ruthless exploitation of which such an ugly +illustration was being given in German South-West Africa. An +absolute parity of treatment between white and black must be not +only impracticable, but harmful to both sides. But between the two +extremes of a visionary equality and a white ascendancy ruthlessly +employed for exploitation, a third term is possible--the just +tutelage of the white man over the black, with a reasonable +freedom for native custom. 'A practice has grown up in South +Africa,' says the greatest of South African statesmen, [Footnote: +General Smuts, May 22, 1917.] 'of creating parallel institutions, +giving the natives their own separate institutions on parallel +lines with institutions for whites. It may be that on these lines +we may yet be able to solve a problem which may otherwise be +insoluble.' It is a solution which owes much to the British +experiments of the previous period; and the principle which +inspires it was incorporated in the Act of Union. This is one of +the innumerable fruitful experiments in government in which the +British system is so prolific. Again, the problem of the +relationship between Indian immigrants and white colonists is an +acutely difficult one. It cannot be said to have been solved. But +at least the fact that the South African Union and the Indian +Empire are both partners in the same British commonwealth improves +the chances of a just solution. It helped to find at least a +temporary adjustment in 1914; in the future also it may +contribute, in this as in many other ways, to ensure that a fair +consideration is given to both sides of the thorny question of +inter-racial relationship. + +The events which led up to, and still more the events which +followed, the South African War had thus brought a solution for +the South African problem, which had been a continuous vexation +since the moment of the British conquest. It was solved by the +British panacea of self-government and equal rights. Who could +have anticipated, twenty years or fifty years ago, the part which +has been played by South Africa in the Great War? Is there any +parallel to these events, which showed the gallant general of the +Boer forces playing the part of prime minister in a united South +Africa, crushing with Boer forces a revolt stirred up among the +more ignorant Boers by German intrigue, and then leading an army, +half Boer and half British, to the conquest of German South-West +Africa? + +The South African War had proved to be the severest test which the +modern British Empire had yet had to undergo. But it had emerged, +not broken, as in 1782, but rejuvenated, purged of the baser +elements which had alloyed its imperial spirit, and confirmed in +its faith in the principles on which it was built. More than that, +on the first occasion on which the essential principles or the +power of the empire had been challenged in war, all the self- +governing colonies had voluntarily borne their share. Apart from a +small contingent sent from Australia to the Soudan in 1885, +British colonies had never before--indeed, no European colony had +ever before--sent men oversea to fight in a common cause: and this +not because their immediate interests were threatened, but for the +sake of an idea. For that reason the South African War marks an +epoch not merely in the history of the British Empire, but of +European imperialism as a whole. + +The unity of sentiment and aim which was thus expressed had, +however, been steadily growing throughout the period of European +rivalry; and doubtless in the colonies, as in Britain, the new +value attached to the imperial tie was due in a large degree to +the very fact of the eagerness of the other European powers for +extra-European possessions. Imperialist sentiment began to become +a factor in British politics just about the beginning of this +period: in 1878 the Imperial Federation Society was founded, and +about the same time Disraeli, who had once spoken of the colonies +as 'millstones around our necks,' was making himself the +mouthpiece of the new imperialist spirit. To this wave of feeling +a very notable contribution was made by Sir John Seeley's +brilliant book, "The Expansion of England." Slight as it was, and +containing no facts not already familiar, it gave a new +perspective to the events of the last four centuries of British +history, and made the growth of the Empire seem something not +merely casual and incidental, but a vital and most significant +part of the British achievement. Its defect was, perhaps, that it +concentrated attention too exclusively upon the external aspects +of the wonderful story, and dwelt too little upon its inner +spirit, upon the force and influence of the instinct of self- +government which has been the most potent factor in British +history. The powerful impression which it created was deepened by +other books, like Froude's "Oceana" and Sir Charles Dilke's +"Greater Britain," the title of which alone was a proclamation and +a prophecy. It was strengthened also by the wonderful imperial +pageants, like nothing else ever witnessed in the world, which +began with the two Jubilee celebrations of 1887 and 1897, and were +continued in the funerals of Queen Victoria and Edward VII., the +coronations of Edward VII. and George V., and the superb Durbars +of Delhi. The imaginative appeal of such solemn representations of +a world-scattered fellowship of peoples and nations and tongues +must not be underestimated. At first there was perhaps a +suggestion of blatancy, and of mere pride in dominion, in the way +in which these celebrations were received; the graver note of +Kipling's 'Recessional,' inspired by the Jubilee of 1897, was not +unneeded. But after the strain and anxiety of the South African +War, a different temper visibly emerged. + +More important than the pageants were the conferences of imperial +statesmen which arose out of them. The prime ministers of the +great colonies began to deliberate in common with the statesmen of +Britain; and the discussions, though at first quite informal and +devoid of authority, have become more intimate and vital as time +has passed: a beginning at least has been made in the common +discussion of problems affecting the Empire as a whole. And +alongside of, and in consequence of, all this, imperial questions +have been treated with a new seriousness in the British +parliament, and the offices which deal with them have ceased to +be, as they once were, reserved for statesmen of the second rank. +The new attitude was pointedly expressed when in 1895 Mr. Joseph +Chamberlain, the most brilliant politician of his generation, who +could have had almost any office he desired, deliberately chose +the Colonial Office. His tenure of that office was not, perhaps, +memorable for any far-reaching change in colonial policy, though +he introduced some admirable improvements in the administration of +the tropical colonies; but it was most assuredly memorable for the +increased intensity of interest which he succeeded in arousing in +imperial questions, both at home and in the colonies. The campaign +which he initiated, after the South African War, for the +institution of an Imperial Zollverein or a system of Colonial +Preference was a failure, and indeed was probably a blunder, since +it implied an attempt to return to that material basis of imperial +unity which had formed the core of the old colonial system, and +had led to the most unhappy results in regard to the American +colonies. But at least it was an attempt to realise a fuller unity +than had yet been achieved, and in its first form included an +inspiring appeal to the British people to face sacrifices, should +they be necessary, for that high end. Whether these ideas +contribute to the ultimate solution of the imperial problem or +not, it was at least a good thing that the question should be +raised and discussed. + +One further feature among the many developments of this era must +not be left untouched. It is the rise of a definitely national +spirit in the greater members of the Empire. To this a great +encouragement has been given by the political unity which some of +these communities have for the first time attained during these +years. National sentiment in the Dominion of Canada was stimulated +into existence by the Federation of 1867. The unification of +Australia which was at length achieved in the Federation of 1900 +did not indeed create, but it greatly strengthened, the rise of a +similar spirit of Australian nationality. A national spirit in +South Africa, merging in itself the hostile racial sentiments of +Boer and Briton, may well prove to be the happiest result of the +Union of South Africa. In India also a national spirit is coming +to birth, bred among a deeply divided people by the political +unity, the peace, and the equal laws, which have been the greatest +gifts of British rule; its danger is that it may be too quick to +imagine that the unity which makes nationhood can be created +merely by means of resolutions declaring that it exists, but the +desire to create it is an altogether healthy desire. On the +surface it might appear that the rise of a national spirit in the +great members of the Empire is a danger to the ideal of imperial +unity; but that need not be so, and if it were so, the danger must +be faced, since the national spirit is too valuable a force to be +restricted. The sense of nationhood is the inevitable outcome of +the freedom and co-operation which the British system everywhere +encourages; to attempt to repress it lest it should endanger +imperial unity would be as short-sighted as the old attempt to +restrict the natural growth of self-government because it also +seemed a danger to imperial unity. The essence of the British +system is the free development of natural tendencies, and the +encouragement of variety of types; and the future towards which +the Empire seems to be tending is not that of a highly centralised +and unified state, but that of a brotherhood of free nations, +united by community of ideas and institutions, co-operating for +many common ends, and above all for the common defence in case of +need, but each freely following the natural trend of its own +development. + +That is the conception of empire, unlike any other ever +entertained by men upon this planet, which was already shaping +itself among the British communities when the terrible ordeal of +the Great War came to test it, and to prove as not even the +staunchest believer could have anticipated, that it was capable of +standing the severest trial which men or institutions have ever +had to undergo. + + + + + +IX + +THE GREAT CHALLENGE, 1900-1914 + + +At the opening of the twentieth century the long process whereby +the whole globe has been brought under the influence of European +civilisation was practically completed; and there had emerged a +group of gigantic empires, which in size far surpassed the ancient +Empire of Rome; each resting upon, and drawing its strength from, +a unified nation-state. In the hands of these empires the +political destinies of the world seemed to rest, and the lesser +nation-states appeared to be altogether overshadowed by them. +Among the vast questions which fate was putting to humanity, there +were none more momentous than these: On what principles, and in +what spirit, were these nation-empires going to use the power +which they had won over their vast and varied multitudes of +subjects? What were to be their relations with one another? Were +they to be relations of conflict, each striving to weaken or +destroy its rivals in the hope of attaining a final world- +supremacy? Or were they to be relations of co-operation in the +development of civilisation, extending to the whole world those +tentative but far from unsuccessful efforts after international +co-operation which the European states had long been endeavouring +to work out among themselves? [Footnote: See the Essay on +Internationalism (Nationalism and Internationalism, p. 124 ff.).] +At first it seemed as if the second alternative might be adopted, +for these were the days of the Hague Conferences; but the +development of events during the first fourteen years of the +century showed with increasing clearness that one of the new +world-states was resolute to make a bid for world-supremacy, and +the gradual maturing of this challenge, culminating in the Great +War, constitutes the supreme interest of these years. + +The oldest, and (by the rough tests of area, population, and +natural resources) by far the greatest of these new composite +world-states, was the British Empire, which included 12,000,000 +square miles, or one-quarter of the land-surface of the globe. It +rested upon the wealth, vigour, and skill of a population of +45,000,000 in the homeland, to which might be added, but only by +their own consent, the resources of five young daughter-nations, +whose population only amounted to about 15,000,000. Thus it stood +upon a rather narrow foundation. And while it was the greatest, it +was also beyond comparison the most loosely organised of all these +empires. It was rather a partnership of a multitude of states in +every grade of civilisation than an organised and consolidated +dominion. Five of its chief members were completely self- +governing, and shared in the common burdens only by their own free +will. All the remaining members were organised as distinct units, +though subject to the general control of the home government. The +resources of each unit were employed exclusively for the +development of its own welfare. They paid no tribute; they were +not required to provide any soldiers beyond the minimum needed for +their own defence and the maintenance of internal order. This +empire, in short, was not in any degree organised for military +purposes. It possessed no great land-army, and was, therefore, +incapable of threatening the existence of any of its rivals. It +depended for its defence firstly upon its own admirable strategic +distribution, since it was open to attack at singularly few points +otherwise than from the sea; it depended mainly, for that reason, +upon naval power, and secure command of the sea-roads by which its +members were linked was absolutely vital to its existence. Only by +sea-power (which is always weak in the offensive) could it +threaten its neighbours or rivals; and its sea-power, during four +centuries, had always, in war, been employed to resist the +threatened domination of any single power, and had never, in time +of peace, been employed to restrict the freedom of movement of any +of the world's peoples. On the contrary, the Freedom of the Seas +had been established by its victories, and dated from the date of +its ascendancy. The life-blood of this empire was trade; its +supreme interest was manifestly peace. The conception of the +meaning of empire which had been developed by its history was not +a conception of dominion for dominion's sake, or of the +exploitation of subjects for the advantage of a master. On the +contrary, it had come to mean (especially during the nineteenth +century) 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 theory +or an ideal, but of a fact and a practice, is sufficiently +demonstrated by two unquestionable facts: the first that the units +which formed this empire were not only free from all tribute in +money or men, but were not even required to make any contribution +towards the upkeep of the fleet, upon which the safety of all +depended; the second that every port and every market in this vast +empire, so far as they were under the control of the central +government, were thrown open as freely to the citizens of all +other states as to its own. Finally, in this empire there had +never been any attempt to impose a uniformity of method or even of +laws upon the infinitely various societies which it included: it +not merely permitted, it cultivated and admired, varieties of +type, and to the maximum practicable degree believed in self- +government. Because these were the principles upon which it was +administered, the real strength of this empire was far greater +than it appeared. But beyond question it was ill-prepared and ill- +organised for war; desiring peace beyond all things, and having +given internal peace to one-quarter of the earth's population, it +was apt to be over-sanguine about the maintenance of peace. And if +a great clash of empires should come, this was likely to tell +against it. + +The second oldest--perhaps it ought to be described as the oldest +--of the world-empires, and the second largest in area, was the +Russian Empire, which covered 8,500,000 square miles of territory. +Its strength was that its vast domains formed a single continuous +block, and that its population was far more homogeneous than that +of its rivals, three out of four of its subjects being either of +the Russian or of kindred Slavonic stock. Its weaknesses were that +it was almost land-locked, nearly the whole of its immense +coastline being either inaccessible, or ice-bound during half of +the year; and that it had not adopted modern methods of +government, being subject to a despotism, working through an +inefficient, tyrannical, and corrupt bureaucracy. In the event of +a European war it was further bound to suffer from the facts that +its means of communication and its capacity for the movement of +great armies were ill-developed; and that it was far behind all +its rivals in the control of industrial machinery and applied +science, upon which modern warfare depends, and without which the +greatest wealth of man-power is ineffective. At the opening of the +twentieth century Russia was still pursuing the policy of Eastward +expansion at the expense of China, which the other Western powers +had been compelled to abandon by the formation of the Anglo- +Japanese alliance. Able to bring pressure upon China from the +landward side, she was not deterred by the naval predominance +which this alliance enjoyed, and she still hoped to control +Manchuria, and to dominate the policy of China. But these aims +brought her in conflict with Japan, who had been preparing for the +conflict ever since 1895. The outcome of the war (1904), which +ended in a disastrous Russian defeat, had the most profound +influence upon the politics of the world. It led to an internal +revolution in Russia. It showed that the feet of the colossus were +of clay, and that her bureaucratic government was grossly corrupt +and incompetent. It forbade Russia to take an effective part in +the critical events of the following years, and notably disabled +her from checking the progress of German and Austrian ascendancy +in the Balkans. Above all it increased the self-confidence of +Germany, and inspired her rulers with the dangerous conviction +that the opposing forces with which they would have to deal in the +expected contest for the mastery of Europe could be more easily +overthrown than they had anticipated. To the Russian defeat must +be mainly attributed the blustering insolence of German policy +during the next ten years, and the boldness of the final challenge +in 1914. + +The third of the great empires was that of France, with 5,000,000 +square miles of territory, mostly acquired in very recent years, +but having roots in the past. It rested upon a home population of +only 39,000,000, but these belonged to the most enlightened, the +most inventive, and the most chivalrous stock in Christendom. As +France had, a hundred years before, raised the standard of human +rights among the European peoples, so she was now bringing law and +justice and peace to the backward peoples of Africa and the East; +and was finding in the pride of this achievement some consolation +for the brtitality with which she had been hurled from the +leadership of Europe. + +The fourth of the great empires was America, with some 3,000,000 +square miles of territory, and a vague claim of suzerainty over +the vast area of Central and South America. Her difficult task of +welding into a nation masses of people of the most heterogeneous +races had been made yet more difficult by the enormous flood of +immigrants, mainly from the northern, eastern, and south-eastern +parts of Europe, which had poured into her cities during the last +generation: they proved to be in many ways more difficult to +digest than their predecessors, and they tended, in a dangerous +way, to live apart and to organise themselves as separate +communities. The presence of these organised groups made it +sometimes hard for America to maintain a quite clear and +distinctive attitude in the discussions of the powers, most of +which had, as it were, definite bodies of advocates among her +citizens; and it was perhaps in part for this reason that she had +tended to fall back again to that attitude of aloofness towards +the affairs of the non-American world from which she seemed to +have begun to depart in the later years of the last century. +Although she had herself taken a hand in the imperialist +activities of the 'nineties, the general attitude of her citizens +towards the imperial controversies of Europe was one of contempt +or undiscriminating condemnation. Her old tradition of isolation +from the affairs of Europe was still very strong--still the +dominating factor in her policy. She had not yet grasped (indeed, +who, in any country, had?) the political consequences of the new +era of world-economy into which we have passed. And therefore she +could not see that the titanic conflict of Empires which was +looming ahead was of an altogether different character from the +old conflicts of the European states, that it was fundamentally a +conflict of principles, a fight for existence between the ideal of +self-government and the ideal of dominion, and that it must +therefore involve, for good or ill, the fortunes of the whole +globe. She watched the events which led up to the great agony with +impartial and deliberate interest. Even when the war began she +clung with obstinate faith to the belief that her tradition of +aloofness might still be maintained. It is not surprising, when we +consider how deep-rooted this tradition was, that it took two and +a half years of carnage and horror to convert her from it. But it +was inevitable that in the end her still more deeply rooted +tradition of liberty should draw her into the conflict, and lead +her at last to play her proper part in the attempt to shape a new +world-order. + +We cannot stop to analyse the minor world-states, Italy and Japan; +both of which might have stood aside from the conflict, but that +both realised its immense significance for themselves and for the +world. + +Last among the world-states, both in the date of its foundation +and in the extent of its domains, was the empire of Germany, which +covered considerably less than 1,500,000 square miles, but rested +upon a home population of nearly 70,000,000, more docile, more +industrious, and more highly organised than any other human +society. The empire of Germany had been more easily and more +rapidly acquired than any of the others, yet since its foundation +it had known many troubles, because the hard and domineering +spirit in which it was ruled did not know how to win the +affections of its subjects. A parvenu among the great states-- +having only attained the dignity of nationhood in the mid- +nineteenth century--Germany has shown none of that 'genius for +equality' which is the secret of good manners and of friendship +among nations as among individuals. Her conversation, at home and +abroad, had the vulgar self-assertiveness of the parvenu, and +turned always and wholly upon her own greatness. And her conduct +has been the echo of her conversation. She has persuaded herself +that she has a monopoly of power, of wisdom, and of knowledge, and +deserves to rule the earth. Of the magnitude and far-reaching +nature of her imperialist ambitions, we have said something in a +previous chapter. She had as yet failed to realise any of these +vaulting schemes, but she had not for that reason abandoned any of +them, and she kept her clever and insidious preparations on foot +in every region of the world upon which her acquisitive eyes had +rested. But the exasperation of her steady failure to achieve the +place in the world which she had marked out as her due had driven +her rulers more and more definitely to contemplate, and prepared +her people to uphold, a direct challenge to all her rivals. The +object of this challenge was to win for Germany her due share in +the non-European world, her 'place in the sun.' Her view of what +that share must be was such that it could not be attained without +the overthrow of all her European rivals, and this would bring +with it the lordship of the worid. It must be all or nothing. +Though not quite realising this alternative, the mind of Germany +was not afraid of it. She was in the mood to make a bold attempt, +if need be, to grasp even the sceptre of world-supremacy. The +world could not believe that any sane people could entertain such +megalomaniac visions; not even the events of the decade 1904-14 +were enough to bring conviction; it needed the tragedy and +desolation of the war to prove at once their reality and their +folly. For they were folly even if they could be momentarily +realised. They sprang from the traditions of Prussia, which seemed +to demonstrate that all things were possible to him who dared all, +and scrupled nothing, and calculated his chances and his means +with precision. By force and fraud the greatness of Prussia had +been built; by force and fraud Prussia-Germany had become the +leading state of Europe, feared by all her rivals and safe from +all attack. Force and fraud appeared to be the determining factors +in human affairs; even the philosophers of Germany devoted their +powers to justifying and glorifying them. By force and fraud, +aided by science, Germany should become the leader of the world, +and perhaps its mistress. Never has the doctrine of power been +proclaimed with more unflinching directness as the sole and +sufficient motive for state action. There was practically no +pretence that Germany desired to improve the condition of the +lands she wished to possess, or that they were misgoverned, or +that the existing German territories were threatened: what +pretence there was, was invented after war began. The sole and +sufficient reason put forward by the advocates of the policy which +Germany was pursuing was that she wanted more power and larger +dominions; and what she wanted she proposed to take + +On the surface it seemed mere madness for the least and latest of +the great empires to challenge all the rest, just as it had once +seemed madness for Frederick the Great, with his little state, to +stand up against all but one of the great European powers. But +Germany had calculated her chances, and knew that there were many +things in her favour. She knew that in the last resort the +strength of the world-states rested upon their European +foundations, and here the inequality was much less. In a European +struggle she could draw great advantage from her central +geographical position, which she had improved to the highest +extent by the construction of a great system of strategic +railways. She could trust to her superbly organised military +system, more perfect than that of any other state, just because no +other state has ever regarded war as the final aim and the highest +form of state action. She commanded unequalled resources in all +the mechanical apparatus of war; she had spared no pains to build +up her armament works, which had, indeed, supplied a great part of +the world; she had developed all the scientific industries in such +a way that their factories could be rapidly and easily turned to +war purposes; and having given all her thoughts to the coming +struggle as no other nation had done, she knew, better than any +other, how largely it would turn upon these things. She counted +securely upon winning an immense advantage from the fact that she +would herself fix the date of war, and enter upon it with a sudden +spring, fully prepared, against rivals who, clinging to the hope +of peace, would be unready for the onset. She hoped to sow +jealousies among her rivals; she trusted to catch them at a time +when they were engrossed in their domestic concerns, and in this +respect fate seemed to play into her hands, since at the moment +which she had predetermined, Britain, France, and Russia were all +distracted by domestic controversies. She trusted also to her +reading of the minds and temper of her opponents; and here she +went wildly astray, as must always be the fate of the nation or +the man who is blinded by self-complacency and by contempt for +others. + +But, above all, she put her trust in a vast political combination +which she had laboriously prepared during the years preceding the +great conflict: the combination which we have learned to call +Mittel-Europa. None of us realised to how great an extent this +plan had been put in operation before the war began. Briefly it +depended on the possibility of obtaining an intimate union with +the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a control over the Turkish Empire, +and a sufficient influence or control among the little Balkan +states to ensure through communication. If the scheme could be +carried out in full, it would involve the creation of a +practically continuous empire stretching from the North Sea to the +Persian Gulf, and embracing a total population of over +150,000,000. This would be a dominion worth acquiring for its own +sake, since it would put Germany on a level with her rivals. But +it would have the further advantage that it would hold a central +position in relation to the other world-powers, corresponding to +Germany's central position in relation to the other nation-states +of Europe. Russia could be struck at along the whole length of her +western and south-western frontier; the British Empire could be +threatened in Egypt, the centre of its ocean lines of +communication, and also from the Persian Gulf in the direction of +India; the French Empire could be struck at the heart, in its +European centre; and all without seriously laying open the +attacking powers to the invasion of sea-power. + +It was a bold and masterful scheme, and it was steadily pursued +during the years before the war. Austro-Hungary was easily +influenced. The ascendancy of her ruling races--nay, the very +existence of her composite anti-national empire--was threatened +by the nationalist movements among her subject-peoples, who, +cruelly oppressed at home, were more and more beginning to turn +towards their free brothers over the border, in Serbia and +Rumania; and behind these loomed Russia, the traditional protector +of the Slav peoples and of the Orthodox faith. Austro-Hungary, +therefore, leant upon the support of Germany, and her dominant +races would be very willing to join in a war which should remove +the Russian menace and give them a chance of subjugating the +Serbs. This latter aim suited the programme of Germany as well as +it suited that of Austria, since the railways to Constantinople +and Salonika ran through Serbia. Serbia, therefore, was doomed; +she stood right in the path of the Juggernaut car. + +The acquisition of influence in Turkey was also comparatively +easy. Constantinople is a city where lavish corruption can work +wonders. Moreover Turkey was, in the last years of the nineteenth +century, in bad odour with Europe; and Germany was able to earn in +1897 the lasting gratitude of the infamous Sultan Abdul Hamid by +standing between him and the other European powers, who were +trying to interfere with his indulgence in the pastime of +massacring the Armenians. Turkey had had many protectors among the +European powers. She had never before had one so complaisant about +the murder of Christians. From that date Germany was all-powerful +in Turkey. The Turkish army was reorganised under her direction, +and practically passed under her control. Most of the Turkish +railways were acquired and managed by German companies. And +presently the great scheme of the Bagdad railway began to be +carried through. The Young Turk revolution in 1908 and the fall of +Abdul Hamid gave, indeed, a shock to the German ascendancy; but +only for a moment. The Young Turks were as amenable to corruption +as their predecessors; and under the guidance of Enver Bey Turkey +relapsed into German suzerainty. Thus the most important parts of +the great scheme were in a fair way of success by 1910. One of the +merits of this scheme was that as the Sultan of Turkey was the +head of the Mahomedan religion, the German protectorate over +Turkey gave a useful mode of appealing to the religious sentiments +of Mahomedans everywhere. Twice over, in 1898 and in 1904, the +Kaiser had declared that he was the protector of all Mahomedans +throughout the world. Most of the Mahomedans were subjects either +of Britain, France, or Russia--the three rival empires that were +to be overthrown. As General Bernhardi put it, Germany in her +struggle for Weltmacht must supplement her material weapons with +spiritual weapons. + +To obtain a similar ascendancy over the Balkan states was more +difficult; for the Turk was the secular enemy of all of them, and +Austria was the foe of two of the four, and to bring these little +states into partnership with their natural enemies seemed an all +but impossible task. Yet a good deal could be, and was, done. In +two of the four chief Balkan states German princes occupied the +thrones, a Hohenzollern in Rumania, a Coburger in Bulgaria; in a +third, the heir-apparent to the Greek throne was honoured with the +hand of the Kaiser's own sister. Western peoples had imagined that +the day had gone by when the policy of states could be deflected +by such facts; especially as the Balkan states all had democratic +parliamentary constitutions. But the Germans knew better than the +West. They knew that kings could still play a great part in +countries where the bulk of the electorate were illiterate, and +where most of the class of professional politicians were always +open to bribes. Their calculations were justified. King Carol of +Rumania actually signed a treaty of alliance with Germany without +consulting his ministers or parliament. King Ferdinand of Bulgaria +was able to draw his subjects into an alliance with the Turks, who +had massacred their fathers in 1876, against the Russians, who had +saved them from destruction. King Constantine of Greece was able +to humiliate and disgrace the country over which he ruled, in +order to serve the purposes of his brother-in-law. These +sovereigns may have been the unconscious implements of a policy +which they did not understand. But they earned their wages. + +There were, indeed, two moments when the great scheme came near +being wrecked. One was when Italy, the sleeping partner of the +Triple Alliance, who was not made a sharer in these grandiose and +vile projects, attacked and conquered the Turkish province of +Tripoli in 1911, and strained to breaking-point the loyalty of the +Turks to Germany. The other was when, under the guidance of the +two great statesmen of the Balkans, Venizelos of Greece and +Pashitch of Serbia, the Balkan League was formed, and the power of +Turkey in Europe broken. If the League had held together, the +great German project would have been ruined, or at any rate +gravely imperilled. But Germany and Austria contrived to throw an +apple of discord among the Balkan allies at the Conference of +London in 1912, and then stimulated Bulgaria to attack Serbia and +Greece. The League was broken up irreparably; its members had been +brought into a sound condition of mutual hatred; and Bulgaria, +isolated among distrustful neighbours, was ready to become the +tool of Germany in order that by her aid she might achieve (fond +hope!) the hegemony of the Balkans. This brilliant stroke was +effected in 1913--the year before the Great War. All that remained +was to ruin Serbia. For that purpose Austria had long been +straining at the leash. She had been on the point of making an +attack in 1909, in 1912, in 1913. In 1914 the leash was slipped. +If the rival empires chose to look on while Serbia was destroyed, +well and good: in that case the Berlin-Bagdad project could be +systematically developed and consolidated, and the attack on the +rival empires could come later. If not, still it was well; for all +was ready for the great challenge. + +We have dwelt at some length upon this gigantic project, because +it has formed during all these years the heart and centre of the +German designs, and even to-day it is the dearest of German hopes. +Not until she is utterly defeated will she abandon it; because its +abandonment must involve the abandonment of every hope of a +renewed attempt at world-supremacy, after an interval for +reorganisation and recovery. Not until the German control over +Austria and Turkey, more complete to-day, after two and a half +years of war, than it has ever been before, has been destroyed by +the splitting up of Austria among the nationalities to which her +territory belongs, and by the final overthrow of the Turkish +Empire, will the German dream of world-dominion be shattered. + +But while this fundamentally important project was being worked +out, other events, almost equally momentous in their bearing upon +the coming conflict, were taking place elsewhere. It was the +obvious policy of Germany to keep her rivals on bad terms with one +another. The tradition of Bismarck bade her isolate each victim +before it was destroyed. But the insolence and the megalomania of +modern Germany made this difficult. German writers were busily and +openly explaining the fate marked out for all the other powers. +France was to be so crushed that she would 'never again be able to +stand in our path.' The bloated and unconsolidated empire of +Britain was to be shattered. The Russian barbarians were to be +thrust back into Asia. And what the pamphleteers and journalists +wrote was expressed with almost equal clearness in the tone of +German diplomacy. In face of all this, the clumsy attempts of the +German government to isolate their rivals met with small success, +even though these rivals had many grounds of controversy among +themselves. France knew what she had to fear; and the +interpolation of a few clumsy bids for her favour amid the torrent +of insults against her which filled the German press, were of no +avail; especially as she had to look on at the unceasing petty +persecution practised in the lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. +Russia had been alienated by the first evidences of German designs +in the Balkans, and driven into a close alliance with France. +Britain, hitherto obstinately friendly to Germany, began to be +perturbed by the growing German programmes of naval construction +from 1900 onwards, by the absolute refusal of Germany to consider +any proposal for mutual disarmament or retardation of +construction, and above all by the repeated assertions of the head +of the German state that Germany aspired to naval supremacy, that +her future was on the sea, that the trident must be in her hands. +Should the trident fall into any but British hands, the existence +of the British Empire, and the very livelihood of the British +homeland, would rest at the mercy of him who wielded it. So, quite +inevitably, the three threatened empires drew together and +reconciled their differences in the Franco-British agreement of +1904 and the Russo-British agreement of 1907. + +These agreements dealt wholly with extra-European questions, and +therefore deserve some analysis. In the Franco-British agreement +the main feature was that while France withdrew her opposition to +the British position in Egypt, Britain on her side recognised the +paramount political interest of France in Morocco. It was the +agreement about Morocco which counted for most; because it was the +beginning of a controversy which lasted for seven years, which was +twice used by Germany as a means for testing, and endeavouring to +break, the friendship of her rivals, and which twice brought +Europe to the verge of war. + +Morocco is a part of that single region of mountainous North +Africa of which France already controlled the remainder, Tunis and +Algeria. Peoples of the same type inhabited the whole region, but +while in Tunis and Algeria they were being brought under the +influence of law and order, in Morocco they remained in anarchy. +Only a conventional line divided Morocco from Algeria, and the +anarchy among the tribesmen on one side of the line inevitably had +an unhappy effect upon the people on the other side of the line. +More than once France had been compelled, for the sake of Algeria, +to intervene in Morocco. It is impossible to exaggerate the +anarchy which existed in the interior of this rich and wasted +country. It was, indeed, the most lawless region remaining in the +world: when Mr. Bernard Shaw wished to find a scene for a play in +which the hero should be a brigand chief leading a band of rascals +and outlaws from all countries, Morocco presented the only +possible scene remaining in the world. And this anarchy was the +more unfortunate, not only because the country was naturally rich +and ought to have been prosperous, but also because it lay in +close proximity to great civilised states, and on one of the main +routes of commerce at the entrance to the Mediterranean. In its +ports a considerable traffic was carried on by European traders, +but this traffic was, owing to the anarchic condition of the +country, nothing like as great as it ought to have been. In 1905, +39 per cent. of it was controlled by French traders, 32 per cent. +by British traders, 12 per cent. by German traders, and 5 per +cent. by Spanish traders. Manifestly this was a region where law +and order ought to be established, in the interests of +civilisation. The powers most directly concerned were in the first +place France, with her neighbouring territory and her preponderant +trade; in the second place Britain, whose strategic interests as +well as her trading interests were involved; in the third place +Spain, which directly faced the Morocco coast; while Germany had +only trading interests involved, and so long as these were +safeguarded, had no ground of complaint. If any single power was +to intervene, manifestly the first claim was upon France. + +In 1900 France had directed the attention of Europe to the +disorderly condition of Morocco, and had proposed to intervene to +restore order, on the understanding that she should not annex the +country, or interfere with the trading rights of other nations. +Some states agreed; Germany made no reply, but made no objection. +But owing to the opposition of Britain, who was then on bad terms +with France and feared to see an unfriendly power controlling the +entrance to the Mediterranean, no action was taken; and in the +next years the chaos in Morocco grew worse. By the agreement of +1904 Britain withdrew her objection to French intervention, and +recognised the prior political rights of France in Morocco, on the +condition that the existing government of Morocco should be +maintained, that none of its territory should be annexed, and that +'the open door' should be preserved for the trade of all nations. +But, of course, it was possible, and even probable, that the +existing Moroccan government could not be made efficient. In that +case, what should happen? The possibility had to be contemplated +by reasonable statesmen, and provided against. But to do so in a +public treaty would have been to condemn beforehand the existing +system. Therefore a hypothetical arrangement was made for this +possible future event in a secret treaty, to which Spain was made +a party; whereby it was provided that if the arrangement should +break down, and France should have to establish a definite +protectorate, the vital part of the north coast should pass under +the control of Spain. + +To the public part of these arrangements, which alone were of +immediate importance, no objection was made by any of the other +powers, and the German Chancellor told the Reichstag that German +interests were not affected. France accordingly drew up a scheme +of reforms in the government of Morocco, which the Sultan was +invited to accept. But before he had accepted them the German +Kaiser suddenly came to Tangier in his yacht, had an interview +with the Sultan in which he urged him to reject the French +demands, and made a public speech in which he declared himself the +protector of the Mahomedans, asserted that no European power had +special rights in Morocco, and announced his determination to +support the 'independence and integrity' of Morocco--which in +existing circumstances meant the maintenance of anarchy. What was +the reason for this sudden and insolent intervention--made without +any previous communication with France? The main reason was that +France's ally, Russia, had just been severely defeated by Japan, +and would not be able to take part in a European war. Therefore, +it appeared, France might be bullied; Britain might not be willing +to risk war on such an issue; the Entente of 1904 might be +destroyed; the extension of French influence might be prevented; +and the preservation of a state of anarchy in Morocco would leave +open the chance of a seizure of that country by Germany at a later +date, thus enabling her to dominate the entrance to the +Mediterranean, and to threaten Algeria. But this pretty scheme did +not succeed. The Entente held firm. Britain gave steady support to +France, as indeed she was bound in honour to do; and in the end a +conference of the powers was held at Algeciras (Spain). At this +conference the predominating right of France to political +influence in Morocco was formally recognised; and it was agreed +that the government of the Sultan should be maintained, and that +all countries should have equal trading rights in Morocco. This +was, of course, the very basis of the Franco-British agreement. On +every point at which she tried to score a success over France, +Germany was defeated by the votes of the other powers, even her +own ally, Italy, deserting her. + +But the German intervention had had its effect. The Sultan had +refused the French scheme of reform. The elements of disorder in +Morocco were encouraged to believe that they had the protection of +Germany, and the activity of German agents strengthened this +belief. The anarchy grew steadily worse. In 1907 Sir Harry Maclean +was captured by a brigand chief, and the British government had to +pay 20,000 pounds ransom for his release. In the same year a +number of European workmen engaged on harbour works at Casablanca +were murdered by tribesmen; and the French had to send a force +which had a year's fighting before it reduced the district to +order. In 1911 the Sultan was besieged in his capital (where there +were a number of European residents) by insurgent tribesmen, and +had to invite the French to send an army to his relief. + +This was seized upon by Germany as a pretext. Morocco was no +longer 'independent.' The agreement of Algecras was dead. +Therefore she resumed her right to put forward what claims she +pleased in Morocco. Suddenly her gunboat, the Panther, appeared +off Agadir. It was meant as an assertion that Germany had as much +right to intervene in Morocco as France. And it was accompanied by +a demand that if France wanted to be left free in Morocco, she +must buy the approval of Germany. The settlement of Morocco was to +be a question solely between France and Germany. The Entente of +1904, the agreement of 1906, the Moroccan interests of Britain +(much more important than those of Germany), and the interests of +the other powers of the Algeciras Conference, were to count for +nothing. Germany's voice must be the determining factor. But +Germany announced that she was willing to be bought off by large +concessions of French territory elsewhere--provided that Britain +was not allowed to have anything to say: provided, that is, that +the agreement of 1904 was scrapped. This was a not too subtle way +of trying to drive a wedge between two friendly powers. It did not +succeed. Britain insisted upon being consulted. There was for a +time a real danger of war. In the end peace was maintained by the +cession by France of considerable areas in the Congo as the price +of German abstention from intervening in a sphere where she had no +right to intervene. But Morocco was left under a definite French +protectorate. + +We have dwelt upon the Morocco question at some length, partly +because it attracted a vast amount of interest during the years of +preparation for the war; partly because it affords an +extraordinarily good illustration of the difficulty of maintaining +peaceable relations with Germany, and of the spirit in which +Germany approached the delicate questions of inter-imperial +relationships--a spirit far removed indeed from that friendly +willingness for compromise and co-operation by which alone the +peace of the world could be maintained; and partly because it +illustrates the crudity and brutality of the methods by which +Germany endeavoured to separate her intended victims. It is +improbable that she ever meant to go to war on the Moroccan +question. She meant to go to war on whatever pretext might present +itself when all her preparations were ready; but in the meanwhile +she would avoid war on all questions but one: and that one was the +great Berlin-Bagdad project, the keystone of her soaring arch of +Empire. She would fight to prevent the ruin of that scheme. +Otherwise she would preserve the peace, she would even make +concessions to preserve the peace, until the right moment had +come. In that sense Germany was a peace-loving power: in that +sense alone. + +On the agreement between Russia and Britain in 1907 it is +unnecessary to dwell with such fulness. The agreement turned +mainly upon the removal of causes of friction in the Middle East-- +in Persia and the Persian Gulf, and in Tibet. These were in +themselves interesting and thorny questions, especially the +question of Persia, where the two powers established distinct +spheres of interest and a sort of joint protectorate. But they +need not detain us, because they had no direct bearing upon the +events leading up to the war, except in so far as, by removing +friction between two rivals of long standing, they made it +possible for them to co-operate for their common defence against a +menace that became more and more apparent. + +From 1907 onwards Germany found herself confronted by united +defensive action on the part of the three empires whose downfall +she intended to compass. It was not (except as regarded France and +Russia) a formal alliance which bound these powers. There was no +fixed agreement between them as to military co-operation. France +and Britain had indeed, in 1906 and in 1911, consulted as to the +military steps they should take if they were drawn into war, as +seemed likely in those years, but neither was in any way bound to +help the other under all circumstances. France and Britain had +also agreed that the French fleet should be concentrated in the +Mediterranean, the main British fleet in the North Sea. This +arrangement (which was universally known, and, indeed, could not +be concealed) put Britain under a moral obligation to defend +France against naval attack, but only if France were the object of +aggression. It was, therefore, actually a safeguard of peace, +since it ensured that neither France nor, consequently, her ally, +Russia, would begin a war without being sure of the concurrence of +Britain, the most pacific of powers. As the diplomatic records +show, at the opening of the Great War they were not sure of this +concurrence, even for naval purposes, until August 1, when the die +was already cast. The Triple Entente, therefore, was not an +alliance; it was only an agreement for common diplomatic action in +the hope of averting a terrible menace. + +Until 1911 Germany, or some elements in Germany, seem to have +hoped that she could get her own way by bullying and rattling her +sabre, and that by these means she could frighten her rivals, make +them mutually distrustful, and so break up their combination and +deal with them in detail. Those who held this view were the peace- +party (so-called), and they included the Kaiser and his +Chancellor. They would probably not themselves have accepted this +description of their policy, but in practice this is what it +meant. But there was always a formidable and influential party in +Germany which had no patience with these hesitations, and was +eager to draw the sabre. It included the men of the General Staff, +backed by the numerous Pan-German societies and newspapers. The +issue of the Morocco question in 1911, which showed that the +policy of bullying had failed, played into the hands of the men of +violence; and from this moment began the last strenuous burst of +military preparation which preceded the war. In 1911 was passed +the first of a series of Army Acts for the increase of the already +immense German army, and still more for the provision of vast +equipment and the scientific apparatus of destruction; two further +Acts for the same purpose followed in 1912 and in 1913. In 1911 +also was published General Bernhardi's famous book, which defined +and described the course of future action, and the aim which +Germany was henceforth to pursue with all her strength: Weltmacht +oder Niedergang, world-power or downfall. + +The events in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913 completed the +conversion of those who still clung to the policy of peaceful +bullying. The formation and triumph of the Balkan League in 1912 +formed a grave set-back for the Berlin-Bagdad project, which would +be ruined if these little states became strong enough, or united +enough, to be independent. The break-up of the Balkan League and +the second Balkan War of 1913 improved the situation from the +German point of view. But they left Serbia unsatisfactorily +strong, and Serbia distrusted Austria, and controlled the +communications with Constantinople. Serbia must be destroyed; +otherwise the Berlin-Bagdad project, and with it the world-power +of which it was to be the main pillar, would be always insecure. +Austria was for attacking Serbia at once in 1913. Germany held her +back: the widening of the Kiel Canal was not completed, and the +fruits of the latest Army Acts were not yet fully reaped. But all +was ready in 1914; and the Great Challenge was launched. It would +have been launched at or about that time even if an unpopular +Austrian archduke, significantly unguarded by the Austrian police, +had NOT been most opportunely murdered by an Austrian subject on +Austrian territory. The murder was only a pretext. The real cause +of the war was the resolution of Germany to strike for world- +supremacy, and her belief that the time was favourable for the +great adventure. + +Meanwhile, what had the threatened empires been doing during the +years of strenuous German preparation which began in 1911? Their +governments could not but be aware of the enormous activity which +was taking place in that country--which was unthreatened on any +side--though they probably did not know how thorough and how +elaborate it was. What steps did they take to guard against the +danger? Russia was busy constructing strategic railways, to make +the movement of troops easier; she was erecting new munition +factories. But neither could be quickly got ready. France imposed +upon the whole of her manhood the obligation of serving for three +instead of for two years in the army. Britain reorganised her +small professional army, created the Territorial Force, and began +the training of a large officer class in all the universities and +public schools. But she did not attempt to create a national army. +If she had done so, this would have been a signal for the +precipitation of the war. Besides, Britain obstinately clung to +the belief that so monstrous a crime as Germany seemed to be +contemplating could never be committed by a civilised nation; and +she trusted mainly to her fleet for her own security. + +But Britain unquestionably laboured with all her might to conjure +away the nightmare. From 1906 onwards she had made, in vain, +repeated attempts to persuade Germany to accept a mutual +disarmament or retardation of naval construction. In 1912 she +resolved upon a more definite step. The German newspapers were +full of talk about the British policy of 'encircling' Germany in +order to attack and destroy her, which they attributed mainly to +Sir Edward Grey. It was a manifest absurdity, since the Franco- +Russian alliance was formed in 1894, at a time when Britain was on +bad terms with both France and Russia, and the agreements later +made with these two countries were wholly devoted to removing old +causes of dispute between them. But the German people obviously +believed it. Perhaps the German government also believed it? +Britain resolved to remove this apprehension. Accordingly in 1912 +Lord Haldane was sent to Germany with a formal and definite +statement, authorised by the Cabinet, to the effect that Britain +had made no alliance or understanding which was aimed against +Germany, and had no intention of doing so. That being so, since +Germany need have no fear of an attack from Britain, why should +not the two powers agree to reduce their naval expenditure? The +German reply was that to stop the naval programme was impossible, +but that construction might be DELAYED, on one condition--that +both powers should sign a formal agreement drawn up by Germany. +Each power was to pledge itself to absolute neutrality in any +European war in which the other was engaged. Each power was to +undertake to make no new alliances. But this agreement was not to +affect existing alliances or the duties arising under them. This +proposal was an obvious trap, and the German ministers who +proposed it must have had the poorest opinion of the intelligence +of English statesmen if they thought it was likely to be accepted. +For observe that it left Germany, in conjunction with Austria, +free to attack France and Russia. It left the formidable Triple +Alliance unimpaired. But it tied the hands of Britain, who had no +existing European alliances, enforced neutrality upon her in such +a war, and compelled her to look on idly and wait her turn. In the +present war, Germany could have pleaded that she was bound to take +part by the terms of her alliance with Austria, who began it; but +Britain would have been compelled to stand aloof. A very +convenient arrangement for Germany, but not an arrangement that +promised well for the peace of the world! + +Even this rebuff did not dishearten Britain. Feeling that Germany +might have some reasonable ground of complaint in the fact that +her share of the extra-European world was so much less than that +of France or of Britain herself, Britain attempted to come to an +agreement on this head, such as would show that she had no desire +to prevent the imperial expansion of Germany. A treaty was +proposed and discussed, and was ready to be submitted to the +proper authorities for confirmation in June 1914. It has never +been made public, because the war cancelled it before it came into +effect, and we do not know its terms. But we do know that the +German colonial enthusiast, Paul Rohrbach, who has seen the draft +treaty, has said that the concessions made by Britain were +astonishingly extensive, and met every reasonable German demand. +This sounds as if the proposals of the treaty, whatever they were, +had been recklessly generous. But this much is clear, that the +government which had this treaty in its possession when it forced +on the war was not to be easily satisfied. It did not want merely +external possessions. It wanted supremacy; it wanted world- +dominion. + +One last attempt the British government made in the frenzied days +of negotiation which preceded the war. Sir Edward Grey had begged +the German government to make ANY proposal which would make for +peace, and promised his support beforehand; he had received no +reply. He had undertaken that if Germany made any reasonable +proposal, and France or Russia objected, he would have nothing +further to do with France or Russia. Still there was no reply. +Imagining that Germany might still be haunted by what Bismarck +called 'the nightmare of coalition,' and might be rushing into war +now because she feared a war in the future under more unfavourable +conditions, he had pledged himself, if Germany would only say the +word which would secure the peace, to use every effort to bring +about a general understanding among the great powers which would +banish all fears of an anti-German combination. It was of no use. +The reply was the suggestion that Britain should bind herself to +neutrality in this war on the following conditions: (a) that +Germany should be given a free hand to violate the neutrality of +Belgium (which Britain was bound by treaty to defend), on the +understanding that Belgium should be reinstated after she had +served her purpose, if she had offered no resistance; Belgium, be +it noted, being bound in honour to offer resistance by the very +treaty which Germany proposed to violate; and (b) that after +France had been humiliated and beaten to the earth for the crime +of possessing territories which Germany coveted, she should be +restored to independence, and Germany should be content to annex +her 5,000,000 square miles of colonies. In return for this +undertaking Britain was to be--allowed to hold aloof from the war, +and await her turn. + +There is no getting over these facts. The aim of Germany had come +to be nothing less than world-supremacy. The destiny of the whole +globe was to be put to the test. Surely this was the very insanity +of megalomania. + + + + + +X + +WHAT OF THE NIGHT? + + +The gigantic conflict into which the ambitions of Germany have +plunged the world is the most tremendous event in human history, +not merely because of the vast forces engaged, and the appalling +volume of suffering which has resulted from it, but still more +because of the magnitude of the principles for which it is being +fought. It is a war to secure the right of communities which are +linked together by the national spirit to determine their own +destinies; it is a war to maintain the principles of humanity, the +sanctity of formal undertakings between states, and the +possibility of the co-operation of free peoples in the creation of +a new and better world-order; it is a war between two principles +of government, the principle of military autocracy and the +principle of self-government. With all these aspects of the mighty +struggle we are not here immediately concerned, though they have +an intimate bearing upon our main theme: some of them have been +analysed elsewhere. [Footnote: In Nationalism and Internationalism +and in National Self-Government.] But what does concern us most +directly, and what makes this war the culmination of the long +story which we have endeavoured to survey, is that this is a war +in which, as in no earlier war, the whole fate and future of the +now unified world is at stake. For just because the world is now, +as never before, an indissoluble economic and political unity, the +challenge of Germany, whatever view we may take of the immediate +aims of the German state, inevitably raises the whole question of +the principles upon which this unified world, unified by the +victory of European civilisation, is to be in future directed. And +the whole world knows, if vaguely, that these vast issues are at +stake, and that this is no merely European conflict. That is why +we see arrayed upon the fields of battle not only French, British, +Russian, Italian, Serbian, Belgian, Rumanian, Greek and Portuguese +soldiers, but Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South +Africans, Indians, Algerians, Senegalese, Cambodians; and now, +alongside of all these, the citizens of the American Republic. +That is why Brazil and other states are hovering on the edge of +the fray; why Japanese ships are helping to patrol the +Mediterranean, why Arab armies are driving the Turk from the holy +places of Mahomedanism, why African tribesmen are enrolled in new +levies to clear the enemy out of his footholds in that continent. +Almost the whole world is arrayed against the outlaw-power and her +vassals. And the ultimate reason for this is that the whole world +is concerned to see this terrible debate rightly determined. + +For the issue is as simple as this. Now that the world has been +made one by the victory of Western civilisation, in what spirit is +that supremacy to be used? Is it to be in the spirit expressed in +the German Doctrine of Power, the spirit of mere dominion, +ruthlessly imposed and ruthlessly exploited for the sole advantage +of the master-power? That way ruin lies. Or is it to be in the +spirit which has on the whole, and in spite of lapses, guided the +progress of Western civilisation in the past, the spirit of +respect for law and for the rights of the weak, the spirit of +liberty which rejoices in variety of type and method, and which +believes that the destiny towards which all peoples should be +guided is that of self-government in freedom, and the co-operation +of free peoples in the maintenance of common interests? Britain, +France, and America have been the great advocates and exponents of +these principles in the government of their own states: they are +all ranged on one side to-day. Britain, also, as we have tried to +show, has been led by Fate to take a chief part in the extension +of these principles of Western civilisation to the non-European +regions of the world; and, after many mistakes and failures, has +in the direction of her own wide dominions found her way to a +system which reconciles freedom with unity, and learned to regard +herself as being only the trustee of civilisation in the +government of the backward peoples whom she rules. For the just +and final determination of such gigantic issues not even the +terrible price we are paying is too high. + +The issue of the great conflict lies still upon the lap of the +gods. Yet one thing is, we may hope, already assured. Although at +the beginning of the war they came near to winning it, the Germans +are not now likely to win that complete victory upon which they +had calculated, and which would have brought as its prize the +mastery of the world. We can now form some judgment of the extent +of the calamity which this would have meant for humanity. There +would have remained in the world no power capable of resisting +this grim and ugly tyrant-state, with its brute strength and +bestial cruelty as of a gorilla in the primaeval forest, +reinforced by the cold and pitiless calculus of the man of science +in his laboratory; unless, perhaps, Russia had in time recovered +her strength, or unless America had not merely thrown over her +tradition of aloofness and made up her mind to intervene, but had +been allowed the time to organise her forces for resistance. Of +the great empires which the modern age has brought into being, the +Russian would have survived as a helpless and blinded mammoth; the +French Empire would have vanished, and the proud and noble land of +France would have sunk into vassalage and despair; the British +Empire would assuredly have dissolved into its component parts, +for its strength is still too much concentrated in the motherland +for it to be able to hold together once her power was broken. +After a few generations, that will no longer be the case; but to- +day it is so, and the dream of a partnership of free nations which +had begun to dawn upon us would have been shattered for ever by a +complete German victory. Some of the atoms of what once was an +empire might have been left in freedom, but they would have been +powerless to resist the decrees of the Master-state. There would +have been one supreme world-power; and that a power whose attitude +towards backward races has been illustrated by the ruthless +massacre of the Hereros; whose attitude towards ancient but +disorganised civilisations has been illustrated by the history of +Kiao-chau and by the celebrated allocution of the Kaiser to his +soldiers on the eve of the Boxer expedition, when he bade them +outdo the ferocity of Attila and his Huns; whose attitude towards +kindred civilisations on the same level as their own has been +illustrated before the war in the treatment of Danes, Poles, and +Alsatians, and during the war in the treatment of Belgium, of the +occupied districts in France, of Poland and of Serbia. The world +would have lain at the mercy of an insolent and ruthless tyranny, +the tyranny of a Kultur whose ideal is the uniformity of a perfect +mechanism, not the variety of life. Such a fate humanity could not +long have tolerated; yet before the iron mechanism could have been +shattered, if once it had been established, there must have been +inconceivable suffering, and civilisation must have fallen back +many stages towards barbarism. From this fate, we may perhaps +claim, the world was saved from the moment when not Britain only, +but the British Empire, refused to await its turn according to the +German plan, threw its whole weight into the scale, and showed +that, though not organised for war, it was not the effete and +decadent power, not the fortuitous combination of discordant and +incoherent elements, which German theory had supposed; but that +Freedom can create a unity and a virile strength capable of +withstanding even the most rigid discipline, capable of enduring +defeat and disappointment undismayed; but incapable of yielding to +the insolence of brute force. + +It is still possible that the war may end in what is called an +inconclusive peace; and as it is certain that of all her +unrighteous gains that to which Germany will most desperately +cling will be her domination over the Austrian and Turkish +Empires, with the prospect which it affords of a later and more +fortunate attempt at world-power, an inconclusive peace would mean +that the whole world would live in constant dread of a renewal of +these agonies and horrors in a still more awful form. What the +effect of this would be upon the extra-European dominions of +powers which would be drained of their manhood and loaded with the +burden of the past war and the burden of preparation for the +coming war, it is beyond our power to imagine. But it seems likely +that the outer world would very swiftly begin to revise its +judgment as to the value of that civilisation which it has, upon +the whole, been ready to welcome; and chaos would soon come again. + +Finally, it is possible that the Evil Power may be utterly routed, +and the allied empires, tried by fire, may be given the +opportunity and the obligation of making, not merely a new Europe, +but a new world. If that chance should come, how will they use it? +One thing at least is clear. The task which will face the +diplomats who take part in the coming peace-congress will be +different in kind as well as in degree from that of any of their +predecessors at any moment in human history. They will be +concerned not merely with the adjustment of the differences of a +few leading states, and not merely with the settlement of Europe: +they will have to deal with the whole world, and to decide upon +what principles and to what ends the leadership of the peoples of +European stock over the non-European world is to be exercised. +Whether they realise it or not, whether they intend it or not, +they will create either a world-order or a world-disorder. And it +will inevitably be a world-disorder which will result unless we do +some hard thinking on this gigantic problem which faces us, and +unless we are prepared to learn, from the history of the relations +of Europe with the outer world, what are the principles by which +we ought to be guided. We are too prone, when we think of the +problems of the future peace, to fix our attention almost wholly +upon Europe, and, if we think of the non-European world at all, to +assume either that the problem is merely one of power, or that the +principles which will guide us in the settlement of Europe can be +equally applied outside of Europe. Both of these assumptions are +dangerous, because both disregard the teachings of the past which +we have been surveying. + +If, on the one hand, we are content to regard the problem as +merely one of power, and to divide out the non-European world +among the victors as the spoils of victory, we shall indeed have +been conquered by the very spirit which we are fighting; we shall +have become converts to the German Doctrine of Power, which has +brought upon us all these ills, and may bring yet more appalling +evils in the future. The world will emerge divided among a group +of vast empires which will overshadow the lesser states. These +empires will continue to regard one another with fear and +suspicion, and to look upon their subject-peoples merely as +providing the implements for a war of destruction, to be waged by +cut-throat commercial rivalry in time of peace, and by man-power +and machine-power in war. If that should be the result of all our +agonies, the burden which must be laid upon the peoples of these +empires, and the intolerable anticipation of what is to come, will +make their yoke seem indeed a heavy one; will probably bring about +their disintegration; and will end that ascendancy of Western +civilisation over the world which the last four centuries have +established. And justly; since Western civilisation will thus be +made to stand not for justice and liberty, but for injustice and +oppression. Such must be the inevitable result of any settlement +of the non-European world which is guided merely by the ambitions +of a few rival states and the Doctrine of Power. + +On the other hand, we are urged by enthusiasts for liberty, +especially in Russia, to believe that imperialism as such is the +enemy; that we must put an end for ever to all dominion exercised +by one people over another; and that outside of Europe as within +it we must trust to the same principles for the hope of future +peace--the principles of national freedom and self-government-- +and leave all peoples everywhere to control freely their own +destinies. But this is a misreading of the facts as fatal as the +other. It disregards the value of the work that has been done in +the extension of European civilisation to the rest of the world by +the imperial activities of the European peoples. It fails to +recognise that until Europe began to conquer the world neither +rational law nor political liberty had ever in any real sense +existed in the outer world, and that their dominion is even now +far from assured, but depends for its maintenance upon the +continued tutelage of the European peoples. It fails to realise +that the economic demands of the modern world necessitate the +maintenance of civilised administration after the Western pattern, +and that this can only be assured, in large regions of the earth, +by means of the political control of European peoples. Above all +this view does not grasp the essential fact that the idea of +nationhood and the idea of self-government are both modern ideas, +which have had their origin in Europe, and which can only be +realised among peoples of a high political development; that the +sense of nationhood is but slowly created, and must not be +arbitrarily defined in terms of race or language; and that the +capacity for self-government is only formed by a long process of +training, and has never existed except among peoples who were +unified by a strongly felt community of sentiment, and had +acquired the habit and instinct of loyalty to the law. Assuredly +it is the duty of Europe and America to extend these fruitful +conceptions to the regions which have passed under their +influence. But the process must be a very slow one, and it can +only be achieved under tutelage. It is the control of the European +peoples over the non-European world which has turned the world +into an economic unit, brought it within a single political +system, and opened to us the possibility of making a world-order +such as the most daring dreamers of the past could never have +conceived. This control cannot be suddenly withdrawn. For a very +long time to come the world-states whose rise we have traced must +continue to be the means by which the political discoveries of +Europe, as well as her material civilisation, are made available +for the rest of the world. The world-states are such recent things +that we have not yet found a place for them in our political +philosophy. But unless we find a place for them, and think in +terms of them, in the future, we shall be in danger of a terrible +shipwreck. + +If, then, it is essential, not only for the economic development +of the world, but for the political advancement of its more +backward peoples, that the political suzerainty of the European +peoples should survive, and as a consequence that the world should +continue to be dominated by a group of great world-states, how are +we to conjure away the nightmare of inter-imperial rivalry which +has brought upon us the present catastrophe, and seems to threaten +us with yet more appalling ruin in the future? Only by resolving +and ensuring, as at the great settlement we may be able to do, +that the necessary political control of Europe over the outer +world shall in future be exercised not merely in the interests of +the mistress-states, but in accordance with principles which are +just in themselves, and which will give to all peoples a fair +chance of making the best use of their powers. But how are we to +discover these principles, if the ideas of nationality and self- +government, to which we pin our faith in Europe, are to be held +inapplicable to the greater part of the non-European world? There +is only one possible source of instruction: our past experience, +which has now extended over four centuries, and which we have in +this book endeavoured to survey. + +Now while it is undeniably true that the mere lust of power has +always been present in the imperial activities of the European +peoples, it is certainly untrue (as our study ought to have shown) +that it has ever been the sole motive, except, perhaps, in the +great German challenge. And in the course of their experience the +colonising peoples have gradually worked out certain principles in +their treatment of subject peoples, which ought to be of use to +us. The fullest and the most varied experience is that of the +British Empire: it is the oldest of all the world-states; it alone +includes regions of the utmost variety of types, new lands peopled +by European settlers, realms of ancient civilisation like India, +and regions inhabited by backward and primitive peoples. It would +be absurd to claim that its methods are perfect and infallible. +But they have been very varied, and quite astonishingly +successful. And it is because they seem to afford clearer guidance +than any other part of the experiments which we have recorded that +we have studied them, especially in their later developments, with +what may have seemed a disproportionate fulness. What are the +principles which experience has gradually worked out in the +British Empire? They cannot be embodied in a single formula, +because they vary according to the condition and development of +the lands to which they apply. + +But in the first place we have learnt by a very long experience +that in lands inhabited by European settlers, who bring with them +European traditions, the only satisfactory solution is to be found +in the concession of the fullest self-governing rights, since +these settlers are able to use them, and in the encouragement of +that sentiment of unity which we call the national spirit. And +this involves a recognition of the fact that nationality is never +to be defined solely in terms of race or language, but can arise, +and should be encouraged to arise, among racially divided +communities such as Canada and South Africa. Any attempt to +interpret nationhood in terms of race is not merely dangerous, but +ruinous; and such endeavours to stimulate or accentuate racial +conflict, as Germany has been guilty of in Brazil, in South +Africa, and even in America, must be, if successful, fatal to the +progress of the countries affected, and dangerous to the peace of +the world. + +In the second place we have learnt that in lands of ancient +civilisation, where ruling castes have for centuries been in the +habit of exploiting their subjects, the supreme gift which Europe +can offer is that of internal peace and a firmly administered and +equal law, which will render possible the gradual rise of a sense +of unity, and the gradual training of the people in the habits of +life that make self-government possible. How soon national unity +can be established, or self-government made practicable in any +full sense, must be matter of debate. But the creation of these +things is, or ought to be, the ultimate aim of European government +in such countries. And in the meantime, and until they become +fully masters of their own fate, these lands, so our British +experience tells us, ought to be treated as distinct political +units; they should pay no tribute; all their resources should be +devoted to their own development; and they should not be expected +or required to maintain larger forces than are necessary for their +own defence. At the same time, the ruling power should claim no +special privileges for its own citizens, but should throw open the +markets of such realms equally to all nations. In short it should +act not as a master, but as a trustee, on behalf of its subjects +and also on behalf of civilisation. + +In the third place we have learnt that in the backward regions of +the earth it is the duty of the ruling power, firstly, to protect +its primitive subjects from unscrupulous exploitation, to guard +their simple customs, proscribing only those which are immoral, +and to afford them the means of a gradual emancipation from +barbarism; secondly, to develop the economic resources of these +regions for the needs of the industrial world, to open them up by +modern communications, and to make them available on equal terms +to all nations, giving no advantage to its own citizens. + +In spite of lapses and defects, it is an undeniable historical +fact that these are the principles which have been wrought out and +applied in the administration of the British Empire during the +nineteenth century. They are not vague and Utopian dreams; they +are a matter of daily practice. If they can be applied by one of +the world-states, and that the greatest, why should they not be +applied by the rest? But if these principles became universal, is +it not apparent that all danger of a catastrophic war between +these powers would be removed, since every reason for it would +have vanished? Thus the necessary and advantageous tutelage of +Europe over the non-European world, and the continuance of the +great world-states, could be combined with the conjuring away of +the ever-present terror of war, and with the gradual training of +the non-European peoples to enjoy the political methods of Europe; +while the lesser states without extra-European dominions need no +longer feel themselves stunted and reduced to economic dependence +upon their great neighbours. Thus, and thus alone, can the +benefits of the long development which we have traced be reaped in +full; thus alone can the dominion of the European peoples over the +world be made to mean justice and the chance for all peoples to +make the best of their powers. + +But it is not only the principles upon which particular areas +outside of Europe should be governed which we must consider. We +must reflect also upon the nature of the relations that should +exist between the various members of these great world-empires, +which must hence-forward be the dominating factors in the world's +politics. And here the problem is urgent only in the case of the +British Empire, because it alone is developed to such a point that +the problem is inevitably raised. Whatever else may happen, the +war must necessarily bring a crisis in the history of the British +Empire. On a vastly greater scale the situation of 1763 is being +reproduced. Now, as then, the Empire will emerge from a war for +existence, in which mother and daughter lands alike have shared. +Now, as then, the strain and pressure of the war will have brought +to light deficiencies in the system of the Empire. Now, as then, +the most patent of these deficiencies will be the fact that, +generous as the self-governing powers of the great Dominions have +been, they still have limits; and the irresistible tendency of +self-government to work towards its own fulfilment will once more +show itself. For there are two spheres in which even the most +fully self-governing of the empire-nations have no effective +control: they do not share in the determination of foreign policy, +and they do not share in the direction of imperial defence. The +responsibility for foreign policy, and the responsibility, and +with it almost the whole burden, of organising imperial defence, +have hitherto rested solely with Britain. Until the Great War, +foreign policy seemed to be a matter of purely European interest, +not directly concerning the great Dominions; nor did the problems +of imperial defence appear very pressing or urgent. But now all +have realised that not merely their interests, but their very +existence, may depend upon the wise conduct of foreign relations; +and now all have contributed the whole available strength of their +manhood to support a struggle in whose direction they have had no +effective share. These things must henceforth be altered; and they +can be altered only in one or other of three ways. Either the +great Dominions will become independent states, as the American +colonies did, and pursue a foreign policy and maintain a system of +defence of their own; or the Empire must reshape itself as a sort +of permanent offensive and defensive alliance, whose external +policy and modes of defence will be arranged by agreement; or some +mode of common management of these and other questions must be +devised. The first of these solutions is unlikely to be adopted, +not only because the component members of the Empire are conscious +of their individual weakness, but still more because the memory of +the ordeal through which all have passed must form an indissoluble +bond. Yet rashness or high-handedness in the treatment of the +great issue might lead even to this unlikely result. If either of +the other two solutions is adopted, the question will at once +arise of the place to be occupied, in the league or in the +reorganised super-state, of all those innumerable sections of the +Empire which do not yet enjoy, and some of which may never enjoy, +the full privileges of self-government; and above all, the place +to be taken by the vast dominion of India, which though it is not, +and may not for a long time become, a fully self-governing state, +is yet a definite and vitally important unit in the Empire, +entitled to have its needs and problems considered, and its +government represented, on equal terms with the rest. The problem +is an extraordinarily difficult one; perhaps the most difficult +political problem that has ever faced the sons of men. But it is +essentially the same problem which has continually recurred in the +history of British imperialism, though it now presents itself on a +vastly greater scale, and in a far more complex form, than ever +before: it is the problem of reconciling unity with liberty and +variety; of combining nationality and self-government with +imperialism, without impairing the rights of either. And beyond +any doubt the most tremendous and fascinating political question +which now awaits solution in the world, is the question whether +the political instinct of the British peoples, and the genius of +self-government, will find a way out of these difficulties, as +they have found a way out of so many others. Patience, mutual +tolerance, willingness to compromise, will be required in the +highest measure if the solution is to be found; but these are the +qualities which self-government cultivates. + +'A thing that is wholly a sham,' said Treitschke, speaking of the +British Empire, 'cannot in this world of ours, endure for ever.' +Why did this Empire appear to Treitschke to be 'wholly a sham'? +Was it not because it did not answer to any definition of the word +'Empire' to be found in German political philosophy; because it +did not mean dominion and uniformity, but liberty and variety; +because it did not rest upon Force, as, in his view, every firmly +established state must do; because it was not governed by a single +master, whose edicts all its subjects must obey? But for 'a thing +that is wholly a sham' men do not lay down their lives, in +thousands and in hundreds of thousands, not under the pressure of +compulsion, but by a willing self-devotion; for the defence of 'a +thing that is wholly a sham' men will not stream in from all the +ends of the earth, abandoning their families and their careers, +and offering without murmur or hesitation themselves and all they +have and are. There must be a reality in the thing that calls +forth such sacrifices, a reality of the kind to which Realpolitik, +with its concentration upon purely material concerns, is wholly +blind: it is the reality of an ideal of honour, and justice, and +freedom. And if the Germans have been deceived in their +calculations of Realpolitik, is it not perhaps because they have +learnt to regard honour, and justice, and freedom as 'things that +are wholly shams'? + +This amazing political structure, which refuses to fall within any +of the categories of political science, which is an empire and yet +not an empire, a state and yet not a state, a super-nation +incorporating in itself an incredible variety of peoples and +races, is not a structure which has been designed by the ingenuity +of man, or created by the purposive action of a government; it is +a natural growth, the product of the spontaneous activity of +innumerable individuals and groups springing from among peoples +whose history has made liberty and the tolerance of differences +their most fundamental instincts; it is the outcome of a series of +accidents, unforeseen, but turned to advantage by the unfailing +and ever-new resourcefulness of men habituated to self-government. +There is no logic or uniformity in its system, which has arisen +from an infinite number of makeshifts and tentative experiments, +yet in all of these a certain consistency appears, because they +have been presided over by the genius of self-government. It is +distributed over every continent, is washed by every ocean, +includes half the dust of islands that Nature has scattered about +the seas of the world, controls almost all the main avenues of the +world's sea-going commerce, and is linked together by ten thousand +ships perpetually going to and fro. Weak for offensive purposes, +because its resources are so scattered, it is, except at a few +points, almost impregnable against attack, if its forces are well +organised. It includes among its population representatives of +almost every human race and religion, and every grade of +civilisation, 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 and of government known to man is +represented in its complex and many-hued fabric. It embodies five +of the most completely self-governing communities which the world +has known, and four of these control the future of the great empty +spaces that remain for the settlement of white men. 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 common ideas and of +common institutions. To the ancient civilisations of India or of +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 world, 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 ideas +of the modern world. It has fostered the rise of a sense of +nationhood in the young communities of the new lands, and in the +old and decaying civilisations of the most ancient historic +countries. It has given a freedom of development to self- +government such as history has never before known. 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. + +Truly this empire is a fabric so wonderful, so many-sided, and so +various in its aspects, that it may well escape the rigid +categories of a German professor, and seem to him 'wholly a sham.' +Now is the crisis of its fate: and if the wisdom of its leaders +can solve the riddle of the Sphinx which is being put to them, the +Great War will indeed have brought, for a quarter of the world, +the culmination of modern history. + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Expansion Of Europe, by Ramsay Muir + diff --git a/old/xpnrp10.zip b/old/xpnrp10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef6e2f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/xpnrp10.zip |