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diff --git a/4326.txt b/4326.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6e41ad --- /dev/null +++ b/4326.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7222 @@ +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: 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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