British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century Each volume in the 'Problems in Focus' series is designed to make available to students important new work on key historical problems and periods that they encounter in their courses. Each volume is devoted to a central topic or theme, and the most important aspects of this are dealt with by specially commissioned studies from scholars in the relevant field. The editorial Introduction reviews the problem or period as a whole, and each chapter provides an assessment of the particular aspect, pointing out the areas of development and controversy, and indicating where conclusions can be drawn or where further work is necessary. An annotated bibliography serves as a guide to further reading. PROBLEMS IN FOCUS SERIES TITLES IN PRINT Church and Society in England: Henry VIII to James I edited by Felicity Heal and Rosemary O'Day The Reign of James W and I edited by Alan G. R. Smith The Origins of the English Civil War edited by Conrad Russell The Interregnum: The Quest for Settlement 1646-1660 edited by G. E. Aylmer The Restored Monarchy 1660-1688 J. edited by R. Jones Britain after the Glorious Revolution 1689-1714 edited by Geoffrey Holmes Popular Movements, c. 1830-1850 edited by]. T. Ward Europe's Balance of Power 1815-1848 edited by Alan Sked The Edwardian Age: Conflict and Stability 1900-1914 edited by Alan O'Day The Mid-Tudor Polity c. 1540-1560 edited by Jennifer Loach and Robert Tittler Slavery and British Society 1776-1846 edited by James Walvin Reactions to the English Civil War 1642-1649 edited by John Morrill Britain in the Age of Walpole edited by Jeremy Black The Reign of Elizabeth I edited by Christopher Haigh British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century edited by C. C. Eldridge The Revolution in Ireland, 1879-1923 edited by D. G. Boyce Later Victorian Britain, 1867-1900 edited by T. R. Gourvish and Alan O'Day FURTHER TITLES ARE IN PREPARATION British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century EDITED BY C. C. ELDRIDGE M MACMILLAN © A. E. Atmore, Christine Bolt, Peter Burroughs, M. E. Chamberlain, C. C. Eldridge, Paul Kennedy, R. J. Moore, James Sturgis 1984 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33--4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1984 Reprinted 1987, 1989 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Eldridge, C. C. British imperialism in the 19th century.-(Problems in focus) 1. Imperialism 2. Great Britain- Foreign relations-1837-1901 I. Title II. Series 321'.03'0941 JVIOJ6 ISBN 978-0-333-26909-1 ISBN 978-1-349-17655-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17655-7 Contents List of Maps Vl List of Abbreviations Vl Acknowledgements Vll Introduction C. C. ELDRIDGE 3 Continuity and Discontinuity in British Imperialism 1815-1914 20 PAUL KENNEDY 2 Colonial Self-government 39 PETER BURROUGHS 3 India and the British Empire 65 R. J. MOORE 4 Britain and the New Imperialism 85 JAMES STURGIS 5 The Extra-European Foundations ofBritish Imperialism: Towards a Reassessment 106 A. E. ATMORE 6 Race and the Victorians 126 CHRISTINE BOLT 7 Imperialism and Social Reform 148 M. E. CHAMBERLAIN 8 Sinews of Empire: Changing Perspectives 168 C. C. ELDRIDGE Notes and References 190 Suggestions for Further Reading 201 Notes on Contributors 207 Index 208 List of Maps 1 India on the eve of the Indian Mutiny 64 2 Africa: the final stage of partition, 1914 92 List of Abbreviations CHBE Cambridge History of the British Empire CHR Canadian Historical Review EHR English Historical Review EconHR Economic History Review HJ Historical Journal }AH Journal of African History JEH journal of Economic History JICH Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History P&P Past and Present Acknowledgements The editor gratefully acknowledges financial assistance re ceived from the Pantyfedwen Fund ofSaint David's University College for the preparation of the manuscript for publication. He also wishes to thank Sarah Mahaffy, Vanessa Peerless and Judy Marshall ofMacmillan for their constant encouragement, help and advice during the production of the volume. The editor and publisher wish to thank Hodder & Stoughton Educational for permission to reproduce the map on p. 64, depicting India on the eve of the Indian mutiny. This was originally published in Victorian Imperialism by C. C. Eldridge, The map on p. 127, Africa in 1914, is reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Press, and first appeared in Africa Since 1800 by R. Oliver and A. Atmore. Introduction C. C. ELDRIDGE The beginnings of British imperial history, as a separate branch of historical enquiry, are usually traced back to the publication of Sir John Seeley's eloquent lectures on The Expansion of England in 1883. The study of imperial history, therefore, like some ageing Britannia, is approximately one hundred years old. Her vitality is surprising, not simply because at the age of seventy her rather tired frame was assaulted by 'vandals' from the Fens, but because she also suffered, in the 1960s, a near-death experience. However, her constitution proved to be unexpectedly robust, her spirits revived and, learning to walk once again, even though her body still bore the marks of earlier experiences and her mind was especially prone to bouts of confusion, she underwent a rejuvenating process which restored her bodily vigour. Discus sions concerning the significance of Great Britain's imperial past are as lively today as they were a century ago. Seeley's lectures were in their own day something of a sensation. They were lectures with a purpose and a message. He began: It is a favourite maxim of mine that history, while it should be scientific in its method, should pursue a practical object. That is, it should not merely gratify the reader's curiosity about the past, but modify his view of the present and his forecast oft he future .... Here is no bad question for historical students at the opening of an academic year, the opening perhaps to some of their academic course. You are asked to think over English history as a whole and consider if you cannot find some meaning, some method in it, if you cannot state some conclusion to which it leads. He urged his students, like many an academic since, to 'Break 4 BRITISH IMPERIALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY the drowsy spell of narrative; ask yourself questions; set yourself problems; your mind will at once take up a new attitude; you will become an investigator; you will cease to be solemn and begin to be serious'. The reward would be real enough for once the moral has been discovered we close the history of our country, not with minds fatigued and bewildered as though from reading a story that has been too much spun out, but enlightened and more deeply interested than ever, because partly prepared for what is to come next. Seeley's intent is clear, he wished to mould the ideas of his students by heightening their historical consciousness. His message was equally clear. The lectures, which have been described as a panoramic survey sweeping the heavens with a telescope, were basically a reinterpretation of British seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history along the lines of the expansion of the state. Beginning with his famous statement 'We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled halfthe world in a fit of absence ofmind', his intention was to increase his students' awareness of empire and to create a new imperial spirit. The history of the last two centuries was the history of the creation of 'Greater Britain'. This was the clue which 'binds together the past of England and her future'. That Seeley was largely successful in his proselytising mission there can hardly be any doubt. On publication, his lectures became an immedi ate best-seller, selling 80,000 copies in their first two years in print. In fact, the volume remained continuously in print until 1956, a new paperback edition appearing in 1971. Seeley's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography records with some justification that the book 'contributed perhaps more than any other single utterance to the change of feeling respecting the relations between Great Britain and her colonies which marks the end of the nineteenth century'. Of more relevance to our present purpose, however, is the profound impact of Seeley's central thesis on the thinking of subsequent generations of historians. His own writing was not based on meticulous historical investigation by any means, the whole appeal of his lectures stemmed from the broad coverage of large themes, the sweeping generalisation and the penetrat-