10: Attitudes to Empire - the Role and Influence of Individuals

Joseph Chamberlain

Conservative Colonial Secretary 1895-1903. Believed the effective used of the empire with reinforced imperial bonds would sustain British prosperity and prestige. He summoned and chaired two further colonial conference (after the failure of the first 1887) in 1897 and 1902 At these he proposed an imperial defence and customs union for the self-governing white colonies but these ideas were both rejected. He conducted a campaign of tariff reform and for imperial preference. A tariff reform league was set up which distributed leaflets and played messages in public meetings. He believed imperial preference would benefit Britain and reduce unemployment. He was a strong advocate for 'colonial development' and promoted government investment in the less profitable areas of Empire both to promote and out of feeling it was an imperial duty, 'I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen'. When the Boer war broke out in 1899, Chamberlain was viewed as a national hero, something which faded as the war dragged on. He initiated the building of the Ugandan Railway, sanctioned the conquest and annexation of Ashantiland and, in 1900, supervised the acquisition of the territory of Royal Niger Company. His idea of colonial preference split the conservative party and he resigned in 1903

Cecil Rhodes

Prime Minister of Cape Colony in 1890. Driven by a strong conviction that British civilisation and control was key to the betterment of the world. Using his vast fortune, political power and control of the Cape newspapers, Rhodes impressed upon audience at home and abroad the right and duty of Britons to dominate Africa and beyond. In 1890, he sent settlers to establish Fort Salisbury in Matabeleland, opening up the territories that from c1899 were to be known as Rhodesia in his honour. One of his projects to outflank the Boer Republic of the Transvaal and the Germans in the rush to Central Africa, was the railway line north from the Cape through Bechuanaland. He hoped it would eventually reach the Nile to ensure British domination of all east-central Africa. This dream of Cape to Chiro was blocked by the German occupation of East Africa from 1891 and never completed in his lifetime. He resigned after the Jameson Raid in 1896 and died 6 years later. His fortune helped promote Empire after his death e.g. in his publicity work of the Round Table, an imperial pressure group established in 1910 by a like-minded ally of Rhodes - Alfred Milner

Viceroy Curzon

Lord Salisbury appointed him as Viceroy of India in 1899. Concern about Russian expansion led him to create the North West frontier province in 1901 and dispatch military expedition into Tibet.He believed in a moral imperialism and took great pride in representing Britain and its imperial mission. He established both commissions and legislation to improve India's administration and agriculture - making provisions for famine relief and irrigation projects. He oversaw the re-arming of native regiments, the expansion of provincial police, the promotion of scientific and medical education and the construction of a further 6000 miles of railway track to consolidate British control of India. Founded the Imperial Cadet Corps to give Indian nobles a military role and the prospect of officer commissions. He lavished hospitality and rewards on its members at his elaborate Delhi durbar of 1903, both this and his costly restoration of the Taj Mahal were his way of honouring colonial India. He was wary of giving Indians too much responsibility as he had a low opinion of their abilities. In his own province, an Indian lacked an Englishman's authority and outside his province this would be even harder. Curzon refused to appoint Indians to more senior posts for fear that they were unequal to emergencies and 'rather inclined to abdicate or to run away'. He believed dividing the troublesome province of Bengal in 1905 would weaken the Raj's internal enemies. Instead partition backfired and Curzon resigned the same year

Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer)

Consul-General in Egypt between 1883-1907. Saw himself as a moral reformer, he was certain that Christian values should be base of Empire. He believed the long occupation of Egypt was essential and he established a new guiding principle - the 'Granville Doctrine' which allowed Baring to dismiss Egyptian minister who refused to accept British directives. He placed British officials in key ministries and created the vailed protectorate in which British officials held the actual power. He effectively controlled Egypt until 1907, the arrangement worked well for the first 10 years of British control, however, Tewfik died in 1892 and was succeeded by Abbas Hilmi II, who wanted to throw off British rule and encouraged the nationalist movement. He regarded Egypt as something of a battleground between 'civilised' Christianity and Islam, which he viewed as a set of outdated Arabia customs that were detrimental to modern Egypt. Baring was particularly concerned with the Islamic society's acceptance of slavery, its antiquated justice system and its treatment of women. His moral mission both echoed and informed public opinion in Britain. He took action to: stop the slave supply into Egypt; discourage slave ownership; abolish forced labour; outlaw punishment by the Kurbash; halt the import of hashish by establishment of Camel Corps to patrol Egypt's boarders; regulate alcohol sale licenses; close gambling houses and stop local money-lending and extortion by establishing the National Bank and Post Office Savings Bank. He was forced to resign after the Denshawai Incident in 1906. He published a 2-volume set of books 'Modern Egypt' in 1908, narrating the events in Egypt and the Sudan since 1876. In 1910, he published 'Ancient and Modern Imperialism' - a comparison of the British and Roman Empires

Alfred Milner

Britain's High Commissioner for Southern Africa from 1897. An ardent imperialist who was convinced of British superiority over Boers and Afrikaans. When Kruger was re-elected as President of the Transvaal in February 1898, Milner thought the only way out of troubles in SA was reform in the Transvaal or war- he took Britain into the Boer War. He founded a series of a English-Speaking 'Milner Schools' in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Milner demanded full citizenship rights for Uitlanders after 5 years of residence - by the time of the Bloemfontein Conference (May-June 1899) he had already decided to use force to get his way- it was actually Kruger, however, who declared war in October 1899. When Britain annexed territories in the Orange Free State & the Transvaal in 1901, he left his port as Governor of the Cape and took over the Cape and took over the administration of these areas.He negotiated the Peace of Vereeniging alongside Kitchener. Made a baron (1901) and Viscount (1902) for his services. After the war, he and a group of young administrators and lawyers (known as Milner's Kindergarten) worked to resettle the Boers & promote economic growth, particularly in the gold mining industry. He hoped to attract British settlers and introduced a vigorous English language education program. However, more British left than arrived during the depression in the period after the war. Milner and the British government decided to use Chinese labourers (coolies) on 3 year contracts to make up for the shortfall of workers in the mines. The first group arrived in 1904. Public opinion in Britain was soon outraged to learn that there were being poorly treated and even flogged in breach of the law. In March 1906, there was a move to censure Milner, but this backfired and produced a counter-campaign, let by Sir Bartle Frere, which expressed high appreciation of Milner's services in SA. The issue of the Chinese coolies partly contributed to the Conservative election defeated in January 1906 and the Liberal government rejected Milner's plans for the future of the Transvaal. He reigned from SA and returned to England when he wrote 'The Nation and the Empire' in 1913

Frederick Lugard

Served in East Africa, West Africa, and Hong Kong. Especially associated with Nigeria, where he served as high commissioner (1900-06) and governor and governor-general (1912-19). He worked for the Imperial British East Africa Company; he led a caravan for five months to the advanced kingdom of Buganda. He found a complex struggle going on among animists, Muslims, Protestants, and Roman Catholics—the latter two groups converted by British and French missionaries who had reached Buganda earlier by a southern route—and the nominal king. Within 18 months Lugard imposed peace and won a treaty of allegiance from the king. In 1894-95 Lugard, for the Royal Niger Company, raced the French in a treaty-making exploration on the Middle Niger - he succeeded. Chamberlain offered him his first official government appointment; he was to create a British-officered African regiment that he was to employ in a second attempt to fend off the French, who then were competing with the British right across Africa from the Niger to the Nile. This was to become the famous West African Frontier Force. Lugard's success in this difficult undertaking led to his appointment as high commissioner for Northern Nigeria. Most of this vast region of 300,000 square miles was still unoccupied and unexplored. In three years, by diplomacy or the swift use of his small force, Lugard established British control, though in hastening to take the major states of Kano and Sokoto he forced the hands of his more cautious home government. His policy was to support the native states and chieftainships, their laws and their courts, forbidding slave raiding and cruel punishments and exercising control centrally through the native rulers. This system was cooperative in spirit and economical in staff and expense. His method greatly influenced British administration in Africa and beyond. He moved to the governorship of Hong Kong, which he held from 1907 to 1912. He achieved a surprising degree of success and founded the University of Hong Kong. Lugard carried through the task of unification of the Nigerian states- officially declared on January 1 1914. He retired in 1919, but still had a role as the leading authority on colonial government. He wrote Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, published in 1922 which claimed that the prime aim of British administration was to rule through traditional native rulers under the guidance/control of British officials