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The “Turbulent Frontier” as a Factor in British Expansion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

John S. Galbraith
John S. Galbraith
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Extract

British imperial policy during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century was increasingly dominated by men of business and industry who prided themselves upon their clear-headed devotion to sound economic principles. The world in which they lived had no place for maudlin sentimentality. The industrial system which had made Britain the wealthiest and most powerful state in the world must not be trammeled by artificial restrictions nor should its expansion be slowed by uneconomic burdens. Their religion was Material Progress, and its high priests – Cobden, Bright, Merivale, and others – preached that the Empire was an anachronism, an expensive relic of a by-gone day. Few were disposed to sever the bonds between Britain and its colonies; but these colonies must be made to pay their own way.

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , January 1960 , pp. 150 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1960

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References

1 The Economist, August 6, 1853.

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28 See enclosures in Clarke to Carnarvon, March 18, 1875, in c. 1320, 1875. Davidson was required to withdraw from all interest in the mining concessions when he was appointed Resident at Selangor.

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35 See, for example, Carnarvon to Jervois, Aug. 17, 1876, in c. 1709, 1877.

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