In the nineteenth century, enthusiasm for colonialism was not uniform in Europe. There were many individuals, of all ranks, who took no interest in the acquiring of new colonies or in the governing of existing ones. Those who did take such an interest might be a fairly small group with common backgrounds and common aspirations, but it is not easy to discern precisely what drove individuals to become involved in colonial matters. Perhaps the easiest and most fruitful method is to approach the problem through the study of parliamentarians, since they are conspicuous figures whose position on these matters is easily determined, who presumably represent some section or other of, at least, the elite and about whom there is generally a considerable amount of biographical information. It is thus frequently possible to generalise as to what differentiated those who did busy themselves with colonial matters from those who did not.