Lord Lytton: Speech to the Calcutta Legislature

Lord Lytton (1831-1891), viceroy of India appointed in 1876, felt warmly about the Indians, and he tried to practice tolerance toward the native people while protecting supremacy of British rule. A man of unusual sensibility, he provided great insight into the revolutionary impact of British imperialism upon India in the following speech (excerpts):

· Britain has based its rule in India on justice, uprightness, progressive enlightenment and good government

· As long as these remain true, there need be no fear of disaffection on the part of Indian masses

· The bringing of many European ideals, such as religious toleration, liberty of press, personal freedom of the subject, and social supremacy of law are alien to these Indian masses, and is hardly intelligible to those who it benefits the most

· By enforcing these principles and establishing these institutions, Britain has placed itself and must permanently maintain itself at the head of a gradual revolution to westernize these people

John Hobson: An Early Critique of Imperialism

John Hobson, a socialist reformer, argued that the unequal distribution of income made capitalism unproductive and unstable. He argued that if wages were better equated at home then private investors would not have the capital to broaden imperially. In his book Imperialism, he attacked the subject with the following points:

· Wars of imperialism have been directly motivated by aggression of white races on “lower races”

· Pax Britannica has become a more impudent falsehood recently with the expansion to frontiers in Africa and Asia

· Natural Resources is the main conflicting interest between European Countries in their territorial and commercial expansion

· These are the interests of business men – not of the common people

· These business men use the public resources to push their private businesses, but they feign national antagonisms which do not have any basis

o For instance, the Boer War was driven by gold speculators

· These business politicians use biology and sociology (Social Darwinism) to weave convenient theories of a race struggle for the subjugation of “inferior people

· These same men stress the “burden” of educating and elevating the races of “children”

· Imperialism has become purely parasitic – living on these natives and stripping them of natural resources and labor

An Embattled Colonial Officer In East Africa

Richard Meinertzhagen

An Embattled Colonial Officer In East Africa

· Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) was stationed in Kenya from 1902 to 1906, serving on the raw frontier of imperialism.

· August 20,1902 Richard describes the retaliation of the British when a policeman is killed by local tribesman.

o British attack punitive force and killed many more of the locals for the singular offence of the one policeman, even though other British men are killed in the fighting.

o Natives are repressed with enough force to submit to British and fear them.

· September 8, 1902 Richard describes another massacre of the natives for killing a white man.

o He is trouble by his work and horrified with the mistreatment of the body of the white man.

o Richard conscious is haunted by his actions

· November 23, 1902 Richard sees the future conflicts between whites and the natives in contrast to those who see a great future in East Africa.

· January 12, 1904 Richard observes that the administrators in Africa are of a lower class and no fit for Civil Service so high standards for administration cannot be set

· February 19, 1904 Richard orders for any of his men or Africans in his troops to be shot if they kill women or children.

o Some of his men disobey and they are shot

· July 27, 1904 Richard continues to show a sympathy for the useless killing of man and big game but seems disillusioned by the violence and losing faith in sanctity of human life

· September 15, 1905 Richard describes his unhappiness with prolonged time in Africa and the effects of living among the savages. He states that he feels himself becoming brutalized by Africa

· March 17, 1906 Richard continues to show a wanting to return to his true culture

· March 20, 1906 Richard reflects on his time with the natives of Africa and decides that they are so different from the white man that one cannot understand them without years of living amongst them.