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COLONIAL GOVERNMENTALITY IN THE IONIAN ISLANDS
Conclusion. Ionian liberals and liberal governmentality
The British failed to develop the islands’ economy and society because approximately
a fifth (or in some years more) of the annual revenue was spent on the cost of protection.
Another significant part of the budget was spent on salaries, in an attempt –the
British argued– to create a modern and efficient bureaucracy, a project that was successful.
Despite their proclamations however, Commissioners and Ionian governments
never designed a coherent or long-term plan for the development of the islands. High
Commissioners had a difficult balance to strike between their own priorities, the advice
they received from the Colonial Office and the islands’ limited and ‘protected’
but nevertheless entitled self-rule and decision-making potential. Even during the period
of liberal imperialism (1820s to 1840s), there was little liberal spirit in the islands;
in fact, most liberal and modernising efforts came from Ionians who urged
Commissioners to follow the example of the protecting power and introduce liberal
policies, especially in the field of commerce. Even the Seaton liberal reforms in the
1840s (greater control of the Executive over finances, extension of franchise and free
press), were annulled by Ward in the early 1850s. The banning of some newspapers
radicalised their editors and some of their followers even further. Moreover, the patronising
and essentially illiberal British view of Ionians, especially of those living in
the country and the many land-owning aristocrats, was that they were unfit to rule
themselves and to be left to their own devices. Traditionalism, attachment to religion
and a perceived ‘natural’ tendency towards cheating, insubordination and violence,
were the most common traits British attributed to Ionians.
Improvements in the Ionian character, politics and society that would advance
the locals’ ability to govern themselves, coupled with modernisation efforts. The collection
of colonial statistics redirected the state along the path of rational and ‘scientific’
government and incorporated it into the British imperial framework. Other
modernising initiatives emerged through associations that combined state and individual
efforts for the improvement of government and the ‘progress’ of the islands.
The Agrarian Society, founded in 1835, was among several ‘modern’ institutions for
the improvement of agriculture and commerce. The Society was founded by the
Ionian authorities who were also heavily involved in its administration and were its
main source of funding 74 . According to the plan, every island would have its own
Society, the Regent of the island would also serve as the Society’s President and the
members of the Legislative Assembly would serve as ex officio members of each Society.
The Society aimed at improving agricultural production by expanding cultivation
of existing crops as well as introducing new ones. The Society, it was hoped,
would attract subscribers paying six shillings annually towards the expenses.
These, however, were timid moves towards modernisation. The course of Ionian fortunes
was mostly determined by the status of the Ionian Islands as a protectorate. This
status meant high import taxes for Ionian goods in England, high duties within the is-
74 Ektelestiki Astynomia [Executive Police], 864, No. 52, Istoriko Arxheio Kerkyras [Corfu
Records Office].
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