BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTHER A Dissertation ...

prestige, and “Little Englander” non-interventionists. Radical imperialist leaders Joseph
Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke supported the former position by urging a more “forward”
policy against German intrusions in Africa. 13 The appointment of Joseph Chamberlain as
Colonial Secretary in 1895 meant the official endorsement of free trade imperialism and a more
straightforward and ambitious policy of developing tropical colonies and dependencies as both a
source of raw materials and a market for British industrial goods. 14
169-72.
The new imperialism marked a departure from religious and moral considerations, which
had characterized Gladstonian “reluctant” imperialism, toward a preoccupation with imperial and
national power. 15 Social reform in the 1890s acquired an imperialistic motive that superceded
the evangelical zeal of 1830s Benthamite reformism, just as imperial defense superseded fear of
revolution as an impetus for reform legislation. 16 This change exacerbated a long-standing moral
dilemma due to a perceived break from the idealism that had previously motivated missionary
expeditions as well as domestic social policy during the reform era. Britain’s imperial destiny,
13 T. A. Jenkins, The Liberal Ascendency, 1830-1886 (New York: St. Martin’s, 1994),
14 Hynes, Economics of Empire, 138-42. Chamberlain’s appointment ironically coincided
with a general improvement in the economy, which undercut commercial imperial motives.
15 Jenkins, The Liberal Ascendency, 162-64, remarks on the “revivalist” tone of support
for Gladstone prior to 1880 and the popularity of his speeches denouncing the jingoistic excesses
of “Beaconsfieldism,” or Disraeli’s imperial policy. The theme of atonement can thus be seen as
an undercurrent moderating, if not totally opposed to, imperialism.
16 See Elie Halevy, History of the English People, vol. 3, The Triumph of Reform, 1830-
1841, 162-63, on Evangelicalism and reform. See Kennedy, Rise of Anglo-German Antagonism,
343, on Lord Roberts and the issue of imperial defense. Young, Portrait of an Age, 100, 115,
noted the shift from moral to national motives in educational reform with the Education Act of
1870.
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