matter. “Our rule over the territories [native] can only be justified if we can show that it adds to the happiness and prosperity of the people.”
The moral defence of Imperialism is generally based upon the assertion that in point of fact these two conditions are fulfilled, viz. that the political and economic control forcibly assumed – by “higher” over “lower races” does promote at once the civilisation of the world and the special good of the subject races. The real answer, upon which British Imperialists rely in defending expansion, is to point to actual services rendered to India, Egypt, Uganda, &c., and to aver that other dependencies where British government is less successful would have fared worse if left either to themselves or to another European Power.
Before considering the practical validity of this position, and the special facts that determine and qualify the work of “civilising” other races, it is right to point out the fundamental flaw in this theory of “Imperialism,” viz. the non-fulfilment of the third condition laid down above. Can we safely trust to the honour, the public spirit, and the insight of any of the competing imperial races the subordination of its private interests and ends to the wider interests of humanity or the particular good of each subject race brought within its sway?