Abstract
If Joseph Chamberlain, in Curzon’s already quoted phrase, was ‘colony-mad’, that was not an affliction widespread among British politicians of his generation. For the most part, in colonial affairs they heeded Talleyrand’s advice – ‘pas trop de zele’ – instinctively and without effort. Another but a misleading impression, it is true, is apt to be conveyed by overmuch reading of Seeley, Froude and Dilke or even of Goldwin Smith and Hobson and still more of composite volumes such as The Empire and the Century 1 with its contributions from no less than fifty hands and prefaced with a poem of Rudyard Kipling’s reminding readers of The Heritage:
Our fathers in a wondrous age,
Ere yet the Earth was small,
Ensured to us an heritage,
And doubted not at all
That we, the children of their heart,
Which then did beat so high,
In later time should play like part
For our posterity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
C.S. Goldman (ed.), The Empire and the Century, London, 1905.
C. Headlam, The Milner Papers (South Africa) 1897–1905 (2 vols), London, 1931–3, vol. 2, p. 561. The letter was dated 27 February 1906.
S. Gopal, British Policy in India 1858–1905, Cambridge, 1965, pp. 180 and 303–4.
R. Hyam, ‘Smuts and the Decision of the Liberal Government to Grant Responsible Government to the Transvaal, January and February 1906’, in The Historical Journal, vol. viii, no. 3 (1965), p. 380–98, emphasises Elgin’s role in this issue. His study of Elgin and Churchill at the Colonial Office 1905–1908, sets out the evidence for a reassessment of Elgin. See also his chapter ‘The Colonial Office Mind 1900–1914’ in Hillmer and Wigley (editors), The First British Commonwealth, London, 1980.
See R.R. James, Rosebery, London, 1963, chapter 9, passim.
Roy Jenkins, Asquith, London, 1964.
E.T.S. Dugdale (ed.), German Diplomatic Documents, 1871–1914 (4 vols), London, 1928, vol. 1, 177–8.
Maurice Hankey, The Supreme Command 1914–1918 (2 vols), London, 1961, vol.1, p. 130.
R.A. Preston, Canadaand ‘Imperial Defence’, Durham N. C, 1967, pp. 462–3.
L.F. Fitzhardinge, W.M. Hughes, (2 vols), Melbourne 1964 and 1979, vol. 11, The Little Digger 1914–1952, p. 209. See chaps, viii, ix and xiii for full and lively account of the crises.
O.D. Skelton, Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier (2 vols), Toronto, 1921., vol. 2, p. 437.
W.M. Hughes, The Splendid Adventure, London, 1929, chapters 2–4 (see especially pp. 40–1) and Fitzhardinge, op. cit., vol. 11, pp. 95–105. Hughes felt Asquith’s cabinet would have got more done with ‘fewer clever men and more ordinary ones’.
L.S. Amery, My Political Life (2 vols), London, 1953–4, vol. 2, p. 91.
L.S. Amery, Thoughts on the Constitution (2nd ed.), London, 1953, p. 120.
L.C. Christie, Notes on the Development at the Paris Peace Conference of the Status of Canada as an International Person, 1 July 1919, Borden Papers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1982 Nicholas Mansergh
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mansergh, N. (1982). The Catalyst of War. In: The Commonwealth Experience. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16950-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16950-4_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-33159-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-16950-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)