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The Search for Stability, 1880–1914

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Britain’s Imperial Century, 1815–1914

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Abstract

The relative decline in world influence and the new pessimism led to a realisation that many changes would have to be made by Britain. The late Victorians did not whine about their problems, but tried to find solutions. It is this courage which has obscured the depth of their underlying pessimism. Territorial acquisitions received more publicity than hitherto, and it was this which created a misleading appearance of a break in continuity. ‘The fit of absence of mind’, the previous public uninterest in territory, was over. Salisbury, making sophisticated if makeshift and sometimes hesitant responses to new circumstances, lacked the brash optimism of Palmerston, but superintended the same basic system of policy. By the time the ninth earl of Elgin became colonial secretary, and Sir Edward Grey foreign secretary, in 1905, the complexity into which the attainment of British interests had been thrown was extreme, and their policies are susceptible of no easy analysis. Renewed weight had to be given to humanitarian considerations once again, partly because of the confusion to which new problems had given rise. Meanwhile, many less rational devices for upholding British prestige and stemming the decline had been tried, such as a revived campaign for imperial federation, and an attack on free trade.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Magdalene College, Cambridge, UK

    Ronald Hyam (Fellow and Librarian)

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  1. Ronald Hyam
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© 1993 Ronald Hyam

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Hyam, R. (1993). The Search for Stability, 1880–1914. In: Britain’s Imperial Century, 1815–1914. Cambridge Commonwealth Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22784-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22784-6_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-57758-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22784-6

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