Empire and Imperialism : The Debate of the 1870s

The "Key Issues" series aims to make available the contemporary responses that met important books and debates on their first appearance. These take the form of journal articles, book extracts, public letters, sermons and pamphlets which provides an insight into the historical relevance and the social and political context in which a publication or particular topic emerged. The 1870s is a key decade in the evolution of British thinking about the nature, purpose and future of empire. Increasing economic competition began to disturb the assumption about Britain's leadership in technology and in the world economy. The growth of other countries, most notably the United States and Germany, also put a question mark over Britain's survival as a great power. These changes set in motion a reappraisal of Britain's empire and its importance to the motherland, and a debate as to whether colonialism and imperialism were a burden rather than a benefit to Britain. The discussions on the 1870s set the agenda for the debates of the next half-century. This text documents the writings that were central to this debate, and includes contributions by British thinkers, statesmen and officials such as J.A. Froude, Robert Lowe, Edward Dicey, Frederic Seebohm, Lord Carnarvon, Gladstone, Julius Vogel and Lord Blachford.