ABSTRACT
One of the most distinctive features of the British Empire was the ability of its proponents and defenders to incessantly engage in self-criticism. So pronounced was this trait that even Donald Rumsfeld, the former American Defence Secretary, observed that Britain had ‘an amazing capacity for self-criticism, even when the Empire was at its height’.1 While endeavouring to prolong Britain’s hold over its overseas territories, colonial officials from all political leanings unceasingly reproached themselves – above all others – in times of crisis and upheaval. Certainly, there were examples of persons who resisted the selfcriticising trait and, in the process, governed despotically. Such dissenters were often vehemently challenged by radical critics and anti-colonial activists, both within Britain and in the colonised societies themselves.2
