ABSTRACT
Attitudes to the significance of, and the future of, the white settlement empire were moulded by the widespread assumption, made by supporters and critics of empire alike, that its population would grow very rapidly and that it would soon rival the United States in numbers and resources. Fearful that the British Isles alone would soon not have the strength to survive as a world power, empire unity enthusiasts like Joseph Chamberlain campaigned for a federated ‘Greater Britain’ in which character would flourish in the face of frontier challenges and which would have the ambition and the means to carry on and complete successfully the civilising mission in Africa and Asia. In the process, federationists began to develop a notion of ‘Greater Britain’ in which a new kind of imperial character would form itself. On the other side, those critical of the effect of imperialism on character responded by claiming that Greater Britain was a device for maintaining British aristocratic control over the white settlements. They campaigned instead for white empire independence which would lead on to a loose Anglo-Saxon federation, including the United States. Moral character would then develop spontaneously on the white frontier as a whole; and Britain itself would then become a learner rather than a teacher.
