ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a general introduction to the views of the supporters of empire by showing how they used the language of character, outlined in chapter one, to justify the possession of empire. Using a wide range of sources, the chapter shows that imperialists argued that the development of Britain’s high moral character had been part cause and part effect of Britain’s emergence as the greatest of the European empires. It was also claimed that, without the stimulus to action given by the governance and defence of the empire, character would atrophy and the nation would suffer catastrophic and irreversible decline. Indeed, leading imperialists such as Lord Curzon argued strongly that character was best refined and improved on the frontiers of empire. The Empire, imperialists asserted, was part of Britain’s destiny; and for the nation to turn its back on it in favour of the pursuit of wealth would be a betrayal of the heroes who had won it and also an act of national suicide in the face of the growing competition for world dominance among the great powers. As will be shown, a commitment to empire was not incompatible with lively debates about its weaknesses and the fact that it brought costs as well as benefits. There was also a small but vocal group of radical critics of empire, from Richard Cobden through to J. A. Hobson, who saw empire as potentially destructive of character because it encouraged militarism and thereby threatened the liberty and the prosperity on which British moral development had depended.
