ABSTRACT
It is now twenty-five years since w e began to reappraise the causes o f British imperialism. O u r first jointly w ritten essay on this subject appeared in 1980; two further articles were published in 1986 and 1987; British Imperialism, in its original form, emerged from the press in tw o volumes in 1993.2 Since then, our thinking has developed in the various ways referred to in this chapter and in the Afterword. Scholars w ho attack large historical issues must reconcile themselves to spending far m ore time on the problem than they originally intended, and to giving up other, seemingly more manageable, opportunities. At some point, too, they have to face the dark prospect that, like M r Casaubon, they might gather dust as well as material and fail to find the key to the mythologies of the world.3 They come to realise that the problem is greater than any solution they can offer. It appears to recede as it is approached; once in the foothills, the peak seems higher than ever. As they labour, they acquire a growing respect for those w ho have ‘climbed the north face’ before them, irrespective o f differences o f interpretation.4 A t the end, they are relieved to have survived, unlike Casaubon, to complete their work, even if the result falls short o f their original ambitions.
