RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM
To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Richard Cobden (–), one of the founding fathers of British Liberalism, Simon Morgan analyses Cobden’s critique of British imperialism, which Cobden saw as at best a drain on British resources, and at worst a major cause of instability in British foreign relations and a threat to Britain’s moral standing in the ‘The great his year marks which later inspired such promi- wider world. He argues Chinese Warriors years since the birth of nent critics of Empire as J. A. Dah-bee and Cob- Richard Cobden – one Hobson. This essay analyses that den’, from Punch that these views were (7 March 1857). of the most important critique, arguing that imperial- shaped by Cobden’s Reproduced with influences on the early ism was a major stumbling block the permission TLiberal Party, who promoted to the realisation of Cobden’s Christian belief in of Punch, Ltd. what became its three main ultimate goal, the creation of a shibboleths: free trade, peace and world order based on peaceful a Providentialworld retrenchment. Today, Cobden commercial intercourse between order, and that an is remembered primarily for his sovereign nations. In the proc- leadership of the Anti-Corn Law ess, it demonstrates that Cobden’s appreciation of League, which helped to usher in views on this issue owed much this moral idealism the long era of British free trade, to his Christian beliefs in a world and also for his outspoken criti- shaped by divine Providence – is also crucial to cism of Palmerston’s aggressive beliefs that informed much of his understanding foreign policies, a stance which political and economic thought, has led A. J. P. Taylor to dub him but which have been downplayed Cobden’s beliefs in one of the quintessential ‘trouble- by historians and biographers. the essentially benign makers’. Cobden’s critique of Brit- A key component of Cob- ish imperialism may be broadly nature of the free den’s critique of British foreign considered under two headings: market. policy was his anti-imperialism, the financial costs of colonial
16 Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM
government, and the broader He was particularly irritated by flashpoint between Britain instability caused by British the way in which the West Indian and the other great powers. In imperial ambitions, including the planters, who had only liberated –, for example, he was formal seizure of territory, the their slaves in after they had particularly worried that Anglo- establishment of ‘spheres of influ- extorted a huge compensation American imperial rivalries over ence’ across the globe, and the package from the British govern- the Mosquito Coast (now part violent ‘opening up’ of markets in ment, now cynically manipulated of Nicaragua) might lead to an Asia to British manufactures. anti-slavery sentiments to support armed confrontation between As regards the former, it was the differential duty on colonial naval vessels belonging to the two during his tour of the Mediter- sugar – arguing that prohibitive countries, and possibly to a full- ranean in – that Cobden duties on slave-grown sugar were scale war. It was one of Cobden’s seems to have begun thinking necessary to offset the increased foremost concerns in the s about the cost of maintaining production costs of the newly and s to avoid such confron- Britain’s foreign possessions and freed colonial labour force. While Cobden’s tations. This was at the heart of his garrisons. In his letters and dia- Cobden deplored slavery, he con- doctrine of ‘non-intervention’ in ries, he compiled information tended that the real way to com- critique European disputes, of his attempts on the salaries of various colonial bat it was not through prohibition of British to promote a system of arbitra- functionaries, noted cases of nep- of slave-grown produce, but by tion in the case of international otism (such as the step-brother of demonstrating that free labour imperial- disagreements, and also of his the late Lord Canning, who was was more efficient. He argued attempts to reform international Captain of the Port of Malta), and that protection merely led to ism may maritime law to guarantee the deplored the expense of the elab- waste and inefficiency on the part rights of neutral vessels not car- orate fortifications at Gibraltar. of the planters, while the system be broadly rying contraband of war against Once back home, he promised of colonial preference also raised considered impediment by belligerent pow- the Edinburgh publisher William costs by preventing the purchase ers in times of conflict. Tait an article on the colonies. of food and other goods from under two Second, there was the all too Unfortunately, the project was the United States – meaning that real danger that imperial func- shelved indefinitely due to other the West Indian colonies had to headings: tionaries on the ground, whether calls on his time and pen. By the depend on more expensive sup- civilian or military, might use their end of he was embroiled in plies from Britain. In the mean- the finan- powers to acquire territories in the campaign for the Incorpora- time, he thought, British ports cial costs the name of Great Britain, there- tion of Manchester under the should be opened to all sugar to fore allowing them to call on the Municipal Reform Act of , give the British working classes of colonial military might of the home coun- and by the end of the follow- access to cheap supplies of this try to defend their acquisitions. ing year in the campaign for the commodity. govern- One of the classic instances of repeal of the Corn Laws. Cobden’s views on the matter this peripheral expansion was the Nonetheless, this was more were rejected by the mainstream ment, carving out of a private empire in the beginning than the end of anti-slavery movement, though and the Borneo by James ‘Rajah’ Brooke Cobden’s concern with colonial he remained on good terms with of Sarawak, while he also held the government. During the anti- several of its leaders, particularly broader official posts of Consul General of corn-law campaign, Cobden real- Joseph Sturge. Increasingly, how- Borneo and Governor of Labuan. ised that the colonies were not ever, Cobden was turning his instabil- Cobden and John Bright were simply a job-creation scheme for attention to the whole issue of sickened by Brooke’s reception younger sons of the aristocracy imperialism as a threat to peace ity caused as a hero in Britain and, along (though this was a theme to which and as a potentially limitless drain by British with Joseph Hume, orchestrated he would return), but that colo- on the resources of Britain itself. a campaign against him, which nial commercial interests were This threat was twofold. First, imperial echoed, perhaps consciously, the also a major bastion of monopoly each new colony or sphere of Foxite Whigs’ epic impeachment and a barrier to freedom of trade. influence became a potential ambitions. of Warren Hastings for alleged
Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 17 RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM corruption during his tenure as power stemmed from the extent supposedly guided by Christian the first Governor-General of of its trade and manufactures, morality brutally imposing its India. In the end, Brooke escaped rather than from the possession will on other peoples and races official and public censure, while of extensive overseas territory; across the globe. With regard to Cobden’s own reputation suf- hence he saw it as an essential task Brooke’s activities in Borneo, he fered as it was thought he had to inform the public that colonies told his fellow peace campaigner placed too much emphasis on the actually cost money rather than Henry Richard: testimony of Brooke’s personal making it. Moreover, Cobden’s enemies. writings demonstrate that he had It shocks me to think what Undaunted, Cobden revisited a rather jealous eye to Britain’s fiendish atrocities may be com- the theme in one of his lesser- moral reputation abroad. While mitted by English arms without known pamphlets, How Wars are this may seem unsurprising rousing any conscientious resist- Got Up in India (). The bulk given his range of foreign con- ance at home, provided they be of this publication consists of an tacts, including leading liberals only far enough off, and the vic- almost forensic reconstruction of in France, Italy, Germany and the tims too feeble to trouble us with the chain of events leading to the United States, it was also essen- their remonstrances or groans. outbreak of the Burmese War in tial for the triumph of his free- . It cites the immediate cause trade ideas that Britain be seen as Though the influence of Cob- of the war as the actions of Com- open and honest, rather than as den’s religious notions on his modore Lambert, who had been a self-serving and devious bully. political thought is seldom talked dispatched to Rangoon on the Increasingly, he saw imperialism about, the number of times his authority of Lord Dalhousie, Gov- as the greatest threat to this wider letters and other writings hint at ernor-General of India, to inves- moral standing. divine retribution for Britain’s tigate a claim for damages made He was critical of Britain’s pro- imperial activities in the east is by two British captains fined for pensity to take a firmer line over striking. In the conclusion of his misdemeanours committed in trivial issues when dealing with pamphlet on the Burma war, he Burmese waters. Dalhousie gave technologically less advanced appealed to the national con- Lambert specific instructions not nations than she would with science ‘which has before averted to enter into hostilities; but after a other great powers, such as the from England, by timely atone- perceived snub from the Gover- United States. Indeed, he pointed ment and reparation, the punish- nor of Rangoon, Lambert block- Cobden out that, at the time of the Bur- ment due for imperial crimes’ aded the port, seized a Burmese mese war, Britain was involved in to put an end ‘to the deeds of naval vessel and attempted to consist- a stand-off with the United States violence and injustice which remove it from territorial waters, in Central America, where the have marked every step of our despite being warned that shore ently high- initial readiness to trade threats progress in India’. In a letter to batteries would open fire if this could only result in an embarrass- Henry Richard, he put it more were attempted. Shots were then lighted the ing climb-down and by which forcefully: ‘If God really rules exchanged and formal hostilities hypocrisy ‘our cannon will have been the this earth (as I solemnly believe commenced. Cobden deplored cause of our humiliation’. He He does) upon the principle of Lambert’s departure from his of a nation grew particularly angry when a self-acting retributive justice, instructions, but also censured the slaughter of large numbers of then British doings in India and the Governor-General for retro- supposedly primitively equipped native peo- China involve a serious reckon- spectively condoning his actions. ples by heavily armed and highly ing with us or our children.’ Moreover, despite acknowledg- guided by trained British troops was greeted Cobden’s words came to seem ing the fact that it was contrary to Christian as a proud victory. In How Wars unusually prescient on the out- British interests and would be an are Got Up he cited the response break of the Indian Mutiny in expensive drain on the resources morality of General Cass in the US Senate , even to those who did not of the Government of India, the to the Burmese war, started over share his belief in a divine and acquisition of Burmese terri- brutally a claim for compensation of less retributive Providence. tory was accepted by Dalhousie than £,, as an example of the Cobden’s Christian moral- as inevitable in order to maintain imposing damage done to Britain’s moral ity may be disturbing to modern Britain’s standing in the eyes of its will influence: ‘The whole history of eyes, and indeed it led him to the Burmese. human contests … exhibits no some distinctly illiberal statements For espousing such anti- on other such national provocation, fol- over preferring the Christian des- imperialist views, Cobden has lowed by such national punish- potism of Russia to the Islamic often been criticised as a ‘Little peoples ment … Well does it become such despotism of the Ottomans. Englander’, interested only in a people to preach homilies to other However, the notion of a divinely the balance sheet rather than in and races nations upon disinterestedness and ordered creation was central to Britain’s international prestige. across the moderation.’ his beliefs in the international However, this is a misconception. Cobden consistently high- division of labour and the benign Cobden believed that Britain’s globe. lighted the hypocrisy of a nation operation of the free market. The
18 Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM theory ran that each region of to believe that the British had no the globe had been bestowed by right to be there at all. Ironically, the creator with certain natural by paving the way for the aboli- advantages and resources, ena- tion of the East India Company bling it to produce particular and establishing more clearly the goods more economically than link between India and the British others. Each region could then government, the Indian Mutiny exchange their specialities with actually seemed to strengthen the other regions in return for goods equation of colonial possessions that they were unable to produce with British prestige. economically themselves. During the s and s, However, while many Evan- Cobden was forced to witness gelicals, including humanitarians the subversion of his free-trade such as Lord Shaftesbury, saw ideals to justify the aggressive Britain’s acquisition of an over- foreign policies of Lord Palmer- seas empire as a Providentially ston. Particularly after the Don ordained opportunity to spread Pacifico affair of , when the the gospel among the heathen, government blockaded Greek Cobden’s belief in non-inter- ports to obtain redress for a vention caused him to reject the nominally ‘British’ merchant, so-called ‘civilising mission’. supposed transgressions against Instead, he saw a moral corrup- British interests, or the need to tion at the heart of even such a protect freedom of commerce, supposedly benign and enlight- were frequently used as justifi- ened form of imperial rule as the cations for British aggression, British Empire purported to be, while colonial expansion itself and its fundamental discrepancy was defended as a way of acquir- with the New Testament mes- ing markets for surplus manu- sage of peace and love. Unfortu- factures. Nowhere was this nately, during the Indian Mutiny more blatant than in the Far East, it was the Old Testament god of where China and Japan were battles and bloody revenge that kept open to western trade by held sway. The real and imagined naval bombardments of the ports atrocities of the rebels were met of Canton () and Kagoshima with even more brutal suppres- () respectively. Cobden sion, legitimated by an intense argued that free trade had to and disturbing public blood-lust. be achieved peacefully and vol- Cobden counted himself lucky untarily in order to achieve the that his defeat at the Hudders- ideal of lasting peace based on field election earlier that year, a mutual interdependence. result of his unflagging opposi- He was also farsighted enough tion to the Crimean War, meant to realise that the easy victories that there was no onus on him to achieved in the east by western address the public on the Mutiny. arms were primarily due to a However, to his credit he contin- technological advantage that was ued to advocate restraint on the purely temporary. Though his part of British forces trying to belief in divine Providence per- relieve the beleaguered garrisons suaded him that particular races at Cawnpore and Lucknow. had been endowed with physical Richard Cobden in Chinese and Japanese to possess The Mutiny spelt the end for characteristics that suited them to youth and middle advanced armaments, at which the system of dual government life in particular latitudes, a the- age. point the balance of power would that he had attacked in How Wars ory that he used to attack white shift as decisively as the Mosquito are Got Up: the power of the East colonies in the tropics as ‘unnat- Coast episode demonstrated it India Company was ended and ural’, Cobden was more or less already had done in the case of henceforth India was to be ruled unburdened by the theories of Britain’s relationship with the by a Viceroy responsible directly the inherent racial superiority of United States. to the British government. None- Europeans which guided his later To Cobden, Britain’s expand- theless, Cobden was content to nineteenth-century counterparts. ing empire was not a source of let Bright busy himself with the He therefore realised that it was national strength, but of weak- details of governmental reform in only a matter of time before free ness. The cost of the colonies, India, while he himself continued trade in weapons allowed the
Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 19 RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM their governments and garrisons, states developed economically Ultimately Press, ). were at best a drain on precious so that they could afford more A. J. P. Taylor, The Trouble Makers: resources, which, instead of being of her goods; the exploitation of Dissent over Foreign Policy – however, (London: Hamilton, ), chap. . invested in peaceful and produc- the weak by the strong, whether The major works on the League tive commercial pursuits, merely directly through imperial domin- he was a are Norman McCord, The Anti- helped to sustain that most para- ion or indirectly through the Corn Law League, – (London: sitic of classes, the British aristoc- imposition of unfair conditions believer George Allen and Unwin, ); and racy, by providing employment of trade (as in China), would Paul Pickering and Alex Tyrrell, The in Adam People’s Bread: A History of the Anti- for their younger sons in both eventually prove to the detriment Corn Law League (New York: Leices- civil and military posts. While the of all. Smith’s ter University Press, ). consequent high levels of taxa- It seems fitting to finish with J. A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study tion dragged Britain down, other Cobden’s own words on this doctrine (London, ). See Peter Cain, ‘J. A. powers free of colonial entangle- subject, contained in a letter to Hobson, Cobdenism, and the Radi- that the cal Theory of Economic Imperial- ments, such as the United States, G. and C. Merriam and Co. of ism, –’, Economic History would have a clear field to usurp the United States on receiving well-being Review (), pp. – and the Britain’s commercial dominance. from them a copy of Webster’s subsequent debate with P. F. Clarke, At worst, the colonies were a Dictionary: and pros- Economic History Review (), Sword of Damocles that could pp. – – all reprinted in John C. Wood and Robert D. Wood (eds.), precipitate Britain into a war at A public man can no longer perity John A. Hobson: Critical Assessments of any moment. labour with success for the ben- Leading Economists, vols. (London: However, the colonies also efit of his own Country with- of each Routledge, ), ii, pp. –; had a more insidious impact on out promoting the interests of See also Cain, Hobson and Imperialism: individual Radicalism, New Liberalism and Finance the nation’s strength by sapping mankind at large … To hasten – (Oxford University Press, its moral authority in the wider the advent of that era when nation ). world. Armed interventions and international prejudices shall For a critical assessment of Cobden’s massacres would only under- disappear before the universal depended internationalism, see Peter Cain, mine that authority, regardless conviction that the interests of ‘Capitalism, Imperialism and Interna- tionalism in the Thought of Richard each nation are bound up in the on the of whether they were carried Cobden’, British Journal of International out under the banner of ‘free prosperity of all other nations, well-being Studies, , (), pp. –. trade’ or the ‘civilising mission’. shall be one of the great objects Cobden’s journals from this trip are This meant that formal empire of my public life. and pros- in the Cobden Papers, British Library was unacceptable in any circum- (hereafter Cobden Papers): Add. MS perity of A and B. stances – an aspect of his thought Cobden to Tait, August . Cob- that subsequent admirers, espe- Dr Simon Morgan is Research every other den Papers, Add. MS , ff. –. cially those brought up with a Officer with the Letters of Richard For example, Cobden to John Bright, belief in the benefits of British Cobden Project at the University of nation. Oct. , Cobden Papers, Add. MS imperialism, found difficult to East Anglia, directed by Professor ff. –; Cobden to George swallow, even if they accepted Anthony Howe. The project is funded Wilson, Nov. , Wilson Papers, Manchester Central Library: M the validity of Cobden’s eco- by a major grant from the Arts and vol. . nomic arguments. Humanities Research Board’s These ideas are encapsulated in Cob- Cobden’s attitude towards Resource Enhancement Scheme, and den’s ‘Letter to Henry Ashworth’, informal empire is more difficult aims to produce a definitive edition reprinted in The Political Writings of to pin down. Indeed, some of of the letters of this important Brit- Richard Cobden, vols. (London and New York, ), ii, pp. –. his arguments during the s ish statesman. An international con- Edsall, Richard Cobden, pp. –; seemed to suggest that Brit- ference to mark Cobden’s bicentenary Graham Irwin, Nineteenth Century ain could in effect subordinate was recently held at Dunford House Borneo: A Study in Diplomatic Rivalry the entire world economy to in Sussex, from which it is hoped that (The Hague, ), chap. , especially p. ; L. R. Wright, The Origins of her needs by using free trade to a volume of essays will result. If read- British Borneo (Hong Kong Univer- ensure that potential competitors ers have any information about letters sity Press, ), pp. –. became suppliers of raw materials from Cobden in private collections, Political Writings, ii, pp. –. and foodstuffs, rather than being they are urged to contact Dr Morgan Ibid. pp. –. encouraged by British tariffs on ([email protected]) or Professor Cobden to Henry Richard, Aug. . Cobden Papers, Add. MS those items to develop their own Howe ([email protected]). ff. –; partially printed in J. A. manufacturing base. Ultimately Hobson, Richard Cobden: The Interna- however, he was a believer in The major biographies of Cobden tional Man (London: T. Fisher Unwin, Adam Smith’s doctrine that the are: John Morley, The Life of Richard ), pp. –. Cobden, vols. (London: Chapman Political Writings ii, p. n. Cobden’s well-being and prosperity of and Hall, ); Nicholas Edsall, each individual nation depended emphasis. Richard Cobden: Independent Radical Cobden to Henry Richard, Dec. on the well-being and prosper- (Harvard University Press, ); . Cobden Papers, Add. MS ; ity of every other nation. It was and Wendy Hinde, Richard Cobden: reprinted in Hobson, Richard Cobden: to Britain’s advantage that other A Victorian Outsider (Yale University The International Man, pp. –.
20 Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 RICHARD COBDEN AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM
Political Writings ii, p. . Historians have been divided Missionary Slogan’, Historical in Hobson, Richard Cobden, pp. Cobden to Henry Richard, over the extent to which Evan- Journal , (). –. Aug. . Cobden Papers, BL gelicals linked the spread of B. Semmel, The Rise of Free Trade Particularly W. H. Dawson, Rich- Add. MS ff. –; par- Christianity to free trade in this Imperialism: Classical Political ard Cobden and Foreign Policy : A tially printed in Hobson, Richard period. For two opposing views Economy, the Empire of Free Trade Critical Exposition, with Special Cobden, pp. –. see Brian Stanley, ‘Commerce and Imperialism, – (Cam- Reference to Our Day and its Prob- The connections between and Christianity: Providence bridge University Press, ), lems (London: Allen and Unwin, early nineteenth-century eco- Theory, the Missionary Move- chaps. and ; Donald Winch, ), chap. . nomic and religious thought are ment, and the Imperialism of Classical Political Economy and the Cobden to G. & C. Merriam, described in Boyd Hilton, The Free Trade, –’, Histori- Colonies (London: Bell, ), August . G. & C. Merriam Age of Atonement: The Influence of cal Journal , (), pp. –; chap. . Company Archive, Beinecke Evangelicalism on Social and Eco- and Andrew Porter, ‘Commerce Cobden to Henry Richard, Rare Books and Music Library, nomic Thought, – (Oxford and Christianity: The Rise and Nov. . Cobden Papers, Add. Yale University: GEN MSS . University Press, ). Fall of a Nineteenth-Century MS ff. –; printed
THE BRITISH LIBERAL POLITICAL STUDIES GROUP ver the past few connected with the Lib- national and European report of the specialist decades the Liberal eral Democrats, Liberal levels. group submitted to the ODemocrats have Party and SDP. . An examination of PSA. expanded greatly as a political . Policy development and the interrelationship party across Great Britain. In creation within the Lib- between British Lib- Scotland and Wales they have eral Democrats, Liberal eral politics and related Newsletter formed part of the govern- Party and SDP. political parties outside A twice-yearly newsletter ment, and at Westminster, in . The history of the Lib- the United Kingdom. will be established within the local government and in the eral Democrats, Liberal group. European Parliament they Party and SDP. have become a serious politi- . The history of Liberal Proposed activities cal force. political groups associ- . Panels – to organise one Membership As the Liberal Democrats ated with British Liberal or two panels on the Initially free for –; have developed, so academic politics. topic of British Liberal rising to £ per annum, interest in both the contem- . Important historical Political Studies at the including a yearly subscrip- porary party and its Liberal events. annual PSA conference, tion to the Journal of Liberal and SDP predecessors has . Analysis of leadership and other occasional day History. increased. The British Lib- within the Liberal Dem- conferences at various eral Political Studies Group ocrats, Liberal Party and venues. has therefore been set up, as SDP. . To hold an annual con- Convenor and a sub-group of the Political . The study of Liberal and ference. membership registration: Studies Association (PSA), Liberal Democrat state . To organise meetings Dr Russell Deacon to coordinate and encourage and regional parties in at appropriate Liberal Centre for Humanities the academic study of British both historical and con- Democrat state and fed- University of Wales Institute, Liberal politics, both contem- temporary contexts. eral conferences. Cardiff porary and historical. . The study of the Liberal . Communications. The Cyncoed Campus Party both in opposition circulation among Cyncoed and in government. members of a Directory Cardiff CF XD Purpose of group . The study of the Lib- with names and email The British Liberal Political eral Democrats, Liberal addresses. Tel: Studies Group aims to cover Party and SDP’s past . To contribute towards Email: [email protected] the following areas: and predicted election the Journal of Liberal His- . Political campaigning results, opinion poll- tory. Web: www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/ in both historical and ing and party develop- . Annual Report – prepa- BritLibPol/BritLibPol. contemporary contexts ment at local, regional, ration of the annual htm
Journal of Liberal History 45 Winter 2004–05 21