British Liberal politics, the South African Question, and the Rhetoric of Empire, 1895-1907 Submitted by Simon Edward Mackley to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in March 2016 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. -1- -2- ABSTRACT This thesis examines the public politics of Empire at the fin de siècle. Taking as its focus the relationships between the Liberal Party, imperial rhetoric and the South African question in British politics from the Jameson Raid of 1895 through to the Transvaal Colony elections of 1907, it analyses key episodes such as the 1899 outbreak of the South African War, the ‘methods of barbarism’ controversy of 1901 and the politics of ‘Chinese slavery’ in the run up to the general election of 1906. Eschewing a traditional focus on high politics, personal motivation and imperial thought, this thesis explores the public rhetoric of leading Liberal politicians, as evidenced in newspaper records and parliamentary proceedings. In doing so, this study identifies the key themes, languages and arguments which served as the framework through which Liberal speakers articulated both their specific responses to events in South Africa and advanced a wider Liberal approach to the politics of Empire. In focusing on Liberal politics as distinct from liberalism as political philosophy and avoiding a narrow factional focus, this thesis aims to further understandings of the role played by Empire within late-Victorian and Edwardian Liberal political culture. It argues that for all the internal divisions within the Liberal Party, Liberal speakers nonetheless maintained a largely consistent rhetoric of Empire in response to the South African question, emphasising the ideals of British imperial rule and the extent to which the Unionist government and the Boers respectively failed to meet such expectations. This thesis further suggests that the evidence explored provides a wider insight into the imperial factor in British political history, and challenges some of the assumptions of more minimalist accounts of the impact of the British Empire ‘at home’. -3- TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 6 List of Abbreviations 8 Introduction: South Africa, Imperial Politics and Liberal Rhetoric 9 The Road to 1895 11 Imperialism, Imperial History and the Politics of Empire 16 Liberal Politics and Liberal Rhetoric 22 Towards a Liberal Rhetoric of Empire 34 1. ‘Private adventurers in dominion’: Responses to the Raid, 1895-1898 38 The Liberal Party at the time of the Raid 40 Beyond Guilt and Gold: the Historiography of the Raid 45 Gold, BSAC and the Character of the Raid 51 Race and the Raid: Imagining South Africa 65 The Governance of South Africa and the Rhetoric of the Raid 81 Conclusion: the Rhetorical Foundations of 1899? 91 2. ‘A position of menace’: Imperialism and the Transvaal Crisis of 1899 94 The Causes of the War 96 The Transvaal Crisis and the Liberal Split 101 Imperialism, Liberal Politics and the Crisis 107 Suzerainty, Paramountcy and the Limits of Empire 113 ‘Perverted patriotism’ and Political Temperament 122 Fusion or Hatred? Race and the Transvaal Crisis 133 Good Government and Self-government 143 Conclusion: Rhetoric and the Legacy of the Transvaal Crisis 154 -4- 3. ‘Methods of Barbarism’: Liberals and the Conduct of the War, 1899-1902 156 Debating Significance: the Political History of the War 158 The Liberal Party and the Wartime Politics of Empire 166 Annexation and its Consequences 177 Farm Burning, the Concentration Camps and Martial Law 188 ‘Unconditional surrender’ and the Return to Self-government 204 Conclusion: a Continuity of Rhetoric 218 4. ‘A witches’ cauldron’: Chinese Labour and Responsible Government, 1902-1907 220 The Politics of Reconstruction 222 Chinese Labour and Anti-slavery Rhetoric 229 White Labour and Chinese Labour 238 Race, Moral Panic, and Imperial Sentiment 246 Representative and Responsible Government 256 After the Election: Defending Liberal Rule 266 Conclusion: the End of the South African Question? 275 Conclusion: Rhetoric and the Politics of Empire 279 Bibliography 290 -5- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In producing this thesis, I am indebted to the help, encouragement and support given to me by a number of individuals and organisations, who I would now like to take the opportunity to thank. First of all, I would like to thank Professor Richard Toye, both for supervising this thesis and for encouraging me to apply for PhD funding in the first place. I could not have wished for a better supervisor than Richard: his expressions of faith in me when at times my own confidence was often lacking have made the completion of this thesis possible, and I am immensely grateful for all the time and effort he has put into supervising me over the last three and a half years. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Professor Martin Thomas for his expertise and for all the encouragement he has given me throughout this process, and Dr Stacey Hynd for all the invaluable support, guidance and reassurance she has given me in her role as my research mentor. Additionally, I would like to thank my upgrade panel, Dr Marc-William Palen and Professor Andrew Thompson, for all their helpful advice both at the time and since. I am further grateful for the extremely useful guidance provided by my examiners Dr Marc-William Palen and Dr James Thompson, as well as for giving up their time to examine this thesis, and to Professor James Mark for chairing my examination board. This research was made possible by the award of a PhD studentship in Modern Imperial History, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, for which I am extremely grateful. I also wish to express my thanks to the staff of the Bodleian Library; the British Library; Reading University Library; and the Bedford Library, Royal Holloway for allowing me to make use of their collections. Additionally, I would like to thank all the friends, colleagues, and loved ones who have provided me with such incredible help, advice and inspiration over the past few years. To list everyone would require a second volume, but I would like in particular to thank Fred Cooper, Anna Jackman, William King, Al Oakley and Michael Sommers for the incredible support they’ve given me over the course of -6- this degree programme. I also wish to thank Hannah Petrie, Fred Cooper, and Dr James Freeman for providing suggestions and assisting with the proof- reading of this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their constant support and encouragement, without which I could never have gotten this far. This thesis is dedicated to them. -7- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BSAC British South Africa Company OFS Orange Free State ORC Orange River Colony SAR South African Republic HC Deb. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons debate HL Deb. Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords debate -8- INTRODUCTION: SOUTH AFRICA, IMPERIAL POLITICS AND LIBERAL RHETORIC When in September 1899 the Liberals of Bristol East selected Charles Hobhouse to contest the seat at the next general election, the normally sympathetic Bristol Mercury was notably muted in its support for the new candidate. Although its editorial of 7 September declared that ‘the constituency is lucky in finding an earnest and vigorous and convinced candidate’ and noted in particular that there could be ‘no room for doubt as to his soundness about education’, on the tricky matter of South Africa the Bristol Mercury found itself at odds with the candidate’s views.1 The day before, in his first speech to his prospective constituents, Hobhouse had rubbished the prospect that Britain should go to war with the South African Republic, an outcome which looked increasingly likely throughout 1899 as Anglo-Boer relations in the region steadily worsened.2 Challenging Hobhouse’s position, the Bristol Mercury insisted that imperial interests demanded that Britain maintain ‘a practical and moral supremacy throughout South Africa’. Nonetheless, the editorial conceded, ‘Liberal opinion is, as we know, not quite agreed on this subject, or shall we say that Liberals are not quite agreed as to which is the right way to apply Liberal principles’.3 Undoubtedly this remark reflected a somewhat optimistic desire to minimise the significance of the Liberal split on the issue, but in many ways it also struck right at the heart of the Liberal Party’s difficulties over the South African question and the politics of Empire: ‘Liberal principles’ could offer their adherents no single guide to action. This thesis analyses the rhetoric of Liberal Party speakers on Empire and the South African question in late-Victorian and early-Edwardian Britain. As well as looking at the period of the 1899-1902 South African War itself, this thesis also examines Liberal reactions to the Jameson Raid of 1895 and two of the key controversies of the war’s aftermath, namely Chinese labour and the grant of responsible government to the Transvaal Colony. By examining the public rhetoric of Liberal politicians, primarily through newspaper reports of key speeches and the records of parliamentary debates, this thesis identifies the 1 Editorial, Bristol Mercury, 7 Sep. 1899. 2 Charles Hobhouse, speech at Bristol, 6 Sep. 1899, reported in Bristol Mercury, 7 Sep. 1899. 3 Bristol Mercury, 7 Sep. 1899. -9- key tropes through which the politics of Empire were articulated in this period. In doing so, this thesis also explores the relationship between this public, contested politics of Empire and the internal divisions which wracked British Liberalism in the post-Gladstonian era.