British Empire in the Nineteenth Century - Article Example

British Empire In the Nineteenth Century History of the British Empire has always provided food for thought to not just historians who analyse the growth and expansion of the Empire’s operations, but also to students and teachers of religion and social and cultural values. In fact, definitions of race and culture as we know them today were strikingly different from the definitions that existed in the early nineteenth century. Not to forget, tolerance towards different races was unheard of back then, and is in a much better condition today owing to the focus on internationalization that is the lifeline of globalization practices adopted by developed economies of the world today. The Initial Part of Nineteenth Century: All through the nineteenth century, the British Empire (Huttenback, 1973: 1) saw a surge of new practices in the colonies, mainly triggered by changing constitution of the Roman Catholic Church. While it is well known that the Protestants wished to make the world unite under the Church, they left a significant impact on the domestic cultures of the colonized countries. The result, very naturally, was that of dissent and revolts, and a study of History shows, how these small revolts slowly churned the social mentality of people living in the colonies against the prevalence of the British empire. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Great Britain had accomplished a few political treaties, especially in the cases of America and Ireland and earned its name as a just colonizing power. America was declared free and Ireland was considered as a part of Great Britain and Ireland, after the Act of Union in 1800 A.D (Alderson, 1998: 3). Indeed, America was free to make its decisions in terms of governance, religion, and economy. On the contrary, Ireland was not. Although not a colony, Ireland was required to fall in line with the societal norms of Great Britain and with the rise of the Protestants, concepts of race and religion were forced in on the Irish populations. In its first display of religion centric governance, the British Empire affected the societal balance of Ireland which was not even a colony. While religious marches and Church projects defined the change that the Empire was bringing, the Irish society erupted in clashes with the Church to resist the changes. In historical literature, a lot of comparison has been drawn between the clashes in India and Ireland, although the two countries were not present in the same political geography within the British Empire. Also, the clashes in India were more religious and political in nature, while the clashes in Ireland were mostly religious in nature. Examples of racial treatment in the other British colonies like Australia, China, and Mongolia were more loud and led to a worldwide dislike for the Empire. In the present article we critically discuss the impact of race and religion in the administrative operations of the British Empire during the nineteenth century. To be able to deduce the right conclusions and analysis, we also must have a clear idea of what the common mentality of members of the British Empire was during this time. In the original years, when Englishmen travelled to new and unexplored parts of the world, they had a positive and productive outlook. England was facing huge strikes and crisis after the Industrial Revolution, and London was one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Englishmen started migrating away from the ruins with hope to stay away from the ruining economy. The Empire kept a look-out for new territories that it could colonize. However, the general mentality of explorers and government officials was centered around finding new communities, exploring their practices and cultures, and turning them faithful towards the Victorian Empire. This initial approach was what helped establish the empire in newer countries, with colonizing power of Great Britain being defined by a tendency to bring in civilization and religion in the colonized societies. This factor worked well in getting Britain ahead of competitive colonizers and allowed them to establish a strong Empire in countries like India, Russia, China and Africa. However, while it grew on the basis of this neutral British polity, there was a turn in mentality in due course of time. The early nineteenth Century saw a shift in the Victorian Empire and a mild takeover by the Protestants. This section of the Church believed in giving the political structure and government of the country a religious base, and worked towards involving the religious practices in all the colonies. India, China, Africa, and Australia were the worst hit by this endeavor. By the mid nineteenth century, Britain’s approach to reverence for the Victorian Empire had changed and the look-out was more into building a unified world under the British Empire powered by the religious ventures of the Protestants Church. The Middle Part of Nineteenth Century: Here is a quick look at the intellectual thinking that the British Empire used in the following colonies. What began as a trade relation quickly turned into a political take-over and by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Indian colony had suffered massive damages through the Empires colonizing practices and neglect towards governmental duties. The famines that killed thousands, the insult meted out to local women, children, and old people, and the racist mentality of the government’s officials, caused enough furor to catch the attention of soldiers who initiated the first revolts through a mutiny based on religious traditions of the land. Hindu soldiers were opposed to tearing the cartridges with their teeth since it was covered with beefskin, which they were not supposed to partake. The mutiny resulted when racist comments and insults by the Englishmen went beyond tolerance. The need to thwart the mutiny got the Empire in action and soon the defaulters were punished by hanging. But the incident triggered more revolts, which ultimately through the lawful approach of Gandhi, got the country its freedom from the British Empire. In a land of very stringent beliefs, China and Mongolia did not offer much trade options to the British Empire. However, the presence of the Empire was definitely based on political thinking and overpower, which ultimately caused racial discrimination within the local Mongolian populations. It is important to note that every time the Empire moved to establish the Church or set-up Anglican schools and other civilizing institutions, China came up with its own reasons of following the Buddhist principles of religion and society building, and thwarted the moves. Also, massive immigrations led to flow of trade to India, which left the Chinese populations asking for more from the promise of the British Empire. The only success in colonization that any country had was Sweden through the activities of the Swedish missionaries which gave enough support to the Chinese and Mongolian economies. As a result, only through the public missionaries set up by them, were the British able to extract any response from the lands of China and Mongolia (Sidenvall, 2009: 23). While the colonizing stint in China was rampant with the most devious of crimes and torture, they provided serious insights to the drawbacks and weaknesses of the British Empire. In his book, English “Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth Century China”, James Hevia illustrates how the torture was entering the psychology of natives and reducing the chances of the society to hit stability and peace. In his word, “The violence which has ruled over the ordering of the colonial world, which has ceaselessly drummed the rhythm for the destruction of native social forms and broken up without reserve the systems of reference of the economy, the customs of dress and external life, that same violence will be claimed taken over by the native at the moment when, deciding to embody history in his own person, he surges into the forbidden quarters.‎” (Hevia, 2003: 186) The Last Part of Nineteenth Century: Nationalism in Australia, albeit late, came in because of the oppression that the local populations faced in the society. The moves were fast and demolition of Churches and holy shrines marked the anti-religious approach of the Empire. This happened in the later part of the nineteenth century and was inspired by the turn of events in other British colonies. A great amount 9of political manipulation by the British Empire had been used in governing the Australian countries, and as conflicts arose one by one, Britain was moved to agree for a compromise. In the Australian context, we see that Britain’s endeavor to use racial oppression fails in the nationalistic scenario of the country. The country’s Imperial Defence Ideology kept the Empire from using too many oppressive techniques (Trainor, 1994: 21). The American Context: The growth of American understanding of race and religion further changed the scenario in all the British colonies. Higher education and the need to keep the latest political and economical updates known to the world, triggered the liberal thinking of American politics, to tone down upon the treatment meted out to people from different races. The treatment meted out to blacks in South Africa had been severely criticized, while Afro-Americans were being given more respect in the new country. People living in colonized countries were more inclined towards seeing less suffering and more respect from their colonizer. As a result, the British Empire had to change its mode of operation from a singular power to a co-operative power that gave equal importance to natives of the land. However, the scenario in the nineteenth century was that of global awareness in its initial stages and the society was prone to seeing jives and mockeries in the open from whites to the dark skinned members of the population. The Changing Ideology And its Impact On Colonies In all of the above examples, we see that the British Empire had an intolerant approach to handling different races that it governed in its colonies. The need to align the general thinking of people living in these colonies required religious training, which was accomplished by the Church missionaries. However, the need to unify religious and political forces as propounded by the Protestants, came up only in the middle of the nineteenth century. Hardcore devotion towards the Victorian Empire go replaced with the Church based power of Great Britain. Therefore, we see that missionaries backed by the Roman Catholic Church became more powerful and active in the colonized societies. The support from the Empire did bring in new developments in the countries, like introduction of railways and roadways. However, the discrimination towards local races and cultures did not stop. In fact, the discrimination that was practiced got a new definition with the entry of the Church in the nineteenth century British Empire. (Lambert & Lester, 2006: 231) In India, the treatment towards non-Christian populations was ruthless while people who converted to the religion under the directives of the Church and its missionaries were given complete cover for illness and finances (Mittal, 1996: 36). Also, the eternal subjugation of Hindus and Muslims led to more unrest and dissatisfaction amongst the educated and uneducated classes of nineteenth century India. The situation in Africa and America was dismal, since the mentality of whites could not be changed even by regular courses undertaken by the Church. Rehabilitation of the deported, slaved, and tortured races was not in action, while there were only protests to the treatment that was being served. Also, every country had its own cultural and social goals, which the British Empire tried to dominate and change. In all cases, the nineteenth century showed us the failure of this re-structural approach that the Imperial forces put to action. At the end of the nineteenth century, the British Empire had started to decline and the Imperial government understood that new-age politics and education did not allow the use of colonizing techniques. Further on, the Empire’s dominance and opacity got broken when natives travelled to other countries and acquired further knowledge of cultural and political values that could be incorporated in the colonized society. Growing awareness ultimate led to the downfall of the high esteem in which local natives saw the Empire. And this further gave them the power and logic to overthrow the Empire from their own country. Critical Analysis of Events and Psychology As is evident from the study, the British Empire could not have grown had it based its conquests of new countries on racism. When compared to other colonizing powers like Germany and Portugal, British colonizers were considered to be less racist in their approach to politics and societal development. The natives of un-colonized countries were simple folks who “in their gentleness, their lowly docility of heart, their aptitude to repose on a superior mind and rest on a higher power, their childlike simplicity of affection, and facility of forgiveness”, accepted a new and better order of life in their society led by the dictates of established colonizing powers like Great Britain. (Washington, 1988: 561) While all the countries relied on the ideology that was promised, results seen in practice gave way to massive dissent and revolts. It is important to note here that the decline of the British Empire was initiated by the social and economic failure that the colonized countries suffered due to the selfish sucking of resources and services by the Imperial government. At the core of the political decline, however, lay the activities of the Church and the ideology that proclaimed natives to be members of a race considered inferior to the Empire’s citizens. Whether it was the burning down of villages or torture on native populations, whether it was the strategic sidelining of the educated natives to make way for British superiors in the work arena, or the abuse of native soldiers affiliated to the British Army in degrading the morale of the society, The British Empire had racism right at the core of all its actions. The cover-up with religion and civilizing practices only saved it from complete annihilation, although the ruthlessness that the power used to proliferate, expand, and maintain its Empire, was in no way driven by religious beliefs of tolerance, forgiveness and brotherhood as present in Christianity. Therefore, in a way, the use of education and religion only helped the local populations point out the mistakes of the Empire, thereby giving them an upper hand in keeping nationalist interests in the front while fighting for independence. Another ill effect of the silent racism practiced by the British Empire was seen in the American and African continents. African blacks were sold to slavery and deported to America and Great Britain, where more often than not, they were treated worse than animals. The slaves had no political redemption to save them from the torture, and the entire practice, though abolished by the end of the nineteenth century, thoroughly left a mark in the minds of the whites and the blacks. The white populations still could not accept blacks being alleviated from the slave status and abhorred the idea of them co-existing in the American economy. The British Empire had thus, instilled the poison of discrimination through long term colonization. Conclusion: Race and Religion After The Nineteenth Century With the dismal performance of the British Empire, Great Britain had realized that the only way it could beat a respectful retreat from colonization and retain the world’s respect towards the European balance of power (Williams, 2008: 45) was through the use of international political thinking and globalization, both of which were being exemplified by America by then. The close of the nineteenth century saw the world get relieved of race and religion constraints that was practiced and propounded during the British Empire. Although, this meant redemption and freedom for many populations, the stigmas that had taken deep roots needed to be removed. The bold fight against racial and religious discrimination put up by leaders like Gandhi and Mandela, have ensured that the twin problems are wiped off from the face of the earth. However, they still do exist in small percentages in local populations and while globalization is trying to bring in equality, there is a long way to go still. Global challenges that the world faces today have race and religion at their core. The differences have their roots in intolerance towards other tribes and religious sentiments. Would this also be considered an aftermath of the failed British Empire, which tried hard to undo the harmful impacts of the oppressive policy it had used in colonizing half the world in the nineteenth century? More likely, the answer would be in the affirmative since the race and religion became major issues to aid in governance only during the heydays of the British Empire during the nineteenth century. References: Alderson, D. (1998). Mansex Fine: Religion, Manliness and Imperialism in Nineteenth-century British Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 207 pages. Washington, J.R. (1988). Race and Religion in Mid-Nineteenth Century America, 1850-1877: Protestant Parochial Philanthropists. New York: Edwin Mellen Press. 570 pages. Sidenvall, E. (2009). The Making of Manhood Among Swedish Missionaries in China and Mongolia, C. 1890-c. 1914. BRILL. 189 pages. Williams, C. (2008). A Companion to 19th-Century Britain. John Wiley & Sons. 624 pages. Trainor, L. (1994). British Imperialism and Australian Nationalism: Manipulation, Conflict and Compromise in the Late Nineteenth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press. 213 pages. Lambert, D. & Lester, A. (2006). Colonial Lives Across the British Empire: Imperial Careering in the Long Nineteenth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press. 376 pages. Hevia, J. (2003). English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China. London: Duke University Press. 387 pages. Mittal, S.C. (1996). India Distorted: A Study of British Historians on India, Volume 2. Delhi: M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. 154 pages. Huttenback, R.A. (1973). The British Empire as a "White Mans Country"-Racial Attitudes and Immigration Legislation in the Colonies of White Settlement. Journal of British Studies. 13(1) New York: Cambridge University Press. URL Link: http://www.jstor.org/stable/175372 (Accessed on 15th May, 2014). Read More