[lit-ideas] Parmele on the British Empire's South African colony
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas " <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 08:09:43 -0700
On page 70 of A Short History of England, Ireland and Scotland, copyrighted
in 1898, 1900 and 1906, Mary Platt Parmele assesses Britain's war with the
Boers:
"The sympathy of foreign states was strongly with the Boers; and in England
itself the cause evoked a languid enthusiasm, until aroused by disaster, and
until the pride of the nation was touched by loss of prestige. The danger,
the enormous difficulties to be overcome, the privations and suffering of
their boys, these were the things which awoke the dormant enthusiasm in the
heart of the nation. And when the only son of Lord Roberts had been offered
as a sacrifice, and then a son of Lord Dufferin, and then, Prince Victor,
October 29, 1900, grandson of the Queen herself, the cause had become
sacred, and one for which any loyal Briton would be willing to die. By
September 1, 1900, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal had been formally
proclaimed by Lord Roberts, "Colonies of British Empire." This was the
beginning of the end, and when the victorious commander (December 2, 1900)
arrived in England amid the plaudits of a grateful nation, the victory was
practically won, and the time was at hand when not far from twenty thousand
British soldiers would be lying under the sod six thousand miles away, in a
land, which no longer disputed the sovereignty of England! We have yet to
see whether the South African colonial possessions have been paid for too
dearly, with nine fierce Kaffir wars (another threatening as this is
written), and the blood of princes, peers, and commoners poured as if it
were water into the African soil. Is England richer or poorer for this
outpouring of blood and treasure? Has she risen or fallen in the estimation
of the world, as she uncovers her stores of gold and diamonds among those
valiant but defeated Boers, sullenly brooding over the past, with no love in
their hearts."
Comment: I have recently taken offense at historians who didn't provide
references for their conclusions and opinions (pertaining to the American
Civil War) but have yet to take offense at anything Parmele has written.
The above comment on the Boer War may be typical. She is clearly an
Anglophile and yet when British leaders do something dumb or something she
thinks is unjust she is quick to say so. And in the above case she also
asks the interesting question about whether Britain gained or lost by means
of their South African accomplishment. She considers the loss of British
lives (around 20,000) and the loss of respect from other nations, but after
the Second World War we also wonder about the economic loss. Spain clearly
became a powerful empire as the result of robbing its colonies of their
gold. When Parmele wrote her book, British miners were apparently digging
out South African gold and diamonds, but Britain could not get away with
mere robbery as Spain did, even if the British people would tolerate it;
which they wouldn't. There were laws in effect that British miners had to
comply with; so the economic benefit to Britain was not as great as a
similar extraction of wealth from the Aztecs and Incans was for Spain.
Eventually (sometime around 1949 if I remember correctly) the cost of
maintaining an army and navy in foreign enterprises became too great for
this once Empire and it gave it up (with a little help from its friends).
Lawrence
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