1600 1610 1620 1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680 1690 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910.1920 OF BRITISH EXPANSION BY JAMES A. WILLIAMSON AUTHOR OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE, 1485-1558,' ETC. MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 1922 THIS book is an attempt to relate briefly the history of the British people in what, for want of a better term, may be called its external aspects. These include not merely colonization and the administration of tropical dependencies but also movements which antedated, ran parallel to, and influenced both-foreign trade, the rise and decline of economic theories, religious and secular incentives to emigration, and broad changes in national character and outlook. The purely continental phases of British relations with the peoples of Europe are omitted, as falling more naturally within the scope of political history. The events of one period form the clue to the comprehension of the next, and it is therefore necessary to begin the study of the subject with a glance at the commercial organizations of the Middle Ages, when Englishmen first began to acquire external interests of a non-political order. To write the history of so many centuries from a study of the original sources would be an endless task. It is rendered avoidable by the fact that a multitude of students have published the results of their original research in almost every branch of the subject. Particularly in the past twenty-five years material has been examined which collectively involves a restatement or even a rediscovery of certain chapters of our external history. The present work is accordingly based, as far as possible, upon information obtained from these Its writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness not only to the authorities cited in the footnotes but also to others mentioned in the bibliographical sections at the end of each part; and at the same time he must assume full responsibility for the use made of facts and opinions combined from so many independent quarters. sources. The division of the narrative into five periods arises naturally from the well-marked central characteristics of each. Foreign trade confined to the seas of Europe is that of the first, preparing the way for oceanic trade and a variety of cognate adventures in the second, the dividing line being the discovery of America and India at the close of the fifteenth century. In the third period, corresponding with the rule of the Stuart kings in England, colonization begins in earnest, and a colonial empire on a mercantile basis takes shape. The fourth period, covering nearly a century from the Revolution of 1688, is that of the material growth of the mercantile empire, its collision with the parallel organization set up by France, and its violent disruption by the revolt of the American colonies. In all these four periods the dominant motive is economic. The fifth period, in which we ourselves live, is altogether different. It is a recommencement on new lines, having no precedent in the history of modern nations. In its essence it is the record of an overflow of population much more voluminous and much less under the guidance of a national policy than ever before, and its principal interest is not economic but social and political. Also it is not, like the other periods, a finished tale. It breaks off in the midst of a chapter, and the outcome is for the future to reveal. Such is the scope of the subject. To unfold it entails working sometimes from the centre, to obtain a proportioned view and to deal with ideas and policy, and sometimes in compartments, to trace the history of various undertakings. The method involves some repetition, but its advantages appear to counterbalance its defects. Footnote references to authorities are inserted where the facts stated are disputable or of recent discovery, and also to acknowledge the source of quotations, and sometimes to indicate generally the authority followed. The lists of works at the end of each part are not exhaustive. They aim rather at suggesting courses of reading and indicating the particular uses of the books mentioned. They omit many older works whose authority is good, but whose substance is included in more recent writings. |