IX. THE HISTORY OF EMPIRE

Abstract

O F the seven volumes of the Cambridge History of the British Empire which have now appeared, this one represents perhaps the most considerable achievement. As with previous volumes of the History the editors have had to contend with the problem that some of their subject-matter has either been left untouched by research workers or been dealt with only by writers whose premisses seem of dubious validity and whose preoccupations are of diminishing interest. Consequently, the chapters vary greatly in quality. Some are by scholars whose more extended work in the same or closely related fields still carries unchallenged authority. Such are the chapters by Sir Reginald Coupland ('The Abolition .of the Slave Trade'), Sir John Clapham ('The Industrial Revolution and the Colonies,' I783-i822'), and Mr C. R. Fay ('The Movement towards Free Trade, i820-53'). The two chapters by the late Professor Holland Rose ('The Conflict with Revolutionary France, I793-i802' and 'The Struggle with Napoleon, i803-I5') retain a similar stamp of authority where they are concerned with diplomatic or military matters, though they are not always so satisfactory in regard to colonial policy or to conditions in the colonies. Other chapters deal with topics which are not new but upon which the writers had not previously specialized. Some of these are likely to remain useful for a long time-especially, perhaps, chapters by Professor J. L. Morison ('Emigration and Land Policy, I8I5-73'), Professor E. A. Walker ('The Routes to the East, i8I5-70') and Professor A. P. Newton ('British Enterprise in Tropical Africa, I783-i870'). But perhaps the two most notable contributions to scholarship are those of Professor V. T. Harlow ('The New Imperial System, I783-i8I5') and Mr H. J. Habakkuk ('Free Trade and Commercial Expansion, i853-70'). Both break new ground, reveal a greater concern with social structure than generally emerges in other parts of the volume, and make a number of stimulating suggestions which deserve working out in greater detail. Some of the other chapters are less satisfactory, as is inevitable in a volume of this size and variety. Thus, several contributors are too much concerned with events in Europe and do not intimately relate their material to the theme of imperial development. One may, for example, contrast the discussion by Mr W. F. Reddaway of Anglo-French rivalry with that by Professor Walker of 'The Routes to the East'. Professor Walker touches continually upon European diplomatic relations but never loses the main thread of his argument. Again, the chapters dealing with colonies where the population is mainly non-European, sometimes fail to take account of the peculiarities of the social structure. And the statement in the Preface that the compiler of the Bibliography has 'supplemented the material submitted by some of our contributors' is too evidently true. Work published in America has been largely neglected 'by several contributors. The result is particularly regrettable in regard to the history of the