‘Like prussic acid in a bottle of medicine’: liberal principles and colonial rule

Abstract

This article explores the imperial understandings of colonial rule at the end of the nineteenth century in the Straits Settlements, consisting principally of Singapore, Penang and Malacca. The vehicle for this exploration is the Straits Philosophical Society (SPS), an organization comprising a significant cross-section of the Straits colonial elite, which met regularly to present and discuss essays on matters of wide-ranging philosophical interest. The article explores the ways in which members of the SPS understood the intersection of liberal principles and colonial rule. The focus is on exploring the elite's understanding of the rationalities of colonial government, and hence how they understood, constructed and contributed to those rationalities.