Pax Britannica: Ruling the Waves and Keeping the Peace before Armageddon

402 Pages·2014·4.43 MB·English

by  Barry Gough (auth.)

BRITAINANDTHEWORLD
EditedbyTheBritishScholarSociety
Editors:
JamesOnley,UniversityofExeter,UK
A.G.Hopkins,UniversityofCambridge
GregoryBarton,UniversityofWesternSydney,Australia
BryanGlass,TexasStateUniversity,USA
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RulingtheWavesandKeepingthePeacebeforeArmageddon
BarryGough
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Pax Britannica
Ruling the Waves and Keeping the Peace
before Armageddon
Barry Gough
©BarryGough2014
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Gough,BarryM.
PaxBritannica:rulingthewavesandkeepingthepeacebefore
armageddon/BarryGough,IndependentScholar,Canada.
pagescm.—(Britainandtheworld;volume14)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. GreatBritain—History—19thcentury. 2. GreatBritain—History—
20thcentury. 3. GreatBritain.RoyalNavy—History. 4. Civilization,
Modern—Britishinfluences. 5. Peace—History–19thcentury.
6. Peace—History—20thcentury. I. Title.
DA530.G662014
359.00941(cid:2)09034—dc23 2014019988
To Wm. Roger Louis and to the memory of Gerald S. Graham
Nowtheoldshipsandtheirmenaregone;thenewshipsandthenew
men,manyofthembearingtheold,auspiciousnames,havetakenup
theirwatchonthesternandimpartialsea,whichoffersnoopportuni-
tiesbuttothosewhoknowhowtograspthemwithareadyhandand
undauntedheart.
JosephConrad,TheMirroroftheSea
Englandismistressoftheseas,notbyvirtueofanyarrogantoraggres-
sive pretensions, but by virtue of her history, of her geographical
situation,ofhereconomicantecedentsandconditions,ofherImperial
positionandexpansion.Theseconditionshavegiventhedominionof
the seas to her, not by any prescriptive right, but by a normal and
almost natural process of evolution; and, so long as they subsist and
sheistruetoherself,theywillretainitforher.
TheTimes,3February1902
QuerybytheNavyLeague:DoesBritanniarulethewaves,ordoesshe
meantowaiveherrule?
MrPunchontheWarpath
A heaving unsettled sea, and away over to the western horizon an
angry yellow sun is setting clearly below a forbidding bank of the
blackest of wind-charged clouds. In the centre of the picture lies an
immense solitary cruiser with a flag...at her masthead blowing out
broadandclearfromthefirstrudekissgivenbythefast-risingbreeze.
Then,awayfromhalfthepointsofacompass,areseentheswiftships
of a cruiser squadron all drawing in to join their flagship. Some are
close, others far distant and hull down, with nothing but their fitful
smoke against the fast-fading lighted sky to mark their whereabouts;
but like wild ducks at evening flighting home to some well-known
spot,soarethey,withonedesire,hurryingbackatthebehestoftheir
mother-shiptogatherroundherforthenight.
ChristopherCradock,WhispersfromtheFleet
Contents
SeriesEditors’Preface viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xix
AbouttheAuthor xxii
Prologue xxiii
1 DefiningPaxBritannica 1
2 EmpireoftheSeas 19
3 AnchorsofEmpire 36
4 SurveyingtheSeas,ExpandingtheEmpireofScience 52
5 InformalandFormalEmpiresintheAmericas 79
6 ChallengesofEurope,theMediterraneanandtheBlackSea 104
7 TheIndianOcean,SingaporeandtheChinaSeas 117
8 TheImperialWebintheSouthPacific 136
9 SendaGunboat! 151
10 Anti-Slavery:WestAfricaandtheAmericas 165
11 Treaty-MakingandDhow-ChasingintheIndianOcean 189
12 DarkeningHorizons 214
13 TheLionandtheEagle 233
14 TheTridentBearers:TheNavyasBritannia’sInstrument 246
15 Recessional:TheEndofPaxBritannicaandtheAmerican
Inheritance 260
Notes 286
NotesontheHistoricalMaterials 316
IndexofShips 322
SubjectIndex 324
vii
Series Editors’ Preface
From the sixteenth century onwards, Britain’s influence on the world became
progressively more profound and far-reaching, in time touching every con-
tinent and subject, from Europe to Australasia and archaeology to zoology.
Although the histories of Britain and the world became increasingly inter-
twined, mainstream British history still neglects the world’s influence upon
domesticdevelopments,andBritain’soverseashistoryremainslargelyconfined
tothestudyoftheBritishEmpire.ThisseriestakesabroaderapproachtoBritish
history,seekingtoinvestigatethefullextentoftheworld’sinfluenceonBritain
andBritain’sinfluenceontheworld.PaxBritannicaispublishedasthe14thvol-
ume in the British Scholar Society’s Britain and the World series from Palgrave
Macmillan.
Barry Gough’s magnum opus investigates the century of British peace from
1815, with the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, to 1914, with the out-
break of the First World War. Gough demonstrates that the long nineteenth
century was dominated by Britain because the country controlled the most
importantmilitarypositionsaroundtheworld.TheseallowedBritaintodefend
the empire, which would continue to grow throughout the century if, often,
reluctantly.AttheheartofPaxBritannicawastheRoyalNavy,theworld’spre-
eminentfleet,anditsgovernanceoftheworld’soceans.Thisunparalleledlevel
of control also provided Britain with the opportunity to spread Christianity,
commerceandcivilizationtoallcornersoftheglobe.AccordingtoGough,‘Pax
was an exercise in self-disciplining statecraft where higher principles operated
sidebysidewiththepursuitofprofitandtheprotectionofpower’.ThisBritish
worldpeacewouldendwiththeoutbreakoftheFirstWorldWar.Thewarsig-
nalledthattheBritishwerenolongerpowerfulenoughtocontrolrisingrivals
such as imperial Germany and the United States. Pax Britannica is a system-
atic look at how Britain,a tiny archipelago off the northwestcoast of Europe,
mouldedEuropeandtheworldbetween1815and1914.
Editors,BritainandtheWorld:
JamesOnley,AmericanUniversityofSharjah
A.G.Hopkins,PembrokeCollege,Cambridge
GregoryA.Barton,theAustralianNationalUniversity
BryanS.Glass,TexasStateUniversity
viii
Preface
This book’s subject concerns a state of affairs that might never have existed,
though it lived long in the hearts and minds of its practitioners that is, its
policy-makers,itsadministrators,itsviceroysandgovernors,itscommissioners,
anditsguardians,bothmilitaryandnaval.Itis,inessence,abiographyofan
ideapossessedinthemindsofmenwhoferventlysoughttoimplementitand
toensureitscontinuance.
PaxBritannicahasbeenasubjectofincompletehistoricalinquiry.Attemptsto
bringthewholeintoareasonablecompasshaveprovedtobeelusive.Therea-
sonsareobviousbecausethelinesofinquirywereasimaginativeastheywere
suggestive. Students of the history of British foreign policy have understand-
ably defined Pax as an extension of British diplomatic and consular thinking,
and they have connected it to a unique period of British predominance, with
thestatesmanPalmerstonasitsarchetypalpractitioner.Atthetimeofitsflow-
ering,theRomanmodelsuggesteditselftotheVictoriansandEdwardiansand,
indeed, to all of those who did its bidding. The economic underpinnings of
Paxarelikewiseofsignificance,becauseatatimewhenBritainwasthe“work-
shopoftheworld”freetradewasintheascendant,astateofaffairsthatmany
hopedwouldlongendurebutintheend,likemuchelse,cametoanabruptend
with the intense international rivalries that characterized the late nineteenth
century and brought on the deluge of 1914. But before this fateful catastro-
phe,lawfultradewasseenasbeneficialtoEuropeancivilization,withBritainas
example,progenitorandleader.Theempire’sexpansionwaslargelymotivated
bytheenergiesofthemercantileclass.Thecommercialcommunitycreatedthe
conditionsuponwhichBritishimperialpolicywasshaped.Paxrestedonfiscal
strength,bankingacumenandtechniquesofstatemanagement.Italsorequired
thefriendship,oratleastforbearance,ofEuropeanpowers.Britishnavalpower
madeitpossible.Technologicalchangeandinnovationspeededitspossibilities
andcentralizedthemeansofcommand.Itwasalsoanideawithexportvalue.
Studentsofthehistoryofcolonialpolicyandcolonialexpansion,aswellasof
thehistoryoftheBritishdominionsduringthisperiod,haveseentheideasof
Paxechoedinlocalcircumstances.
Aboveall,PaxBritannicawasanachievementofamaritimepowerfreshfrom
victoryoveraprodigiousContinentalpower,France.Uponthisstateofaffairs
Britain was able to influence those places around the globe that fronted onto
theoceans,seasandannexes.PaxBritannica’sprogressionandachievementwas
essentiallyamaritimeoneandchieflyanavalsuccessstory.Italsorequiredthe
deployment of armies and other military forces, including the Royal Marines
ix