Many Africans were bewildered by the shift in British policy, and the destruction of their traditional ways of life. As late as 1897, the Nigerian historian Philip A. Igbafe observed, the deposed Oba or ruler of the Benin kingdom pleaded from his jail cell for permission “to catch some Urhobo slaves for sacrifice as the rains were falling too incessantly for the good of the people and their crops,” a request the new British rulers denied. In what is today Ghana, the Asante king or Asentehene asked of the British “‘But if they think it is bad now, why did they think it was good before?’” and continued the trade in humans that had for so many centuries underpinned the kingdom’s existence, little thinking that it would lead to its downfall.
Yet the unwillingness of African rulers to go along with the newfound abolitionist crusade of the British middle classes had set the stage for a reinterpretation of Britain’s mission from one of education and negotiation to one of military conquest and direct enforcement of liberal mores. As Huzzey notes, “blunt bigotry and frustration at African slave-dealing led the Spectator, in 1853, to moan that ‘British lives are lavished on the African coasts to negotiate and treat with the Black babies who can’t keep from selling each other and cheating us.’ The paper concluded that it was impossible to educate West Africans as ‘moral observers of the Anti-Slavery faith.’” Instead, the perceived intransigence of African rulers “moved Britain to kindle freedom with force”, setting the stage for the expansionist, racialised imperialism of the later 19thcentury.
After a series of bloody Anglo-Ashanti wars, the historian Marika Sherwood notes, “The Asantehene was forced to sign a treaty, giving up any claims to the coastal forts and territories, and to his vassal states. The British thought this would be the end of Asante empire-building, but on his accession King Prempeh I slowly began to resuscitate his country and mobilise his troops. The British asked him to accept ‘Protectorate’ status. The King refused. The British invaded the kingdom, burnt down the capital city of Kumasi and looted it of all its treasures.” From Ghana to Nigeria, from its modest utopian Quaker roots in Sierra Leone, the logic of humanitarian intervention had led, step by unintended step, to the destruction and looting of native kingdoms and their replacement by direct British rule.
Yet by this point, whatever appeal direct humanitarian intervention on the African continent had held for Britain’s governing classes had long since evaporated. As the Colonial Secretary, the Duke of Newcastle, observed in 1861, “the ‘suppression of the Slave Trade’ is leading us into serious Territorial complications, on the whole W. Coast of Africa.” Prefiguring anti-interventionist voices today, the Times in 1863 demanded with exasperation,
“Who ever heard of a war in Gambia? What do we know of the King of Bedaboo, and why should we rejoice at having taught him a “severe lesson!” What harm has he done us and why should we be anxious to pay an additional income tax for the pleasure of killing . . . his sable subjects? As it stands it looks as much like a piratical inroad as any exploit we ever read about. . . . who ordered it? And who will pay for it? . . . Can it be possible after all the lessons we have received of the inflammatory character of little wars we can find ourselves in the thick of a ‘war upon Gambia’ without notice, and so far as we know, without reason?”
By 1865, the parliamentary select committee chaired by Charles Adderley was strongly advising against any further extension of direct control and urged British withdrawal from Africa, though only once the slave trade had been finally extinguished, an exit strategy whose conclusion seemed to stretch further and further out of reach. The financial benefits accruing to Britain were, contrary to modern perceptions, negligible: throughout the early and mid-19th century, trade with the entire African continent made up less than 2.6% of Britain’s trade balance.
As even James Stephen, described by the historian Seymour Drescher as “the Colonial office’s most influential abolitionist undersecretary” warned, “[If] we could acquire the dominion of the whole of that continent, it would be but a worthless possession.” As the Times complained in 1873, “why do we retain or even extend what we call a Protectorate over this pestiferous coast?” And yet, as Huzzey notes, “Anti-slavery policies locked an unwilling state into obligations toward African colonies.” And then as now, it was the moral crusading of journalists that drove Britain into its next wave of imperial expansion.
The British military conquest of West Africa had led to the extinction of the international trade in enslaved Africans — British governors, wary of enraging local populations, still turned a blind eye to the institution of domestic slavery — yet the pacification of the coast pushed the focus of the slave trade deeper into the interior. “Arab” slave traders from the Sultanate of Zanzibar — often in fact Islamised Swahili-speakers — penetrated deeper and deeper into the unexplored regions of Central Africa in pursuit of forced labour for the clove plantations of Zanzibar and the date groves of Basra and Arabia, focussing the attention of British liberal abolitionists on the continent’s east. Into this situation strode the crusading figure of David Livingstone, whose mission into the continent’s unexplored interior, and lurid and harrowing depictions of Arab slave raids, awoke a new wave of popular abolitionist fervour.
Just as the British government was losing its taste for humanitarian intervention in Africa, letters from the long-lost Livingstone republished by his “discoverer”, the Welsh journalist Henry Morton Stanley, demanded to a captivated audience that the successes of the West African campaigns be reproduced “on the opposite side of the continent”, so that “no reasonable expense, that preserves us from contamination, should be esteemed a sacrifice” in extirpating “the open sore in the world”.
Driven by popular pressure that something should be done, “the Liberal government under Gladstone — a longstanding skeptic of anti-slavery violence — reluctantly sanctioned a mission to Zanzibar”, Huzzey observes. “In August, his ministry declared war on the East African slave trade in Queen Victoria’s speech opening a new session of Parliament. The cabinet approved negotiations for concessions that would allow the Royal Navy to suppress the slave trade effectually,” setting the scene for the conquest of East and Central Africa by first Britain and then the other European powers.
The modern fixation on Rhodes’s more nakedly imperialist power grabs conceals the awkward truth that from Livingstone to Baker, Gordon to Lugard, Britain’s exploration and conquest of Africa took place under the banner of humanitarian intervention against slavery. From Zanzibar into Uganda, the Sudan and the depths of Central Africa, British abolitionist activism and rhetoric dragged British generals and administrators into wars against local rulers more or less against the government’s express orders, driven by popular fervour and the moralising exertions of what the British assistant secretary at Zanzibar termed “the period of cheap journalism”, wherein, as Huzzey notes, “complex political and economic struggles with African leaders could be easily reduced in reports home to stories of British officers fighting villains addicted to slave trading”; meanwhile the cruelties of the “Arab invasion,” and the conquest of nations could be chivalrically framed by its practitioners as “those of a gentleman defending a woman or child from an abusive ‘ruffian.’”
By the time of the 1884-85 Berlin Conference, called by Bismarck, and now seen as the beginning of the Scramble for Africa and the highpoint of European imperialism in the continent, the popular clamour by liberal and evangelical activists for anti-slavery conquests had established the principle that military intervention against African states and their replacement with European governance was not just legally permissible, but an overriding moral duty.
Where before anti-slavery activism had driven colonial expansion, now the veneer of anti-slavery action was cynically applied to win popular support for nakedly imperialist power grabs. When even as sinister an actor as King Leopold of Belgium framed his conquest of the Congo as a mission to extirpate slavery from the Dark Continent’s darkest reaches, he was lauded as a hero by the liberal press and abolitionist activists in Britain. As late as the early 20th century, British anti-slavery activists were applauding the Italian conquest of Libya and Ethiopia, both ostensibly carried out to rid the countries of the stain of slavery. As Drescher notes, “antislavery became a major rationalisation for the legitimising and creation of European spheres of dominion” in Africa, whose effects have defined the continent’s subsequent history. As one anti-imperialist MP, Sir Wilfred Lawson, observed in opposing Lugard’s conquest of Uganda, “formerly we stole Africans from Africa, and now we stole Africa from Africans.”
It is noteworthy that the recent historiographical reassessment of British and European colonial expansion in Africa in this crucial, mid-19th century period is a direct product of historians observing the exact same processes at work during the past 30 years of American military hegemony and humanitarian intervention. As Hegel famously declared, the owl of Minerva flies at dusk, and perhaps it is only now that this strange period is itself passing into history that we can reassess the humanitarian impulses of our forebears, who were driven by similar noble aims into ever-widening and counterproductive moral crusades. As historians have noted, liberal women activists like the fictional Mrs Jellyby were central figures in establishing the current of moral indignation at home that pressured the British government into reluctant colonial expansion, in India as well as Africa, a parallel that can be clearly seen today in the reshaping of America’s Afghan war as a feminist cause.
It is worth remembering then, when we are lectured via Instagram stories or the lobbying of activist groups about the evils of slavery, colonialism and imperialism for which we must all now make penance, that much of the interplay of these three quite separate historical processes was carried out at the moralising behest of their direct forebears.
Unlike the moral clarity of propaganda, history is a series of ironies and ambiguities; in this case, the irony that, entirely contrary to the dominant popular narrative, the fervent moral certainties of today’s activists reflect precisely the same dynamics which led the British state, initially reluctantly, into the conquest of much of Africa for what seemed noble, humanitarian ends.
Like the poor, the Mrs Jellybys will always be with us: perhaps, now the second historical wave of humanitarian crusading is drawing to a close, we can limit the future unintended consequences of their activism, for our sakes as well as those of the unwitting objects of our imperial mercy.
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SubscribeAn impressively erudite article by Aris Roussinos. He is always interesting.
Aris thank you for writing this. I often point out to the postmodern leftwing aid workers in Southern Africa that their projects of “gender mainstreaming” and “ending homophobia” are scarcely different in principle to the mission of those that colonised the area centuries before.
The European export of the idea of liberty and equality of treatment under some rule of law (which is colonial in origin in any case) is, I argue to them, something that has happened for centuries and is something that they are continuing.
Of course, when I suggest this, I am usually greeted with anger and derision for daring to suggest this parallel.
I also ask them why they are here given that the central premise of their social justice education is that all cultures are equal. “Why, if this is the case” I ask, “are you working to eliminate child marriage’?”
After a long convoluted explanation of double-think, I am left with the message that all cultures are equal, but that some are more equal than others.
A really good article by Roussinos, and I am delighted to see my former colleague Richard Huzzey’s brilliant book featuring so prominently. Broadly speaking I think Roussinos is correct about anti-slavery as a major driver of British expansion in West and East Africa, and above all when he says that we should not conflate the Atlantic Slave trade with European colonialism in Africa. A few caveats however – firstly, much of Africa was not of course colonised by the British, but by the French, Portuguese, Germans and Belgians. Although King Leopold did indeed try to mask the brutal and shameful exploitation of the ‘Congo Free State’ with anti-slavery rhetoric, none of the other European powers was nearly as interested in or motivated by anti-slavery as the British were.
Secondly the British also had some much more hard-nosed interests in parts of the African continent – obviously the gold and diamonds of the Rand, where Rhodes made his money, though their targets there were the Boer Republics (the object of much Liberal sympathy in Britain at the time, though they truly were white supremacist regimes). At the opposite end of the continent there was Egypt, crucial both because of the enormous debts it owed British and French creditors, and because of the Suez Canal and its place at the key junction of routes towards British India, the real keystone of the Empire. This was what led to its annexation as a nominal British protectorate in 1881, and it was this in turn that sparked the celebrated ‘Scramble’ for Africa, as the French were peeved at this intrusion in what they had considered to be their sphere of influence and sought compensation elsewhere. The British would later conquer Sudan and annex Uganda and Kenya largely as a means of securing the whole length of the Nile and thus further guaranteeing Egypt’s security.
My final caveat is a more controversial one – where I think the comparison with modern liberal interventionism breaks down is that of course modern interventionists are desperate to avoid being labelled as ‘colonialists’, and instead go out of their way to insist that their occupation is temporary and that they will be on their way soon. It is precisely this which makes their attempts at state-building so futile, as we saw in Afghanistan, because all their opponents then need is patience. Rory Stewart wrote in a rather good NYRB piece about South Sudan last year that the modern NGO-ocracy have all the privileges and pay of colonial officials with none of the long-term responsibility (by coincidence he was writing about precisely the part of Africa where my late grandfather spent 29 years working as an engineer on the Nile Steamers). I think there is something in this – colonial systems of governance were imperfect, often cruel, and became unsustainable in the era of modern nationalism, but the structures they created were often much more stable and lasting than anything the doctrine of liberal interventionism has been able to achieve in the last thirty years – never mind Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, even Bosnia is still a basket-case.
Another fascinating addition to the article itself. This is what I love about UnHerd. Thank you.
Thomas ‘Scramble for Africa’ Packenham’s wife Valerie bought our house when we left London 25 years ago.
I can’t believe it! There are actually intelligent people around writing sensible, informed pieces here on Unherd.
Such a pleasure. Thank you.
Not just British imperialism. Although we tend to associate Spanish conquisators as being driven by greed – which undoubtedly the early ones were – the reality is Spain’s consolidation of rule was driven by need to spread Catholicism and impose moral values such as monogamy – which is seen in the widespread promotion of the very monogamous St. Joseph in churches through Latin America. Even today Spanish people will point out Spain came and stopped cannibalism among native tribes. Bartolomé de las Casas specifically wrote against the depredations of the conquisatadores against the native population which was one of the main factors the Spanish crown needed to step in and impose order on the freebooters who were emerging as powerful figures there.
Really interesting article. Exemplifies that old saying: ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.’
Or, as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, who are clearly familiar with the Orange LibDem logo put it:
“…Remember where to enter, The door to Hell is Amber…”
https://youtu.be/bdjl5nygwJQ
A fine and informative article by the author, especially about the British in West Africa. The irony being, there are now more slaves in Africa than ever in history, a direct consequence of the population explosion.
The situation in East Africa around the great lakes (where I was born), where the British also ended up with a version of benign rule and colonisation, was somewhat different. Zanzibar was of course originally established by the Arabs, who were (are?) historically great slavers, as a trade station into the interior for the buying and bringing of slaves into the Arab world. Unlike European countries though, where little cell-like ghettos grew in some cities (eg Bristol and Liverpool) containing the descendents of slaves living in slum poverty, no such ghettos grew in Arab countries, and I see no evidence of populations of African descent there, I wonder why.
Male slaves were usually castrated in Arab lands…
For evidence go to Saudi Arabia and look at the people – plenty of “African looking” Saudis. Children of slaves were treated as members of the family and full citizens/tribe members. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1965.
I had a Saudi student staying with me a few years ago. Very bright young lad, and a devout Muslim. He explained the Saudi caste system to me without a trace of embarrassment. As with Apartheid, each caste can only live in designated areas, marrying into their own group.
The groups are divided for religious reasons into Sunni and Shia. Then there are the Bedouin, who live in rural areas but are considered like our ‘travelling’ community in terms of their distain for the law.
But the lowest caste are Blacks. Whether these are descendants of slaves, or migrants from the past, I’m not sure.
Brilliant article, thank you. Conrad knew all this and wrote about it so well that he is chronically misunderstood. His settings, whether Africa, South America or The East Indies, were there to explore the European mind and its greedy/confused/well-meaning relationship with those lands and people. His writing is not about those lands and people. In Nostromo, the greedy silver prospector, Gould, carries on regardless as they country fights with itself while his humanitarian wife struggles to make sense of it all. Fascinating insight into this topic, Aris.
A very timely and instructive article that deserves to be widely read.
A really fascinating piece. I’m sure to the Victorian mind, the opponents they fought must have been viewed very much as the ISIS or Taliban of their day and would be bewildered to see modern liberals condemning their actions as immoral.
I’m sure in a hundred years time there will be middle class Marxists professors, still waiting in hope for the revolution, teaching their students about how ISIS were noble anti imperialists, to be celebrated for battling the evils of capitalism.
Hmm. Isis is a bit more complex than that. They were fighting to overthrow the regime, as was the west.
In some cases, like the followers of the Mahdi in Sudan, the colonizers’ opponents were not only viewed as being like ISIS or the Taliban, they WERE like ISIS or the Taliban
I’m sorry to say that there are already some professors who characterise ISIS as primarily motivated by anti-imperialism, and hence in some way to be excused.
Aris is brilliant yet again
This is a brilliant “article”, approaching a mini book. A veritable history lesson. Fascinating.
Yes – this is the kind of piece for which I subscribe to Unherd – excellent.
Useful analysis about the fate of good intentions but it still raises the question as to what the alternative would have been. Abandoning the good intentions in favour of cynical indifference and contempt for Africa or finding better ways to have implemented them? Or perhaps, realising that along with the crimes and follies of colonialism they were also real achievements. My father was a missionary headmaster in East Africa whose work, and that of many others, changed and advanced the lives of thousands as they will so amply testify. Perhaps we need to await Prof Nigel Biggar’s project evaluating Empire.
Fascinating
I wonder if the Quaker attempt to create settlements in Niger had something to do with what was a Quaker success in establishing Pennsylvania in the 17th century. For the first 50 years after it was begun there were no murders in that State. Of course, Africa was a different proposition, but I don’t think their motives would have been colonial, rather holistic in a social sense.
There was a fortuitous consequence of British colonialism in Africa of course. It prevented what would have been the inevitable Islamisation of the whole continent by establishing Christian missions and British governance. It probably also prevented Africa from predation by Communism too as there were efforts on the Soviet Union’ part to get a foothold there. I was intrigued that at Mandela’s funeral, they addressed one another as comrade; so, there was no doubt some communist influence around. Also there was a concerted effort to prevent Germany from expanding its Empire into Africa especially under the Nazis.
The adoption of independence by Empire countries was also much more orderly when the British handed over if you compare it to the Belgian Congo, for instance, or Germany in Namibia and Tanzania.
Very interesting article. Would it be possible to know the sources/ bibliography? I want to learn more about this subject.
The Pakenham book ‘The Scramble for Africa’ is a good resource.
As I remarked to Alexander Morrison above, his wife Valerie bought our home when we left London 25 years ago.
Wow, that’s a nice anecdote!
I think he’s relying mainly on Richard Huzzey Freedom Burning. Anti-Slavery and Empire in Victorian Britain (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2012)
This was a fascinating read where parallels with the “War on terror” are hard to miss But I’ll take issue with part of the conclusion.
Mr Roussinos seems to be putting the cart before the horse here in saying: “lobbying of activist groups about the evils of slavery, colonialism and imperialism for which we must all now make penance.”
Atlantic slave trade was a lucrative trade for European countries, and a good deal of the wealth in slave trading cities such as Nantes or Bordeaux can be traced back to this where a single city such as Bordeaux would be responsible for sending as many as 150 000 Africans to the Caribbean. (Compare this with the size of the city as it would be then). This is not yet speaking of the wealth created in the plantations in the New world with slave labour and the treatment (/eradication) of the native populations there.
It’s also fairly clear outright racism (not of the systemic type) played a role in justifying some of this where many cherished Enlightenment thinkers invented racial categories and saw some (e.g. Africans) as lesser humans than the superior Europeans.
That liberal imperialism has had troubles similar to today doesn’t take away from any of the above.
The author’s claim is that the trade in slaves itself did not provide any reason to colonise west Africa, it was only the attempt to suppress the trade that did that. This speaks directly against your suggestion that colonisation was motivated by profits from that trade. The timeline surely supports this thesis, with the foreign settlement of Sierra Leone only beginning in 1787.