Joseph Chamberlain and the Theory of Imperialism

Within the short space of two years, Chamberlain had taken a position from which his later imperialism may be traced. This later imperialism grew naturally from the ideas that he expressed during the Irish struggle; that struggle had embittered him and made him oppose certain domestic policies. His Imperial policy thus came to absorb the political energy which he had once expended in behalf of domestic reform. Having broken with the Liberals, he tended to gravitate toward the Conservative Party which, besides opposing Home Rule, had always been the party of imperialism. Within the next fifteen years Chamberlain, working with the Conservatives, developed his Imperial policy. But in 1903 his imperialism, issuing in protection, was also to divide the Conservatives.

-56-