EMPIRE 341

for seeking Empire was the advantage of people in the Mother
country, particularly merchants and manufacturers, and the
methods were frequently those of cruelty and treachery. But in
many instances, the results were advantageous, both to conqueror
and conquered, and to mankind as a whole. The Imperial Powers
could put down barbarous customs, 2nd introduce justice and
education; the development of resources meant a greater plenty
from which everyone might benefit. The problem is, how to
apply knowledge and enterprise to the exploitation of resources,
without at the same time exploiting human beings. In political
controversy, the parties of th$ Right emphasise the civilising
influence of Empire—the creation of prosperous communities
of colonists in lands once sparsely inhabited by ignorant peoples,
and the gift of efficient Government to native populations; they
urge also the opportunities for trade and emigration, opened to
the people of the Mother Country. The Left quote examples of
tyrannous rule, and argue that the whole people of the Mother
Country are involved in wars and military expenditure to an
extent which more than compensates for any advantage, except
to a limited class of property owners. Both sides of the argument
can be extensively illustrated from the history of British
Imperialism.

In some of the lands brought under British rule, there have
sprung up large white communities, which have been given full
self-Government. These are the Dominions, which form the
British Commonwealth. The term British Empire, sometimes
applied to all lands owning allegiance to the British Crown, is
more strictly used to denote those which have not fiill self-
Government; these are either small white communities, or lands
where a large coloured population is ruled by a small class of
whites.1 This Empire contains, apart from the 45,000,000 in
Britain, some 400,000,000 people, of whom 350,000,000 are in
India.

1 The Union of South Africa is in a special position. See Ch. XXII.'