SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Three experiments in Britain's tropical empire were begun in 1874. The forts on the Gold Coast were added to the island of Lagos to form a crown colony which was given legislative power in the Gold Coast Protectorate, the first Residents were appointed in the Malay States and the Fiji Islands were annexed. As it has "been suggested that these developments formed part of a new forward colonial policy inaugurated by Disraeli, and since the three experiments were sometimes mentioned together, an examination of the background of the changes and a consideration of their place in the history of British policy may be useful. Local events in each area reached a crisis during Gladstone's first ministry at a time when changes in personnel gave the Colonial Office a different bias. The separatist Sir Frederic Rogers gave way as Permanent Under-secretary in 1871 to Robert Herbert, a former Premier of Queensland; Lord Kimberley, a conscientious Colonial Secretary, who gave close attention to the local crises, took office in 1870, and Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, who became Parliamentary Under-secretary in 1871, showed himself to be an eager expansionist. Between 1870 and 1873 they conducted a careful reappraisal of Britain's role in the three tropical regions, and between February and August 1873 Kimberley decided to intervene in the Gold Coast against Ashanti invaders, he suggested the appointment of Residents in Malaya, and he urged Gladstone to annex Fiji. As the Liberal Government fell in February 1874 before future policy had been determined, the final decisions fell to Lord Carnarvon, Disraeli's Colonial Secretary. He decided to follow Kimberley's policy in each case, but he announced strictly limited aims. Instead of initiating a period of colonial expansion he saw himself conducting three experiments in the administration of tropical dependencies.