The History of England by A. E. Pollard
in the House of Commons. The realization of the prospect of Roman Catholic Emancipation, which had
been held out as a further consideration, was postponed by the prejudices of George III until its saving
grace had been lost. Grattan's prophecy of retribution for the destruction of Irish liberty has often been
quoted: "We will avenge ourselves," he said, "by sending into the ranks of your parliament, and into the
very heart of your constitution, one hundred of the greatest scoundrels in the kingdom"; but it is
generally forgotten that he had in mind the kind of members nominated by peers and borough-mongers to
represent them in an unreformed House of Commons.
The loss of the American colonies threw a shadow over British colonial enterprise which had some
lasting effects on the colonial policy of the mother-country. The severance did not, as is often supposed,
convince Great Britain that the grant of self-government to colonies was the only means to retain them.
But they had been esteemed mainly as markets for British exports, and the discovery that British exports
to America increased, instead of diminishing, after the grant of independence, raised doubts about the
value of colonies which explain the comparative indifference of public opinion towards them during the
next half-century. For the commercial conception of empire was still in the ascendant; and if the landed
interest controlled the domestic politics of the eighteenth century, the commercial interest determined the
outlines of British expansion. Territory was acquired or strongholds seized in order to provide markets
and guard trade communications.
From this point of view India became, after the loss of the American colonies, the dominant factor in
British external policy. The monetary value of India to the British far exceeded that of all their other
foreign possessions put together. The East India Company's servants often amassed huge fortunes in a
few years, and the influence of this wealth upon British politics became very apparent in the last quarter
of the century. It put up the price of parliamentary pocket-boroughs, and thus delayed reform; it enabled
commercial men to force their way into the House of Lords by the side of landed magnates, and the
younger Pitt doubled its numbers in his efforts to win the political support of the moneyed classes; and
finally, it affected consciously or unconsciously men's views of the interests of the empire and of the
policy to be pursued to serve them.
The half-century which followed the American War of Independence was not, indeed, barren of results in
other directions than those indicated by the East India Company. Canada was saved from the seductions
of American independence by a wise recognition of its established customs and religion (1774), and was
strengthened by the influx of United Empire Loyalists who would not bow the knee to republican
separatism. Provision was made for the government of these some what discordant elements by dividing
Canada into two provinces, one predominantly French, the other British, and giving each a legislature for
the voicing of its grievances (1791). So, too, the impulse of the Seven Years' War survived the War of
Independence in other quarters of the globe. Naval officers, released from war-like operations, were sent
to explore the Pacific; and, among them, Captain James Cook surveyed the coasts of Australia and New
Zealand (1770). The enthusiastic naturalist of the expedition, Joseph Banks, persistently sang the praises
of Botany Bay; but the new acquisition was used as a convict settlement (1788), which was hardly a
happy method of extending British civilization. The origin of Australia differed from that of New
England, in that the Pilgrim Fathers wanted to avoid the mother-country; while the mother-country
wanted to avoid the convicts; but in neither case was there any imperialism in the aversion.
India was, in fact, the chief outlet at that period for British imperial sentiment. It is true that Great Britain
laid down in solemn official language, in 1784, that the acquisition of territory was repugnant to the
principles of British government. But so had Frederick the Great begun his career by writing a refutation
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