New book on imperial expansion welcomed

Imperial Benevolence By Jane Samson University of Hawaii Press $35 SUBTITLED Making British Authority in the Pacific Islands, this welcome addi tion to the sum of knowledge of the region al empire draws on previously unpublished British Admiralty archives to offer a view of the British mission in the islands.

Dr Samson identifies that mission as “Christianisation and Civilisation” while revealing the stresses, contradictions and conflicts that lie behind this central theme of empire. The naval captains who roamed those vast expanses of ocean, displayed the benevolent power of Queen Victoria to the savages they looked upon (on the whole) with condescending kindness. They largely detested and distrusted the traders they encountered, tending to dismiss their advice and knowledge even though they had been in place far longer than any naval man o’ war ever could be. Yet those same captains were from time to time called

upon to convey Her Majesty’s displeasure to the natives in the form of punitive expe ditions which usually involved shelling vil lages from the sea before disappearing over the horizon. Fortunately, as Dr Samson finds, very little permanent damage was inflicted. It was a near-schizoid Britain that looked out upon the world in the dawn of Queen Victoria’s reign. Slavery was the major enemy of civilisation while empire was the means by which savages could be raised from their ignorance and brought under her Brittanic Majesty’s protection.

Unfortunately for the proponents of empire, however, the notion of small islands joining the red portions of the world map was not always welcomed in Whitehall. Indeed, Tonga and later Fiji found themselves with royal families where none had existed before reluctant civil ser vants could countenance their entrance to empire. At least with rulers of their own, they could be left to get on with it - unless

of course those rulers developed as a chal lenge to the existing order. So one of the warring leaders of Tonga was declared king. “He is the king because Her Majesty Queen Victoria says he is king” as one naval offer put it. Similarly, Cakobau was declared supreme ruler of Fiji although it was argued that his power was in decline and his writ extended barely beyond a small comer of Viti Levu. When the British insisted that “king” Cakobau right a wrong in Naitisiri, for example, Cakobau showed a willingness to act - but no more. In fact, he was powerless in the highlands.

Dr Samson’s study offers some fascinat ing insights into the naval lore of the time and points to the ambivalent attitude of many ship’s captain’s and officers toward their mission. We also learn something but still not enough due, no doubt, to the shortage of sources - of the reactions and attitudes among the islanders to the arrival of British naval power. (Russell Hunter) ■