Under Providence

The Raj, as anyone in modern Britain can tell you, is still considered the 'jewel in the crown' of British colonial achievement, but how many of us Britons are able to explain why? Consequently, such belief requires an unquestioning leap of faith.Startlingly though, this rose-tinted analysis is not shared by the Indian subcontinent, whose national archives tell a very different history under British dominance.At a time when there are fresh calls being made to take pride in empire and...
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The Raj, as anyone in modern Britain can tell you, is still considered the 'jewel in the crown' of British colonial achievement, but how many of us Britons are able to explain why? Consequently, such belief requires an unquestioning leap of faith.Startlingly though, this rose-tinted analysis is not shared by the Indian subcontinent, whose national archives tell a very different history under British dominance.At a time when there are fresh calls being made to take pride in empire and emulate past imperial practices, a clear understanding of what we are supposed to be self-righteous about is more urgent than ever.As Britain's 'Indian Empire' was always its greatest accolade one need look no further for a litmus test of imperial success. Lord Curzon declared that Britain had come to the subcontinent under Providence 'for the lasting benefit of millions of the human race', but were the British different from other colonial powers, as we are so often reassured, or equally flawed?This brief account then will illuminate a significant and disregarded colonial episode and insodoing expose our nation's ulterior motives of empire.