Patriotism, Self-Interest and the ‘Empire Effect’

Britishness and British Decisions to Invest in Canada, 1867–1914

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11944490
AutoresAndrew Smith (0000-0001-6541-6187, Coventry University, autor correspondente)
Ano2013
Volume41
Fascículo1
Páginas59-80
Data de publicação2013-02-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03086534.2013.762155
OpenAlexW1980750851
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas21

This paper builds on the growing body of literature on the British World, which has shown that people in the dominions had a strong British identity and their claims to Britishness were recognised by people in the British Isles. It attempts to gauge the extent to which this British World identity influenced the global allocation of British capital. Much of the existing literature on British investment in the dominions dismisses the possibility that the pattern in Britain's capital exports was significantly affected by imperial patriotism. This article will suggest that imperial sentiment did indeed influence the destination of British capital exports. Imperialist sentiment influenced the legal and political institutions of the dominions in ways that encouraged British investment. Moreover, imperial ideology may have influenced investors' decisions in ways that the existing historiography does not adequately explore: at least some British investors may have been willing to accept a lower anticipated rate of return because they valued the psychological satisfaction of investing in territories that happened to be part of the British Empire. This article compares the experience of British investment in the United States, which has an ambiguous relationship with the British World, with that of investment in Canada with a view to understanding the impact of the British World identity on investment patterns. Acknowledgements I wish to thank Dimitry Anastakis, Bernard Attard, Andrew Dilley and Kevin Tennent, Vucetic's The Anglosphere was published too late to be incorporated into this article, but it substantially supports the case made here. Notes Buckner, Canada and the British Empire; Buckner and Francis, Canada and the British World and Rediscovering the British World; Fedorowich and Bridge, British World; Thompson, Empire Strikes Back. Adams, Bonar Law. Davis and Gallman, Evolving Financial Markets, Table 2:2–6, 67–68. Ibid., Table 2:2–7, 69. Ibid., Table 2:2–8, 70. These forces are discussed in Easterbrook and Aitken, Canadian Economic History, 400–407; Norrie, Owram and Emery, History of Canadian Economy, 186–203. Greasley and Oxley, ‘Tale of Two Dominions’; Simon, ‘New British Investment’. Brown, ‘Domestic Politics’, 392. Fenn's Compendium of the Funds, 253. Bordo and Rockoff, ‘Gold Standard’, 413. Ferguson and Schularick, ‘Empire Effect’. Wentworth, Representation of the Australian Colonies, 15. Toronto Globe, ‘A Needless Discussion’, 14 Sept. 1864, 2. Paish, ‘Great Britain's Capital Investments’, 177–78. Quotation from New York Times, ‘Great Britain's Investments’, 8 Jan. 1911. 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On the concession of Responsible Government, see Buckner, Transition to Responsible Government; Cochrane, Colonial Ambition; Ward, Colonial Self-Government, 247–90. Kennedy, Constitution of Canada, 344–46. Stewart, Canada under Dufferin , 147–48. Burroughs, ‘Imperial Institutions’, 187–89. Stephen, ‘British Colonies’, n.p. Smith, British Businessmen, 58, 78–79. ‘Canadian Law and English Capital’, Economist, 9 Oct. 1909, 12–13; letter to the editor, Economist, 20 March 1909, 625. Nelles, Politics of Development, 268–77. Armstrong and Nelles, ‘Private Property’, 174. Jessop, ‘Colonial Stock Act of 1900’, 154. Farr, Colonial Office and Canada, 87–97, 94. Baster, ‘A Note on the Colonial Stock Act’, 602. Trustee, ‘Indian and Colonial Investments’, Empire Review, Feb. 1901, 67–78; McCalla, ‘Economy and Empire’, 258. Farr, Colonial Office and Canada, 66, 83–85, 90–92. Magee and Thompson, Empire and Globalisation, 170–231. Potter, News and the British World. Wentworth, Representation of the Australian Colonies, 15. Kendle, Colonial and Imperial Conferences, 41, 87, 177. McDonald, Lord Strathcona, 457, 458, 467. Montgomery, ‘Gilded Prostitution’, 4. Eisenstadt, Carnegie's Model Republic, xv, 8, 64, 133. Carosso, The Morgans, 33, 369, 384, 800. New York Times, ‘Noted Men on the Lost Titanic’, 16 April 1912. Magee and Thompson, Empire and Globalisation, 19–20, 38–40, 104–09, 117–19, 154–56. Magee and Thompson, Empire and Globalisation, 170–71, 179, 229. The phrase, originally used by J. M. Keynes, was revived by D. C. M. Platt. See Platt, ‘Canada and Argentina’, 77. For the recent theoretical literature, Williamson et al., ‘Political Institutions’, 1–9. Murray, Colonial Justice, 3–4. Laskin, British Tradition in Canadian Law. Young, Politics of Codification, 22, 166–70. Howell, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Swinfen, Imperial Appeal, 143. Creighton, Sir John A. Macdonald, vol. 2, 193–96; Saywell, The Lawmakers, 32–57. 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Madden, British Investment, 231. Anglo-American, American Securities, 5. Article 4 of the United States Constitution prohibited states from discriminating against the citizens of other states but says nothing about the property rights of non-citizens. Levi, International Commercial Law, 32. White, ‘It's Your Misfortune’, 262. For the reaction of investors in Dundee, see Aberdeen Weekly Journal, ‘Commercial Intelligence’, 14 Dec. 1891. The Times, ‘Alien Land Bill in America’, 28 Feb. 1885. New York Times, ‘Alien Land Law’, 24 Dec. 1891, and ‘Irish Landlords in America’, 20 March 1886. White, ‘It's Your Misfortune’, 262. For the reaction of investors in Dundee to the proposed Texas Alien Land Law, see Aberdeen Weekly Journal, ‘Commercial Intelligence’, 14 Dec. 1891. Cutrer, English Texans; Fort Worth Daily Gazette, ‘British Bulldozer: Hirelings of English Landed Aristocracy Attempt to Evict Tenants on the Irish Plan’, 13 Oct. 1887. Glasgow Herald, leading article 26 Sept. 1891, 6. Liverpool Mercury, ‘Latest Commercial’, 8 Dec. 1896. See the cases of the Aitchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway discussed in the Dublin Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, ‘New York Money Market’, 29 Dec. 1896. Davis and Gallman, Evolving Financial Markets, 252. Canada, Journal and Proceedings, Session 1854–55, 261, and Appendix to the Thirteenth Volume, QQ, 133. Martin, Dominion Lands Policy, 7–9, 140–48, 151. The Times, ‘Imperial Naturalization’, 17 June 1911, 11; Gorman, Imperial Citizenship, 164–69; Johnston, Voyage of the Komagata Maru, 4, 25–26, 57–61, 64; Karatani, Defining British Citizenship, 16–39; Johnston, Voyage of the Komagata Maru, 4, 25–26, 57–61, 64. Akerlof and Kranton, Identity Economics, 27–38; Arrow, ‘What Has Economics to Say ... ?’; Fox, Myth of the Efficient Market; Kindelberger, Manias, Panics. MacKenzie and Lewis, ‘Morals and Markets’; Nicholls and Opal, Fair Trade. Porter, ‘Attitudes, Values, Beliefs’, 358–61. Magee and Thompson, Empire and Globalisation, 170–71, 179, 229. Anglo-Canadian, Landed Credit System of Canada, 4. Canadian News: An Illustrated Weekly, Editorial note, 19 Oct. 1912, 10; Adam de Brock, ‘Empire and Character’, 26 Oct. 1912, 40; Henry Page Croft, ‘Some Thoughts on Canada’, 7 Dec. 1912, 235. Canadian News, ‘List of Contributor to the Quebec Fire Relief Fund’, 15 Nov. 1866, 317

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