[Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935, Navigation Header]

                       Mr. Kipling's Call to America

                               By Alfred Webb

                            Dublin, Feb. 7, 1899

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     To the Editor of The Nation:

     Sir: The cable informs us that "Kipling's stirring verses, the
     'Call to America,' have created a profound impression" on your
     side. What that impression may be, we can only conjecture. They
     profoundly impress many of us here as first-class specimens of
     cant, to which one of the examples, drawn from Dryden, given by
     Johnson as an example of the proper use of the word cant, aptly
     applies:

          "Of promise prodigal, while pow'r you want,
          And preaching in the self-denying cant."

     There is something almost sickening in this "imperial" talk of
     assuming and bearing burdens for the good of others. They are
     never assumed or held where they are not found to be of material
     advantage or ministering to honor or glory. Wherever empire (I
     speak of the United Kingdom) is extended, and the climate suits
     the white man, the aborigines are, for the benefit of the white
     man, cleared off or held in degradation for his benefit. Where
     the climate does not suit us, and the natives are in too advanced
     a condition to be cleared off, the first consideration (at least
     with the majority, men of Kipling's turn of mind) is our material
     advantage and honor and glory. We are in a precious hurry to lay
     burdens down when they do not pay, as in the case of our solemn
     obligations to the Armenians. We are ever ready to shirk them, as
     in the case of the status of our Indian fellow-subjects in our
     colonies, when the bearing of the burden of seeing fair play done
     would be inconvenient. In so far as is compatible with our
     interests and honor and glory, we have perhaps made the interests
     of "natives" under our rule of higher and more enduring
     consideration than that recorded of any other conquering and
     governing Power. But this talk of burdens is, as I have said,
     unadulterated cant.

     Taking India as a test, no one moves a foot in her government
     that is not well paid and pensioned at her cost. No appointments
     are more eagerly contended for than those in the Indian service.
     A young man is made for life when he secures one. The tone of
     that service is by no means one "bound to exile," "to serve . . .
     captives' need," "to wait in heavy harness," or in any degree as
     expressed in Mr. Kipling's highfalutin lines. It is entirely the
     contrary: 'You are requested not to beat the servants" is a not
     uncommon notice in Indian hotels. The most refined and educated
     natives with three-fourths of British officials narrowly and not
     indeed always escape the appellation of "D----d niggers." Much of
     England's wealth is derived from the connection with India. She
     is one of the richest countries in the world (average income, £40
     per head); India one of the poorest (average income, thirty
     shillings). If there were any reality in a united, equally
     considered empire and of the white man bearing burdens, it would
     be shown in relation to her. But no -- India is made to pay to
     the last farthing in all questions of common account. She was
     made to pay for the erection of that palatial India Office in
     Whitehall; she has had to pay for a state ball given to the
     Sultan of Turkey in London; she is made to pay even for the
     training in England of British troops sent out to govern her --
     of course for their transit, maintenance, and pay in India. So
     anxious are we, where good pay is concerned, to save Indians the
     heavy burden of enjoying them, that, while our sons can study and
     pass at home for Indian appointments, her sons must study and
     pass in England; and even in India itself whites are afforded
     chances closed to natives. You are told to go abroad and "Fill
     full the mouth of famine." Within the last three years we have
     had the worst famine of the century in India -- some eight
     million perished of disease and starvation. The heroic efforts to
     combat it have been, with the exception of voluntary
     contributions, at the expense of India, and have added to her
     debt. It is impossible to gauge the eventual inevitably
     impoverishing effect upon India of the millions of pounds
     annually drawn from her and, under the heads of salaries,
     pensions, home charges, and army and navy construction, spent in
     Great Britain.

     There never was a fostered trade and revenue in more disastrous
     consequences to humanity than the opium trade and revenue. There
     never was a more grinding and debilitating tax than that on salt
     (it would be a criminal offence in India for a poor woman to
     evaporate from sea water the smallest grain of it). Upon any
     principle of clearing our consciences and "taking up the white
     man's burden," we might assume both, and none of us eat a
     mouthful less or enjoy a moment's less real happiness. By none
     have such suggestions been laughed to greater scorn than by men
     of the Kipling cast of mind. And what nice feeling he displays
     towards your future fellow-citizens -- "New-caught sullen
     peoples, half devil and half child," "Sloth and human folly,"
     "Silent sullen peoples," etc. Surely you are not to be egged on
     to the relinquishment of all your best traditions by such
     impudent Pharisaical rhyming. Since 1862 you have enjoyed
     institutions as perfect as man has yet contrived them, let some
     in their application misuse and degrade them as they may. Here,
     through old traditions and foreign complications, each one of us
     is made responsible for unfairness and villainies of many kinds.
     You and we have each to clear ourselves from our several
     reproaches and work out our destinies as best we may, with all
     humanity and searchings of spirit. In deliberately entering upon
     our courses, you would jeopardize all the principles in which you
     lead, without possessing the traditions and experiences rendering
     it likely you would improve upon the methods by which we have so
     faultily led.

     Dublin, February 7, 1899.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Preferred citation: Webb, Alfred. "Mr. Kipling's Call to
     America." The Nation 68 (Feb. 23, 1899).
     http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/kipling/webb.html In Jim Zwick, ed.,
     Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935.
     http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/ail98-35.html (January 1996).
     -----------------------------------------------------------------

      [Next]The Real "White Man's Burden", by Ernest Crosby
      [Back]"The White Man's Burden" and Its Critics

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
                             [Navigation Menu]
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Text entered and converted to HTML for Anti-Imperialism in the
     United States, 1898-1935, edited by Jim Zwick, Syracuse
     University, fjzwick@mailbox.syr.edu.
     Created 1/29/96; Updated 3/12/96
     Portions Copyright © 1995, 1996 Jim Zwick. All rights reserved.