The Western British Empire
A glimpse through the veil
Several weeks ago I was having a discussion with a good friend, comparing America to Rome and vise versa. Hardly an original comparison, Americans have been fashioning themselves Roman before the Constitution was ratified — but my friend made an observation that stopped me in my tracks. Pointing out the eastern and western Roman empires after the split, he postulated that the history books would remember America as the Western British Empire.
These many weeks later, the idea is still being turned over in my head, like a coin you continually turn in your fingers, feeling it over and over as if trying to divine some new tactile sensation. Perhaps it’s true, perhaps not. I thought back to John Ruskin’s words in The Stones of Venice
“Since the first dominion of men was asserted over the ocean, three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the First of these great powers only the memory remains; of the Second, the ruin; the Third, which inherits their greatness, if it forget their example, may be led through prouder eminence to less pitied destruction.”
Ruskin’s words seem chillingly prophetic. There is a certain allure, a certain continuity that appears more visible to the outside observer, centuries removed from our trials and our triumphs.
Because of course America is a distinct entity. We fought a revolution over that, several actually. Yet in my mind the case these recorders could make starts to coagulate, and dimly I perceive its merit. There was only one thing to do — dive into the Adams records for answers. Charlie Adams answers my question, sort of, in 1898 in an Essay titled simply Imperialism.
“It is the same in other respects. It seems to be admitted by the President, and by the leading authorities on the imperialistic policy, that it can only be carried to successful results through the agency of a distinct governing class. Accordingly administration through the agency of military or naval officers is strongly urged both by the President and by Captain Mahan. Other advocates of the policy urge its adoption on the ground, very distinctly avowed, that it will necessitate an established, recognized Civil Service, modelled, they add, on that of Great Britain. If, they then argue, Great Britain can extend—as, indeed, she unquestionably has extended—her system of dependencies all over the globe, developing them into the most magnificent empire the world ever saw, it is absurd, unpatriotic, and pessimistic to doubt that we can do the same. Are we not of the same blood, and the same speech? This is all historically true. Historically it is equally true that, to do it, we must employ means similar to those Great Britain has employed. In other words, modelling ourselves on Great Britain, we must slowly and methodically develop and build up a recognized and permanent governing and official class. The heathen and barbarian need to be studied, and dealt with intelligently and on a system; they cannot be successfully managed on any principle of rotation in office, much less one which ascribes the spoils of office to the victors at the polls. What these advocates of Imperialism say is unquestionably true: The political methods now in vogue in American cities are not adapted to the government of dependencies.”
And here begins the genesis of what we call the WASP, the White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Taking the best of our stock, often from the far reaches of the white hinterlands, heirs to the continent conquered, we sent them through the Military, through the Ivy League, and through the Episcopal Church to make for ourselves a class of Imperial Officers.
In this America realized the vision imagined three centuries previously, that the gentry would finally get their chance to run the British Empire, much better than the court party who went to war with them. The results are mixed, and not really the point of my writing here. What I realized in my research is that there is a fundamental continuity, a unity, of Anglo Protestant Civilization. Our enemies recognize this, perhaps in a way we cannot.
“The sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved onto sabotage”1
Vladimir Putin
But it seems this is no longer true. The Ivys have shut their door to the white hinterlanders, the military is becoming a glorified welfare program, and the Episcopal Church has become a joke. We are left holding the bag as our great maritime civilization limps on, becoming more sluggish as the brown morass of mediocrity takes its toll.
It does not have to be this way. Each and every one of you reading this, you are heirs to a great civilization, and you must find a way to bear it, become it, to meet your destiny regardless of obstacles. All we can do is become who we are. My trust in Providence is complete, that meritocracy, progress, virtue and greatness can succeed here. And it is our great privilege to bring about and embody that victory. Join clubs, leagues, and find fraternity. We must hang together, or we shall surely hang separately. Rudyard Kipling, perhaps my favorite poet, said it best.
One man in a thousand, Solomon says.
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it's worth while seeking him half your days
If you find him before the other.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth Man will stand your friend
With the whole round world agin you.
'Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for 'ee.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
But if he finds you and you find him,
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.
You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man he's worth 'em all
Because you can show him your feelings.
His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight
With that for your only reason!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot - and after!2
https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-putin-nordstream-idAFS8N2Z80FZ
https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_thousandth.htm