result is due
to European Imperialism."[83]

The ethics of modern imperialism have nowhere been better formulated
than in an essay by Lord Cromer. "An imperial policy," he writes, "must,
of course, be carried out with reasonable prudence, and the principles
of government which guide our relations with whatsoever races are
brought under our control must be politically and economically sound and
morally defensible. This is, in fact, the keystone of the imperial arch.
The main justification of imperialism is to be found in the use which is
made of imperial power. If we make good use of our power, we may face
the future without fear that we shall be overtaken by the Nemesis which
attended Roman misrule. If the reverse is the case, the British Empire
will deserve to fall, and of a surety it will ultimately fall."[84]

Such are the basic sanctions of Western imperialism as evolved during
the nineteenth century. Whether or not it is destined to endure, there
can be no question that this prodigious extension of European political
control greatly favoured the spread of Western influences of every kind.
It is, of course, arguable that the East would have voluntarily adopted
Western methods and ideas even if no sort of Western pressure had been
applied. But they would have been adopted much more slowly, and this
vital element of time renders such arguments mere academic speculation.
For the vital, expanding nineteenth-century West to have deliberately
restrained itself while the backward East blunderingly experimented with
Westernism, accepting and rejecting, buying goods and refusing to pay
for them, negotiating loans and then squandering and repudiating them,
inviting in Europeans and then expelling or massacring them, would have
been against all history and human nature.

As a matter of fact, Western pressure was applied, as it was bound to be
applied; and this constant, ubiquitous, unrelenting pressure, broke down
the barriers of Oriental conservatism and inertia as nothing else could
have done, forced the East out of its old ruts, and compelled it to take
stock of things as they are in a world of hard facts instead of
reminiscent dreams. In subsequent chapters we shall examine the manifold
results of this process which has so profoundly transformed the Orient
during the past hundred years. Here we will continue our general survey
by examining the more recent aspects of Western control over the East
and the reactions of the