Quiz: Imperialism: A Study

All 40 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. What, according to Hobson, does “social efficiency” mean in the imperialists’ “natural history” argument?

   A high level of moral and intellectual culture The ability to govern by consent Simply the capacity to beat other races in the struggle Success in free trade
2. 2. How does Hobson characterise the South African war in his discussion of militarism?

   As a war fomented by gold speculators for their private purposes As a defensive war forced on Britain by German intrigue in the Transvaal As a necessary war to protect the self-governing Cape Colony from invasion As a war fought chiefly to suppress the slave trade in the Boer republics
3. 3. How many of the 367 million British subjects outside the British Isles does Hobson say have any real self-government?

   None at all, since every colony is ruled from Downing Street Not more than ten million, or one in thirty-seven About fifty million, or one in seven About half, mainly in India and Egypt
4. 4. What political conclusion does Hobson draw from the status of the territories annexed since 1870?

   Most new territories are being prepared for self-government The new imperialism is an expansion of autocracy The new imperialism has spread representative government The new territories are governed mainly by their settlers
5. 5. What is Hobson’s verdict on the claim that the Empire trains its subjects in self-government?

   It is achieved everywhere through the representative councils set up in the Crown colonies It succeeds in India but fails in Africa Where British rule is real it brings no freedom; where it brings freedom it is not real It is the Empire’s chief aim but proceeds too slowly
6. 6. To the question “Cui bono?” (who gains?) from imperialism, what is Hobson’s first and most obvious answer?

   The working man The missionary The investor The manufacturer for export
7. 7. Who, according to Hobson, said that stressing missionary work would “sanctify the spirit of Imperialism”?

   The Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Hugh Cecil Joseph Chamberlain The Bishop of London
8. 8. Allowing 5 per cent. profit on Britain’s 1898 external trade, what share of national income does Hobson say it yields?

   About one forty-fifth About one twenty-fifth About half About one-third
9. 9. Whose words about “a certain conspiracy of rich men” does Hobson quote at the start of the chapter on economic parasites?

   Sir Thomas More John Stuart Mill Edmund Burke Adam Smith
10. 10. What does Hobson say Canada’s preferential tariff had achieved for British trade?

    It doubled British exports to Canada within four years of its adoption It caused the United States to retaliate against Canadian goods It led Canada to abolish all duties on British goods Very little: British goods still paid higher average duties than American
11. 11. How does Hobson describe the character of his study in the preface?

    As a balanced survey weighing the case for and against the empire As a study in social pathology, frank about the disease As a statistical handbook for colonial administrators abroad As a narrative history of the British Empire since about 1870
12. 12. Citing Rowntree, what share of the town population does Hobson say lives below bare physical efficiency?

    Somewhat less than one-tenth Less than one-twentieth Rather more than one-half More than one-fourth
13. 13. Which of Hobson’s three conditions for legitimate rule over a “lower race” does he say is unfulfilled everywhere, and fundamental to the other two?

    Sanction by some organised representation of civilised humanity Service to the civilisation of the world as a whole Consent of the subject people through an elected representative assembly Benefit to the people brought under control
14. 14. Why, according to Hobson, does imperialism favour indirect taxation?

    Because it falls mainly on the rich, who can best afford to pay To hide the cost of imperial policy from those who pay it Because it is easier to collect in the colonies and dependencies Because the income-tax had reached the limit of what the House would bear
15. 15. Whose statement does Hobson quote to show that British officials in Egypt had no intention of introducing popular government?

    Richard Cobden Lord Rosebery Lord Salisbury Lord Milner
16. 16. In the passage from J. S. Mill that Hobson quotes, what is the strongest cause of the feeling of nationality?

    Community of language, which makes a common literature possible Identity of race and descent: a shared blood and common ancestry Identity of political antecedents: a shared national history Community of religion, binding the people in a single faith
17. 17. What might Western Europe come to resemble, Hobson warns, if China were exploited by Western capital?

    Residential southern England and the Riviera, living on tribute from Asia and Africa A federation of peasant communes like those of China A great industrial workshop exporting manufactures to China in exchange for tea and silk A militarised empire constantly at war with Japan
18. 18. What are the two features that distinguish the new imperialism from the old, according to Hobson?

    Competing empires, and finance dominating mercantile interests Settler colonisation, and the abolition of slavery Rule through chartered companies, and a return to protective tariffs Missionary zeal, and free trade
19. 19. How does Major Thruston describe the signing of treaties with African chiefs?

    As a solemn ceremony whose terms the chiefs fully understood As an “amiable farce” meant to impress foreign governments As a fair exchange of land for firearms As a legal formality required by Parliament for every annexation
20. 20. Which scientist does Hobson take as the main spokesman for the view that civilisation advances through the struggle of race with race?

    T. H. Huxley Charles Darwin Herbert Spencer Karl Pearson
21. 21. How does Hobson define Jingoism?

    As the professional pride of the officer class in the regular army As the foreign policy peculiar to the Liberal Imperialists of the day As the lust of the spectator, unpurged by personal effort or risk As the fierce patriotism of soldiers who have themselves seen battle
22. 22. What does Hobson give as the most distinctive feature of later imperial Rome?

    The growth of a free and prosperous Italian peasantry settled on the public lands The conversion of the empire and its armies to the Christian faith A money-lending aristocracy that filled the offices of State A federation of self-governing provinces under the Senate’s guidance
23. 23. What does Hobson say is the true end of the soldier?

    To die for his country To educate the lower races in discipline To kill for his country To defend the civil law
24. 24. Which relationship did Jefferson propose in 1774 as the model for Britain and its American colonies?

    Complete separation as independent republics That of England and Hanover: a shared monarch and no other necessary tie A customs union with a common tariff Full representation of the colonies by their own members in the House of Commons
25. 25. From about which year does Hobson date the wholesale partition that brought Britain vast tracts of Africa?

    1899 1857 1815 1884
26. 26. According to Hobson, what would doubling Britain’s volunteer standing army probably require?

    Doubling the rate of pay Quadrupling the rate of pay Abolishing the militia and merging it into the line Recruiting entirely from the agricultural districts
27. 27. How does Hobson describe the relation of nationalism to internationalism?

    Nationalism and internationalism are essentially and permanently antagonistic Imperialism is the natural fulfilment of nationalism Internationalism must first destroy national loyalties Nationalism is a plain highway to internationalism; imperialism perverts it
28. 28. Which body does Hobson say has absorbed real power at the expense of the House of Commons and the full Cabinet?

    The Privy Council The permanent officials of the Treasury and the Foreign Office An informal “inner Cabinet” of a few ministers The House of Lords
29. 29. How does Hobson characterise British exports to the new tropical possessions?

    Mainly machinery and railway equipment for opening up the far interior Cheap textiles and hardware, with much gunpowder, spirits and tobacco Coal, iron and steel for building up local industry and public works Luxury goods for the European settlers and officials in the new colonies
30. 30. What does Hobson identify as the real cause of the pressure for new markets and fields of investment?

    Industrial progress itself Maldistribution of consuming power, causing oversaving Over-population at home The rising tariffs of foreign nations against British goods
31. 31. What two factors does Hobson say weakened past empires against outside “barbarians”?

    Democratic government and the spread of education among the masses Parasitism on their dependencies and reliance on mercenary forces Overpopulation at home and exhaustion of the soil in the provinces Free trade and religious toleration
32. 32. How does Hobson sum up the relation between internationalism and nationality?

    “We abolish nations in order that we may federate; we cease fighting with bullets in order to trade in peace” “Free trade will make nationality irrelevant, as the market dissolves every frontier” “Nations must keep fighting with bullets, for only struggle preserves their vigour and character” “We socialise in order that we may individuate; we cease fighting with bullets in order to fight with ideas”
33. 33. According to the 1842 Select Committee on the West Indies, why did freed labourers not work long enough on the planters’ estates?

    Disease and emigration had greatly reduced the labouring population Indentured labourers brought from India had taken their places on the estates The planters refused to pay any wages beyond food and lodging Land was cheap, so they could live without much wage-work
34. 34. How did Sir Charles Metcalfe describe India’s village communities?

    As the source and stronghold of India’s caste tyranny As obstacles that British revenue policy must sweep away As recent creations of the Mughal emperors for revenue purposes As “little republics” that outlast every change of dynasty
35. 35. Which territory does Hobson offer as the best illustration of a “true imperial” policy?

    Southern Rhodesia The Congo Free State Natal and Zululand Basutoland
36. 36. What principle of safety does Hobson propose to check imperial expansion?

    Every annexation should first be approved by Parliament and then by a popular referendum Those investing or living abroad should do so at their own risk, without state protection The colonies should pay for their own defence and administration out of their own local taxes All foreign investment should be prohibited by law until the home market is fully supplied
37. 37. On what economic basis does Hobson say imperialism logically rests?

    Bimetallism Free Trade Protection The gold standard
38. 38. Where, according to Hobson’s figures, did most British emigrants go between 1884 and 1900?

    South Africa and the Rhodesias The United States India The tropical territories annexed since 1870
39. 39. What did the Glen Grey Act’s “labour-tax” require?

    Compulsory service as carriers for military expeditions Four months’ unpaid work each year from every able-bodied man in Rhodesia Ten shillings a year from every male native unless he had worked three months outside his district A hut-tax of £2 a year on every native dwelling in the Transvaal and Natal
40. 40. What does Hobson’s source give as the utmost density of population India can comfortably support outside towns and irrigated districts?

    Ten men to an acre of well-watered rice land Two men to an acre, or 1,280 to the square mile A family to every hundred acres of cultivated land A man to an acre, or 640 to the square mile