The British Empire

The British Empire
Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions

O Imprio Britnico. Ideologias, perspectivas, percepes
Organizao J. Carlos Viana Ferreira Teresa de Atade Malafaia
Lisboa 2010
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions

ORGANIZAO
Teresa de Atade Malafaia J. Carlos Viana Ferreira

REVISO
Jos Duarte Maria Emlia Fonseca

CAPA, PAGINAO E ARTE FINAL
Ins Mateus l [email protected]

Imagem na capa
The East Offering Her Riches to Britannia, East India House

EDIO
Centro de Estudos Anglsticos da Universidade de Lisboa

IMPRESSO E ACABAMENTO
textype.pt
TIRAGEM ISBN
250 exemplares
DEPSITO LEGAL
978-972-8886-13-4 313 088/10
PUBLICAO APOIADA PELA
FUNDAO PARA A CINCIA E A TECNOLOGIA
NDICE
Apresentao Lusa Leal de Faria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
James Mill: Liberalismo e Imprio J. Carlos Viana Ferreira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 On India de John Stuart Mill: Barbrie versus civilizao e a poltica de no interveno Elisabete Mendes Silva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Aspects of Colonialism in John Stuart Mills On Liberty (1859) and Considerations on Representative Government (1861) Oksana Levkovych . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Na Rota do Imprio, segundo John Dee Adelaide Meira Serras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Antes do Imprio, as Colnias: Reflexes de Adam Smith e Jeremy Bentham Luisa Leal de Faria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 A Raa e o Imprio: A Oscilao entre o essencialismo estereotipado e a ambivalncia do discurso colonial Isabel Simes-Ferreira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Religio e Imprio: The Star in the East (1809) e a polmica em torno das misses Carla Larouco Gomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 The Colonial Dromosphere: Speed, Transmission and Prosthesis in Colonial India Christopher Pinney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Exhibiting the Empire: Then and Now Maria Emlia Fonseca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Colonial Photography. The Raj, Identities and Authority Cristina Baptista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Re-Imagining Authentic India Teresa de Atade Malafaia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 In the Canons Mouth: Shakespeare Wallah and the English book Ana Cristina Mendes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Introduo
ncleo de investigadores dedicado aos estudos de cultura do Centro de Estudos Anglsticos da Universidade de Lisboa empenhou boa parte da sua actividade, no ano de 2008-2009, na preparao de duas jornadas temticas sobre o Imprio Britnico. Para a escolha deste objecto de investigao convergiram os interesses individuais dos investigadores, mobilizados para o estudo sistemtico de conceitos como imprio e imperialismo, colnia e colonialismo, de ideologias como o liberalismo, ou para o estudo de representaes de identidade. Com o intuito comum de examinar criticamente uma multiplicidade de discursos sobre o Imprio Britnico, as comunicaes que agora so publicadas sustentam diferentes possibilidades de aproximao metodolgica aos estudos de cultura e posicionam o dilogo entre elas como instrumento de desenvolvimento do conhecimento em torno de um mesmo objecto. O Imprio Britnico , assim, interpelado na sua origem enquanto portador de uma misso civilizadora e so examinados discursos de supremacia europeia crescentemente desconstrudos pelas novas linhas de anlise cultural, sensveis estas dissonncia, dvida, ao silncio e ao no dito das culturas em presena. O confronto e o conflito entre a cultura dominante e as culturas subordinadas, a construo de novas identidades, a instabilidade dos sujeitos foram, nestas jornadas, objecto de apresentaes inovadoras em suportes visuais, como a pintura, a fotografia ou o filme. O conjunto de comunicaes agora apresentado traduz uma nova fase na vida deste grupo de investigao. Vale a pena lembrar que o CEAUL foi dirigido at 2009 pelo Professor Joo Flor, que assumiu tambm, at 1998, a direco da ento chamada Linha de Aco n2 ou LA2, dedicada aos Estudos de Cultura, e marcou, de ento para c, os princpios de exigncia acadmica, de sensibilidade s muitas faces e formas da cultura, de tolerncia
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THE BRITISH EMPIRE. IDEOLOGY, PERSPECTIVES, PERCEPTIONS
pela diferena, de convico de que actividade de investigao e de ensino se pautam por princpios ticos no exerccio da pesquisa e na relao com os outros que de ento em diante orientaram as escolhas e a actividade deste grupo de investigao. Entre 1998 e 2000 o Professor Joo Manuel Sousa Nunes sucedeu ao Professor Joo Flor na direco do ncleo, que passou a ficar sob a minha coordenao a partir daquele ano. O percurso deste ncleo de investigao, ao longo de uma dcada, evidencia o enfoque em projectos no mbito da histria das ideias, que se mantm como uma linha matricial de continuidade e estabilidade, em dilogo com mais recentes posies tericas no mbito de estudos de gnero ou etnicidade, enquanto os suportes tradicionais de anlise cultural, a ensastica e a novelstica, convivem com as mais recentes aberturas aos suportes visuais. Em 2008-2009 o ncleo de investigao foi alargado a um conjunto de jovens investigadores que agora apresentam, ao lado de investigadores mais experientes, os primeiros resultados da actividade desenvolvida e em curso. O tema Imprio Britnico, incidindo nesta fase sobretudo sobre a ndia, permitiu convocar as diferentes linhas de interesse individual e conferir dinamismo ao todo, que se passou a articular em torno de um projecto comum. A ideia que nos orienta ambiciosa, como se pode verificar nos textos explicativos do folheto de divulgao das jornadas que estiveram na base do volume que agora se publica. Olhado a partir do centro ou das margens, do passado ou do presente, a partir de ensaios polticos ou de narrativas autobiogrficas, perspectivado no texto ou na imagem, o Imprio Britnico na ndia foi interpelado a partir de muitos ngulos, problematizado sob vrias nfases tericas e aplicadas, mas sempre com a preocupao comum e central de se formularem as perguntas relevantes e se buscarem as respostas, ainda que provisrias, conducentes a um melhor conhecimento do objecto de estudo. Na primeira jornada, sob o tema geral Problematizar o Imprio, Carlos Viana Ferreira, Elisabete Silva, Oksana Levkovych, Adelaide Meira Serras, Isabel Simes Ferreira, Carla Gomes e eu prpria, apresentmos comunicaes centradas na anlise de conceitos como imprio, colnia, barbrie, civilizao, colonialismo, raa e religio, baseadas predominantemente em ensaios, de autores como John Dee, Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith, James Mill e John Stuart Mill ou articulando temticas associadas construo do discurso colonial. A segunda jornada, dedicada a estudos de cultura visual, teve como tema geral Visualizing the Empire, e contou com a presena de um reconhecido
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INTRODUO
antroplogo e historiador da arte, Christopher Pinney, Professor na Northwestern University e no University College. Falando sobre The Colonial Dromosphere, o Professor Pinney lanou estimulantes desafios s comunicaes de Carla Gomes, Maria Emlia Fonseca, Cristina Batista, Teresa Malafaia e Ana Mendes. O acervo de suportes visuais que foram apresentados e criticamente analisados e interpretados permitiu uma viagem no tempo e no espao, no concreto e na imaginao, a que uma edio em livro no poder fazer justia. O volume que agora se publica resulta, pois, de um conjunto de comunicaes de membros do grupo de Estudos de Cultura do CEAUL, e fica marcado pelo bi-linguismo em que trabalhamos, o que explica que os captulos estejam redigidos ou em ingls ou em portugus. O projecto Imprio Britnico no se esgota nas iniciativas at agora empreendidas. Outros passos j projectados levar-nos-o ao estudo das relaes com a frica, as Amricas, a Austrlia e a Nova Zelndia, as ilhas do Atlntico, com um Commonwealth passado e presente que problemtico, equvoco e fascinante. Lusa Leal de Faria
James Mill: Liberalismo e Imprio

J. Carlos Viana Ferreira
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions, Lisboa, 2010
James Mill: Liberalismo e Imprio
estudo The History of British India, publicado pelo filsofo radical e utilitarista James Mill em 1818, tem sido justamente considerado um texto-chave ou mesmo hegemnico (Inden, Imagining 45) pela profunda influncia ideolgica exercida em particular nos alunos do colgio de Haileybury, centro de formao da East India Company (que designaremos Companhia), em que constava do elenco de leituras obrigatrias. primeira vista, a ausncia de referncias palavra imprio no deixa de ser surpreendente, tratando-se de uma obra fundadora da matriz ideolgica do Imprio Britnico a partir do sc. XIX. Poder-se- argumentar que, em 1806, ano em que comeou a escrever, Mill no poderia prever a futura expanso da soberania britnica no subcontinente indiano, j em franco progresso em 1818, ano em que a obra veio a lume. Certamente que se no exige a Mill ou a outro pensador que adivinhem o futuro, mas o facto de o filho J. S. Mill ter adoptado o mesmo procedimento em Considerations on Representative Government (1861), empregando dependencies em vez de colnias ou imprio, no se resume a mera coincidncia, tanto mais que Burke (2000), entre muitos outros, j tinha utilizado a palavra imprio em finais do sc. XVIII. Por isso, em vez de natural e aceitvel ignorncia sobre o futuro, a obra de James Mill revela antes uma excluso consciente do conceito de imprio, que procuraremos esclarecer no mbito do confronto de posies ideolgicas entre os primrdios do sc. XVIII e os primeiros trinta anos do sc. XIX. O primeiro aspecto fundamental a considerar consiste no facto de, ao contrrio das monarquias portuguesa e espanhola, nenhum monarca ingls de Isabel I a Guilherme e Maria ter prestado apoio financeiro e militar aos seus sbditos no mbito de um qualquer plano com objectivos definidos. Imbudos de profundo cepticismo quanto possibilidade de o Novo Mundo se revelar
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financeiramente rentvel ou mesmo uma rvore das patacas, com que Portugal e Espanha tinham sido bafejados, os reis ingleses limitaram-se a conceder autorizaes de explorao de territrios que no conheciam ou a atribuir o monoplio do comrcio numa determinada regio a grupos de mercadores associados numa companhia, como foi o caso da East India Company (1600). Assim, nunca ser demais sublinhar que as colnias inglesas fundadas na Amrica e nas Carabas, tal como a prpria Companhia, resultaram de iniciativas individuais de alto risco, nunca apoiadas materialmente pela Coroa. Em segundo lugar, os ingleses cedo se procuraram distanciar das prticas dos Imprios romano e espanhol, caracterizadas pela conquista de territrios e submisso das respectivas populaes e, no caso do espanhol, por chacinas indiscriminadas dos povos nativos. Deste modo, as colnias inglesas destinavam-se prtica do comrcio e no ocupao territorial. Porm, entre a Restaurao de 1660 e os primeiros anos do sc. XVIII, registaram-se algumas alteraes assinalveis nas plantaes americanas, motivadas pela escassez de terra face ao nmero crescente de colonos. vidos de terra, que viam inculta, mas formalmente impedidos pela Coroa de invadir os territrios dos amerndios, os colonos decidiram ignorar tais restries e, quer explorando rivalidades intestinas entre povos americanos ou celebrando alianas esprias com este ou aquele grupo, quer recorrendo a tentativas de extermnio dos amerndios que opuseram resistncia, conseguiram impor a lei do mais forte e alargar gradualmente a rea das suas propriedades (Pagden, Struggle 41). Assistiu-se assim ao desenvolvimento gradual de uma nova concepo de imprio (Canny 22), que reconhecia como decisivo para o bem-estar de Inglaterra o contributo da explorao agrcola desenvolvida nas colnias americanas, agora assente na legitimidade da reivindicao de soberania (imperium) e de direito absoluto de propriedade (dominium) luz do aproveitamento do conceito de res nullius por John Locke (1689). Importa no entanto realar que, como bem notou David Armitage (Literature 113), as expresses Imprio Britnico na Amrica ou Imprio Britnico da Amrica nos primeiros anos do sc. XVIII referiam-se soberania exercida pela Coroa sobre esses territrios, mas no integravam as colnias americanas nem as feitorias em frica e na ndia num todo unitrio. A perspectiva do Imprio Britnico como um organismo integrador e articulado, incluindo a Inglaterra, a Esccia, a Irlanda, as colnias e as feitorias, somente se desenvolveu no segundo quartel do sc. XVIII, mais precisamente a partir
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JAMES MILL: LIBERALISMO E IMPRIO
da dcada de 1730 e, de modo surpreendente, foram os colonos americanos os autores dessa clebre definio do Imprio Britnico como protestante, comercial, martimo e livre (Armitage, Conception XII-94). Dominante no sc. XVIII, esta construo ideolgica j no correspondia realidade em 1700, atendendo colonizao agressiva empreendida aps a Restaurao, conducente espoliao de terrenos dos amerndios e imposio pela fora de um regime poltico-jurdico estranho que contemplava a escravatura, e atendendo ainda inexistncia de esforos evangelizadores especificamente protestantes. Por outro lado, essa concepo foi uma de entre vrias que lutaram pela supremacia em meados do sc. XVIII, confronto simbolizado pelas letras dos hinos God Save the King mais conservador e centrado na monarquia e Rule, Britannia (ode da autoria de James Thompson) mais condizente com a mentalidade de todos aqueles envolvidos directamente com as colnias (Armitage, Ideological 172-4). Alm disso, na segunda metade do sc. XVIII, uma srie de acontecimentos viria a pr em causa a credibilidade da ideologia legitimadora do Imprio Britnico como martimo, comercial e livre. O primeiro consistiu na Declarao de Independncia das colnias americanas em 4 de Julho de 1776, denunciando a tirania britnica sobre um povo livre. Dir-se-ia que o feitio da ideologia se virou contra os seus construtores, pois os colonos americanos eram kith and kin, uma emanao da Me-Ptria, que recorriam exactamente aos argumentos da tradio de liberdade cvica e de governo representativo consagrada em Inglaterra na Bill of Rights de 1689 para justificar a revolta e posterior independncia. A perda das colnias americanas foi um episdio traumtico, cujas ondas de choque se prolongariam pelo sc. XIX. A Revoluo Francesa de 1789 foi o segundo grande evento que ameaou os prprios fundamentos em que assentava o Estado Britnico, como Burke aproveitou para denunciar em Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). Uma sociedade politicamente organizada de acordo com a constituio de 168889, que contemplava um governo representativo e assegurava as liberdades cvicas dos cidados, tambm garantidas pela longnqua tradio do Common Law e de julgamentos por jri, no podia permitir que a turbamulta impusesse a sua lei e fizesse tbua rasa das tradies preciosas de um povo. Muito menos podia permitir que o racionalismo de teorias abstractas sobre a natureza humana ignorasse a especificidade cultural de cada povo. Assim, perante a
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situao revolucionria em Frana, o Parlamento aprovou leis que limitaram os direitos cvicos de associao e de liberdade de imprensa durante o perodo das guerras napolenicas, terminado em 1815. Por outro lado, o temor de uma invaso pelo inimigo, pelo Outro, que tinha ajudado a consolidar a identidade inglesa desde a Reforma, ao servir de contraponto s virtudes auto-proclamadas de um povo protestante e livre, originou um movimento de invulgar fervor patritico traduzido no inesperado nmero de voluntrios que se alistaram (Colley 284-8, 290). Considerando as sucessivas vitrias militares alcanadas por Napoleo Bonaparte, entretanto coroado Imperador, e subsequente sujeio dos povos vencidos, o Imprio napolenico surgia como uma reincarnao do Imprio romano, de cujas prticas os ingleses posteriormente britnicos sempre se quiseram distanciar, embora se no apercebessem de paralelismos bvios ilustrados pela submisso dos povos nativos nas plantaes americanas e das Carabas. A todos os atributos negativos dos franceses (Colley 368) juntava-se agora a palavra imprio, o que foi suficiente para os britnicos, Mill includo, a evitarem. Recorde-se que a escrita de History of British India decorreu entre cerca de 1805 e 1818, no auge do poderio militar francs. Em terceiro lugar, entre a vitria militar de Clive alcanada sobre o nawab Siraj-ud-Daula em Plassey (1757), na regio de Bengala, e 1818, a situao da Companhia e dos britnicos, em geral, transformou-se radicalmente. Clive obteve o ttulo e funes de diwani, que garantia o dominium sobre Bengala, traduzido no direito de governar, administrar a justia e de receber impostos; Warren Hastings alargou (1772-1785) os territrios dependentes da Companhia e transformou-a numa potncia militarmente temvel no subcontinente indiano; Wellesley e outros chefes militares consolidaram o poderio Britnico, duplicando a rea sob administrao britnica (Thomas, Editors xix). Parafraseando Eric Stokes (Utilitarians xiii), os ingleses passaram de nababos a sahibs num curto espao de tempo. Deste modo, j desde meados do sc. XVIII, a ndia e a regio de Bengala, em particular, tornara-se um caso parte por variadas razes, mas em que avultava o facto de ter sido militarmente submetida e no ser habitada por um bando de selvagens, dispondo antes de uma civilizao antiqussima. Alm de Hume, Adam Smith criticara em 1776 os argumentos mercantilistas favorveis expanso colonial, suspeitando que as colnias se tornariam num fardo financeiro para a metrpole. Em 1793, Jeremy Bentham dirigiu-se
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mesmo Conveno Nacional francesa com um texto intitulado Emancipate Your Colonies (Majeed, Ungoverned 204) e James Mill adoptou a economia poltica de Smith, de mercado livre, e o utilitarismo de Bentham, que criticava as ambies imperiais. No entanto, as colnias mencionadas por Smith e Bentham excluam a ndia, referindo-se antes queles territrios para os quais se tinham deslocado grande nmero dos seus concidados e que poderemos designar por colnias brancas. Neste ltimo caso, o argumento res nullius de Locke, implicando o direito de os colonos se apropriarem de terras que no fossem cultivadas, legitimava a expropriao de terrenos desaproveitados pelos chamados selvagens, mas revelava-se manifestamente inoperante em relao ndia britnica. Esta tinha sido e estava a ser adquirida pela violncia, baseava-se na supremacia militar e na explorao de tributos a pagar pelos governantes e proprietrios fundirios indianos, nada tendo a ver com a ideologia de um imprio comercial e martimo que exclua a apropriao de territrios. Pelo contrrio, as semelhanas com as prticas do Imprio romano tornavam-se cada vez mais bvias. Existe um outro fenmeno cultural surgido nos finais do sc. XVIII, o Romantismo, com todo um conjunto de posies opostas ao racionalismo iluminista de Bentham e James Mill, que se traduzir simbolicamente para os objectivos deste estudo na recepo entusistica aos resultados da investigao entretanto desenvolvida pelos estudiosos orientalistas, isto , por todos aqueles que se dedicaram ao estudo das lnguas, literaturas e culturas orientais como a rabe, a persa e a hindu, esta ltima expressa no snscrito. Sir William Jones (A Grammar of the Persian Language, 1771), N. B. Halhed (A Code of Gentoo Laws, 1776), John Richardson (A Dictionary of English, Persian and Arabic, 1780); Charles Wilkins (The Bhagvet Geeta, 1785), e H. T. Colebrooke (Digest of Hindu Law, 1798) figuram entre os que mais contriburam para o conhecimento da ndia, embora a actividade de Jones se tenha revelado mais frutfera e influente na Gr-Bretanha e no continente europeu. Para alm de ter fundado a Royal Asiatic Society em 1784, beneficiando do patrocnio de Warren Hastings, de ter projectado a compilao de uma smula das leis hindus e de ter identificado o snscrito como raiz de que brotaram as lnguas europeias, Jones traduziu obras da literatura indiana e comps hinos s divindades hindus (Franklin, Accessing 56; Majeed, Ungoverned 15-17) visando dois objectivos complementares: tornar a ndia compreensvel para os leitores na metrpole, assim combatendo o paroquialismo e preconceitos
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vigentes, e regenerar as fontes de inspirao da poesia europeia ao proporcionar novos e antiqussimos materiais (Leask, Wandering 177) agora desvendados pela sua traduo. A vinda a lume em Londres no ano de 1790 de Sacontala; or, the Fatal Ring: an Indian Drama, obra traduzida de Kalidasa, constituiu mesmo um acontecimento revolucionrio para a difuso do orientalismo na Europa segundo Michael J. Franklin (Introduction xxxviii), atendendo recepo entusistica do texto por Novalis, Goethe, Schiller e Herder. O culto da sensibilidade pelo Romantismo europeu tornava-o vulnervel ao cultivo das emoes, de que Sacontala, ideal de beleza feminina, constitua o melhor exemplo (lv). A valorizao da sensibilidade, da imaginao como faculdade criadora, da diversidade de manifestaes da Natureza, tal como o carinho merecido pelas runas e outros vestgios do passado, e uma conscincia aguda da diversidade cultural e respectivos condicionalismos manifestada na Histria pelos mais variados povos, constituem algumas caractersticas marcantes do Romantismo que viriam a ser fortemente contestadas pelo fenmeno contemporneo do utilitarismo e, em particular, por James Mill na sua obra sobre a ndia britnica. Identificando Jones como principal responsvel pela divulgao de uma imagem positiva da cultura indiana e irritado com o facto de o passado da ndia merecer admirao da parte dos europeus, apesar de permanecer num estdio pouco superior ao dos selvagens, Mill articulou uma crtica feroz s obras de Jones e a todos aqueles ingnuos defensores da antiqussima civilizao indiana e respectivos vestgios pretensamente magnficos nas artes e nas cincias. Constituindo um dos ramos do Iluminismo europeu, o utilitarismo concebido por Bentham (Introduction 33-35) e adoptado por Mill explorou o conceito hobbesiano da natureza humana regida pelos princpios da dor e do prazer, constituindo a felicidade na maximizao dos prazeres subjectivos e na minimizao das dores, obstculos ou punies, e recebeu um cunho pessoal ao ser sintetizado no princpio da utilidade, isto , no princpio da maior felicidade para o maior nmero de pessoas. Pressupondo a homogeneidade da natureza humana e acreditando fervorosamente na capacidade de a razo dissipar as trevas formadas pelo apego irracional a supersties, costumes e tradies longevas, o utilitarismo reivindicava a aplicao universal do princpio da utilidade atravs de uma actividade legisladora simples, concreta e racional que promovesse a maior felicidade do maior nmero.
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partida, existe um paradoxo de difcil resoluo j referido por Thomas Metcalf (Ideologies x): como conciliar uma doutrina defensora da autonomia dos cidados e respectivas liberdades com a realidade de um governo autocrtico na ndia, assente na supremacia militar. Note-se que o texto j referido de Bentham Emancipate your Colonies (1793) fazia todo o sentido luz do utilitarismo, embora seja provvel que Bentham se referisse s colnias brancas e no estivesse a reivindicar a independncia dos povos nativos. Seja como for, James Mill encarregou-se de eliminar o paradoxo com a escrita da Histria da ndia britnica (HBI) durante cerca de doze anos, no mbito da acrrima luta ideolgica no primeiro quartel do sc. XIX sobre como governar essa anomalia da ndia, obtida por sucessivas vitrias militares. Mas no esqueamos que este problema j tinha merecido a ateno de Edmund Burke (Speech 296) na dcada de 1780, pela delicadeza e extrema importncia de que se revestia. Para Burke (Speech 295), a populao indiana no consistia numa populaa abjecta e brbara nem num bando de selvagens, mas numa civilizao e cultura seculares de que subsistiam vestgios de grande dignidade e opulncia. Urgia assim evitar a todo o custo que a governao britnica na ndia se tornasse desptica, de modo a impedir que corroesse a constituio britnica (289, 311) atravs dos efeitos corruptores de fortunas obtidas do dia para a noite, como as obtidas por funcionrios e dirigentes da Companhia na ndia conhecidos por nababos. O comportamento britnico na ndia devia pautar-se por um poder benigno exercido com moderao e caracterizado pela no-ingerncia nos usos, costumes e tradies indianos. Para James Mill, a questo da ndia tinha sido mal equacionada por pessoas bem intencionadas, mas pouco rigorosas. Herdeiro do Iluminismo escocs e respectivo contributo para historicizar a evoluo da Humanidade em etapas ou estdios de desenvolvimento (HBI 36-8), props-se esclarecer a posio da ndia na hierarquia da Civilizao de uma maneira objectiva, munindo-se do conceito de utilidade: Exactly in proportion as Utility is the object of every pursuit, may we regard a nation as civilized. (HBI 224). Alm disso, no que respeita metodologia, Mill procedeu anlise das mais variadas obras ento existentes, incluindo relatrios parlamentares, que constituam um amontoado de conhecimentos dispersos, e procurou compor uma histria crtica (6-7) da ndia, que conseguisse ajuizar sobre os mritos e os demritos decorrentes da anlise e interpretao dos factos. Se este procedimento louvvel, j a confisso de nunca ter estado na ndia e de no conhecer as lnguas orientais,
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acompanhada pela reivindicao de superioridade (11-12) de todos aqueles que dominassem as competncias somente existentes na Europa (powers of combination, discrimination, classification, judgement, comparison, weighing, inferring, inducting, philosophyzing in short) no deixam de causar perplexidade e contrastam com a perspectiva de Sir William Jones (Franklin, Accessing 65): In Europe you see India through a glass darkly: here, we are in a strong light; and a thousand nuances are perceptible to us . Para Mill, o historiador tem de dispor de um conhecimento profundo das leis da natureza humana (HBI 17-18), que constituem afinal as principais linhas de fora epistemolgicas de mbito universal e podem por isso ignorar variaes locais no mbito de um modelo construdo racionalmente. E isto significa que o respeito, diria mesmo o enlevo, de Burke, Jones e dos autores romnticos pela singularidade das antigas tradies de diversas culturas representava para Mill um empecilho com intuitos obscurantistas que urgia eliminar. Por isso, como Majeed (1992) demonstrou, a averso utilitarista ao culto das tradies e do passado em si, tal como imaginao desgovernada, implicava uma crtica frequentemente bem explcita s instituies britnicas, especialmente s inglesas, em que avultava o Common Law. Por outro lado, existem vrias referncias no prefcio (HBI 19-22), baseadas em relatos de funcionrios e dirigentes da Companhia publicados na primeira dcada do sc. XIX, que aludem extrema dificuldade de os britnicos adquirirem conhecimentos suficientes sobre a ndia, permanecendo num estado de elevada ignorncia sobre a mentalidade, os hbitos e tradies locais. O reduzido perodo de servio dos funcionrios da Companhia e o calor, em especial, explicariam o relacionamento escasso (imperfect connexion) com os nativos. Por isso, seria de esperar que o conhecimento sobre a ndia, j divulgado por Sir William Jones e outros orientalistas, fosse aprofundado, at luz da filosofia utilitarista de promover a eficincia da governao e o bem-estar da maioria das pessoas. Puro engano. Mill aproveitou as obras de Jones, Halhed, Colebrooke e outros estudiosos para refutar a pertinncia de esforos conducentes melhor compreenso da ndia, pois os dados disponveis apontavam em seu entender para a ignorncia generalizada dos hindus e para uma fase primitiva de civilizao (213). Criticando Jones por empregar indiscriminadamente o termo civilizao para todos os estdios de progresso social, hoje correspondente concepo antropolgica de cultura, Mill (228) admitiu a dificuldade de o definir, afirmando
20
que s uma viso de conjunto de vrios sectores permitiria ajuizar o nvel de progresso alcanado, compar-lo e inseri-lo na escala ou hierarquia da civilizao. Assim, comeando pela histria hindu, a ausncia de registos histricos credveis e um labirinto de lendas baseadas em fices anormais, absurdas e extravagantes (33-34), para alm do facto de todos os povos primitivos descurarem a historiografia (199) e no disporem por isso de uma histria poltica, levaram Mill a deduzir que os hindus se tinham mantido numa situao estacionria (35) muito prxima da simplicidade e primitivismo caractersticos dos tempos mais remotos (88). No respeitante s leis e forma de governo, os Hindus inseriam-se no modelo asitico de monarquia absoluta, de origem divina (57-58), com a particularidade de uma casta de sacerdotes, os brmanes, monopolizarem os poderes legislativo e judicial, o que equivalia para Mill ao domnio incontrolvel de supersties em pocas ignorantes e primitivas (69). Classificando os brmanes porventura como os mais audazes e inbeis falsificadores (34), que se auto-atriburam uma transcendncia quase divina (47) e assim obtiveram na ndia uma autoridade insupervel em qualquer outra regio do globo (137), Mill responsabiliza-os pela extrema impreciso de linguagem sobre a natureza dos deuses, pela multiplicidade e discrepncia infinita das suas fices (138), tal como pela confuso, caracterstica entre povos ignorantes e primitivos, dos assuntos mais dspares como as doutrinas e cerimnias religiosas, as instituies, deveres e costumes da vida familiar, mximas da moral privada e at de economia domstica, etc. (72-73). Confundir as obrigaes que compete aos magistrados fazer respeitar e as que pertencem ao foro privado conduz ao aumento indesejvel da coero e da autoridade dos magistrados sobre a maior parte da vida humana (73). Assim, segundo Mill, difcil conceber uma tentativa mais tosca e deficiente de classificao das leis, dado que ignoram as distines mais bvias e fundamentais (74). No mbito das penas previstas pelo Direito hindu, Mill manifesta a sua perplexidade por um povo considerado dcil e moderado dispor das leis mais violentas e sanguinrias entre as naes conhecidas (90), no que se assemelha aos antepassados saxes (our Saxon ancestors) (93, 98, 106)). Esta referncia situao em Inglaterra aprofunda-se e torna-se bem clara quando Mill (110), debruando-se sobre as leis no escritas, assentes na tradio, se pronuncia criticamente sobre a sua permanncia entre as modernas naes da Europa e Inglaterra, em particular. Correspondendo a um estdio primitivo de evoluo
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anterior inveno da escrita, nada justifica que tais leis no sejam rigorosamente definidas por escrito, como era o caso do Common Law ingls. Assim, nenhuma dessas naes se distinguia mais do que a inglesa pela manuteno da maioria das suas leis nessa condio brbara. Deste modo, compreendemos que a Histria de Mill sobre a ndia britnica tenha servido de pretexto para atacar os defensores das tradies inglesas ou indianas, seja Burke, Sir William Jones ou os autores romnticos, no quadro do projecto de reformas radicais promovido por Bentham e Mill mediante uma linguagem filosfica caracteristicamente iluminista. No surpreende, por isso, que Mill reserve para as crenas e prticas religiosas hindus uma adjectivao severa, tambm influenciada pela tica puritana em que foi educado na Esccia (Thomas, Introduction xiv-xv) e pelo revivalismo evanglico verificado na passagem para o sc. XIX (Stokes, Utilitarians xiv). No hindusmo, segundo Mill, tudo se caracteriza pela falta de rigor, por trevas, incoerncia, inconsistncia e uma grande confuso promovidas pelos brmanes (HBI 141). Com sarcasmo, escreve (137): Every thing in Hindustan was transacted by the Deity. The laws were promulgated, the people were classified, the government was established, by the Divine Being. The astonishing exploits of the Divinity were endless in that sacred land. Tudo no hindusmo vago, hesitante, obscuro e inconsistente (151); se a Criao se caracteriza por uma fantasia desenfreada e irracional, Mill (157) afirma que nenhum outro povo conhecido concebeu o universo de modo mais grosseiro e repugnante como o Hindu, desprovido como se encontra de qualquer sentido de coerncia, sabedoria ou beleza (157-8): all is disorder, caprice, passion, contest, portents, prodigies, violence and deformity. No menos significativos so os passos referentes (182) s cerimnias desprezveis, aos objectos indecentes e s imagens e gravuras dos mais obscenos actos de prazer sensual dispersos nos templos e nos carros sagrados, tal como s servas desses templos (183), que tinham como nica funo danar e prostituir-se. Como Javeed (183-5) notou, este erotismo sem freios ameaava a supremacia da razo utilitarista, mas tambm os valores transmitidos por uma educao presbiteriana, dado que Mill no partilhava o hedonismo implcito no conceito de utility de Bentham, da maior felicidade do maior nmero. Para Mill, a palavra utility denotava antes usefulness (Javeed 183), com nfase nos proveitos ou benefcios a extrair luz da tabela de civilizao, pois o critrio da utilidade (Thomas xxiii) s podia ser aplicado de forma adequada
22
por aqueles que dispusessem de lazer e educao para ajuizar o que verdadeiramente contribua para o bem da Humanidade. Assim, ao passo que Sir William Jones (Javeed 184) glorificava a sexualidade oriental como libertadora, o erotismo sufocante indiano chocava com a conscincia puritana de Mill e as tendncias ascticas contemporneas reforadas pelo Evangelicalismo, que pretendiam domar as paixes. Mas para Mill a poesia a linguagem das paixes (HBI 190), pois os homens sentem antes de filosofarem. Correspondente primeira fase evolutiva da civilizao, a poesia desempenhou papel relevante antes da inveno da escrita por assegurar o registo e comunicao de tradies a pocas ulteriores; infelizmente, a literatura (191) hindu sempre permaneceu nessa fase, em que os feitos dos antepassados (198-9) eram objecto de admirao e entusiasmo em composies poticas apelando ao arrebatamento. Por isso e de acordo com as censuras anteriores sobre o carcter impreciso da linguagem, Mill (192) critica novamente a confuso, patente nos livros sagrados hindus, entre religio, Direito e filosofia. Ao passo que a poesia de um povo cultivado (193) se caracteriza pela observao exacta da natureza e pela simetria do todo, as composies poticas hindus revelam-se mais extravagantes, menos engenhosas e mais monstruosas do que as de qualquer outro povo primitivo, alm de excessivamente prolixas, inspidas, por vezes infantis, contendo uma inflao de metforas (192-3). Mas estes vcios estilsticos derivam de deficincias da prpria lngua, o snscrito, que dispe de mais de trinta palavras para designar sol e mais de vinte para lua (210). O que para estudiosos crdulos e ingnuos, como Sir William Jones (197, 205), constitua perfeio e merecia louvores, no passava de graves defeitos merecedores de censura. Mill refere ainda outros tpicos, como o conhecimento matemtico e astronmico, o estado das estradas, o comrcio e a moeda, a medicina, a arte da guerra, os costumes e o carcter, mas os temas aqui mencionados forma de governo, leis, religio e literatura foram os que lhe exigiram maior ateno e lhe proporcionaram os ndices decisivos para aferir o grau de desenvolvimento da civilizao hindu. Assim, Mill (213) considera irrefutvel o elevado nvel de ignorncia em que os hindus permanecem, resultante da aliana do despotismo e do clericalismo (priestcraft). Responsveis pela diviso do povo em castas, os brmanes fundaram um sistema degradante e pernicioso de submisso, assente nas mais descomunais supersties que torturaram e escravizaram a mente e o corpo dos hindus (237). O esprito servil e covarde dos hindus (247) explicaria
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que, sob uma aparncia suave, se escondesse uma tendncia para a fraude e a perfdia. E aqui, uma vez mais, ouvimos a voz do ex-pastor presbiteriano e no a do filsofo utilitarista. Perante uma apreciao to negativa torna-se pertinente formular a seguinte pergunta: ter sido Mill racista? Considerando o racismo como um conjunto de atitudes baseado numa pretensa inferioridade natural, biolgica e por isso determinista, de uma raa, a resposta s pode ser negativa. Tanto Bentham como Mill desejavam contribuir para o aperfeioamento das sociedades existentes atravs de uma legislao clara e eficaz que se desembaraasse dos empecilhos de tradies irracionais luz do critrio de utilidade, fossem elas inglesas, americanas, indianas ou chinesas. Dado que a ndia se encontrava no primeiro degrau da escada da civilizao, em que praticamente tudo se encontrava por fazer, esse subcontinente apresentava a oportunidade rara de se transformar num laboratrio vivo do programa utilitarista visando apressar e facilitar o caminho dos povos na senda do progresso, da civilizao. Por isso, afirmei antes que Mill tinha eliminado o paradoxo entre os princpios da liberdade e da autoridade. Nao semi-civilizada e enterrada numa cultura rudimentar e supersticiosa que pouco tinha medrado sob regimes despticos, a ndia tinha de ser orientada na estrada conducente civilizao at atingir a maioridade e adquirir a capacidade de se auto-governar. No se tratava de conceber a melhor maneira de dominar um povo para sempre atrasado e ignorante, mas de concretizar o que seria designado no decurso do sc. XIX como misso civilizadora europeia. Um ltimo comentrio. Mill no tinha preconceitos racistas e a aplicao do programa utilitarista ndia foi bem mais tardia e reduzida do que seria de esperar. No entanto, a influncia exercida por History of British India revelouse extremamente profunda e perniciosa na mentalidade dos futuros funcionrios e dirigentes da Companhia, tal como da elite poltica e militar, contribuindo para a construo de um fosso imaginrio entre britnicos e indianos, como se tratasse de povos de planetas diferentes. Nesta medida, a obra de Mill constituiu um dos principais esteios da arrogncia e racismo britnicos.
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Bibliografia
Abreviaturas HBI The History of British India. OHBE The Oxford History of the British Empire. 5 vols.
Armitage, David. The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006 (2000). ____. Literature and Empire. OHBE, I. Ed. Nicholas Canny. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001 (1998). 99-123. ____. The British Conception of Empire in the Eighteenth Century. Greater Britain, 1516-1776. Essays in Atlantic History. Aldershot: Ashgate. 2004. XII-91-107. Bentham, Jeremy. An Introduction to the principles of Morals and Legislation. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, On Liberty, Essay on Bentham, together with selected writings of Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. Ed. Mary Warnock. London and Glasgow: Collins/Fontana. 1973 (1962). 33-77. Burke, Edmund. On Empire, Liberty and Reform. Speeches and Letters. Ed. David Bromwich. New Haven / London: Yale University Press. 2000. ____. Speech on Foxs East India Bill (1783). On Empire, Liberty and Reform. Speeches and Letter. Ed. David Bromwich. New Haven / London: Yale University Press. 2000. 286-370. Canny, Nicholas The Origins of Empire. An Introduction. OHBE, I. Ed. Nicholas Canny. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1-33. Colley, Linda Britons. Forging the Nation 1707-1837. London: Pimlico. 1994 (1992). Franklyn, Michael J. Accessing India: Orientalism, anti-Indianism and the rhetoric of Jones and Burke. Romanticism and Colonialism. Writing and Empire, 1780-1830. Eds. Tim Fulford and Peter J. Kitson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2005 (1998). 48-66. ____. Introduction. Phebe Gibbes, Hartly House, Calcutta. Ed. Michael J. Franklin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. xi-lvii. Inden, Ronald B. Imagining India. 2nd impression. London: Hurst & Co. 2000 (1990). Leask, Nigel. Wandering through Eblis; absorption and containment in romantic exoticism. Romanticism and Colonialism. Writing and Empire, 1780-1830. Eds. Tim Fulford and Peter J. Kitson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000 (1998). 177.
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Metcalf, Thomas R. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006 (1995). Mill, James. The History of British India. Ed. William Thomas. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. 1975. Stokes, Eric. The English Utilitarians and India. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1969 (1959). Thomas, William. Editors Introduction. James Mill, The History of British India. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. 1975. xi-xlvii.
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On India de John Stuart Mill: Barbrie versus civilizao e a poltica de no interveno

Elisabete Mendes Silva
On India de John Stuart Mill: Barbrie versus civilizao e a poltica de no interveno
ohn Stuart Mill (1806-1873) afigura-se um dos representantes mximos do liberalismo e um dos pensadores mais influentes do sculo XIX. Defendendo uma perspectiva poltica liberal da sociedade e assumindo-se como um utilitarista (Mill, Autobiography 181), Mill acreditava na importncia fundamental da liberdade individual para o alcance da felicidade de cada um e para o progresso do conhecimento humano. Mill guiava-se igualmente por um esprito empirista, influenciado por Locke (1632-1704) e Hume (1711-1776), na prossecuo da descoberta das verdades (Mill Autobiography 233). Contudo, distanciava-se do racionalismo calculista e desprovido de emoes em que o pai, James Mill (1773-1836), o educara. Todavia, deve ao pai o facto de lhe ter incutido valores morais como a justia, a moderao, a perseverana, a preocupao com o bem pblico (Mill, Autobiography 49), que iriam gui-lo ao longo da sua vida. Alm disso, a possibilidade ilimitada do progresso da condio intelectual e moral da humanidade atravs da educao constitui talvez a doutrina mais importante herdada de seu pai e que Mill aplicou sempre nas suas teorias polticas e filosficas (Mill, Autobiography 111). Tal como o pai, Mill ocupou, durante 35 anos, o cargo de Assistente do Examinador da correspondncia indiana na Companhia Britnica das ndias Orientais. Trabalhando exclusivamente para o Departamento da Correspondncia desde 1823, Mill comeou pelos cargos mais baixos e, pelo seu desempenho e qualificaes, conseguiu ascender ao cargo de Examinador dois anos antes da abolio da Companhia das ndias Orientais em 1858. Estas funes de escritrio permitiam a Mill um descanso efectivo de todas as outras deambulaes mentais que o ocupavam em simultneo (Mill, Autobiography 85). Mill sustentava ainda que os seus deveres profissionais revelavam-se sufi29
cientemente intelectuais para se tornarem suportveis: they were sufficiently intellectual not to be a distasteful drudgery, without being such as to cause any strain upon the powers of a person used to abstract thought, or to the labour of careful literary composition. (Mill, Autobiography 85). Alm disso, afirmando-se como um reformista terico das instituies do seu tempo, a sua posio oficial na Companhia revelou-se um contributo deveras importante para a aprendizagem, atravs da observao pessoal, das condies necessrias da conduta prtica dos assuntos pblicos (Mill, Autobiography 87). Writings on India (CW, XXX) constitui, assim, uma colectnea de textos e documentos produzidos por Mill no desempenho das suas funes profissionais e que representam um retrato social e poltico do Imprio Britnico na ndia. A anlise de alguns desses documentos, entre outros igualmente relevantes para a nossa anlise, constituir um dos objectivos principais do nosso estudo, no sentido de avaliar a posio poltica de Mill sobre a sociedade indiana e a natureza e o progresso do domnio Britnico na ndia. Alm disso, pretendemos realar algumas contradies na teoria da liberdade defendida por Mill aplicada ao contexto da ndia e as suas ideias polticas, nomeadamente o seu imperialismo liberal e a poltica de no interveno. O imperialismo liberal, como uma teoria distintiva de legitimidade imperialista, sustentava-se numa ligao especfica entre o projecto da reforma liberal e o progresso e os fins do Imprio. Esta teoria do progresso baseada em fundamentos ticos e morais guiou Mill na aplicao das premissas imperialistas liberais na ndia. Ou seja, a transformao das sociedades nativas seria feita em nome do progresso, reforma e educao com o objectivo de criar uma sociedade civilizada, semelhana dos povos ocidentais, cuja cultura, especialmente a britnica, representava a civilizao (Metcalf 32-35). Em A Few Words on Non-Intervention (CW, XXI) Mill afirmou que a Gr-Bretanha representava a nao que melhor compreendia a liberdade, constituindo, como tal, a mais progressista e mais consciente de todas as naes. Por conseguinte, as colnias em frica e na sia tirariam benefcios do nvel de cultura avanado da Gr-Bretanha. No obstante, consciente das particularidades nacionais de cada cultura, Mill, no desejo de criar um governo eficaz e capaz na ndia, no pretendia entrar em coliso e competio com os nativos. Um dos principais deveres do Governo Britnico na ndia passava assim pela garantia da proteco contra os abusos e a tirania dos britnicos a que muitos nativos estavam sujeitos. Estava, portanto, em causa o prestgio moral e a aplicao da justia
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ON INDIA DE JOHN STUART MILL
que estavam associados ao nome do Imprio Britnico na ndia, como evidenciou em Minute on the Black Act:
Our Empire in India, consisting of a few Europeans holding 100 millions of natives in obedience by army composed of those very natives, will not exist for a day after we shall lose the character of being more just and disinterested than the native rulers and of being united among ourselves. () a greater number of Europeans spread over the whole country, coming into competition and collision with the natives in all walks of life () then unless the control of the courts of justice over these men be strict and even rigid, the conduct of a large proportion of them is sure to be such as to destroy the prestige of superior moral worth and justice in dealings which now attaches to the British in India. (Mill, On India 15)
Contudo, a ndia representava para Mill um pas distante dos padres civilizacionais aceitveis e, como tal, pouco ou nada preparado para dinamizar um bom governo. Para Mill uma nao civilizada requeria obedincia. Um povo num estado de independncia selvagem isento de qualquer controlo externo era praticamente incapaz de fazer algum progresso civilizacional at que tivesse aprendido a obedecer: To enable it to do this, the constitution of the government must be nearly, or quite, despotic. (Mill, Essays on Politics 394). Mill justifica assim a interveno desptica da Gr-Bretanha na ndia, apenas com o intuito de lhes proporcionar as condies necessrias para o progresso e para que, numa fase posterior, o princpio da liberdade pudesse ser aplicado, como explica em On Liberty:
Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provide the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end. Liberty, as a principle, has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion. Until then, there is nothing for them but implicit obedience to an Akbar or a Charlemagne, if they are so fortunate as to find one. (Mill, On Liberty 48-49)
Esta defesa do despotismo como a melhor forma de governo em sociedades selvagens ou semi-selvagens parece constituir um retrocesso nas teorias liberais de Mill. Contudo, Mill revela-se um imperialista tolerante quando, nos seus objectivos de encorajar a aprendizagem dos indgenas indianos, como forma de atingirem um grau civilizacional decente, e espalhar o conhecimento ocidental na sociedade indiana, no esquece, porm, os costumes e as tradies dos nativos que devem ser respeitados. Alm disso, o despotismo constitui apenas uma primeira fase necessria para alcanar o princpio da liberdade.
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Segundo Mill, toda a doutrina de no interveno nas naes estrangeiras necessitava de ser repensada. Esta doutrina era considerada por Mill como um princpio de moralidade legtimo que deveria ser aceite por todos os governos como tal: Intervention to enforce non-intervention is always rightful, always moral, if not always prudent. (CW, XXI: 123). Considerando as guerras de conquistas como imorais, Mill valida, no entanto, a interveno nos Estados apenas quando se assiste o outro pas na luta pela liberdade.1 Contudo, existe uma grande diferena entre os Estados que intervm, por um lado, noutros em tudo semelhantes, ou seja, partilham os mesmos costumes, e as mesmas regras de moralidade internacional, e, por outro, entre duas naes civilizadas e entre naes no civilizadas. Perante este ltimo contexto, Mill defendia que as mesmas regras no podiam ser aplicadas a situaes to diferentes. De entre estas regras, destaca as duas seguintes: em primeiro lugar, as regras de moralidade comum internacional exigem reciprocidade. No entanto, os povos brbaros no respeitariam essa mesma reciprocidade. No se poderia confiar neles para fazer cumprir essas regras, uma vez que as suas mentes no seriam capazes de tal esforo. A segunda razo justifica-se pelo facto de as naes que se mantinham selvagens ainda no tinham atingido o perodo em que deveriam estar prontas para beneficiar da conquista e do domnio por povos estrangeiros. A independncia e a nacionalidade, to importantes para o devido progresso de um povo j avanado, constituam geralmente constrangimentos para esses povos no civilizados. Consequentemente, esses povos selvagens no tinham direitos enquanto nao:
A violation of Great principles it may easily be: but barbarians have no rights as a nation, except a right to such treatment as may, for the relation between a civilized and a barbarous government, are the universal rules of morality between man and the man. (Mill, Essays on Equality 119)
Seguindo as premissas kantianas, tambm Mill defende os laos de ligao, ainda que tnues, entre as colnias e todas as naes como uma forma de alcanar a paz universal. Esta cooperao amigvel entre as naes tornava assim a guerra impossvel de se concretizar: It renders war impossible among a large number of otherwise independent communities; and moreover hinders any of them from being absorbed into a foreign state, and becoming a source of additional aggressive strength to some rival power, (), which might not always be so unambitious or so pacific as Great-Britain. (Mill, Essays on Politics 565)
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A histria das relaes do governo Britnico com os Estados nativos da ndia constituiu o reflexo da autoridade exercida pelos britnicos sobre os indianos. Contudo, o Governo Britnico no assegurou a posse dos territrios indianos sem antes anular o poder militar dos nativos:
But a despotic government only exists by its military power. When we had taken away theirs, we were forced to offer them ours instead of it. To enable them to dispense with large armies of their own, we bound ourselves to place at their disposal, and they bound themselves to receive, such an amount of military force has made us in fact masters of the country. (Mill, Essays on Equality 119)
No entanto, considerando os britnicos como moralmente responsveis pelo povo nativo, Mill justificava a presena britnica em territrio indiano como uma forma de assegurar a proteco do povo indiano por um poder civilizado, libertando-o, ao mesmo tempo, do medo da rebelio interna ou da conquista estrangeira (Mill, Essays on Equality 119). Em Considerations on Representative Government (Essays on Politics) Mill defende a democracia representativa como a melhor forma de governo. Contudo, examina-a como uma questo de tempo, espao e circunstncia. Assim, as colnias britnicas que j se encontravam num nvel suficientemente avanado estavam aptas para aplicar essa forma de governo. Contudo, existiam outras colnias que ainda no haviam alcanado esse estado e, consequentemente, deviam ser governadas pelo pas colonizador ou pelas pessoas delegadas para tal funo. Esta forma de governo revelava-se to legtima quanto outra qualquer, uma vez que a principal finalidade consistia na facilitao da sua mudana para um nvel de desenvolvimento mais elevado:
The ruling country ought to be able to do for its subjects all that could be done by a succession of absolute monarchs, guaranteed by irresistible force against the precariousness of tenure attendant on barbarian despotisms, and qualified by their genius to anticipate all that experience taught to the more advanced nation. (Mill, Essays on Politics 567)
Contudo, o caso da ndia revelava-se diferente de todas as outras colnias. Como Mill afirmou, a ndia representava um pas muito especial que deveria ser estudado profissionalmente:
India is a peculiar country; the state of society and civilization, the character and habits of the people, and the private and public rights established among them, are totally different from those which are known or recognised in this country; in fact the study of India must be as much a profession in itself as law or medicine. In the
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other dependencies of Great Britain the people are for the most part English, and whoever is fit to deal with English people here, is fit to deal with them there. But in the case of India, even if a person of the greatest knowledge of the world and the most cultivated mind were sent to be Governor-general, he would still have an apprenticeship to serve. (Mill, On India 49)
Como a ndia ainda no tinha atingido um nvel civilizacional e desenvolvimento semelhana do modelo ocidental, no beneficiava das condies necessrias para um sistema poltico representativo. No obstante, a Gr-Bretanha tinha o direito de governar despoticamente porque tal forma de governar traria benefcios de uma civilizao mais avanada. Por isso, Mill defendia um despotismo benevolente: the best government for India and similar societies was some form of benevolent despotism (Mill, On India 39). Num plano mais alargado, Mill considerava que os pases orientais, como a China e a ndia, tinham j atingido altos nveis de civilizao, mas, esmagados por sculos de despotismo selvagem, haviam estagnado. Alm disso, considerava ainda que essas naes estavam demasiado dominadas pela superstio, que Mill refere como despotism of custom, desviando-as assim do esprito da liberdade, da individualidade e do progresso:
The Great part of the world has, properly speaking, no history, because the despotism of Custom is complete. This is the case over the whole East. Custom is here, in all things, the final appeal; justice and right mean conformity to custom; () Those nations must once have had originality; they did not start out of the ground populous, lettered, and versed in many of the arts of life; they made themselves all this, and were the greatest and most powerful nations of the world. What are they now? The subjects or dependent of tribes whose forefathers wandered in the forests when theirs had magnificent palaces and gorgeous temples, but over whom custom exercised only a divided rule with liberty and progress. (Mill, On Liberty 96)
Talvez como uma forma de justificar e defender o papel da Companhia das ndias Orientais, Mill assumiu posies claras relativamente ao bom funcionamento do governo na ndia quando questionado sobre o assunto em The East India Companys Charter (Mill, On India). Assim, considerava a actuao do Parlamento Britnico, rgo mximo da governao da colnia, a pior forma de governar a ndia: To govern a country under responsibility to the people of that country, and to govern one country under responsibility to the people of another, are two very different things. What makes the excellence of the first is that freedom is preferable to despotism: but the last is despotism (Mill,
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Essays on Politics 568). De facto, para Mill a opinio pblica de um pas no assegurava o bom funcionamento de outro governo, uma vez que desconhecia por completo o que se passava noutro territrio, neste caso um territrio to distante quanto a ndia (Mill, On India 33). Como ele prprio reconhecia, um pas governado por estrangeiros seria governado com muitas dificuldades e imperfeitamente, porque os estrangeiros no sentiam com as pessoas, no conseguindo avaliar os sentimentos da populao subalterna. Neste sentido, o conhecimento do nativo era sempre mais completo e instintivo do que o de um estrangeiro (Mill, Essays on Politics 568-569). Mill considerava a Companhia das ndias Orientais como uma instituio quase providente na garantia do bom funcionamento do governo na ndia, pelo facto de examinar rigorosa e habitualmente todos os documentos por pessoas competentes para o efeito. O governo da ndia era assim conduzido pela escrita, por um sistema de registo escrito de tudo o que se passava na colnia britnica, condio para levar a cabo um bom governo (Mill, On India 34). Mill ressalva, porm, que a permanncia dos britnicos na ndia dependeria da sua capacidade de proporcionarem um bom funcionamento do governo na ndia, persuadindo os nativos de que realmente o faziam. De facto, a Companhia das ndias Orientais era responsvel pela administrao dos territrios britnicos na ndia, mas estava sempre sujeita ao controlo apertado do governo Britnico atravs da Comisso de Controlo qual todos os directores da Companhia, bem como os governadores das provncias de Bengala, Madras e Bombaim deviam subordinao, tal como podemos constatar no esquema seguinte (Mill, On India ix):
Organizao da Companhia Britnica das ndias Orientais
BOARD OF CONTROL
Court of Directors of East India Company
Govt. of Bengal / India
Govt. of Madras
Govt. of Bombay
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Mill considerava que um governo duplo seria til (Mill, On India 44), ou seja, por um lado, um governo na ndia liderado por pessoas conhecedoras da realidade social e cultural da ndia e, por outro, pelas autoridades do pas colonizador. No entanto, a administrao da ndia deveria ser liderada por homens treinados profissionalmente para esse efeito. Sem as condies necessrias para a manuteno de um sistema de governo representativo, Mill concordava com a presena de nativos nos conselhos de administrao, mas em circunstncias especiais:
this I think would be done by cultivating a greater degree of intercourse between intelligent natives and the members of Parliament, or the holders of public offices, rather than by forming a body of persons selected by the Government and considering them as the representatives of the people of India. (Mill, On India 51)
Os nativos mais inteligentes poderiam aceder a cargos de maior destaque, mas nunca poderiam desempenhar o cargo de Governador-geral, funo apenas destinada aos ingleses: I do not think you could make a native Governorgeneral, but I think natives might in time be appointed to many of the higher administrative offices (Mill, On India 60). Esta regra justifica-se, na perspectiva de Mill, uma vez que atribuir todo o domnio da fora militar aos indianos significaria o fim do Imprio Britnico na ndia. No obstante, Mill conferia a oportunidade a todos de poder aceder a estes cargos desde que se submetessem a um exame pblico e a critrios de seleco srios e rigorosos. No entanto, s os nativos das mais elevadas posies sociais, e educados segundo o modelo ocidental, poderiam pensar nessa possibilidade. Mill parece, assim, contradizer-se nalgumas respostas que apresenta. Por exemplo, pergunta: Is not a native rendered eligible for any appointment under the last charter Act? responde: The last charter Act took away all legal disabilities; but there is a practical exclusion, and so there must be, until the natives are very much improved in character (Mill, On India 61). Mais uma vez, Mill no clarifica como esse desenvolvimento de carcter, e que tipo de carcter, deveria ser encetado. Os nativos poderiam aceder aos altos cargos da administrao apenas quando se tornassem fiveis e qualificados. Mas Mill reconhece igualmente de uma forma premonitria que quando isso acontecer os nativos devero estar prontos para levar a cabo o mesmo sistema de governo sem a assistncia dos britnicos (Mill, On India 65). Segundo Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997), Mill opunha-se dissoluo da Companhia das ndias Orientais porque receava mais o poder aniquilador do
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governo do que a funo paternalista e humana dos oficiais da Companhia. No entanto, concordava com a interveno do Estado em questes como a educao ou a legislao laboral, no sentido de proteger os mais fracos do jugo das tiranias (Berlin, John Stuart Mill 259). De facto, a Companhia caracterizava-se por estimular um esprito tolerante relativamente religio e cultura dos nativos, no tendo qualquer interesse em desafiar a cultura tradicional indiana, uma vez que tal desafio representaria uma ameaa s relaes anglo-indianas. Muitos ingleses inclusivamente tinham prazer em ser orientalizados, adaptando-se aos costumes nativos e casando com mulheres indianas (Niall 133-136). Contudo, o Motim de 1857 precipitou a mudana de modelos liberais de governao para estratgias imperialistas fundadas num profundo cepticismo sobre a possibilidade da reforma da sociedade indiana. O motim comeou em Meerut a 10 de Maio de 1857 e representou uma das experincias mais traumticas do Imprio Britnico no sculo XIX. A munio entregue pelos ingleses, que deveria ser fabricada pelos indianos, era constituda por gordura de porco, material que feriu as suas crenas. Tal facto despoletou a sublevao das tropas indianas no norte da ndia, do exrcito de Bengala. Grande parte do pas, sobretudo na plancie do Ganges desde Bihar at Punjab, esteve fora do controlo dos britnicos durante mais de um ano. A vitria dos britnicos, no final de 1858, deveu-se, sobretudo, ao facto de os exrcitos de Bombaim e Madras no terem seguido os sipaios (Sepoys) no norte da ndia (Baily 179-180; Metcalf 43-44). Em resposta rebelio, a coroa assumiu responsabilidade directa sobre os ex-territrios indianos antes sob alada da Companhia das ndias Orientais, adoptando, consequentemente, uma doutrina no intervencionista como o princpio central da governao britnica (Mantena 317). O motim foi tambm usado para exemplificar as virtudes da raa britnica e, por conseguinte, o esprito tolerante e amigvel to defendido pelos oficiais da companhia deu lugar a um ambiente de desprezo e crueldade para com as tradies indianas (Hyam 141; Metcalf 43-48) Como Mantena refere, a rebelio poltica na ndia provocou atitudes mais duras e mais raciais relativamente populao nativa:
In India, this inscrutability was attributed to deep-seated cultural and religious sentiments that seemed to be resistant to change and reform. In this sense, and this was particularly the case for India, resistance was read as a sign of the rigidity of native customs, beliefs, and institutions. In this context, the anthropological theory of culture, which was only implicit in Mills view of civilization, came to the fore
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as the dominant framework through which to understand the nature of native society, the mechanisms that ensured its stability, and the impact of colonial rule on these institutions. (Mantena 317)
Concluindo, mais do que argumentos econmicos, Mill utiliza argumentos culturais e antropolgicos para justificar o Imprio Britnico na ndia. Sociedades em estado semi-selvagem, estagnadas cultural e socialmente no poderiam ser deixadas sozinhas para se governarem de uma forma ineficaz. Refutando a ideia universalista de Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) de que a humanidade era igual em todos os tempos e em todos os lugares, Mill reconheceu a existncia de uma variedade de subculturas e de religies na ndia que tornavam o territrio to peculiar. Os muitos anos que Mill trabalhou na Companhia das ndias permitiram-lhe avaliar a importncia da educao no sentido de desenvolver uma sociedade harmoniosa e saudvel em direco ao progresso, abraando o melhor da sua diversidade cultural. No seu idealismo liberal (Metcalf 57), Mill acreditava que o bom governo e a educao poderiam transformar os indianos de modo a lev-los a abraar o princpio da liberdade sem restries.
Bibliografia
Baylay, C.A. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Berlin, Isaiah. John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Life. Mill: The Spirit of the Age, On Liberty, the Subjection of Women. Ed. Alan Ryan. London & New York: Norton, 1997. Hyam, Ronald. Britains Imperial Century, 1815-1914. A Study of Empire and Expansion. Hampshire & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Mantena, Karuna. Mill and the Imperial Predicament. J. S. Mills Political Thought. A Bicentennial Reassessment. Ed. Nadia Urbinati e Alex Zakaras. Cambridge: CUP, 2007, pp. 298-318. Metcalf, Thomas R. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Mill, John Stuart. Mill: The Spirit of the Age, On Liberty, the Subjection of Women. Ed. Alan Ryan. London & New York: Norton, 1997, pp. 41-131. -. The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume I Autobiography and Literary Essays. Ed. John M. Robson and Jack Stillinger, ed(s). Toronto & London: University of Toronto Press, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. -. CW, Volume XIX Essays on Politics and Society. Ed. John M. Robson, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977.
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-. CW, Volume XXI Essays on Equality, Law and Education. Ed. John M. Robson, Toronto: University of Toronto Press & Kegan Paul ,1984. -. CW, Volume XXX Writings on India. Ed. John M. Robson, Martin Moir and Zawahir Moir. Toronto & London: University of Toronto Press, 1990. (verses facsimiladas in The Online Library of Liberty:http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option= com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&title=242) Niall, Ferguson. Empire. How Britain Made the Modern World. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
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Aspects of Colonialism in John Stuart Mills On Liberty (1859) and Considerations on Representative Government (1861)
Oksana Levkovych
Aspects of Colonialism in John Stuart Mills On Liberty (1859) and Considerations on Representative Government (1861)
n 1859 John Stuart Mill declared in On Liberty that in matters of tolerating diversity and individual liberty everything remained to be done in England. At the time of the publication of the essay, he clearly stood out from the general radical crowd and was to distance himself even more so over the years. His utilitarian concern with social reform shifted away from politics to the reform of individual character; Mill explicitly stated that the mental regeneration of Europe had to precede its social regeneration, and, also, that none of the ways in which that mental regeneration is sought, Bible Societies, Tract Societies, (...) Socialism, Chartism, Benthamism, etc. would do, though doubtless they had all some elements of truth and good in them (Letwin 322). Furthermore, he advanced that changes effected rapidly and by force, like those brought about by the Reformation and the Revolution of 1688, were often the only ones which, in given circumstances, would be permanent. As it happened, the 1857-1859 Indian Rebellion, or Mutiny as it was known then, was to radically reshape the British imperial project and had immediate practical outcomes in India, while it also proved to be a testing ground for the future models of British imperial rule elsewhere. After having replaced the government of India hitherto carried out by the East India Company for direct rule, the Crowns first official act explicitly set forth the doctrine of non-intervention as the cornerstone of future dealings with the colony while expressing both the difficulty of reforming the native and also the political danger that such a transformation would entail. Any resistance to change was read as a sign of deep-seated cultural and religious sentiments that supposedly explained the rigidity of native customs, beliefs and institutions. This marked the beginning of the policy based on consulting the Indians, thereby putting into perspective the undesirable yet inevitable end to
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insensitive British-imposed social measures that affected Hindu society. On the other hand, the effect caused by the Rebellion was felt by the people of India themselves. Traditional society had made its protest against incoming alien influences, and it had failed to achieve anything. From this time on, all serious hope of a revival of the past or an exclusion of the West dissipated. Indian social structures were gradually undermined and were eventually superseded by a Westernized class system, from which a strong middle class with a heightened sense of Indian nationalism would emerge. It fell to John Stuart Mill, as head of the office, to write in defence of the East India Companys government of India when the transfer of power was proposed. Mill opposed the transfer, as the documents and posterior writings in which he defended the companys administration show. Mills criticism of direct British rule in India reveals him mostly to be a principled and progressive political theorist regarding the purpose of imperial rule and the ethics of the empire (Mantena 300). In the concluding chapter of Representative Government1 he states (466-467):
What is accounted so great an advantage in the case of the English system of government at home, has been its misfortune in India. () It has been the destiny of the government of the East India Company, to suggest the true theory of the government of a semi-barbarous dependency by a civilized country, and after having done this, to perish. () if a fate so disgraceful to England and to civilization can be averted, it must be through far wider political conceptions than merely English or European practice can supply, and through a much more profound study of Indian experience, and of the conditions of Indian government, than either English politicians, or those who supply the English public with opinions, have hitherto shown any willingness to undertake.
Mills account represents both the justification of liberal imperialism and its internal tensions revealed in the key characteristic vulnerabilities of the discourse of the liberal empire that would become increasingly more apparent in the changing political and intellectual climate of Victorian Britain (Mantena 299). Liberal imperialism, as a theory of imperial legitimacy founded on a link between a project involving liberal reform or improvement and the real
Henceforth, Considerations on Representative Government will be referred to as CRG when used with quotations.
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ASPECTS OF COLONIALISM IN JOHN STUART MILL
purpose of the empire, became subject to criticism in the light of a series of imperial crises in which the Indian Rebellion was a turning point. In questioning the liberal project of improvement in terms of both its theoretical and practical possibilities, the late Victorian critics contributed towards a broad-ranging transition in imperial ideology, moving from a universalist view that imperial rule implied transformation, to a new emphasis based on deeply-rooted cultural and racial differences (Mantena 299). Needless to say, nineteenth-century Britain was experiencing a peak of imperial confidence mediated through the widely presumed self-confidence / arrogance of the Victorians, namely in their belief in the superiority of British democracy, British Free Trade and British Christianity as remedies for all the evils in the world. This exultant mood came at a time when the universalist liberal project had proved ineffective against the ever-present potential for racial and cultural conflict that resided in the differences among people. They could not be eradicated and other ways of life could not be changed. Hence, Mill stands out as a crucial transitional figure in the transformation of imperial ideology from a universalist to a culturalist view (Mantena 301). The criticism he received regarding his theoretical commitment to improvement and the practical account he gave of the hurdles to progress in barbarian societies was responsible for his unique position. His call for action is stated in Representative Government as follows (454):
As it is already common, and is rapidly tending to become the universal condition of the more backward populations, to be either held in direct subjection by the more advanced, or to be under their complete political ascendancy; there are in this age of the world few more important problems, than how to organize this rule, so as to make it good instead of evil to the subject people; providing them with the best attainable present government, and with the conditions most favourable to future permanent improvement.
Mills fundamental ideas on the culturalist approach to governing subject nations and his criticism of the detrimental aspects of the Western civilizing project can be found in both On Liberty (1859) and Considerations on Representative Government (1861). Careful reading of both works I believe will help to shed additional light on such aspects of colonialism as collective identity being a determinant in nations contact with one another; individual self-interestedness as the driving force of national colonial agrandisement; a minority in power ruling over the majority comprised of the so-called lower
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classes at home and lower races at the other end of the Empire; the liberal conviction about the inherent ability of so-called backward societies to undergo progressive improvement once they have been exposed to Western civilization; diversity versus uniformity, the power of custom, and the freedom to choose political union or independence as a nations course. Despite the criticism, the ideas expressed in On Liberty are constantly revisited and reinterpreted so as to be further applied to many diverse spheres of human life. They aim at reforms which are beneficial to society, and in the first place, they favour individual well-being. Yet, Mills claim for toleration and liberty is relevant not only to the issues raised by individuals, but also to those raised by minority groups and nations of a world that, although swiftly shrinking under the impact of globalization, still has ethnic groups and local communities fighting for their right to differ. Mills fundamental idea that nations are like individuals has led me to investigate how relevant his principle of individual liberty may be when applied to nations. Based on my understanding of the above texts, against which accusations are levelled at Mill stating that he defends despotic rule over subject nations, I believe that his critics have jumped to unwarranted conclusions. Similar to many recent scholars Vouraxakis, Mantena, Zakaras, I agree that Mills views of the empire are fundamentally consistent with his larger moral, philosophical and theoretical commitments, in particular with his defence of liberty and representative government. Mill admits that the appeal for diversity among nations under the same government presents us with a much more difficult challenge than the appeal in defence of diversity among individuals. From the liberal universalist standpoint, he therefore argues that the coexistence of different nations under the same government is desirable until the undeveloped nations are educated into (a British-styled form of) self-government, in he reiterates an atmosphere of respect for the differences they present. Furthermore, if they choose to leave the collective political union, they have the right to do so. Yet, in the line with his argument defending utility in the largest sense and according to his belief in the beneficial role of progress, he speaks in favour of the continuity of the union, once the right to leave it has been assured. In the last three chapters of Representative Government Mill relates the idea of liberty with the principle of representative government regarding the dependent nations and, therefore, makes a distinction between the British
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colonies of European origin and non-European colonies; they represent the civilized and barbarian stages of development respectively. He divides them into two classes, saying that the British possessions in America and Australia have been composed in a similar way to the civilization of the ruling country and are capable of, and ripe for, representative government. The others, like India he says, are still at a great distance from achieving that state (CRG 447). In the same text he states: among a people without fellow-feeling, especially if they read and speak different languages, the united public opinion, necessary to the working of representative government, cannot exist (CRG 428). But it is in On Liberty2 that Mill presents his culturalist view on how nations should relate with one another, using Europe as an example:
What has made the European family of nations an improving instead of a stationary portion of mankind? Not any superior excellence in them, which, when it exists, exists as the effect, not as the cause; but their remarkable diversity of character and culture. Individuals, classes, nations have been extremely unlike one another: they have struck out a great variety of paths, each leading to something valuable; and although at every period those who travelled in different paths have been intolerant of one another, and each would have thought it an excellent thing if all the rest could have been compelled to travel his road, their attempts to thwart each others development have rarely had any permanent success, and each has in time endured to receive the good which the others have offered. (OL 97)
Therefore, in his analysis of the dependencies whose population is in a sufficiently advanced state to be fit for representative government (CRG 449450), Mill remains loyal to the key-points raised by his liberty principle expressed in On Liberty. They include components of utility and harm, and also respect for the sphere of self-regard which is not subject to coercion, as well as the good which can and ought to derive from diversity in modes of life. In Representative Government Mill writes (453):
Those who think that justice is as binding on communities as it is on individuals, and that men are not warranted in doing to other countries, for the supposed benefit of their own country, what they would not be justified in doing to other men for their own benefit (). The feelings of equity, and conceptions of public morality, from which these suggestions emanate, are worthy of all praise.
Henceforth On Liberty will be referred to as OL when used with quotations.

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Another point in favour of the liberty of the more advanced colonies is the fact that countries separated by half the globe () are not part of the same public; they do not discuss and deliberate in the same arena and therefore have only a most imperfect knowledge of what passes in the minds of one another (Mill, CRG 450). Mills treatment of nations in what he called the inferior, barbarous state of development is a result of the notion that in such a state, the subjugated are yet incapable of attaining progress alone due to the inexistence of free thought and discussion. He also states that, owing to their inadequacy as regards conceiving diversity, they are unable to go beyond the boundaries of their limited national experience based on custom (OL 48-49):
Those who are still in a state to require to be taken care of by others, must be protected against their own actions as well as against external injury. For the same reason we may leave out of consideration those backward states of society in which race itself may be considered as in its nonage. The early difficulties in the way of spontaneous progress are so great, that there is seldom any choice of means for overcoming them; and a ruler full of the spirit of improvement is warranted in the use of any expedients that will attain an end, perhaps otherwise unattainable. Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end. Liberty, as principle, has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion. Until then, there is nothing for them but implicit obedience to an Akbar or a Charlemagne [shalemein], if they are so fortunate as to find one.
It can only be regretted that on the basis of this passage from On Liberty, Mill was singled out solely as a proponent of justified imperial despotism in ruling the colonies. However, he also gained prominance due to another striking feature the threat of degeneration because of uniformity. The notion was usually applied to individuals, as it was neglected regarding the uniformity and, therefore, the degeneration of states. Mill warned against narrowing rather than widening the gap between European i.e. civilized and non-European i.e. barbarous states from a different view point (OL 97):
Europe is, in my mind, wholly indebted to this plurality of paths for its progressive and many-sided development. But it already begins to possess this benefit in a considerably less degree. It is decidedly advancing towards the Chinese ideal of making all people alike. (). The same remark might be made of Englishmen in a far greater degree.
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Mills reference to European history in On Liberty is essential: the European nations eventually did not only treat each other more tolerantly, they came to learn from their differences. Mills concern with the growing tendency of their rendering diversity into custom reveals an important observation regarding narrowing the gap between the undeveloped and the developed nations: not only should the barbarian nations improve themselves so as to attain the desired end, but advanced societies should foster their capacity for progress lest they deteriorate into a state similar to barbarity. In her article entitled Mill and the Imperial Predicament Karuna Mantena holds that Mills characterization of civilized and barbarian societies in order to justify the empire was itself complicit in shifting the burden of imperial legitimation and responsibility onto the colonized societies themselves. Therefore, it was easy to use this argument against the reformation project of liberal imperialism (Mantena 300-301). Yet, there is more in Mill than the distinction between the developed and the undeveloped nations, thus leading to the logical conclusion that the latter are inevitably entitled to be governed by the former. Mill goes further than the early liberal imperial reformers, such as Bentham and his father: their project is meant to include the incremental training of subjugated societies and lead them towards selfgovernment first and foremost in order to compensate for the original injustice and the resultant problems of colonization (Mantena 302-303). The idea of improvement or progress, as shaped within the British politico-philosophical discourse, occupies the centre stage of Mills political philosophy and profoundly shapes his theory of liberty and representative government. In the same way as utility is understood in the larger sense, the task of a good government is to improve the character of its subjects, that is to create the proper conditions supporting progressive improvement. Therefore, in Representative Government Mill provides a solution to the difficulties which are consistent with the rule by foreigners (456):
To overcome these difficulties in any degree, will always be a work of much labour, requiring a very superior degree of capacity in the chief administrators, and a high average among the subordinates: and the best organization of such a government is that which will best ensure the labour, develop the capacity, and place the highest specimens of it in the institutions of greatest trust.
This theory of government entails an intensely reciprocal relationship between political institutions and peoples character: not only is the institu49
tional competence of a government dependent on the individual features of its subjects, such as their virtue and intelligence, but, more important, the institutions themselves have to be modified so as to suit the specific demands that people in various states of society and stages of civilization require for progressive improvement. Therefore, Mills promotion of liberal institutions can be seen to be at odds with his claim that despotism is the only way to govern so-called barbarous people: firstly, because he assumes that stagnating customs are actually the stumbling block to progress of even the most advanced societies; secondly, the most progressive societies are the battlefield of individuality and custom, liberty and mental slavery (Mantena 306). In On Liberty Mill states that (49):
But as soon as mankind have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion (), compulsion either in the direct form or in that of pains and penalties for non-compliance, is no longer admissible as a means to their own good, and justifiable only for the security of others.
Mill also warns against the methods employed by the ruling country to educate the subjugated people into self-government (CRG 457):
One is, to force English ideas down the throats of the natives; for instance by measures of proselytism, or acts intentionally and unintentionally offensive to the religious feelings of the people. (...) by the demand now so general in England for having the Bible taught (). From the European point of view nothing can wear a fairer aspect, or seem less open to objection on the score of religious freedom. () The English Protestant would not be easily induced, by disclaimers of proselytism, to place his children in Roman Catholic seminary: Irish Catholics will not send their children to schools in which they can be made Protestants: and the Hindoos () are expected to expose theirs to the danger of being Christians!
Another evil derives from the English settlers governing India without knowing or caring about the affairs of the Hindus: they [the English] are every now and then interfering with, and almost always in the wrong place says Mill (CRG 455); moreover, the same probability of missing the mark happens when the public mind is invoked in the name of justice and philanthropy, on behalf of the subject community or race (CRG 456), for it is only the powerful, repressive/harsh individuals and classes of the subjugated people that have access to the English governing class. Therefore, Mill states (CRG 456-457):
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To govern country under responsibility to the people of that country, and to govern one country under responsibility to the people of another, are two very different things. What makes the excellence of the first, is that freedom is preferable to despotism: but the last is despotism. (). Foreigners do not feel with the people. (). Their danger is of despising the natives; that of the natives is, of disbelieving that anything the strangers do can be intended for their good.
Hence, Mills argument about despotic rule in the early stage of development rests on the incapacity for cooperation. Whenever there should be a sufficient sympathy among the populations, those of race, language, religion and, above all, of political institutions, as conducing most to the feeling of identity of political interest (CRG 435), the solution can be provided by central government (CRG 446):
But if there is a real desire on all hands to make the experiment successful, there needs seldom be any difficulty in not only preserving these diversities, but giving them the guarantee of a constitutional provision against any attempt at assimilation, except by the voluntary act of those who would be affected by the change.
The concept of nationality is also of central importance in Mill (CRG 427); it reflects human diversity in collective forms and is endowed with a moral character. Yet, in On Liberty, Mill introduces the important idea that mere accident has decided which of these numerous worlds is the object of individuals reliance (OL 54). Ultimately, Mill treats nationalities as individualities, hence their importance as members of the world-wide community, where the diversity of units composes the whole. Mill never doubts that the equality of nations is guaranteed by the inevitable self-development of the so-called inferior societies into the state similar to that of the civilized ones (OL 113-114). What is no less important to him, is that the civilized societies do not stop their subjugated possessions progress and prevent their deterioration. This view is one of the hidden premises of On Liberty and Considerations Representative Government. Mill presents the important idea (CRG 432, 451):
But though Great Britain could do perfectly well without her colonies, and though on every principle of morality and justice she ought to consent to their separation, should the time come () there are strong reasons for maintaining the present slight bond of connexion, so long as not disagreeable to the feelings of either party. It is a step, as far as it goes, towards universal peace, and general friendly cooperation among nations. () Whatever really tends to the admixture of nationalities, and the
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blending of their attributes and peculiarities in a common union, is a benefit to the human race. () But to render this admixture possible, there must be peculiar conditions.
One of the problems of foreign rule lies in the fact that nationalities are perceived by each other through collective identities, which in their nature have an imperial tendency composed of dominating not only the people of other identities, but the other identities. Mills ethics of empire offered the solution with his principle based on utility in the largest sense and his Religion of Humanity fostering fellow-feelings with the whole of mankind in the individuals themselves (Varouxakis 277-278, Zakaras 217). Prior to social practice, a political culture in which human identity itself is seen as individual and civic, rather than ethnic and collective, has to be created and this would be the peculiar conditions required by Mill to render [the] admixture of nationalities as a benefit to the human race.
Bibliography
Mantena, Karuna. Mill and the Imperial Predicament. J.S. Mills Political Thought A Bicentennial Reassessment. (eds). Urbinati, Nadia; Zakaras, Alex Zakaras. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 298-319. Mill, John Stuart. Mill: The Spirit of the Age, On Liberty, The Subjection of Women. Ed. Alan Ryan. New York. London: W.W. Norton and Co., 1997; 1859. - Considerations on Representative Government. On Liberty and Other Essays. Eed. John Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006; 1861. Letwin, Shirley Robin. The Pursuit of Certainty. Indianopolis Liberty Fund. 1998. Urbinati, Nadia, Zakaras, Alex, (eds). J. S. Mill Political Thought A Bicentennial Reassessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Varouxakis, Georgios. Cosmopolitan Patriotism in J. S. Mills Political Thought. J. S. Mill Political Thought A Bicentennial Reassessment. (eds). Nadia Urbinati, Alex Zakaras. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 277-297. Zakaras, Alex. John Stuart Mill, Individuality, and Participatory Democracy. J. S. Mill Political Thought A Bicentennial Reassessment. (eds). Nadia Urbinati, Alex Zakaras. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 200-220.
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Na Rota do Imprio, segundo John Dee

Adelaide Meira Serras
Na Rota do Imprio, segundo John Dee
Fig. 1: John Dee (1527 1608)
Imprio Britnico , desde h muito, matria de estudo e pesquisa para investigadores das mais diversas reas, seja no mbito da histria ou da geografia, seja focalizando-se em anlises econmicas ou sociais, seja no realce da produo esttica que lhe est associada, ou ainda nas reflexes tericas que fundamentam e/ou emolduram essas abordagens. Enfim, a lista pecar sempre por defectiva. Todavia, existe um ponto de convergncia discernvel em quase todas elas: a cronologia dos estudos sobre o Imprio Britnico privilegia o sculo XIX como poca da sua afirmao ou auge, recuando, em alguns casos, at ao sculo XVIII como momento definidor do referido imprio, embora ainda mais marcado pela praxis do que pela arquitectura de uma ideologia prpria.
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Tais anlises assentam no conceito de estado-nao como unidade histrico-poltica, modelo ideolgico defendido por Hobsbawm em Nations and Nationalism since 1780, entre outros, a partir da qual os imprios alm Europa teriam sido criados atravs das conquistas e da subsequente colonizao. Imprios como o portugus, ou o espanhol teriam precedido o britnico ou o holands, por exemplo, mas pautar-se-iam por idntica configurao: actividade econmica e controlo geopoltico de longa durao nos territrios anexados ao seu espao inicial. Contudo, esta premissa falha ao ignorar que essas unidades polticas se constituram exactamente do mesmo modo na Europa: conquistas, povoamento, no caso de no desejarmos utilizar o termo colonizao, e anexao territorial, no necessariamente em contiguidade.1 Nos dois casos, o tempo e a desigual interaco entre a elite dominante e os grupos subordinados iro provocar mudanas culturais com pontos de convergncia e/ou unificadores e tenses que se prolongam nas pocas seguintes, tema alis dominante em Culture and Imperialism (1995) de Edward Said. O termo Imprio tem suscitado, alis, leituras plurais, por vezes ambguas. Michael Doyle, na sua obra Empires (1986), define-o de modo to abrangente e conciso que parece contrariar a anunciada complexidade: Empires are relationships of political control over effective sovereignty of other political societies (19) A clareza e a aparente simplicidade de tal definio obrigam, porm, a uma posterior classificao dos imprios quanto sua estrutura organizacional, tanto militar como administrativa, e quanto ao resultado econmico advindo como factor determinante. Numa outra vertente, considera o elemento cronolgico de grande relevo na mensura do seu eventual progresso, o qual teria culminado nos imprios institucionais do sculo XIX (Doyle 341). Contudo, se considerarmos as formas de controlo e exerccio do poder desde o imprio romano at aos imprios britnico, holands ou alemo do sculo XIX, verificamos que elas tm variado consoante as circunstncias polticas, econmicas, tecnolgicas e at consoante o territrio dominado que,
J. H. Elliott defende que a monarquia espanhola, com a sucesso de Carlos V ao ttulo de imperador do Sacro Imprio Romano (1519) constitua um imprio, independentemente das conquistas ultramarinas. Cf. (1989) Spain and its Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Spain and its World, 1500-1700, New Haven, 7-8.
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NA ROTA DO IMPRIO, SEGUNDO JOHN DEE
em geral, se apresenta fragmentrio, distribudo por diversos continentes e no fisicamente coeso. O trao comum no conceito de imprio ou imperium, como afirma John Richardson em The Language of Empire (2009), a ideia de poder sobre um pedao de territrio, que se converte em provincia quando o seu proprietrio assume a responsabilidade, ou a tarefa, de ali aplicar um determinado conjunto de normas administrativas (9). Podemos, ento, concluir que tais questes se colocaram com igual pertinncia s formaes geopolticas da Antiguidade e Europa Crist da Idade Mdia ou a um qualquer perodo da histria. A destrina entre a teoria e o exerccio do poder do imprio romano e o almejo da formao da Christianitas medieval reside, essencialmente, no facto de, na Europa medieval, o poder, embora igualmente apetecido e praticado com base em interesses e objectivos materiais, da posse de territrios e do desenvolvimento econmico, justificar as lutas entre os reinos recm-formados, espiritualmente, pela razo teocrtica (Cantor 249). David Armitage, em Making the Empire British: Scotland in the Atlantic World 1542-1707, reitera o conceito de imprio intra-europeu, associando-o consolidao das monarquias e ao reconhecimento das fronteiras entre estados ou reinos:
An empire, in the early modern period, could be defined as an independent polity, as a community of different territories ruled by a common superior, or simply an absolute monarchy under a single head. The European monarchies made their initial claims to statehood in the language of imperium, with each ruler equivalent in his own territories to the Emperor himself: their rex an imperator in regno suo. (38)
O caso do Imprio Britnico exemplifica de modo inequvoco o percurso realizado, de imprio intra-europeu a imprio transatlntico. A expresso imprio britnico, alis, j fora adoptada sculos antes deste reconhecimento terico e poltico da importncia dos imprios e da sua manifestao ideolgica, o imperialismo2. Ser, pois, de elementar justia lembrar quem primeiro a forjou e quais os fundamentos e os interesses ou sonhos que propiciaram o
O presente estudo versa apenas a problemtica conceptual do Imprio Britnico, segundo a perspectiva do renascentista John Dee, pelo que no contempla o amplo debate sobre o conceito de imperialismo que continua em aberto com obras como, por exemplo, de Paul Kennedy (1987/1989), The Rise and Fall of Great Powers: Economic and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, New York: Random House.
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aparecimento de tal noo. Contrariando, pois, a corrente de pesquisa atrs referida, ser necessrio recuar ao sculo XVI, ao tempo do Renascimento, e a nos atermos controversa e algo misteriosa figura que foi o Dr. John Dee (1527-1608). Falar de John Dee toca as raias da imprudncia, uma vez que tudo a seu respeito acarreta mais interrogaes do que certezas. Para alguns, este homem misterioso, escritor prolfero, interessado em matrias esotricas, como o demonstra, por exemplo, a sua obra The Hierogliphic Monad (1564), no ter passado de um charlato. Mesmo o ttulo de Dr., tantas vezes aposto ao seu nome, no corresponde a nenhum grau acadmico, pois embora tivesse frequentado a Universidade de Cambridge, mais precisamente St. Johns College e, mais tarde, a de Lovaina (1547), famoso centro do New Learning renascentista, Dee no concluiu formalmente os seus estudos. O facto no impediu, porm, que fosse considerado apto a leccionar geometria euclidiana na Universidade de Paris (1551), tendo-lhe a sido oferecido o cargo de Matemtico Real com um salrio aprecivel para a poca, de 200 coroas francesas (Trattner 19). A estadia em vrias cidades europeias p-lo em contacto com a intelligentsia coetnea e com as diferentes opes gnoseolgicas ento coexistentes. A sede de conhecimento e o carcter multifacetado dos seus interesses no estaria, alis, em grande dissonncia com o epistema renascentista. Como C. S. Lewis explicita em New Learning, New Ignorance(1954), as fronteiras entre os saberes medievos integrados numa mundividncia organicista e ainda de pendor teocrtico mesclavam-se com a nova atitude perante um mundo mais vasto que as descobertas martimas e o experimentalismo nascente em vrios domnios, como o da fsica ou da astronomia, pareciam comprovar. Magia e nova cincia apresentavam-se, pois, como alternativas igualmente legtimas para o estudioso de Quinhentos. Assim, Lovaina proporcionou a John Dee conhecimentos de alquimia e do oculto, muito em voga naquela academia devido influncia do trabalho a desenvolvido por Cornellius Agrippa, cuja obra De Occulta Philosophia viera a prelo em 1531. Deu-lhe, alm disso, a oportunidade de conhecer figuras de relevo, como Girardus Mercator3 e
Gerardus Mercator (1512 1594), cartgrafo flamengo que criou o mtodo de projeco cosmogrfica em que a latitude e a latitude so indicadas por linhas rectas, podendo ser calculadas utilizando o compasso.
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Gemma Phrysius,4 mestres conceituados de cartografia e cosmografia. Numa visita a Bruxelas seria apresentado ao matemtico portugus Pedro Nunes, com quem viria a estabelecer relaes de amizade, bem como a Abraham Ortelius, autor de Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, o trabalho mais avanado no mbito da geografia, de acordo com a recepo da poca. Paris, por seu turno, alargar-lhe-ia os horizontes no tocante astronomia e astrologia (Trattner 18-19).
Fig. 2: Gerardus Mercator
Gemma Phrysius (1508-1555), matemtico e cartgrafo holands de nomeada, foi autor de De princinpiis astronomiae, ficando famoso por ter sido o primeiro a propor o princpio da triangulao para localizar pontos no espao e elaborar mapas.
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No admira, portanto, que o Dr. John Dee, a par do estudo continuado de matrias relativas transcendncia e ao oculto, por vezes trilhando caminhos, se no dspares, pelo menos de difcil aceitao, segundo o parecer de alguns, tambm se debruasse sobre questes mais mundanas e com objectivos mais imediatos, tocando o mundo material que era o seu. Regressado a Inglaterra, os conhecimentos e os instrumentos nuticos por ele adquiridos, entre os quais um globo de Mercator, permitiram-lhe desenvolver os seus prprios estudos, tendo dedicado a Eduardo VI dois tratados de astronomia e, em 1553, publicado diversos trabalhos, entre os quais The Cause of Floods and Ebbs. A geografia martima revelar-se-ia, entretanto, um dos tpicos dominantes na carreira de John Dee. Numa vertente mais prtica, desempenhou as funes de conselheiro da Muscovy Company durante mais de trinta anos, de 1551 a 1583, tendo muito provavelmente actuado como consultor para aquela companhia nas viagens realizadas por Richard Chancellor, Stephen e William Borough nos anos cinquenta. precisamente durante essa dcada que Dee se torna o gegrafo mais proeminente da corte de Isabel I, tendo sido chamado com frequncia a dar o seu parecer acerca de projectos expedicionrios. Os mais conhecidos navegadores ingleses como Martin Frobisher, Humphrey Gilbert, John Davis, Francis Drake ou Walter Raleigh beneficiaram dos seus ensinamentos, recorrendo aos mapas e s instrues elaboradas por Dee para as viagens que empreenderam. Desse envolvimento resultou a obra The General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to the Perfecte Arte of Navigation, vinda a prelo em 1577, mas escrita no ano anterior. Muito provavelmente, ela foi produzida com o intuito de promover a expedio no Atlntico de Frobisher em busca duma passagem pelo noroeste, e, em simultneo, com impacte lucrativo para a Muscovy Company. Na verdade, durante o reinado de Isabel I, as viagens martimas transocenicas ganham um mpeto substancial na busca de novas rotas comerciais, denotando j interesse na conquista territorial, como o demonstra a tentativa do estabelecimento da colnia da Virgnia na ilha de Roanoke por Walter Raleigh em 1585. O desafio, contudo, no se limitava s dificuldades inerentes percia na arte de marear, por muito importantes que elas realmente fossem. Questes da esfera da poltica e do direito internacional como a existncia do Tratado de Tordesilhas pareciam sobrepor-se s vantagens de tais empresas. Assinado pelas coroas portuguesa e espanhola a 7 de Junho de 1494, o tratado de Tordesilhas provinha de vrias disposies j firmadas com o apoio
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papal, visando a diviso do mundo em dois hemisfrios, ficando a zona norte na posse de Espanha e as terras a sul do cabo Bojador e da Gr Canria para a nao portuguesa. Nesse sentido, a bula Aeternis regis, assinada por Sisto IV em 1481, no s confirmava o tratado de Alcovas acordado pelas duas naes, espanhola e lusitana, como completava o anteriormente disposto por Nicolau V, por exemplo, em Dum Divers (1452). Por seu turno, a bula Inter Cetera lavrada em 1493 apunha o selo do papa Alexandre VI ao referido trataso de Tordesilhas, ratificando a diviso das terras a descobrir banhadas pelo Atlntico em duas zonas de influncia delimitadas por um meridiano traado a 100 lguas para oeste dos Aores, com excepo das terras j descobertas por Colombo.5 Contudo, os dois monarcas, a rainha Isabel de Espanha e D. Joo II de Portugal, voltariam a renegociar a partilha delimitando-a a partir de um meridiano 370 lguas a poente do arquiplago de Cabo Verde (Albuquerque 289-290), sendo o novo acordo confirmado pelo papa Jlio II em 1506. De igual modo, as j difceis relaes polticas entre a Inglaterra e a Esccia, agudizadas pelo contencioso entre Isabel I e Maria Stuart, repercutiam-se na rivalidade assumida por ambos os reinos no respeitante aos seus empreendimentos martimos, atitude que iria manter-se at ao Pacto de Unio de 1707. Ora Inglaterra e Esccia, ao digladiarem-se por objectivos expansionistas em tudo similares, constituam dois adversrios pouco temveis para as frotas portuguesa e espanhola. Nas palavras de David Armitage:
The history of British maritime ideology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries follows the history of the conception of Britain itself. There could obviously not be any pan-British arguments in favour of maritime supremacy until the state itself had been defined as a collectively British kingdom; competing English and Scottish maritime ideologies were either subsumed within, or survived alongside, comprehensively British conceptions throughout the course of these centuries. (Armitage 102)
O Dr. John Dee, enquanto conselheiro de Isabel I em assuntos de geopoltica, apresenta exactamente esse ponto de vista em The Limits of the British Empire (1593). O manuscrito, s descoberto em 1976, composto por quatro documentos. Os dois primeiros mais sucintos e intitulados Concerning a New
Cf. Dicionrio Enciclopdico da Histria de Portugal, Coordenao de Jos Costa Pereira. Portugal: Publicaes Alfa. Vol.2, 289-290.
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Fig. 3: Estotilndia
Location for the Island of Estotilant and the Province of Drogio, e Concerning this Example of Geographical Reform, respectivamente, so, com toda a probabilidade, datados de 1577, altura em que Martin Frobisher e Humphrey Gilbert procuravam o apoio real para um projecto de estabelecimento de colnias nas regies descritas nos textos de John Dee.6 Quanto ao terceiro documento, Unto your Majesties title Royall to these forene Regions, & Ilands, datado de 1578, complementado pelo quarto, surgido pouco depois com o ttulo que passar a designar o conjunto, Brytanici Imperii Limites. A obra, no seu todo, no se destinava a publicao, mas para uso pessoal da rainha e dos seus conselheiros mais prximos, como por exemplo, Edward Dyer,
Quanto descoberta e provenincia do texto consulte-se McMillan, Ken & Jennifer Abeles, eds. (2004) Introduction. John Dee. The Limits of the British Empire. Westport, Connecticut & London: Praeger, 4-9.
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Fig. 4: Ilha de Baffin
Christopher Hatton, Philip Sidney, Francis Walsingham, ou Lord Burghley, visando, como o nome bem explicita, a definio do imprio britnico atravs de uma panplia de argumentos, histricos e legais, para assegurar o direito de propriedade sobre ele. Nos dois primeiros documentos, John Dee prope uma cartografia revista de acordo com as perspectivas da narrativa e dos mapas traados pelos irmos Zeno, dois navegadores venezianos do sculo XIV, publicada por um descendente em 1558 onde se contradizia a tese de Mercator e Ortelius, considerados autoridades indiscutveis na poca. Ele imaginava que a ilha de Estotilndia se situava na zona da actual ilha de Baffin, o que corresponde Amrica do Norte numa rea muito acima, ou seja, para norte da Florida, ento tambm denominada Nova Espanha. Quanto mencionada provncia de Drogio, ela no seria uma pequena ilha, mas um vasto territrio rico em ouro, situado na sua frente. Dee arrogava-se estar na posse de dados inacessveis maioria dos investigadores coetneos, citando uma obra, por muitos considerada apcrifa, da autoria de um navegador holands do sculo XIV, Jacobus Cnoyen de sHertogenbosch, que regista episdios narrados em Gestae Arturi, em escrito annimo, e a referncia ao trabalho de um monge de Oxford, Inventio Fortunatae. Todas essas informaes teriam chegado a John Dee atravs de uma carta datada de 1577 que lhe fora enviada por Mercator (Dee 83-85). Apesar da improba63
bilidade das fontes, John Dee conclui, quase em termos silogsticos, que se a localizao desses territrios ignorada pelos outros povos navegadores, nenhum tratado lhes poderia outorgar a sua posse. Dee afirmava, igualmente, que Atlantis, grosso modo a Amrica do Norte, era menos larga, em termos de latitude, do que geralmente se cria, pelo que seria mais fcil e mais rpido traar uma rota passando pelo noroeste. com tais pressupostos que, uma vez obtido o alvar da rainha, Humphrey Gilbert se lanar numa viagem, em 1582, em busca da passagem a noroeste com o propsito de se estabelecer naquela zona de Drogio e dedicar-se prospeco do ouro, ouro que, desafortunadamente, nunca viria a ser encontrado.
Fig. 5: Carta Polar de John Dee
O terceiro e quarto documentos, mais extensos do que os anteriores, contm os argumentos legais necessrios para a coroa inglesa justificar, perante os outros estados europeus e at perante o papado, a legitimidade das actividades transatlnticas levadas a cabo pelos seus mareantes:
A briefe remembrance of sondrye foreyne regions discovered, inhabited, and partlie conquered by the subiectes of this Brytish Monarchie: and so your lawfull tytle (our most gratous Soveraigne Quene Elizabeth) for the dewe clayme and iust recovery of the same disclosed, which (in effect) ys a title royall to all the coastes and ilandes begining at or about Terra Florida, and so alongst or neere vnto Atlantis,
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goinge northerly, and then to all the most northern ilandes great and small, and so compassinge about Groenland, eastwards untill the territoris opposite vnto the farthest easterlie and northern boundes of the duke of Moscovia his dominions. (Dee 43)
Fig. 6: Frislndia
A tese desenvolvida com base em dados de natureza histrica, recorrendo John Dee a numerosas fontes, como as crnicas de Brutus relatadas por Geoffrey of Monmouth em Historia Regum Britannaie, c. 1138, reproduzidas nas crnicas quinhentistas de John Bale, John Leland, Humphey Llwyd e John Stowe. Muito sumariamente, o imprio britnico proviria da aco civilizadora do guerreiro troiano Brutus em Inglaterra e na Esccia, tendo assim fundado um imprio denominado Britannia. Posteriormente, o rei Artur, seu descendente, conquistou outros reinos no Atlntico Norte e na Escandinvia, alargando de modo considervel o imprio. E, embora os reinos de Inglaterra,
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Esccia e Gales viessem a tornar-se independentes, segundo rezam as crnicas neo galfridianas, a dinastia Tudor, de raiz galesa, teria direito a recuperar o seu legado ancestral7. Durante o perodo Tudor a ideologia dominante recuperaria este mito, quer reconhecendo o seu cariz fantasioso, como o faz Edmund Spenser em The Fairie Queene, Books II e III, quer utilizando-o na construo de uma ideologia consistente com a governana centralizadora adoptada desde Henrique VII. O empenho de Henrique VIII e dos seus sucessores em restaurar a unio da Inglaterra com a Esccia d origem a uma literatura em que a ideologia neo-galfridiana serve para legitimar a pretenso de governar o imprio da Gr-Bretanha, expresso aplicada por Nicholas Bodrugan e James Henrisoun, mercador de Edimburgo, ou a variante empregue por Humphrey Llwyd em Commentarioli Britannicae Descriptionis Fragmentum: Imprio Britnico. Portanto, como salienta Armitage (2000, 41-42):
The conception of this British empire in the 1540s was therefore only maritime in so far as it was bounded by the sea; it was insular, rather than expansionist; and nature set its limits, which the empire of Great Britain would naturally fill but not overflow.
A apologia do Imprio Britnico elaborada pelo Dr. John Dee inovadora na medida em que associa a antiga noo de imprio, insular, mas intra-europeia, quase sinnima de monarquia compsita8, com os objectivos expansionistas transatlnticos to presentes naquele momento da histria da Europa. Assim, procura conciliar o mito que abrilhanta a dinastia Tudor com uma fundamentao de pendor jurisprudencial, mais incisiva. Segundo Doyle, ao gizar a histria ou a anlise da construo dos imprios, h que ter em conta perspectivas sistemticas metrocntricas e pericntricas nas abordagens dos diferentes imprios e formas de imperialismo. Quer isto
A expresso galfridiano/a refere-se aos dados registados por Geoffery of Monmouth, dando origem a uma tradio no cltica. Segundo a verso galfridiana teria existido um trono britnico antes das invases brbaras em Loegria, extinta provncia agora designada por Inglaterra. Nessa poca a ilha britnica era governada por trs irmos, Locrine em Inglaterra, Albanact na Esccia e Camber em Gales. Sendo Locrine o mais velho, tinha precedncia, o que implicava a vassalagem dos povos escocs e gals. 8 Cf. Robertson, John, . Empire and Union: Two Concepts of The Early Modern European Political Order. A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 4-5.
7
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dizer que a expanso imperial se apresenta mais propcia quando se verifica o desequilbrio entre a estabilidade poltica da metrpole e uma periferia vulnervel devido debilidade militar existente e desunio entre os membros daquele colectivo; se, da comunidade internacional, no surgirem competidores, o caminho estar muito facilitado (Doyle 123-162). Dee j se mostra sensvel aos factores apontados, a posteriori, por Doyle, mas, preocupa-se, sobretudo, com a situao, mais ou menos favorvel, relativamente aos outros estados expansionistas. Norteado por esse propsito, elabora uma anlise minuciosa da bula de Alexandre VI, procurando descortinar as possveis incongruncias ou pontos fracos, sem, todavia, destruir o preceito da autoridade eclesistica em regulamentar assuntos temporais. Este constitua um procedimento bastante inusitado entre os seus conterrneos que, assumindo-se como membros da igreja Anglicana, simplesmente rejeitavam a jurisdio do papa em qualquer matria que tocasse Inglaterra. Na verdade, para Dee, era muito claro que a soberana, na sua qualidade de chefe da novel igreja, deveria possuir autoridade idntica do Papa em Roma. Tal permitiria aos sbditos britnicos navegar os mares em demanda de territrios para engrandecimento do imprio e expanso da f, como competia a qualquer prncipe cristo europeu:
And generallie by the same order that other Christian princes do nowe a dayes make entrances and conquestes vpon the heathen people, your highness hath also to procead herein, both to recover the premisses and likewise by conquest to enlarge the bowndes of your Majesities forsaid title royall, thus (somewhat in particuler) expressed. And chieflie this recovery & discovery enterprise ys speedely and carefully to be taken in hand and followed with the intent of settinge forh the glorie of Christ and spreadinge abrode the heavenly tydinges of the gospell among the heathen, which pointe of all Christian princes ought more to be esteemed then all their most glorious wordlye tryumphes. (Dee 48)
Nas palavras do Dr. John Dee, o motivo para assim proceder alicera-se tanto no Iure Gentium (direito consuetudinrio), como no Iure Divino e no Iure Civilis (direito romano). No que respeita ao ltimo, prefere recorrer ao pensamento jurdico de Justiniano que define a posse de um territrio cumpridas que estejam duas premissas: animo, a inteno de se apropriar de um territrio, e corpore, a conquista ou tomada fsica desse mesmo territrio. Ora o problema do povoamento e do controlo poltico regular sobre as regies descobertas ou redescobertas, colocava-se de igual modo a todos os estados envolvidos na
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expanso martima. Portugal e Espanha no tinham, de facto, ocupado territrios acima dos 45 de latitude norte e a possibilidade de o estado britnico reclamar a propriedade de terras no Novo Mundo devido alegao da sua descoberta pelo prncipe gals Madoc, no sculo XII, tambm no tinha cabimento, uma vez que no tinham permanecido l quaisquer foras de domnio. Tratava-se, pois, de um argumento que poderia actuar simultaneamente a favor ou contra os desgnios da corte isabelina. No entanto, constitua forte incentivo para que a monarca desse o seu consentimento a novos projectos de viagens e de eventual colonizao, adiantando-se, assim, aos estados rivais. No quarto documento, as questes e os argumentos acima referidos so retomados e aprofundados, jogando ora com a data de descobertas anteriores entrada em vigor da primeira bula, 1493 e, portanto, anteriores primeira viagem de Colombo, ora pondo em causa a capacidade de domnio continuado sobre os territrios descobertos. Mais inovador afigura-se o argumento de natureza cientfica em torno da determinao da linha divisria, tal como regista a primeira bula de Alexandre VI: aos espanhis eram atribudas todas as terras, descobertas ou a descobrir occidentem et meridiem da linha traada do plo rctico ao plo Antrctico e aos portugueses as terras ex opposito. Para John Dee, o termo meridiem significaria que a disposio papal s contemplava o que se situasse abaixo dos 45 de latitude norte (Dee 93). A par das alegaes emanadas dos vrios cdigos jurdicos reconhecidos ao tempo e do recurso a uma tradio histrica, verdica ou fantasiosa, que a ideologia vigente procurava incutir de modo vrio, Dee no hesita em lanar mo de razes associadas ao direito dinstico, to ao gosto dos doutores em leis medievais, baseado em complexas anlises das rvores genealgicas das casas reais inglesa, portuguesa, castelhana e aragonesa para provar, tambm por essa via, que Isabel Tudor ainda poderia ser considerada herdeira legtima do trono espanhol (94). Neste aspecto, o autor revela, mais uma vez, estar cnscio das metodologias e hipteses gnoseolgicas que se cruzavam ao tempo e procura, deste modo, tirar o melhor partido da circunstncia. verdade que a sua proposta de limites vastos para um imprio britnico no foi acolhida com grande entusiasmo, nem na sua poca, nem depois. A perspectiva de um imprio do norte da Europa at Moscovo no era nem recupervel, nem admissvel no xadrez poltico coevo, como o prprio Dr. Dee reconhecia. Mas ser, talvez a hiprbole historicista tecida que provoca a reaco cptica de muitos, inviabilizando, assim, a reflexo sobre a ideologia imperial
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apontada no ensaio. O manuscrito permaneceria invisvel em arquivos, talvez pelo secretismo de que se revestia a poltica quinhentista, mas s o oblvio ou a malparana explicam o prolongado desaparecimento da obra. No obstante, a ideia de imprio que nos lega de tal forma perene que continuamos a reconhecer nas suas linhas o manancial de alegaes e argumentos com que os estados, ao longo dos sculos, tentaram legitimar o seu ilimitado desejo de serem donos de imprios, de preferncia sem limites.
Bibliografia
Dee, John (2004). The Limits of the British Empire. MacMillan, Ken & Jennifer Abeles, eds. Westport, Connecticut, & London: Praeger. Albuquerque, Lus (1991) Tordesilhas, tratado de. Dicionrio Enciclopdico da Histria de Portugal. Coordenao de Jos Costa Pereira. Portugal: Publicaes Alfa. Vol.2, 289-290 Armitage, David (1997) The Empire British: Scotland in the Atlantic World 1542-1707. Past and Present, n 155 (May), 34-63. Armitage, David (2000) The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cantor, Norman (1994) The Civilization of The Middle Ages. New York: Harper Perennial Doyle, Michael (1986/1989). Empires. Cornell: Cornell University Press. Elliott, J. H. (1989). Spain and its Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Spain and its World, 1500-1700. New Haven, 7-8. Hobsbawm, E. J. (1990). Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lewis, C. S. (1954/1975) New Learning, New Ignorance. English Literature in The Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Richardson, John (2009) The Language of Empire: Rome and the Idea of Empire from the Third Century BC to Second Century AD. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Robertson, John (1995). Empire and Union: Two Concepts of The Early Modern European Political Order. A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707. Edited by John Robertson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-10. Said, Edward (1994/1995). Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage. Trattner, Walter I. (1964) God and Expansion in Elizabethan England: John Dee, 15271583. Journal of The History of Ideas. Vol. 25, N1 (Jan. Mar.), 17-34.
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Sitografia
Fig. 1 John Dee: http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/dee.html. Acedido a16-042009; Fig.2: Gerardus Mercator: www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/.../BigPictures/. Acedido a1604-2009; Fig.3: Estotilndia: strangemaps.wordpress.com/.../ Acedido a 20-04-2009; Fig.4: Ilha de Baffin: pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_de_Baffin Acedido a16-04-2009; Fig.5 Carta Polar de John Dee: http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/frobisher/ images/frmaf02b.jpg Acedido a 20-04-2009; Fig.6: Frislndia: strangemaps.wordpress.com/.../ Acedido a20-04-2009.
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Antes do Imprio, as Colnias: Reflexes de Adam Smith e Jeremy Bentham

Luisa Leal de Faria
Antes do Imprio, as Colnias: Reflexes de Adam Smith e Jeremy Bentham
designao geral do projecto de investigao do Centro de Estudos Anglsticos dedicado ao estudo do Imprio Britnico parece supor que esta designao Imprio Britnico consensual e no sujeita a variaes de interpretao. Tal no o caso, como se ver decerto ao longo das fases de desenvolvimento do projecto, bem como atravs de cada uma das apresentaes que constituem as duas primeiras jornadas dedicadas apresentao dos resultados da investigao deste grupo. Como refere Hannah Arendt em Imperialism (1968), a grande confuso da terminologia histrica moderna um dano colateral que decorre das disparidades entre causa e efeito resultantes dos movimentos de expanso que nasceram em estados nao definidos por fronteiras territoriais e pelas limitaes da conquista possvel. E continua, dizendo que atravs de comparaes com os Imprios antigos, atravs da confuso estabelecida entre expanso e conquista, acabou por no se compreender a diferena fundamental que existia entre a antiga fundao de estaes martimas e comerciais, em prol do comrcio, e uma nova poltica de expanso. Ao negligenciarem as diferenas entre Commonwealth e Imprio (a que os historiadores pr-imperialistas chamavam a diferena entre plantaes e possesses, ou colnias, ou dependncias, ou, mais tarde, colonialismo e imperialismo), ao negligenciarem as diferenas entre exportao de pessoas e exportao de dinheiro, os historiadores tentaram ultrapassar o facto perturbador que muitos dos acontecimentos importantes na histria moderna parecem montanhas que resultaram da actividade de toupeiras (cf. Arendt 11-12). Tentar perceber o quadro de reflexo que, em finais do sculo XVIII, problematizava a relao entre a Gr-Bretanha e as colnias poder contribuir para melhor definir os contornos das contradies de que fala Hannah Arendt.
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A anlise de dois textos de dois autores do ltimo quartel do sculo XVIII, Adam Smith, no livro IV de The Wealth of Nations publicado em 1776, e Jeremy Bentham, num texto intitulado Principles of Internation Law, de 1789, evidencia a complexidade da relao de dois eminentes analistas da sociedade, da economia e das formas de governo da poca em relao construo do Imprio. Para ambos, como procurarei demonstrar, a manuteno das colnias altamente prejudicial prosperidade da Inglaterra, contrria aos princpios da liberdade de comrcio, potenciadora de guerras destrutivas entre os estados europeus. distncia de mais de dois sculos, com o benefcio da viso retrospectiva, parece-me valer a pena perguntar por que razo dois dos pensadores mais seminais do seu tempo se posicionaram, aparentemente, contra o curso dos acontecimentos, contra o mais importante instrumento de enriquecimento da nao inglesa, no momento da gnese da Revoluo Industrial e da construo do Imprio Britnico oitocentista. Quando Eric Hobsbawm, no clssico Industry and Empire (1975), procura perceber as razes que explicam a exploso industrial da Inglaterra na segunda metade do sculo XVIII, o seu posicionamento como a primeira nao industrializada do mundo e o seu domnio do comrcio mundial, refere que o que lhe interessa no perceber como foi acumulado o material para a exploso econmica, mas antes, o que o fez explodir1. A resposta est no aumento da procura interna, sem dvida, mas muito mais na multiplicao da procura externa2. Resumindo o papel dos trs principais sectores de procura na gnese da industrializao, Hobsbawm refere, em primeiro lugar, como a fasca que desencadeou a exploso, foram as exportaes, apoiadas pela ajuda agressiva e sistemtica do governo3. A manufactura do algodo estava estreitamente articulada com o comrcio ultramarino, j que toda a matria-prima era importada dos trpicos ou sub-trpicos, e os produtos acabados eram exportados. Em finais
The question about the origin of the Industrial Revolution that concerns us here is not, therefore, how the material for the economic explosion was accumulated, but how it was ignited. (Hobsbawm 40) 2 Home demand increased but foreign demand multiplied. If a spark was needed, this is where it came from. (Hobsbawm 48) 3 Exports, backed by the systematic and aggressive help of government, provided the spark, and with cotton textiles the leading sector of industry. (Hobsbawm 50)
1
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ANTES DO IMPRIO, AS COLNIAS. REFLEXES DE ADAM SMITH E JEREMY BENTHAM
do sculo XVIII era j uma indstria que exportava a maior parte da produo: provavelmente dois teros do total em 1805 (Hobsbawm 48). A expanso das exportaes no estava limitada pelo crescimento natural da taxa de procura interna. Podia captar uma srie de mercados de exportao de outros estados europeus, e podia destruir a concorrncia interna dentro de outros pases, atravs dos meios polticos ou semi-polticos da guerra e da colonizao. Ainda segundo Hobsbawm, o pas que conseguisse concentrar, ou monopolizar os mercados de exportao de uma grande parte do mundo num curto espao de tempo, poderia expandir as suas indstrias a um ritmo que tornava a revoluo industrial no s praticvel para os seus empresrios, mas mesmo por vezes virtualmente obrigatria. E isto foi o que a Gr-Bretanha conseguiu fazer durante o sculo XVIII (Hobsbawm 48-49). A guerra e a colonizao requeriam, por seu turno, uma economia capaz de explorar aqueles mercados, mas tambm um governo disposto a declarar a guerra e a colonizar em proveito dos industriais britnicos. Durante o sculo XVIII as guerras da Sucesso Espanhola (1702-13) e da Sucesso da ustria (1739-48), a Guerra dos Sete Anos (1756-63), a Guerra da Independncia Americana (1776-83) e as Guerras Revolucionrias e Napolenicas (17931815), em que a Gr-Bretanha teve interveno, resultaram no maior triunfo jamais conseguido por qualquer estado: o monoplio virtual entre as potncias europeias das colnias ultramarinas, e o monoplio virtual do poder naval a nvel mundial. Alm disso, a prpria guerra, ao mutilar os maiores concorrentes da Gr-Bretanha na Europa, tendia a aumentar e acelerar as exportaes; a paz tendia a atrasar o processo (cf. Hobsbawm 49-50). Ao mesmo tempo, a guerra transformava a marinha britnica num consumidor de ferro e num impulsionador de descobertas de novas tecnologias para o seu tratamento e aproveitamento. O governo apoiava, sistematicamente, os comerciantes e os industriais e incentivava a inovao tecnolgica e o desenvolvimento de novas indstrias. So, muito sumariamente, estes trs factores que enquadram as reflexes de Smith e de Bentham: o desenvolvimento da indstria no plano interno e a exportao dos produtos manufacturados, com prejuzo para o desenvolvimento de uma economia de base agrria; o papel da guerra e da colonizao no desenvolvimento das exportaes, e as consequncias de um estado de guerra quase permanente ao longo do sculo XVIII, com prejuzo para a paz universal; por ltimo, as polticas proteccionistas e monopolistas do governo, com prejuzo para a liberdade de comrcio e de desenvolvimento das naes.
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Adam Smith, no livro IV de A Riqueza das Naes, estuda os sistemas da economia poltica como um ramo da cincia da governao, e considera que h dois sistemas para o enriquecimento do povo: um o sistema do comrcio, o outro o da agricultura. O primeiro, o do comrcio, o sistema moderno, e na Gr-Bretanha, e no tempo presente que melhor se pode compreender (Smith 275). Partindo da constatao de que, no passado, os estados entendiam o seu enriquecimento em termos de acumulao de ouro e prata, e que estes metais apenas podiam ser trazidos para um pas que no tivesse minas prprias atravs do equilbrio comercial (balance of trade), ou atravs de maior nmero de exportaes do que de importaes, o objectivo principal de economia poltica passou a ser diminuir a importao de produtos estrangeiros e aumentar a exportao dos produtos domsticos. Os governos passaram, ento, a adoptar medidas para restringir as importaes e encorajar as exportaes. As restries importao podiam traduzir-se em medidas de aumento de direitos e impostos, e em medidas de proibies absolutas. J no que se refere s medidas de encorajamento s exportaes, podiam ser de quatro tipos: reembolsos (drawbacks), prmios (bounties), privilgios previstos em tratados comerciais com estados estrangeiros que garantiam tratamento preferencial a determinados produtos de um pas em detrimento dos de outros, e, finalmente, o estabelecimento de colnias em pases distantes, prevendo-se privilgios especficos e, frequentemente tambm, o monoplio para os produtos e os comerciantes do pas que as estabelecia. Nos primeiros captulos, dedicados anlise dos dois tipos de restrio s importaes, Smith deixa clarssima a conivncia entre os membros do governo e do Parlamento com os interesses dos comerciantes, atravs da promulgao constante de medidas proteccionistas e monopolistas. Prudentemente, no entanto, no advoga a abertura repentina dos mercados total liberdade de comrcio, mas antes a adopo de polticas gradualistas que, tendo em vista o bem geral, no estabeleam novos monoplios e no reforcem os que j existem4.
As ltimas pginas do captulo II, Of Restraints upon the Importation from foreign Countries of such Goods as can be produced at Home referem sem rodeios, os interesses privados que se opoem liberdade de comrcio e intimidam os governantes, que, mesmo os mais impolutos e exemplars, no encontram proteco contra the most infamous abuse and detraction, from personal insults from real danger, arising from the insolent outrage of furious and disappointed monopolists. (Smith 300).
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De entre os incentivos s exportaes interessa-nos, em particular, examinar a posio de Adam Smith em relao s colnias, objecto do captulo VII do livro IV de A Riqueza das Naes. Comeando com uma breve panormica histrica sobre os diferentes tipos de colonizao na Grcia e na Roma antigas, que considera decorrentes de necessidade ou de utilidade5, Smith compara estes dois modelos com o estabelecimento das colnias europeias na Amrica e nas ndias Ocidentais, comentando que estas no decorreram de necessidade nem de utilidade, embora logo aps as descobertas de Colombo se tenha generalizado a ideia que as Amricas constituam fontes inesgotveis de ouro e prata, o que incentivou a colonizao destes territrios. No obstante as expectativas de enriquecimento com ouro e prata no se terem concretizado, as colnias inglesas na Amrica desenvolveram-se e prosperaram mais rapidamente do que quaisquer outras. Para Smith as duas grandes causas deste desenvolvimento foram a existncia de plenty of good land, por um lado, e liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, por outro (Smith 346). Se as imensas extenses de territrio acessvel, frtil e escassamente habitado do continente Norte-Americano constituam condies materiais de prosperidade, j a organizao poltica e a imposio de medidas restritivas da liberdade dos colonos pelo governo metropolitano poderiam ter coarctado essa mesma prosperidade. Porm, na opinio de Adam Smith, as colnias americanas foram deixadas livres de se organizar, e estabeleceram modelos de auto governao exemplares, em grande parte decalcados das estruturas de representao da Gr-Bretanha, mas com maior igualdade e mais republicanismo do que na metrpole (Smith 348). Em certas situaes, como no caso a que chama the unfortunate law of slavery (Smith 349), no deixa de criticar o tratamento dado aos escravos das plantaes de cana-de-acar, e de comparar favoravelmente os colonos franceses aos ingleses. Por paradoxal que parea, Smith atribui ao facto de o governo das colnias francesas ser completamente arbitrrio um mais elevado grau de humanidade com que os escravos so
curioso notar que Hannah Arendt compara estes modelos de colonizao e construo de um imprio com o Britnico: The British nation proved to be adept not at the Roman art of Empire building but at following the Greek model of colonization. Instead of conquering and imposing their own law upon foreign peoples, the English colonists settled on newly won territory in the four corners of the world and remained members of the same British nation. (Arendt 7-8)
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tratados. Nas colnias inglesas, sob o que chama um free government, em que o proprietrio de escravos membro das assembleias governativas, ou eleitor das mesmas, torna-se muito difcil aos magistrados proteger os escravos de maus-tratos. Mas o veredicto de Adam Smith sobre os empreendimentos coloniais no deixa margem para dvidas de interpretao. Muito pouco de bom se ter ficado a dever aos governos da Europa nos empreendimentos colonizadores. Pelo contrrio, tanto no caso Ingls da colonizao da Amrica, como no Portugus, da colonizao do Brasil, diz Smith: Upon all these different occasions it was, not the wisdom and policy, but the disorder and injustice of the European governments, which peopled and cultivated America (Smith 351).6 E, logo que as colnias comearam a dar sinais inequvocos de prosperidade atraindo as atenes das metrpoles, logo comearam a surgir as regulamentaes destinadas a assegurar monoplios, a confinar os mercados coloniais aos interesses da metrpole, limitando o desenvolvimento das colnias. As polticas opressivas dos estados europeus apenas se distinguiam nas diferentes maneiras de gerir os monoplios e a de Inglaterra, sendo a melhor, apenas se distinguia das outras por ser um pouco menos iliberal e opressiva, diz Adam Smith (Smith 352). Para o autor, o nico contributo positivo dado pela metrpole s colnias foi a qualidade das pessoas que para l partiram:
It bred and formed the men who were capable of atchieving [sic] such great actions, and of laying the foundation of so great an empire; and there is no other quarter of the world of which the policy is capable of forming, or has ever actually and in fact formed such men. The colonies owe to the policy of Europe the education and great views of their active and enterprising founders; and some of the greatest and most important of them, so far as concerns their internal government, owe to it scarce anything else. (Smith 352)
Leia-se este outro passo, igualmente eloquente: The policy of Europe has very little to boast of, either in the original establishment, or, so far as concerns their internal government, in the subsequent prosperity of the colonies of America.Folly and injustice seem to have been the principles which presided over and directed the first project of establishing those colonies; the folly of hunting after gold and silver mines, and he injustice of coveting the possession of a country whose harmless natives, far from having ever injured the people of Europe, had received the first adventurers with every mark of kindness and hospitality. (Smith 350).
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Mas na terceira parte do captulo sobre as colnias que a anlise de Adam Smith se torna mais contundente. As indstrias britnicas, em vez de terem procurado equilbrios naturais num grande nmero de pequenos mercados, concentraram-se principalmente num s. E a ameaa de ruptura com o mercado americano, prenunciada com o episdio do Stamp Act, no podia deixar de trazer aos comerciantes e industriais da Gr-Bretanha uma reaco de pnico extensiva ao pblico em geral. Para Smith, bvio que o corpo poltico e econmico est doente, e so precisas medidas urgentes de saneamento: a abertura gradual dos mercados e o desvio de investimentos para outros sectores, sero medidas a tomar, sem reformas abruptas, com vista recuperao do equilbrio. Tratar-se-, sobretudo, de abandonar as medidas monopolistas do comrcio colonial que, entre outros mean and malignant expedients of the mercantile system (Smith 355), deprimem a indstria de todos os pases e desencorajam o desenvolvimento da agricultura. Embora trazendo benefcios em grande escala para alguns grupos, os monoplios so lesivos do interesse geral dos pases, e transformam a Gr-Bretanha numa nao de shopkeepers, uma expresso que posteriormente Napoleo usaria, e que o folclore histrico passou a atribuir-lhe:
To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers. (Smith 358)
Como se os prejuzos decorrentes dos monoplios no fossem suficientes para recomendar novas polticas em relao s colnias, as guerras e a sustentao de foras armadas para a sua defesa sobrecarregam, mais ainda, as despesas pblicas, em valores que Adam Smith enumera com indignao.7 Por isso resume: Under the present system of government, therefore, Great Britain derives nothing but loss from the dominion which she assumes over her colonies. (Smith 361) Tendo desmontado as falcias que sustentavam a tese dos benefcios econmicos para a preservao das colnias, Smith aventura-se no domnio das
7
As guerras a que se refere so a Guerra dos Sete Anos (1756-63) e a Guerra da Sucesso Espanhola (1740-48), ambas percebidas por Adam Smith como guerras coloniais. As enormes despesas decorrentes de ambas acrescentam-se s despesas de manuteno de foras de paz nas colnias, tanto terrestres como navais. Este tema ser igualmente abordado por Jeremy Bentham.
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solues polticas. As pginas que dedica explorao de um cenrio de autonomia americana e construo de laos comerciais entre os dois estados, conduzindo a uma aliana privilegiada entre as duas maiores potncias mundiais, parece antecipar a histria futura. Em vsperas da independncia das colnias americanas, e perante a resistncia britnica concesso das liberdades reclamadas pelas colnias, Adam Smith compreende o esprito de misso das pessoas que integram o Congresso americano e comenta:
From shopkeepers, tradesmen, attornies [sic], they are become statesmen and legislators, and are employed in contriving a new form of government for an extensive empire, which, they flatter themselves, will become, and which indeed, seems very likely to become, one of the greatest and most formidable that ever was in the world. (Smith 363)
Se a anlise de Adam Smith incide, em boa parte, sobre o problema, ento candente, do conflito com as colnias americanas, no deixa de focar, tambm, as questes associadas s colnias a oriente, e criticar as estruturas comerciais criadas atravs das grandes Companhias das ndias, por Portugueses, Holandeses e Ingleses. Para ele, a descoberta da Amrica e a descoberta do Caminho Martimo para a ndia tinham sido the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind (Smith 363). As consequncias destes dois acontecimentos, ainda longe de estarem esgotadas, reflectiam-se no desenvolvimento do comrcio europeu escala mundial, com efeitos de esplendor e glria nunca antes vistos, mas tambm com efeitos detrimentais para as populaes colonizadas e para as prprias metrpoles. Como na anlise dos efeitos da colonizao da Amrica, a explorao e o comrcio a oriente apenas acentuam o empobrecimento de pequenas indstrias domsticas e atenuam a ligao terra e s actividades agrcolas. O monoplio do trfego da ndia, estabelecido pelos Portugueses no sculo XVI, dera lugar concorrncia das grandes companhias monopolistas nacionais, que excluam a participao da maior parte da nao e, no caso da English East India Company, agravava os custos da fixao monopolista de preos com os lucros exorbitantes da Companhia e com os custos das fraudes e abusos da sua gesto. A administrao dos interesses da Companhia das ndias Orientais, feita por comerciantes e no por um soberano, rene o que pior pode existir na governao, e torna-se militar e desptica. A distncia da metrpole facilita a corrupo, o comrcio em interesse prprio, a opresso dos interesses locais. Uma estrutura social desenraizada, onde abundam pessoas pouco cultas, sem
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experincia e sem exemplos de boas prticas, potencia o florescimento de trficos paralelos, de pequenos monoplios secretos, manipulando a autoridade do governo local, pervertendo a administrao da justia, arruinando quem pretenda interferir nos seus desgnios. Assim, segundo Adam Smith, um governo dirigido por um soberano, e no por comerciantes, agiria no interesse do pas, e no no interesse dos grupos de comerciantes. Seria, ento, do interesse do soberano abrir o maior nmero possvel de mercados aos produtos do seu pas, autorizar a maior liberdade possvel de comrcio para aumentar, tanto quanto possvel, o nmero e a concorrncia dos compradores; e assim abolir, no apenas todos os monoplios, mas tambm todas as limitaes ao transporte dos produtos domsticos de um lugar do pas para outro, sua exportao para pases estrangeiro, ou importao de bens de qualquer espcie por que possam ser trocados (Smith 368). A concluso das suas reflexes sobre o sistema mercantil no deixa margem para dvidas sobre os imensos prejuzos trazidos Gr-Bretanha pela expanso dos mercados coloniais. O poder poltico foi usurpado pela influncia dos comerciantes e industriais, apostados em transformar a nao numa nao de consumidores, sacrificando os interesses pblicos aos interesses privados. Os interesses do consumidor domstico so sacrificados em prol dos interesses do comerciante, atravs do pagamento de impostos indirectos sobre os produtos. Os interesses a liberdade dos cidados so prejudicados por regulamentaes protectoras das indstrias transformadoras e dos seus artesos qualificados: proibida a exportao de mquinas, com o intuito de no dar instrumentos concorrncia, e os artesos qualificados so proibidos de emigrar.
It is unnecessary, I imagine, to observe, how contrary such regulations are to the boasted liberty of the subject, of which we affect to be so very jealous; but which, in this case, is so plainly sacrificed to the futile interests of our merchants and manufacturers. (Smith 376).
E resume as suas posies nos seguintes termos:

A great empire has been established for the sole purpose of raising up a nation of customers who should be obliged to buy from the shops of our different producers, all the goods with which these could supply them. For the sake of that little enhancement of price which this monopoly might afford our producers, the homeconsumers have been burdened with the whole expence [sic] of maintaining and defending that empire. (Smith 377-78)
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O texto de Bentham, Principles of International Law 8 reflecte, em vsperas da Revoluo Francesa, sobre a necessidade e a utilidade da aprovao de um cdigo de leis universal, que garanta a paz entre as naes. A integrao das vrias partes que compem este ensaio no todo est ainda sujeita a anlise e disputa, como acontece com a maior parte dos textos de Bentham. Mas, no obstante as deficincias editoriais de que o texto possa padecer, a associao entre a guerra e os empreendimentos coloniais estabelecida com clareza, e associada recomendao de medidas de organizao do estado tendentes a reduzir os prejuzos causados por ambas. O texto no pode deixar de ser enquadrado pela teoria utilitarista, ou da maior felicidade do maior nmero possvel de pessoas. Sem nos determos na sustentao filosfica da teoria utilitarista, importa no entanto compreender que, no horizonte do pensamento de Bentham, est um conceito de moral e de legislao que visa a universalidade da felicidade ou da utilidade, e no a defesa de interesses da nao britnica. Por isso comea, justamente, por defender um cdigo universal internacional que tenha como objectivo the common and equal utility of all nations (Bentham 3). A utilidade o princpio que deve reger todas as naes, tanto internamente, em cada estado, como quando se procura articular um cdigo internacional universal. A equidade e a probidade que devem orientar a conduta dos soberanos no plano interno, conduzindo maior felicidade dos sbditos, devem
O texto utilizado est acessvel ao pblico no classical utilitarianism web site, onde foi scanned a partir do volume 2 da edio de Bowring das obras completas de Bentham em 11 volumes, publicada entre 1838 e 1843. O texto on line contm, porm, um nmero considervel de erros ortogrficos, resultantes decerto do processo de scanning. Principles of International Law constudo por quatro ensaios: Essay I: Objects of International Law, Essay II: Of Subjects, or of the Personal Extent of the Dominion of Law, Essay III: Of War, considered in respect of its Causes and Consequences, Essay IV: A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace. A numerao das pginas seguida, de 1 a 31, e ser seguida nas referncias ao original. O texto passar a ser designado pela sigla PIL.A edio dos textos de Bentham sofreu, desde o incio, inmeras intervenes editoriais, estando ainda em curso, no University College, a fixao da edio das obras completas. Sobre os problemas autorais e editorais do texto em apreo, ver no site http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/journal/ hoogensn.htm#28b o estudo de Gunhild Hoogensen, intitulado Benthams International Manuscripts versus The Published Works.
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ser estendidas s suas relaes com os outros estados, tendo em vista a felicidade de todos os cidados. Os princpios orientadores de um cdigo internacional de leis sero vistos tanto pela negativa, como pela positiva, procurando-se um ponto de equilbrio entre estes princpios. O legislador desinteressado, ocupado com a lei internacional ter sempre em vista the greatest happiness of all nations taken together (PIL 4). Seguindo o mtodo que, em a Fragment of Government, considera natural, por oposio ao tcnico9, define o princpio da utilidade como no cometer ofensas contra outra nao, tendo em ateno o bem-estar prprio, e como fazendo o maior bem possvel a outra nao, ressalvando o interesse prprio. Aqui cada nao deve reconhecer os seus deveres. A lei internacional teria ainda em vista a utilidade em geral partindo do princpio de no receber qualquer dano de outra nao, salvaguardando o respeito pelo bem-estar dessa nao, ou recebendo o maior benefcio de outras naes, salvaguardando o respeito pelo bem-estar dessas naes. Estes dois pontos referem-se aos direitos das naes. Quando uma nao julga os seus direitos violados recorre, em geral, guerra. Mas a guerra , para Bentham, an evil it is even the complication of all other evils, de modo que, em caso de guerra, devem ser tomadas todas as medidas que possam minorar o mal e sejam consistentes com o bem que se pretende obter (PIL 4). Importa, assim, criar um conjunto de princpios e procedimentos que impeam ofensas internacionais positivas e encorajem a prtica de aces teis positivas. Um crime positivo , para Bentham, uma aco perpetrada por uma nao sobre outra ou outras, que acarreta mais mal s outras do que bem prpria. Um embargo comercial, em que uma nao mais forte impede o comrcio externo de uma mais fraca, sem que nenhum benefcio advenha para a mais forte, e comportando extensos prejuzos para a mais fraca, seria uma situao deste tipo. Uma ofensa negativa , para Bentham, a deciso de uma nao se recusar a prestar servios positivos a uma nao estrangeira, quando ao faz-lo traria muito mais bem nao estrangeira do que mal a si prpria. Por exemplo, no prestar ajuda em caso de calamidade ou acoitar criminosos perseguidos na outra nao, sem os levar justia.
O mtodo natural a organizao que prende a ateno e motiva as pessoas. Em oposio, o mtodo tcnico o que usam os juristas, corrompidos por interesses ou seduzidos por iluses, que assenta em razes prprias da arte ou da profisso. (FG: 27-28 nota).
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So muitos os motivos que podem levar uma nao guerra. Quase sempre, a guerra desencadeada quando uma nao pretende afirmar os seus direitos custa de outra, e Bentham enumera as razes que, com maior frequncia, deram origem a guerras entre naes. Estes motivos podem ser assumidos de m f ou de boa f, e giram em torno de direitos de sucesso a tronos vazios, perturbaes internas em estados vizinhos, incertezas quanto a divises de fronteiras, incertezas quanto posse de territrios descobertos, invejas causadas por secesses, guerras em estados adjacentes, dios religiosos. Importa, contudo, notar que Bentham parece isentar as populaes de qualquer responsabilidade na precipitao da guerra, fazendo recair sobre o monarca a responsabilidade nica de conduzir a nao guerra: The nation once bound and it is the chief which binds it however criminal the aggression may be, there is properly no other criminal than the chief individuals are only his innocent and unfortunate instruments (PIL 5). Para obviar tragdia da guerra devem ser tomadas medidas preventivas, que Bentham recomenda, bem de acordo com os conceitos que desenvolve em A Fragment on Government: a homologao de leis no escritas, mas consideradas estabelecidas pelo costume; a aprovao de novas convenes, ou seja, novas leis internacionais que clarifiquem todos os pontos duvidosos na relao entre os estados, susceptveis de causar conflitos e, por ltimo, aperfeioar o estilo de toda a espcie de leis, nacionais e internacionais. No ensaio 3, Bentham expande o que considera serem as causas e as consequncias da guerra e recomenda medidas concretas para a resoluo dos conflitos. Estas medidas passam pela liberalizao do comrcio, pela regulao, pelo estabelecimento de alianas defensivas, pela adopo de medidas limitativas do nmero do tropas a manter por cada estado, por acordos prvios quanto descoberta e ocupao de novos territrios, pelo progresso da tolerncia em assuntos de religio. Sero as leis da paz, as leis substantivas no cdigo internacional. As leis da guerra sero as adjectivas, no mesmo cdigo. Para concretizar as leis da paz, Bentham desenha, no quarto ensaio desta obra, A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace. O plano assenta em duas premissas fundamentais: a reduo e fixao das foras das diferentes naes que compem o sistema europeu, e a emancipao das colnias de cada estado. Subjacente ao projecto de uma paz universal e duradoura, est a relao entre a Inglaterra e a Frana. Boa parte da argumentao desenvolve-se em torno dos inconvenientes trazidos pela inimizade entre as duas naes e das vantagens
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na sua adeso s medidas gerais que preconiza. Em ambos os casos, afirma o autor, no h qualquer vantagem na manuteno de dependncias estrangeiras, no h interesse na celebrao de tratados ofensivos ou defensivos com outras potncias, no h interesse na celebrao de tratados comerciais que excluam outras naes, no h interesse na manuteno de uma fora naval seno a indispensvel para defender o comrcio contra a pirataria. Se as duas naes deixassem de se temer mutuamente, e concordassem naqueles princpios gerais de conduta do estado, estariam criadas as condies bsicas para a paz na Europa. Quaisquer conflitos que eventualmente pudessem surgir seriam resolvidos num tribunal internacional, a ser criado com poderes de deciso, mas no de coaco. Por ltimo, no caso da Inglaterra, teria que acabar o secretismo em torno dos assuntos internacionais, e estes passarem a poder ser objecto de debate pblico. O primeiro ponto que desenvolvido o que diz respeito s colnias. A anlise de Bentham parte de dois princpios: primeiro, que as dependncias longnquas aumentam as hipteses de guerra e, segundo, que as colnias no so fontes de receita para o pas. As dependncias longnquas aumentam os assuntos de disputa, as descobertas de novos territrios trazem problemas de direito posse, a distncia um factor que obscurece os assuntos e diminui o interesse dos cidados da metrpole em caso de conflito. Contrariando a opinio generalizada10, Bentham entende que as colnias no so fonte de receita porque o comrcio que a partir delas se desenvolve em nada enriquece a metrpole. Para ele, nos anos oitenta do sculo XVIII, a principal fonte riqueza da nao ainda a terra, e todo o capital que dela seja desviado para a manufactura ou para o comrcio um empobrecimento. Assim, recomenda com veemncia, que se abdique das colnias existentes e que no se funde nenhuma outra (PIL 18). As razes, sumariamente apresentadas, tm a ver com os interesses da metrpole, e com os interesses das colnias. No primeiro caso o interesse da metrpole porque pouparia as despesas dos exrcitos coloniais e da administrao ultramarina, diminuiria os riscos de guerra quando forasse os colonos obedincia, pouparia as despesas de defesa das colnias em caso de ataque, pouparia as despesas de corrupo do governo local e das foras
10
Adam Smith um dos pensadores que, como Bentham, contraria esta opinio e, em An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, desenvolve minuciosa argumentao contra a manuteno das colnias, no livro IV, captulo VII.
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militares, simplificaria a moldura do governo e poderia proporcionar mais facilmente competncias de governao aos membros da administrao e ao povo em geral. O interesse das colnias tambm ficaria bem servido com a sua emancipao, porque deixariam de sacrificar o interesse prprio ao da metrpole, e o auto-governo seria decerto muito mais eficaz do que o governo a distncia. No estilo lacnico que por vezes usa para sistematizar os seus principais pontos de vista, Bentham enumera as seguintes razes para o abandono das colnias:
i. Interest of the mother country. 1. saving the expense of the establishments, civil and military 2. saving the danger of war for enforcing their obedience on account of the jealousy produced by the apparent power they confer. 3. saving the expense of defending them, in case of war or on other grounds 4. getting rid of the means of corruption afforded by the patronage of their civil establishments of the military force employed in their defence 5. simplifying the whole frame of government, and thereby rendering a competent skill in the business of government more attainable to the members f government to the people ii. Interest of the colonies Diminishing the chances of bad government resulting from Opposite interest Ignorance. The real interests of the colony must be sacrificed to the imaginary interests of the mother-country. It is for the purpose of governing it badly, and for no other, that you can wish to keep a colony. Govern it well, it is no use to you. (PIL 19)
Na impossibilidade de se acabar de repente com as colnias, Bentham recomenda medidas aproximadas: retirar todas as foras militares, cessar o financiamento a todas as administraes civis, cessar as nomeaes para postos nas colnias, no financiar fortificaes nas colnias. Outros tpicos, ou propositions, desenvolvidos pelo autor para sustentar a tese de que a paz universal possvel, desde que sejam tomadas as medidas adequadas, incidem na inutilidade dos tratados, ofensivos ou defensivos com outras naes, que envolvem sempre o risco de envolvimento em guerras, ou na inutilidade da celebrao de
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tratados comerciais. Neste ponto, regressa argumentao sobre o valor fundamental da agricultura, e pronuncia-se contra a celebrao de quaisquer tratados comerciais, contra qualquer limitao ao desenvolvimento de indstrias rivais ou imposio de taxas sobre elas. Em sintonia com Adam Smith, recomenda enfaticamente a remoo de todas as regulamentaes proteccionistas, e advoga a total liberdade de comrcio. Uma das medidas mais inovadoras propostas por Bentham a reduo das foras armadas dos diferentes estados, por acordo entre todos. A reduo da marinha inglesa fora j recomendada, e a utilidade desta medida confirmada pela poltica de abandono das colnias. Agora recomenda que as naes entrem acordos, publicamente, para reduzir as foras armadas e abandonarem as colnias. Neste projecto, que o prprio Bentham apelida de visionrio, a parte mais visionria a emancipao das colnias (PIL 22). Mas, se a Frana e a Inglaterra o decidissem, o mundo voltaria a ser como antes da descoberta da Amrica, a Inglaterra no teria colnias, exrcitos permanentes, guarnies distantes, e ficariam extintas as causas das guerras recentes. Para Bentham, a tomada destas decises no uma questo de mero interesse econmico. uma questo de justia e de moral. Os ingleses precisam de comear uma reforma moral, que d ascendente justia antes da fora. Sendo a nao mais forte do mundo, a Inglaterra exerceu a fora, esquecendo a justia. E Bentham, sempre confiante no poder legislativo, prope ento a constituio de um tribunal judicial internacional para a resoluo de conflitos, no pela fora, mas pela justia. Apreciar as caractersticas deste tribunal afastar-nos-ia demasiado do tema que nos propusemos tratar. Indirectamente, no entanto, a recomendao de que todos os procedimentos deste tribunal fossem pblicos, a recomendao para que se decretasse, universalmente, a liberdade de imprensa e de opinio e que se levantasse o secretismo dos assuntos tratados a nvel do ministrio dos negcios estrangeiros, so medidas que, na ptica de Bentham, limitariam os riscos de guerra ou de quaisquer formas de apropriao ilcita de bens. Indirectamente, tambm, as consideraes que tece relativamente responsabilizao dos polticos, ao que chamamos agora accountability, convergem para um conjunto de medidas de transparncia e participao pblica, que tm vista a reposio da justia e da moral nacional. As advertncias de Adam Smith e de Jeremy Bentham no foram escutadas pelos seus contemporneos. A independncia das colnias americanas no
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coarctou os desgnios imperialistas da Gr-Bretanha noutras partes do mundo, a Companhia das ndias Orientais continuou a operar ao longo do sculo XIX. Mas a consolidao do Imprio Britnico no sculo XIX trouxe a Pax Britannica ao mundo, aps um sculo XVIII dilacerado por inmeras guerras. Como Adam Smith previa, a Amrica tornou-se a maior potncia mundial, e como Jeremy Bentham antecipava, a Europa deixou, muito mais tarde, verdade, de ser colonialista e uniu-se atravs de estruturas internacionais, de dimenso econmica e jurdica. impossvel especular sobre o futuro da Inglaterra e da Europa se as medidas preconizadas por Adam Smith e por Jeremy Bentham para acabar com as colnias no sculo XVIII tivessem sido adoptadas. Uma coisa , no entanto, muito provvel: no estaramos aqui hoje reunidos, para reflectir em conjunto sobre o Imprio Britnico.
Bibliografia
Arendt, Hannah (1968) Imperialism. Part Two of The Origins of Totalitarianism. A Harvest Book, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, San Diego, NewYork, London. Bentham, Jeremy (1789) Principles of International Law, in Classical Utilitarianism Web Site. (1990) A Fragment of Government. The New Authoritative Edition by J. R. Burns and H. L. A. Hart, with an Introduction by Ross Harrison. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Hobsbawm, Eric (1975) Industry and Empire. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. Smith, Adam (1998) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations. A Selected Edition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
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A Raa e o Imprio: A Oscilao entre o essencialismo estereotipado e a ambivalncia do discurso colonial

Isabel Simes-Ferreira
A Raa e o Imprio: A Oscilao entre o essencialismo estereotipado e a ambivalncia do discurso colonial
discurso literrio sobre o Imprio Britnico na ndia assenta num conjunto de isotopias temticas que tende a sobrevalorizar o brilhantismo dos heris da nao, guiados pela tica nobilitante do trabalho, da disciplina e da valentia perante situaes de extrema adversidade. Se era, por isso, louvvel por parte de militares e funcionrios do Indian Civil Service sacrificar a sade e a vida pelo Imprio, o mesmo j no se poder dizer em relao aos casamentos mistos e promiscuidade sexual que pudessem vir a pr em causa a pureza da raa e a diferenciao cultural. James Bryce, um intelectual liberal, poltico e diplomata vitoriano, chama-nos a ateno num ensaio publicado em 1901, intitulado The Roman Empire and the British Empire in India, para as semelhanas e dissemelhanas entre ambos os imprios. Muito embora sob o ponto de vista da organizao poltica haja uma similitude a uni-los, uma vez que o British Raj pode ser considerado uma espcie de despotismo de estilo romano, o mesmo no se verifica relativamente ao domnio das relaes interraciais. Enquanto a histria do Imprio Romano conduziu a uma fuso de povos, a histria do British Raj escreve Bryce impossibilitou essa fuso (Rich 23-24). De entre os factores apontados, so de salientar a questo do clima quente das plancies indianas que ditava a criao de acantonamentos e/ou estaes de civis com regras de higiene e conduta social que prescreviam a separao entre os dois povos; a questo fulcral da cor da pele e os efeitos perniciosos produzidos pela miscegenao e, por ltimo, a incompatibilidade social adveniente da posse de uma cultura e organizao poltico-administrativa superiores por parte da raa anglo-saxnica. O pensamento de Bryce, ancorado num sistema de valores que corrobora e justifica a natureza do raciocnio dual que ope os ento chamados povos inferiores aos povos avanados, remete-nos para alguns dos esteretipos vigentes na
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sociedade vitoriana em relao ao Outro, negro e/ou indiano, com base na construo discursiva de duas imagens antinmicas amplamente difundidas. Referimo-nos figura do indiano primitivo e selvagem que vive nas zonas fronteirias entre a ndia e o Afeganisto, alheio s regras da civilidade ocidental e, por outro, figura do indiano indolente e fatalista que sucumbe aos desafios com que se v confrontado. Ora, o conceito de raa, como Robert Young nos adverte, um construto cultural, poltico, cientfico e social que no pode ser desvinculado de contextos histricos especficos:
In the imperial phase, from the 1880s onwards, the cultural ideology of race became so dominant that racial superiority, and its attendant virtue of civilization, took over even from economic gain or Christian missionary work as the presiding, justifying idea of the empire. The two came together in the phrase with which the English began to describe themselves: the imperial race. Racialism was a cultural as much as a scientific idea, which we could call, after Walter Benjamin, The Work of Culture in the Age of Colonial Reproduction. (Young 92-93)
Nesta sequncia, convm recordar que as atitudes raciais respeitantes ndia nem sempre prescreveram a separao intransigente entre as duas raas. Nos sculos XVII, XVIII e incios do XIX, a aceitao de casamentos mistos e a manuteno de amantes de castas altas indianas eram prticas correntes. Vivia-se numa sociedade de natureza cosmopolita, em que no se faziam sentir discriminaes relativamente aos filhos destas ligaes interraciais, os chamados euro-asiticos. Contudo, com Lord Cornwallis (governador-geral entre 17861793) regista-se uma mudana significativa. Pela primeira vez, os jovens eram treinados para irem para a ndia em escolas inglesas especialmente criadas para o efeito, dando-se, assim, incio ao quadro de funcionrios da Companhia das ndias Orientais. Embora se procedesse ao ensino da histria, do legado lingustico e cultural da ndia, numa perspectiva prtica e fortemente dirigida para o exerccio das suas funes, o importante a ter em conta neste contexto, segundo a ptica de George Bearce (39), o desabrochar de um esprito de superioridade rcica e responsabilidade para com um povo inferior, oriundo de um sentimento de grandiosidade imperial. Consequentemente, os euro-asiticos foram afastados de quaisquer postos de responsabilidade da Companhia, quer se tratasse de cargos civis, do exrcito ou marinha. Por outro lado, a ida de missionrios, evanglicos e utilitaristas para a ndia, aps a perda do monoplio por parte da Companhia, ajuda a cavar o
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A RAA E O IMPRIO
fosso entre ingleses e indianos. A partir de 1857 data da Revolta dos Sipaios ter-se-ia assistido, de acordo com a opinio expressa num jornal londrino da poca, ao fim da idade romntica, a nvel das relaes entre ingleses e indianos, e ao incio de uma nova era de realismo e cauo (Royle 21). Se, por um lado, as autoridades militares no se opunham aos encontros de soldados com mulheres nativas, por outro, tentava-se manter a todo o custo o distanciamento entre a elite anglo-saxnica e os indianos. Por paradoxal que possa parecer o que est em causa em ambos os casos, segundo K. Ballhatchet (164), a preservao de uma estrutura de poder que pudesse simultaneamente satisfazer a virilidade dos soldados e assegurar a singularidade e nobreza da raa anglo-saxnica. Alm do mais, a antropologia darwinista e o movimento eugnico com vista ao fortalecimento e aperfeioamento da raa anglo-saxnica, subscrevem, por outra via, a proibio dos casamentos interrcicos e advertem para o perigo da miscigenao. Tal como o anatomista Robert Knox escreve, em 1850, fazendo eco de um conjunto de vozes que com o tempo viria a ganhar cada vez mais importncia: Race is everything: literature, science, art in a word, civilization, depends upon it. (Young 93) Num mundo de castas, dado a assimetrias sociais intransponveis, os ingleses tornam-se, por assim dizer, uma casta aparte, em que a segregao racial na sua expresso mais ntima a sexualidade funciona como um meio poderoso de validar o prestgio e o poder do Raj. Debrucemo-nos agora, aps esta breve contextualizao histrica, sobre a zona de intertextualidade entre o eco produzido por estas prticas discursivas de cariz eminentemente poltico, institucional e/ou pseudo-cientfico e o discurso literrio sobre a ndia britnica, no sentido de analisar o monologismo e/ou dialogismo de vozes em torno da questo racial. Para o efeito escolhemos uma autora de nome Helen Maud Diver (18671945), oriunda de uma famlia de militares ao servio do Raj durante vrias geraes e com experincia de vida no subcontinente indiano. A sua obra, publicada entre o incio do sculo XX e os anos 30, e que, por vezes, figura ao lado da de Rudyard Kipling, na lista dos best-sellers da poca, atesta de forma surpreendente a ortodoxia da ideologia dominante, ao mesmo tempo que pe a descoberto as vicissitudes e ambivalncia de discursos em relao raa. Comecemos, ento, por prestar ateno a um dos seus romances, Candles in the Wind, publicado em 1909, cuja estratgia narrativa recorre pedagogia do exemplo como, de resto, acontece com inmeros outros romances
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anglo-indianos, para explicar o desfecho trgico do casamento entre raas diferentes. Tal como o heri de Candles in the Wind nos explica:
[...] the half-caste out here falls between two stools, thats the truth. He has the misfortune to be neither white nor brown; and he is generally perverse enough to pick up the worst qualities of the two races, and mix them into a product peculiarly distasteful to both. (Diver, Candles 37)
Quando a jovem inglesa, Lyndsay, chega ndia, a verdade que ela desconhece a verdadeira identidade daquele que mais tarde viria a ser seu marido. Porm, a convivncia do quotidiano e a descoberta da origem asitica de Videlle surgem como uma barreira definitiva para a felicidade e a compreenso mtua do casal. Ao serem descritos como duas naturezas antpodas no confronto de culturas e civilizaes que opem o Oriente ao Ocidente a month under one roof had only widened the gulf between two natures as antipodal as the East and West for which they stood. (Diver, Candles 55-56) , o narrador opta por um discurso maniquesta, onde, como nos dado observar, a distino entre os conceitos de cultura e raa esbatida por forma a estabelecer-se uma equivalncia semntica entre ambos. Da que o sangue euro-asitico que corre nas veias de Videlle surja como uma potencial ameaa, um germe de degenerescncia. Veja-se, nesta ordem de ideias, o desabafo de Lyndsay quanto sua filha que acabara de nascer:
Not until the hidden hope had been made manifest did she realise how completely her cup of life was poisoned by the dark drop in her husbands blood, which she had willed to thrust out of thought, even, if possible, out of memory. [...] Above the puckered forehead a cloud of black hair the dense uncompromising black of the East seemed an ink blot on the prevailing whiteness. In vain Lyndsay argued that dark hair and eyes mattered nothing at all. Knowledge of their inner significance haunted her; knowledge that the moods, the shiftiness, the vacillations, that so irrevocably divided her from her husband, were almost certainly re-incarnate in his child. (Diver, Candles 206-07)
Apesar da aparncia civilizada, Videlle no consegue esconder a sua essncia que roa com o primitivismo das paixes excessiva irritabilidade, raiva e cime e os preconceitos da civilizao oriental, um dos quais prescreve a valorizao dos filhos vares em detrimento das filhas. A morte , pois, a soluo apresentada por muitos destes romances para pr fim aos enlaces interraciais. Candles in the Wind no foge regra. Videlle natu94
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ralmente acaba por morrer, e Lyndsay fica livre para contrair matrimnio com Alan Laurence, que encarna o prottipo do heri diveriano de origem anglo-saxnica, enrgico, destemido no porte, sempre pronto a enfrentar o perigo e a actuar em condies de emergncia. Mas, a nvel deste desfecho trgico, a ideia do suicdio que aflora a mente de Videlle, ainda que, por virtude do destino, ele tenha morrido de clera, joga ideologicamente, num contexto de valorizao absoluta do sujeito colonizador, a favor da valentia do anglo-saxo versus a cobardia e o fatalismo do euro-asitico:
And now, once more, the idea of self-slaughter thrust itself upon him in a new guise. No flash of inspiration masquerading as magnanimity; but the simplest possible method of escape from the unendurable; [...] He had spoken once of shooting himself; but weapons were not to his taste; and in these days suicide, like everything else, has been made fatally easy; the more so for a doctor, with all the needful drugs at command. Yes; that bare act would be simplicity itself; and he was Oriental enough to see neither shame nor horror in the idea. (Diver, Candles 346-48)
Paradoxalmente, o essencialismo desta linguagem estereotipada v-se noutros dos romances de Maud Diver mitigado, at mesmo superficialmente anulado, se tivermos em ateno a intensidade do amor que une a escocesa, Chrystal Adaire a Sher Afzul Khan (The Dream Prevails, 1938) ou a profundidade de sentimento entre a indiana, Lilamani, e Sir Nevil Sinclair, de cuja unio nasce um filho, alvo de ateno narrativa ao longo de trs romances: Far to Seek (1921), The Singer Passes (1934) e The Dream Prevails (1938). Partindo do pressuposto, tal como nos explica Roland Barthes, que o que encerra a linguagem de amor exactamente o mesmo que a institui: o fascnio (28), perguntar-nos-emos o que que no Outro, neste caso, se torna fetiche, subjuga e domina o(s) amante(s)? No caso de Chrystal precisamente a destreza fsica, a coragem e a virilidade de uma natureza primeva:
The mere look of him [Sher Afzul] pleased her; his vigour and vitality, the physical ease and power that flowed from him, as if no army discipline could stiffen his suppleness or block the right of way from impulse to action. Lance was vital enough; but in Afzul there burned a spark of the untamed savage that any strong wind of provocation might blow into a flame. In the very element of danger there lurked a fascination that was lacking in the casual manner and schooled impulses of the modern young man. (Diver, The Dream Prevails 302-03)
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Tal como refere Jacques Lacan, No todos os dias que encontramos o que foi feito para nos dar a imagem exacta do nosso desejo. (Barthes 27) A linguagem estereotipada que opunha a bravura dos ingleses cobardia de certas etnias indianas ou que fazia do herosmo britnico uma fonte de admirao e encmio por parte das tribos guerreiras do Norte, com quem, de resto, nesta matria se sentiam identificados, surge aqui ligeiramente enfraquecida, talvez mesmo, por momentos, deslocada, em virtude do discurso amoroso. Afinal, quem ganha a gymkhana um dos passatempos desportivos que costumavam reunir a sociedade anglo-indiana em peso e onde os mais destros e destemidos punham prova a sua percia e valentia, no Neil Desmond (o segundo mais bem classificado), ainda que pertena ao cl dos heris diverianos, mas Sher Afzul. O discurso orientalista , na perspectiva de Edward Said, de um essencialismo sincrnico. Tal como comenta Homi Bhabha: a knowledge of signifiers of stability such as the lexicographic and the encyclopaedic. (71). Contudo, essa fixidez intencional do orientalismo, enquanto sistema discursivo, consoante o que nos adverte Homi Bhabha, v-se constantemente ameaada pelo movimento diacrnico da histria e da narrativa, pelos signos de instabilidade do texto. Afinal a ambivalncia do discurso colonial de que Homi Bhabha nos fala e, como consequncia, a ambivalncia do esteretipo, que figura como a sua estratgia discursiva fundamental, particularmente elucidativa do processo de enamoramento de Chrystal Adaire por Sher Afzul. Os traos distintivos que constituem Sher Afzul como objecto do discurso amoroso, embora estejam conotados com as promessas de realizao sexual e as fantasias erticas associadas ao Oriente, transcendem-nas pelo romantismo e subjectividade do prprio discurso amoroso. Dito por outras palavras, o que no Outro objecto do meu desejo e representado de forma estereotipada corresponde, no fundo, ao meu prprio desejo. Estabelece-se como que uma identidade entre o amante e o ser amado (o Outro) que, por virtude de tanto desejar, se torna parte integrante dele mesmo (amante):
atopos o outro que amo e que me fascina. No posso classific-lo pois precisamente o nico, a Imagem singular que veio miraculosamente responder especialidade do meu desejo. a figura da minha verdade; no pode ser integrado em qualquer esteretipo (que a verdade dos outros). (Barthes 49)
A cena do fetichismo, segundo nos recorda Bhabha, is also the scene of the reactivation and repetition of primal fantasy the subjects desire for a
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pure origin that is always threatened by its division. (75) Ora, Sher Afzul o tal homem real the real man1 (Diver, The Dream Prevails 39) , ou seja, o homem nico, o homem dos sonhos de Chrystal que a completa e com o qual se identifica, e por quem est perdidamente apaixonada:
He danced with the ingrained Eastern sense of rhythm. If only he would not hold her as though she were made of glass. [...] This time Sher Afzul held her less cautiously, and she forgot all but her natural delight in dancing; [] When it was over, she said, smiling, You can dance. Yes, I can, he quaintly agreed, but I get no practice now. Another time perhaps? You wouldnt be afraid? Certainly not. His pleasure was evident. Not to be afraid, he said, is the first law, for men and women, in our hills. In ours too, she told him. I come from the Scottish Highlands, where the clans were once as wild and free as your own. (Diver, The Dream Prevails 35, 40)
S nesta ptica se pode entender que o desejo que os atrai e atinge a plenitude da descoberta possa destruir por instantes a diviso geogrfica e cultural entre Ocidente e Oriente. While it prevailed, they were not East and West, they were man and woman, created in the beginning for each other. (Diver, The Dream Prevails 327) Contudo, o romantismo da prosa diveriana opta por no prosseguir com a destabilizao do esteretipo, levando-a at s ltimas consequncias. No final o impulso amoroso racionalizado e ambos os amantes (Chrystal e Sher Afzul) decidem voltar aos seus respectivos meios de origem. Os vestgios de angstia advenientes da separao que, s por si, poderiam ser interpretados como factores de instabilidade do discurso de segregao racial no so suficientes para abafar de forma irremedivel a estabilidade sincrnica do discurso orientalista de que nos fala Edward Said (1978). Sher Afzul volta por uns tempos sua terra natal, where many Pathan maidens informa-o um dos seus amigos are being fitted to become wives of such as we.(Diver, The Dream Prevails 399), e Chrystal fica, ao que parece, conformada com her incipient love of Dixon, that held a promise of deeper, more lasting happiness, j que um casamento de sucesso, segundo a opinio de Roy Sinclair, hung on even bigger things than being in love. (Diver, The Dream Prevails 390)
A nfase nossa.
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Neste limiar, perguntar-nos-emos o que teria levado Maud Diver a advogar uma unio interrcica em Lilamani, a Study in Possibilities, publicado, pela primeira vez em 1910 e reeditado em 1935? Como o subttulo deixa entrever, as possibilidades em anlise so o casamento entre Sir Nevil Sinclair, artista e aristocrata ingls, e Lilamani, filha de um nobre rajput, que d luz um rapaz, Roy Sinclair, isento do estigma associado miscigenao. Em vez de ser descrito pejorativamente como um half-caste, Roy considerado como algum of a double heritage, possuindo a two fold genius (Diver, The Dream Prevails 23), the spirituality of the East, the power and virility of the West, one whose destiny it may be to draw these mighty opposites nearer together. (Diver, Lilamni 382) Nenhuma outra mulher indiana retratada por Maud Diver nos termos em que Lilamani o . Ela figura como a sntese do que de melhor existe na feminilidade indiana. Personifica a ndia: But I am India. declara a certa altura. Sublimated essence of it. (Diver, Far to Seek 127) responde-lhe o filho. A idealizao a que Lilamani est sujeita torna-a uma espcie de musa inspiradora do trabalho artstico do marido, cuja fama como pintor depende do sentido de complementaridade e harmonia que se estabeleceu entre ambos. Mais uma vez, somos, ento, levados a indagar o que que, neste caso, teria tornado esta unio um casamento de sucesso e a miscigenao, como vimos, smbolo de degenerescncia e prenncio da derrocada do Imprio, uma mais-valia? No caso de Maud Diver a singularidade desta unio e a semiose da homologia de planos entre as esferas domstica e colonial tributria de um propsito poltico maior. Michel Foucault (196) insiste que a relao entre o conhecimento e o poder ao nvel do aparelho sempre uma resposta estratgica a uma necessidade urgente num dado perodo histrico. Paralelamente, no caso em anlise, a interrelao que, por sua vez, se estabelece entenda-se no entre conhecimento e poder, mas entre amor e poder, determinante enquanto tentativa de dar resposta a problemas de contextos histricos especficos. Repara-se que Lilamani publicado em 1910, Far to Seek em 1921, The Singer Passes em 1934 e, por ltimo, The Dream Prevails em 1938. Quer queiramos, quer no, estas datas coincidem com perodos de grande instabilidade poltica. As reformas da autoria do vice-rei Lord Minto e do secretrio de estado John Morley, datam de 1909, um ano antes da publicao de Lilamani. A vice-realeza de Lord Minto particularmente marcada por uma onda de violncia e atentados terroristas na sequncia da partio de Bengala (1905) e da cons98
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ciencializao poltica de uma classe mdia indiana ocidentalizada que se torna cada vez mais exigente. Quando o prximo vice-rei, Lord Hardinge, decide reunificar a provncia de Bengala, em 1911, pondo uma pedra sobre um dos principais problemas, obviamente que no consegue conter as aspiraes nacionalistas hindus e muulmanas. Em segundo lugar, a I Guerra Mundial, em que os indianos lutaram corajosamente ao lado dos ingleses, no trouxe recompensas significativas a nvel poltico. Pelo contrrio, o governo responde com medidas repressivas, consubstanciadas nos conhecidos Rowlatt Bills (1919)2 e com reformas constitucionais moderadas. Os tumultos na regio do Punjab, nomeadamente o famigerado massacre de Amritsar (1919), e em vrias outras regies do subcontinente; a fundao do partido comunista indiano (1920) com repercusses a nvel de agitao laboral em cidades como Bengala e Bombaim; e, sobretudo, a entrada de Mahatma Gandhi na cena poltica, fazem deste perodo anos quentes de insurreio e oposio ao Imprio Britnico na ndia. Assim sendo, o romantismo diveriano que ultrapassa as dicotomias distpicas e maniquestas em relao ao Outro, embora tenda a manter as dicotomias subalternizantes, espelhadas no comportamento submisso de Lilamani perante o marido, possuidoras de um significado poltico inegvel, no pode ser desvinculado de um propsito claro: o de encontrar uma soluo para apaziguar atravs do Amor as relaes entre a ndia e a Inglaterra, j que pela via poltica era cada vez mais difcil, dada a crescente escalada da luta pela independncia. S assim tambm se compreende porque que o nascimento de Roy no pode ser desligado da sua dupla ascendncia aristocrtica, possuindo, de um lado, sangue normando e, do outro, sangue de rajputs:his Norman blood was mingled with the blood of Rajput ancestors who claimed direct descent from the Sun. (Diver, The Singer Passes, 4); the blood of two virile races English and Rajput . (Diver, Far to Seek 5) Esta qualidade em comum, sem pr em causa o prestgio britnico, reequaciona a questo racial de modo a coloc-la num espectro mais vasto, porventura evocador das teses universalistas e
Os Rowlatt bills so, por assim dizer, a chama que falta para atear o fogo, uma vez que do ao governo Britnico poderes praticamente ilimitados para julgar os conspiradores e revolucionrios, o que gera uma onda de violncia e oposio por parte da intelligentsia indiana. (Burke and Quaraishi 179-180, 201-214)
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humanistas do sculo XVIII, que saliente as afinidades em vez das diferenas, fazendo-a recuar ao passado mtico da raa ariana e s razes de uma identidade cultural indo-europeia. Tal como Christine Bolt refere, when the qualities of different races of men were equal no harm resulted; when they were unequal the deterioration of the higher race took place. (23) Como escreve Samuel Laing em 1862, a raa ariana , por excelncia, uma raa superior:
[...] the intellectual race, the race of science, art, poetry, philosophy, conquest, colonization and progress ... All Arian nations possess in a greater or less degree this divine faculty. [...] But where is the Negro who could have written the Ramayana or Mahabharata, or composed the grammar of Panini [...]. Yesterday the Greek, to-day the Anglo-Saxon, to-morrow the Russian or the Hindoo, who leads the van of Arian nations; and whoever is foremost of Arians, is foremost of the world. (Leopold 591)
A raa ariana torna-se, assim, smbolo de cultura e civilizao, o que, por um lado, atenua o eventual choque produzido por este casamento interracial e, por outro, dignifica Roy a man of unusual quality, de quem, alis, se diz no notar the East in him. One only feels it at times in a curious way. (Diver, The Dream Prevails 318) Quando Roy, mais tarde, viaja para a ndia, visitando a terra dos seus antepassados, Rajputana, descrita como um pas de heris e de poetas, e os Himalaias, regies bem distantes do clima insurreccional que ento se vivia em zonas geogrficas sujeitas a um processo de europeizao e industrializao mais intensos, f-lo num esprito duplamente construtivo, o de se reencontrar consigo prprio e, atravs desse reencontro pessoal e da sua actividade como escritor, promover o entendimento entre a ndia e a Gr-Bretanha. A fuso a que aspira no plano histrico e poltico corresponde afinal sua dupla herana gentica. O messianismo do projecto diveriano que radica, como vimos, na proposta de uma unio interrcica, cujo significado passvel de se desmultiplicar em vrias homologias de planos, participa, porm, de um elitismo que incapaz de desestruturar a ortodoxia profunda da linguagem estereotipada, acabando na prtica, por denotar a incapacidade de apresentar uma soluo poltica vivel para um espao colonizado, com base na co-habitao e entendimento entre raas diferentes.
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Bibliografia
Bhabha, H. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1995 [1977]. Ballhatchet, K. Race, Sex and Class under the Raj. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980. Barthes, R. Fragmentos de um Discurso Amoroso. Trad. Isabel Gonalves, Lisboa: Edies 70, 1981 [1977]. Bearce, G. British Attitudes Towards India 1784-1855. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961. Bolt, C. Victorian Attitudes to Race. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971. Burke, S. and QURAISHI, S. The British Raj in India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Diver, H. Candles in the Wind. London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1923 [1909]. ____. Far to Seek. London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1921. ____. Lilamani, London. William Blackwood & Sons, 1935 [1910]. ____. The Dream Prevails. London: John Murray, 1939 [1938]. ____. The Singer Passes. London, William Blackwood & Sons, 1934. Foucault, M. Power/Knowledge. Trans. by C. Gordon et.al., New York: Pantheon, 1980. Leopold, J. British Applications of the Aryan Theory of Race in India, 1850-1870, English Historical Review, vol. 89, 1974, 578-603. Rich, P. Race and Empire in British Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Said, E. Orientalism. London, Penguin Books, 1991 [1978]. Young, R. Colonial Desire. London, Routledge, 1995.
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Religio e Imprio: The Star in the East (1809) e a polmica em torno das misses
Carla Larouco Gomes
Religio e Imprio: The Star in the East (1809) e a polmica em torno das misses
anlise do papel das misses nos primrdios do sculo XIX, apresentada neste trabalho, partiu do interesse pela relao entre religio e Imprio, e pretende reflectir sobre trs questes principais. Teriam as misses como objectivo contribuir para a expanso do Imprio atravs da imposio religiosa e cultural? Ou, pelo contrrio, seriam as suas ambies no s distintas, mas contrrias s dos defensores do Imprio? Por ltimo, tero sido as misses um fenmeno independente, de natureza exclusivamente religiosa, alheias aos desejos dos entusiastas do Imprio, tendo apenas como objectivo propagar a religio crist? Da mesma forma que os historiadores e estudiosos do Imprio no propem uma resposta consensual a estas questes, tambm em incios do sculo XIX as vozes que se faziam ouvir no soavam em unssono. O sermo The Star in the East, que o pastor anglicano Claudius Buchanan proferiu em 1809 em Bristol, foi exemplar da controvrsia em torno das misses. Buchanan exps e contrariou as ideias dos crticos das misses, justificou e defendeu a sua natureza e objectivos, assim como fez a apologia da sua promoo em solo indiano. Apesar da natureza complexa da relao entre misses e Imprio, unanimemente reconhecida pelos estudiosos, essa complexidade no conseguiu despertar mais do que um modesto interesse histrico e acadmico (Porter, Introduction 2; Etherington 1). Ainda assim, as divergncias na abordagem desta temtica, bem como as interpretaes delas resultantes, sugerem diferentes leituras sobre o que significaram as misses no contexto do Imprio Britnico. Os estudiosos apologistas das misses salientaram o seu cariz humanitrio, identificando nos seus opositores uma preocupao excessiva e exclusiva com a obteno de lucro, qual os objectivos dos missionrios se opunham (Chancey 1). A cristandade no estava associada ao colonialismo nem ao poder poltico e no pretendia
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fomentar atitudes imperialistas, embora o patriotismo dos missionrios pudesse eventualmente facilitar o controlo imperial (Strong 23). Por outro lado, os historiadores e acadmicos com uma viso mais negativa das misses e dos missionrios salientaram a sua imprudncia, na medida em que estes no teriam em conta as consequncias polticas das suas aces. Este grupo de estudiosos defendeu ainda que os interesses polticos representados pela Companhia Britnica das ndias Orientais (East India Company) apenas pretendiam salvaguardar a segurana da posio da Gr-Bretanha na ndia, e no fazer um ataque arbitrrio s misses (Chancey 2). No entanto, a viso negativa das misses no implicou sempre a apologia do Imprio, nem a anlise da relao entre misses e Imprio se esgota no grupo pr e anti-misses. Tradicionalmente, os crticos do Imprio Britnico identificaram as misses no s como elemento, mas tambm como agente do imperialismo, da imposio colonial e da supresso das culturas indgenas (Strong 23). Na verdade, dependendo das circunstncias, poder-se-ia revelar conveniente para as misses a associao ao Imprio, assim como uma relao mais estreita com o poder poltico, de modo a facilitar a aco dos missionrios em locais mais hostis. Para alm do mais, em incios do sculo XIX, a interpretao do sucesso e crescimento do Imprio Britnico como resultantes da providncia divina, constitua simultaneamente um sinal de que a nao tinha sido eleita para converter o mundo ao cristianismo (Etherington 6). Contudo, outras vezes, os missionrios desejavam demarcar-se dos colonizadores devido indesejvel identificao que os nativos estabeleciam entre as misses e o poder opressor e imposio cultural (Strong 26). Por sua vez, a atitude dos governos coloniais relativamente s misses oscilava tambm, dependendo da eventual utilidade que estas pudessem representar na manuteno do poder e da autoridade colonial, bem como na promoo da ordem social, comrcio e civilizao ou, por outro lado, da ameaa que as ideias e prticas dos missionrios poderiam constituir para os objectivos imperiais em determinado perodo e contexto (Porter, Overview 40). Foi precisamente a conscincia de que o estudo das misses e da sua ligao com o Imprio constitua apenas um esboo confuso e pouco delineado que reavivou o interesse histrico e acadmico sobre o assunto, para o qual ter tambm contribudo a obra de Brian Stanley, The Bible and the Flag: Protestant missions and British Imperialism in the nineteeth and twentieth centuries, de 1990 (Porter , Introduction 2, 6; Strong 22). Segundo este autor (151; 171-172), a
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religio acabaria por ter implicaes a nvel imperial, embora a existncia das misses no dependesse do Imprio, sendo o seu principal objectivo a luta contra a idolatria que constitua, alis, um dever doutrinrio. No entanto, seria impossvel que nesse processo de cristianizao os missionrios se demarcassem da sua cultura. Da mesma forma, a indignao com prticas brbaras de determinadas culturas indgenas, como o sati e o sacrifcio de crianas na ndia, bem como a consequente luta para que fossem abolidas, conduzia inevitavelmente adopo de atitudes e medidas imperialistas. Tambm Andrew Porter salientou a natureza ambgua e mutvel da relao entre misses e Imprio. Segundo Porter (Overview 50-54), entre finais do sculo XVIII e a dcada de 1830, os missionrios afirmavam ser cumpridores de um desgnio divino e pretendiam distanciar-se de associaes ao Estado e a um imperialismo cultural, de modo a serem aceites pelos nativos, ficando assim facilitado o impacto da sua aco. S j perto de meados do sculo XIX que a atitude de autodefesa e justificao do papel das misses viria a sofrer uma alterao, tornando-se mais ofensiva e opressora, e invocando o poder do Estado para ultrapassar eventuais barreiras que dificultariam o seu progresso. Posteriormente, j em incios do sculo XX, a distncia entre religio e Imprio voltaria a ser notria. Tambm contrariando a interpretao das misses como meios ao servio da expanso do imperialismo, o que considerou uma viso monocromtica sobre a questo, Rowan Strong (28-31) defendeu que o sucesso das misses dependia da cooperao local e no tanto de uma atitude imperial inflexvel, assim como a promoo da mudana cultural no implicava necessariamente a existncia de imperialismo, uma vez que, independentemente da sua relao com o Imprio, os missionrios pretendiam, em primeiro lugar, promover a cristandade. A expanso das misses comeara muito antes do desenvolvimento do Imprio Britnico e continuou para alm dele. Com esta interpretao concordou tambm Norman Etherington (1), que escreveu: Just as the history of British Empire can be written without much attention to missions, the history of missions can be written without much attention to the Empire. No entanto, o autor (3-4) no deixou de reconhecer que, embora de natureza e objectivos distintos, tanto as misses como o Imprio contriburam para a modernizao, globalizao e hegemonia da cultura ocidental. Tal facto acabaria por causar a inevitvel leitura das misses como meios de propaganda imperialista, ainda que a defesa da instruo dos nativos feita pelos missionrios tenha vindo a representar uma ameaa para o
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Imprio, uma vez que os povos locais comeariam a contestar determinadas prticas e atitudes colonizadoras (Etherington 10). A dificuldade dos estudiosos em propor uma anlise consistente e consensual sobre a relao entre as misses e a expanso do Imprio no permite, ainda, responder s questes colocadas no incio deste artigo, sobre em que medida a sua co-ocorrncia se interligava e um potenciava ou, pelo contrrio, constitua um atrito para o Outro, ou ainda, se tero sido processos com pouca ou nenhuma relao directa entre si. Assim, parece agora necessrio olhar mais de perto para as circunstncias histricas que subjazeram a The Star in the East, bem como proceder anlise do sermo. Desde o seu incio, nos primeiros anos do sculo XVII, que a Companhia funcionava de forma autnoma, com uma interferncia muito tnue da coroa. No entanto, em finais do sculo XVIII, em 1784, o primeiro-ministro William Pitt aprovou uma lei que limitava o poder da Companhia a favor do Estado. Apesar disso, o apelo em 1793 de William Wilberforce, membro do parlamento, para que a Companhia promovesse as misses nos locais sob sua alada foi infrutfero, pois os objectivos dos missionrios foram considerados perigosos para a posio do Estado na ndia. No entanto, foi tambm nesse ano que os primeiros missionrios dissidentes britnicos, William Carey e John Thomas, chegaram ndia, originando, por um lado, a preocupao dos anglicanos apologistas das misses e fortalecendo, por outro lado, os argumentos dos seus crticos, pois passariam a associar as misses a movimentos dissidentes que, para alm de minarem o Imprio e o poder da Companhia na ndia, destruiriam igualmente a Igreja de Inglaterra (Chancey 9-10). No seio da Igreja Anglicana as misses no pareciam tambm ser uma prioridade; a ala evanglica pretendia fomentar uma reforma social e religiosa, enquanto a ala Anglicana se preocupava com o crescente aparecimento de igrejas dissidentes em Inglaterra e inevitveis consequncias para a Igreja oficial (Chancey 2-3). Assim, a promoo das misses na ndia sem o apoio oficial da Igreja de Inglaterra e com a resistncia e crticas constantes por parte da Companhia das ndias, parecia um objectivo difcil de concretizar, obrigando os missionrios a uma luta permanente pelo que consideravam ser fundamental a expanso da cristandade na ndia. Por fim, em 1813, uma lei aprovada no Parlamento no s autorizou a entrada oficial das misses na ndia como, com a nomeao de um bispo para Calcut, pretendia facilitar o trabalho dos missionrios em solo indiano (Etherington 15; Yates 486). Contudo, e apesar do incremento da aco
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missionria na ndia aps esta data, a relao entre missionrios e colonizadores continuou tensa, sendo o sucesso das misses mais notrio em locais no abrangidos pelo controlo directo da Companhia (Frykenberg 109-112). O esforo missionrio desenvolvido pelos dois dissidentes desde a sua chegada ndia, viria a merecer a admirao de Claudius Buchanan, pastor enviado para o pas em 1793, onde permaneceria at 1808. Buchanan insurgiase contra a preocupao excessiva com o lucro por parte dos membros da Companhia, tendo os seus escritos obtido uma vasta popularidade numa GrBretanha onde as questes de ordem social comeavam a despertar interesse (Chancey 12-13). Na verdade, sobre a relevncia da Buchanan para o sucesso das misses na ndia, Shenk (9) escreveu:
Buchanans research writing and proposals contributed for the Parliament to allow in 1813 to change charter to allow missionaries work in India and the founding of an Ecclesiastical establishment, after the first attempt in 1793.
Para alm disso, a decadncia dos valores morais na ndia, ou mesmo a sua total imoralidade, e prticas supersticiosas como queimar as vivas juntamente com os corpos dos falecidos maridos e o sacrifcio de crianas, preocupavam Buchanan; o autor criticou a aparente ciso entre Igreja e Estado na ndia britnica, e defendeu que uma presena anglicana no pas permitiria Igreja de Inglaterra o controlo sobre os missionrios dissidentes (Chancey 5-6). No sermo The Star in the East, Claudius Buchanan no se limitou a fazer a apologia das misses na ndia sob o ponto de vista religioso. O autor defendeu tambm os objectivos das misses contra os ataques dos seus opositores, sobretudo membros da Companhia, fazendo um paralelismo entre misses e Imprio, ainda que indirecto e apenas em determinados pontos do seu discurso. Esse paralelismo acabaria por ser um sinal, no entanto, de algumas incongruncias importantes no seu pensamento que, intencionais ou no, seriam fruto da polmica que se instalara relativamente a esta questo. O contacto directo de Claudius Buchanan com a ndia ter contribudo para que o autor defendesse a necessidade de evangelizao dos nativos indianos. Segundo o autor (Star 4-5), depois da honra de anunciar o nascimento de Cristo ao mundo, por cumprimento da vontade divina, o Oriente havia passado, e encontrava-se ainda, num perodo de obscurantismo e decadncia moral. No entanto, e apesar do ambiente de idolatria e corrupo, seriam evidentes os sinais a justificar a interveno missionria, de modo a tornar-se
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a ndia um testemunho da verdade religiosa e da origem divina da f crist (Buchanan, Star 5-9). Desses sinais destacavam-se as semelhanas entre a Histria Hindu e o Evangelho, nomeadamente na referncia estrela da anunciao, e a influncia que determinadas doutrinas do Ocidente tiveram no Oriente, como a da Trindade, da incarnao de Cristo, o sacrifcio para a remisso dos pecados e a crena no esprito divino. A concretizao no Oriente da profecia divina sobre as perseguies aos Judeus, mesmo sem o conhecimento da mesma por parte dos nativos, assim como a resistncia dos Srios num ambiente hostil e de degradao, seriam igualmente prova da execuo de uma sentena divina. Buchanan lembrou ainda que, apesar da existncia prvia de misses catlicas romanas na ndia, a Cristandade por essas representada no seria a autntica, pois no faziam o uso da Bblia como instrumento de converso, o que permitira manter e propagar a ignorncia e supersties de que tambm, antes da sua libertao da Igreja de Roma, Inglaterra havia sido vtima (Buchanan, Star 11). Assim, o cumprimento dos desgnios divinos ter sido apenas parcialmente concretizado pela Igreja de Roma. Apesar de no se opor divulgao da Cristandade por outras Igrejas, com doutrinas e organizao diferentes, Buchanan (Colonial 12) expressou claramente na sua obra Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment, de 1813, a necessidade de afirmao da Igreja de Inglaterra como legtima sucessora da Igreja de Roma no que dizia respeito evangelizao do Oriente. Nessa obra o autor salientou, para alm da evangelizao sem recurso bblia, a decadncia progressiva e as supersties da Igreja Catlica, tal como defendeu o poder da Gr-Bretanha, bem como os meios de que dispunha, para a promoo do cristianismo. Nunca deixando de afirmar a evangelizao como objectivo principal, motivo pelo qual qualquer aco nesse sentido por parte de outras igrejas deveria tambm ser aceite, Buchanan (Colonial 15) destacou a abordagem liberal que a Igreja de Inglaterra adoptaria nesse processo, pois teria sempre em conta as circunstncias, o que permitiria alguma flexibilidade religiosa desde que em conformidade com os preceitos da Igreja primitiva. Depois de um primeiro contacto com a verdade religiosa contida nas Escrituras, graas aco das Igrejas protestantes da Dinamarca e Alemanha, cabia agora Gr-Bretanha a misso de evangelizar o Oriente. Com o intuito de persuadir os crticos das misses a aceitar a disseminao das mesmas, Buchanan (Star 13) lembrou que, apesar de o homem ser detentor dos meios para promover a religio crist, no detinha o poder de realizar a aco inversa, ou seja, de constranger a propagao do
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Cristianismo, ainda que assim o desejasse, e afirmou ainda que a ignorncia constitua o principal motivo da polmica em torno das misses. Enquanto a polmica se instalava, j diferentes grupos de protestantes concretizavam o objectivo comum de evangelizar o Oriente, onde os nativos seriam alheios a tais controvrsias, pois a luta que ali se travava era entre a luz e as trevas e no entre membros da mesma Igreja Crist. Assim, Buchanan (Star 21) escreveu: (...) the time for diffusing our religion in the East has come. O consenso entre aqueles a que o autor chamou homens de bem, o sucesso crescente das aces missionrias, a crena nas profecias das Escrituras, a traduo da Bblia para vrias lnguas, mas principalmente o ataque dos infiis religio do Novo Testamento, assim como a convulso que se fazia sentir em muitas naes crists, exigiam que fosse a Gr-Bretanha a principal evangelizadora (Buchanan, Star 22-24). O facto de a Gr-Bretanha ter sido poupada a essa convulso, ao caos que assolava a Europa, representava o sinal de que havia sido a nao eleita para propagar a Cristandade, de que seria o meio atravs do qual a palavra de Deus se faria ouvir; e o facto de ter sido eleita representaria precisamente uma espcie de recompensa pelo esforo realizado em manter a religio Crist. Buchanan lamentava o facto de na Gr-Bretanha a religio se encontrar em segundo plano, a que estaria associada a doena moral da Igreja de Inglaterra, e lembrou que a religio e o pas dependiam um do outro, o que significava que salvar um deles representava salvar os dois. No entanto, era da religio que dependia essa salvao, no o contrrio; a grandeza do Imprio e do comrcio no influenciava as determinaes divinas, mas constituam antes sinais das mesmas (Buchanan, Star 25-26). Seria este um argumento de Buchanan contra o Imprio? Parece claro que para o autor, como para uma grande parte dos seus contemporneos, apologistas ou opositores das misses, estas no representavam uma ferramenta de expanso do Imprio. A questo, alis, no seria abordada sob essa perspectiva; o que interessava apurar era se as misses poderiam representar o oposto, ou seja, se constituam ou no, um entrave para o Imprio. Apesar de desvalorizar a sua grandeza e importncia para a situao de relativa paz no pas, Buchanan no pretendia insurgir-se contra o Imprio, mas defender o papel fulcral da religio, especificamente das misses, no s na expanso do Cristianismo, mas na sobrevivncia e salvao do pas. No deixa de ser verdade, no entanto, que fazer depender a salvao do pas da aco da religio, e no da eficincia do poder poltico, poderia contribuir para o enfraquecimento da noo de Imprio. No entanto, Buchanan
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parecia acreditar na eficcia dos seus argumentos que, embora no sugerindo serem as misses aliadas do Imprio na concretizao dos seus objectivos, tambm rejeitavam a opinio de que estas poderiam representar um potencial inimigo. Em Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment, Claudius Buchanan viria a desenvolver as suas ideias sobre esta temtica e estabeleceu uma relao mais estreita entre misses e Imprio. Segundo o autor (Colonial 103), a segurana da posio da Gr-Bretanha na ndia dependia em grande medida da opinio dos nativos sobre o Imprio Britnico, opinio essa que teria mais probabilidades de ser positiva se houvesse unidade religiosa e ambos os pases professassem a mesma religio. Assim, a difuso do Cristianismo seria favorvel ao sucesso do Imprio britnico na ndia, que se tornaria mais vulnervel sem a aco das misses. Ao contrrio do que os seus crticos temiam, as misses no incitariam rebelio, pelo contrrio, despertariam um sentimento de gratido por parte dos nativos. Buchanan (Colonial 119) escreveu em Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment:
() the establishment of our Church in India would be a constant source of respectability to the national character; would supply a useful correspondence with the mother country; and would establish a new ground of attachment and respect on the heart of the natives.
Buchanan afirmou ainda que o silncio do governo britnico relativamente a prticas sanguinrias na ndia, contra as quais as misses se insurgiam, constitua uma desonra para a Cristandade, assim como uma fraqueza na aplicao dos princpios da lei inglesa na ndia, apelando a uma interveno poltica imediata. Buchanan parecia assim acreditar na dvida da poltica religio, do Imprio s misses, no por os segundos fomentarem os primeiros, mas por tornarem possvel o seu sucesso. Sobre a relao entre poltica e religio Buchanan (Colonial 137) escreveu:
The subjects of commerce, of revenue, and of extension of our local dominion, are entitled to the serious and frequent attention of the Legislature: but the extension of TRUTH in the world, and of happiness, its attendant, is not inferior in importance to these; and the consideration of this subject upward of two centuries ago, laid the foundation of our present greatness as a nation.
Assim, tendo em conta as reflexes dos estudiosos, o contexto poltico-religioso e o contributo de Buchanan, poder-se- concluir que, nos primrdios do sculo XIX, a religio concretizada nas misses seria neutra relativamente
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aco do Imprio, uma vez que no tinha o objectivo de impor obstculos sua influncia e desenvolvimento ou de, por outro lado, aliar-se ao poder poltico na empreitada pela sua expanso. No entanto, ao salvar o pas da decadncia permitira a origem e posterior consolidao da noo de Imprio. Essa salvao constitua uma graa pela manuteno da religio, mas implicava tambm o dever de expandir a Cristandade, objectivo que as misses se encarregariam de cumprir. Desta forma, os argumentos de Buchanan baseavam-se na crena no dever providencial da Gr-Bretanha, que Andrew Porter (Introduction 10) to bem sumariou da seguinte forma:
As a divinely favoured nation, possessing in its empire as in its wealth, its political stability and its victory at Trafalgar, marks of that favour, Britain was widely held to have a reciprocal obligation to promote the spread of Christianity.
Bibliografia
Buchanan, Claudius. Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment. London: Cadell and Davies, 1813. ____. The Star in the East. New York: William and Whithing, 1809. Chancey, Karen. The Star in the East: the controversy over Christian missions to India, 1805-1813. Article from The Historian.1998. http://www.highbeam.com. 15/11/08. Etherington, Norman. Introduction. Missions and Empire. Oxford: OUP, 2008. 1-18. Frykenberg, Robert Eric. Christian Missions and the Raj. Missions and Empire. Ed. Norman Etherington. Oxford: OUP, 2008. 107-131. Porter, Andrew. An Overview, 1700-1914. Missions and Empire. Ed. Norman Etherington. Oxford: OUP, 2008. 40-63. ____. Introduction. Religion Versus Empire? British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700-1914. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994. 1-14. Shenk, Wilbert. The Legacy of Claudius Buchanan. (missionary). Article from International Bulletin of Missionary Research. 1994. http://www.highbeam.com. 15/11/08. Stanley, B. The Bible and the Flag. Protestant Missions and British Imperialism in the nineteenth and twentieth Centuries. Leicester: Apollos, 1990. Strong, Rowan. Anglicans and Empire: Historical Interpretations. Anglicanism and the British Empire, c. 1700-1850. Oxford: OUP, 2007. 10-40. Yates, T.E. Anglicans and Missions. The Study of Anglicanism. Eds. Stephen Sykes, John Booty and Jonathan Knight. London and Minnesota: SPCK/ Fortress Press, 1998. 483-496.
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The Colonial Dromosphere: Speed, Transmission and Prosthesis in Colonial India

Christopher Pinney
The Colonial Dromosphere: Speed, Transmission and Prosthesis in Colonial India
t is reliably reported that a mutineer on his way to his execution in north India in 1858 pointed to a telegraph line and described it as the accursed string that strangles us!1 The Urdu poet Ghalib also understood telegraphys peculiar power, writing that with their magic, words fly through the air like birds2. The telegraph was invented in India in 1839 (it was also invented, quite independently, by Samuel Morse in north America two years earlier) and originally made its telepresence felt through an electrical pulse delivered through the fingertip. By 1907 its telepresence would be conflated with that of photography (for 1907 was the date of the first transmission of a photographic image by telegraphy). Photography, let us recall has a curiously parallel history for it was also in 1839 that both Daguerre and Fox Talbot made public their competing technologies. In India the relationship between telegraphy and photography was peculiarly intimate, in large part because of the role played in both domains by Assistant Surgeon William Brooke OShaughnessy one of the earliest enthusiasts for photography in India and subsequently Director-General of Indian Telegraphs (1852-61).3 It was OShaughnessy who reported in October 1839 to a meeting of the Asiatic Society on his experiments with
1 2
Mel Gorman Sir William OShaughnessy p. 599 cited in William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal: The fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857. (London, Bloomsbury, 2006). p. 131 3 Cf M. Gorman, Sir William OShaughnessy, Lord Dalhousie, and the Establishment of the Telegraph System in India, Technology and Culture Vol. 12, No. 4, October 1971, pp. 581-601
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the new photogenic drawing which was exciting so much attention4 in Europe. It was OShaughnessy who can claim the crown of having introduced photography into India. Six months earlier, in April and May, 1839, OShaughnessy had erected the first long line of Telegraph ever constructed in any country. Starting in the house of Dr Nathaniel Wallich5 the Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta, founder of the Indian Museum, the line was twenty-one miles in length, with 7,000 feet of river circuit. OShaughnessys experiments performed on this line removed, as he subsequently wrote all reasonable doubts regarding the practicality of working Electric Telegraphs through enormous distances a possibility he tells us which was initially generally [regarded] with contemptuous skepticism.6 Telegraphy, photography and the railways (which I will also consider today) were key players in the emergence of what, following Paul Virilio, we might call the colonial dromosphere, dromo here signifying the race that the speed of transmission inaugurated. Telegraphy would transform humans into what Virilio calls body terminals, interactive beings that were both transmitters and receivers. Photographys freeze-frame would facilitate the extension of a prosthetic colonial superbody, and the railways facilitated a fluidity and speed that enslaved Indians: iron roads means iron chains as one Indian journalist put it in 1884 (Bipin Chandra p. 86). All three technical practices contributed to what many Indian nationalists increasingly saw as a form of dromospheric contamination a dangerous new public rhythmics. Characterised by instantaneity, the loss of the optical density of landscape, and a spatial normalisation, the dromosphere for many Indian intellectuals, as much as later for Paul Virilio, was built upon a forgetting of the essence of the path, the journey (p.23).
The Calcutta Courier 3rd October 1839. 5 Who saw at a glance the marvellous future) which these and simultaneous experiments in other countries foretold, and with his high name he protected the experimentalist from much of the derision which his attempts excited in the community of Calcutta. W. B. OShaughnessy The Electric Telegraph in British India: A Manual of Instruction for the Subordinate Officers, Artificers and Signallers Employed in the Department. (London, by Order of the Court of Directors, 1853), p. iiii-iv. 6 W. B. OShaughnessy, The Electric Telegraph in British India, p. iii.
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THE COLONIAL DROMOSPHERE: SPEED, TRANSMISSION AND PROSTHESIS IN COLONIAL INDIA
Telegraphy: The Ubiquity of Government
In 1850, the Court of Directors enquired of the Military Board of Bengal what the potential of the new invention might be. In the next year a 30 mile line commenced and opened in Diamond Harbour, within a few months it had been extended to 80 miles and in March 1852, the rivers Hooghly and Huldee were crossed and the line from Calcutta to the sea opened for official and public correspondence. Within a few weeks of this the Second Anglo-Burmese War broke out and as OShaughnessy recorded the services of the telegraph were thus brought into instant and practical requisition. A steam-frigate, bringing intelligence of the first operations of the war, had not passed the flagstaff of Kedgeree [a village near the mouth of the Hoogly] when the news of the storming and capture of Rangoon was placed in the hands of the Governor-General in Calcutta, and posted on the gates of the Telegraph Office for the information of the public.7 The Editor of the Friend of India upon learning of the success of the Calcutta-Kedgeree line wrote ecstatically about the prospect of an instantaneous communication which would make of India one magnificent cityThe telegraph will give a character of ubiquity to the Government.8 Just days after, Lord Dalhousie, as Governor of Bengal proposed the construction of lines to Calcutta, Agra, Bombay, Peshawar, and Madras. If addition of its political value were required Dalhousie wrote, it would be found in recent events, where the existence of an electric telegraph would have gained for us days when even hours were precious, instead of being dependant for the conveyance of a material portion of our orders upon the poor pace of a dk foot runner.9 The telegraph was essential to the British response to the Uprising of 1857, a fact to which the mutineer with whom I opened this talk alerted us. Earl Roberts memorably sketches the theatrical moment in Peshawar when the telegraph bought intimations of the cataclysm unfolding on the other side of India: as we were sitting at mess, the telegraph signaller rushed in breathless with excitement, a telegram in his hand, which proved to be a message from
7 8
W. B. OShaughnessy, The Electric Telegraph in British India, p. iv-v. Cited by Mel Gorman, Sir William OShaughnessy p. 596-7 9 W. B. OShaughnessy, The Electric Telegraph in British India pxi
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Delhi conveying the startling intelligence that a serious outbreak had occurred at Meerut the previous evening10 Robert Montgomery in Lahore commented that Under Providence, the Electric Telegraph saved us. 11 The role of the telegraph in precipitating the revolt also quickly became a key element of imperial historiography. The Comtean positivist, Harriet Martineau, writing in 1858 presented an Indian fear of telegraphy as xeno-techne as symptomatic of a pre-scientific mentality, a trope which would be endlessly repeated by other writers. The European railway, telegraph, and other magical arts introduce into India much more than themselves she wrote. They introduce an experience subversive of ideas and practices, which would in natural course have taken centuries to dissolve and abolish.12 Even the liberal historian Edward Thompson would write in 1935 Inventions such as the railway and the telegraph, suggested to the lower castes that the foreigners possessed occult knowledge hidden from the Brahman.13The Illustrated London News reported
10
Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Forty-One Years in India London: Macmillan, 1905 p.34. See also John McCosh, Advice for Officers (London, W.H. Allen, 1856), p. 103: The electric telegraph is now open all over India. The events at any one Presidency are known at any other presidency an hour or two after they have taken place. 11 Mel Gorman Sir William OShaughnessy p. 599 12 Harriet Martineau, Suggestions towards the Future Government of India London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1858 p.32. Martineau continues, elaborating a metaphor which would have fascinated Walter Benjamin: A Brahmin broke the microscope long ago. He could thus disguise from himself, and conceal from his neighbours, the vanity of their endeavour to abstain from destroying life and swallowing animal substances. He might persuade himself when the microscope was destroyed, that the animated world he had seen in a drop of water was a dream or a temptation; but when it comes to a railway train moving through a hundred miles of villages, or of a telegraph enabling men on the Indus to talk to men at the mouth of the Ganges, the case is beyond Brahmin management; and we ought to prepare for the hostility of all who live under Brahmanical influence. I must refer again, though I have done it more than once before, to the significant fact that, for some years past, there has been a controversy in Hindostan Proper, as to how far the accommodation of the rail will lessen the merit of pilgrimage. From year to year the Hindoo notions of virtues and expediency have been more and more shocked and encroached upon by the introduction of our arts among a people who would not otherwise have attained them for centuries to come. They see that there is no chance for their adored immutability, their revered stagnation, their beloved indolence where the English magic establishes itself 13 Edward Thompson and G. T. Garratt, Rise and Fulfilment of British Rule in India London: Macmillan 1935, P.442
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in November 1857 that at Meerut the cast iron sockets of telegraph posts, strengthened with electric telegraph wire, formed the basis of hastily constructed canons which were loaded with small pieces of telegraph wire as shot. India was transformed by its national telegraphic system, but the completion of the Ocean Telegraph connecting India and England in 1870 would deterritorialise it in even stranger ways. J. C. Parkinson, author of the classic contemporary account (1870) makes much of the ways in which high speed telepresence disrupted familiar chronotopes. He notes how at a function on board the Great Eastern before she left India the prediction had been made that someone telegraphing from Bombay would be able to rely upon his message arriving at about the same time in London ( allowing for the 5 and one half hours time difference between the two countries). This had elicited much congratulatory applause, but little did those who clapped know that speeds would be greatly increased such that messages would arrive in London some hours prior to their despatch from India. A telegram despatched from Bombay at 1214pm arrived at London at 0914am the same morning, one sent at 1124 am from Bombay reached London at 0823 am and so on. Indeed, the temporal distance between Bombay and London was less than the distance within a single building in Bombay: the statement that a transfer of a message from the part of the office in which it is perforce received at Bombay, to the instruments of the British-Indian Cable Company under the same roof, has been known to occupy more time than it takes to forward the same message from India to London, will sound remarkable to English ears. One consequence of the dromosphere was hence to make time in the periphery flow more slowly. Bombay London distance was collapsed by telepresence, but the perambulations of an office peon were still ponderous. The new vectors of telepresence and the emergence of the colonial dromosphere provide a useful context for considering Rabindranath Tagores pre-occupation with different time regimes. Consider for instance a letter from Shazadpur in July 1893 in which the experience of time becomes a mode of ethical articulation. He writes that: The flow of village life is not rapid, neither is it too stagnant. Work and rest go together, hand in hand. The ferry crosses to and fro, [and] the passengers with umbrellas wend their way along the tow-path Tagore them gives a description of women washing rice, ryots arriving with bundles of jute, two men chopping wood and the village carpenter repairing a boat before he
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concludes that the different sounds all these activities produce do not seem out of harmony with murmuring leaves and singing birds, and all combine like moving strains of some grand dream orchestra (1921:113). In June of the following year he writes a letter that provides his most elaborate meditation on the colonial dromosphere and makes for an interesting contrast with the British-Indian cable Companys ability to (as Virilio might say) arrive before setting out. Away from Calcutta, he observes, the clocks do not keep ordinary time [and] duration is measured only by the intensity of feelings and where moments change into hours and hours turn into moments (1921:130). This sets the scene for his narration of a Persian story that he recalls from childhood. The story concerned a faquir who put some magic water into a tub and asked the King to take a dip. The King no sooner dipped his head in than he found himself in a strange country by the sea, where he spent a good long time going through a variety of happenings and doings. He married, had children, his wife and children died, he lost all his wealth, and as he writhed under his sufferings he suddenly found himself back in the room, surrounded by his courtiers. On his proceeding to [regale] the faquir with his misfortunes, [he] said: But, Sire, you have only just dipped your head in, and raised it out of the water (1921:131). A heterogeneous, recursive, time is here counterpointed with the trajectory of a colonial time, what Tagore elsewhere refers to as those deadly, dreary colonial Calcutta days. Telegraphy became a model for a broader signaletic communication, sought where lack of infrastructure prevented its technical materialisation. Major H. M. Ramsay, of the Bengal Police, for instance, craved what he called the machine-like action of efficient communication. He proposed, in his important 1882 work Detective Footprints [in Bengal] a system of administrative geographical circles an early bush telegraph which would facilitate the efficient gathering and dissemination of information through circular belts, each one a mile greater in circumference and centred on an administrative centre. Patterned movements of native police and special messengers would create a machine-like system of informational flows.
The Ubiquity of Vision
If telegraphy offered the promise of the Ubiquity of Government, photography seemed to offer the possibility of the ubiquity of vision. Contemporary accounts dwell on the sense of a prosthetic and extendable
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vision made possible by photography. By March 5th 1840 The Calcutta Courier was able to record what were almost certainly the first daguerreotypes produced in India. Reporting on a highly delighted meeting at the Asiatic Society the Courier noted how Several [photographs] were exhibited to the meeting, of the Esplanade and other parts of Calcutta [] In one part of one of the drawings a black speck was observable to the naked eye, but with a microscope of great power it would be seen that the speck represented a kite which was at that moment perched [on] the building and though so small, even the wings and tail of the bird could, with a lens be easily distinguished so minute and yet so true to life was the picture.14 The following day The Englishman and Military Chronicle noted No language can describe the incredible beauty of these delineations, of which three or four, taken from a house in Chowringhee, were exhibited to the meeting; and admirable as they appear to the eye, when examined with the microscope, they are found to have reproduced traits, which the eye cannot discern in the buildings, unless by the minutest scrutiny. This enthusiasm for the prosthesis that photography proffered and its creation of what much later Ernst Jnger would term a photographic second consciousness15 and Walter Benjamin would term its optical unconscious are explicitly clear in early testimony. Photographys seemed to make possible not only the precise description of the world, but a limitless scrutiny beyond the initial surface appearance of the image. An early example of this appeared in Norman Chevers remarkable text A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence, first published in 1856. Chevers, the Secretary of the Medical Board in Calcutta, noted that there could scarcely be a doubt that PHOTOGRAPHY would, before many years elapsed, be employed throughout India as a means of identifying bodies, anticipating the disfigurement of rapid decay, and enabling the magistrate and the civil surgeon to examine, in their offices, every detail of a scene of bloodshed, as it appeared when first disclosed to the police, in a place perhaps sixty miles
14
The Calcutta Courier 5th March 1840 15 Our endeavor is to go further and peer into spaces that are inaccessible to the human eye (Ernst Jnger, Photography and the Second Consciousness in Christopher Phillips ed. Photography in the Modern Era: European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913-1940. (New York: Metropolitan Muserum of Art/Aperture, 1989) p.208
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from the [central sudder] station, which no activity on the part of the police or themselves could enable them to visit in time.16 Chevers here grants photography powers over time and space: decay can be arrested through the frozen image of the corpse, the location of a murder can be studied sixty miles away from the police station. This networking and de-territorializing feature of photography was crucial to its collapse of distance. By the time of the second edition of his Manual in 1870, Chevers is able to report that in 1868 it was photographs by which alone the remains of Rose Brown whose dead body was found in a Calcutta Street with the throat cut17 were identified, and he reproduces one of these photographs in his account. For Chevers photography was a practice whose true potential remains opaque. Looking back at his earlier prognostications he notes that: we have yet to judge the effect which would be produced upon the conscience of a [suspect], obstinate in the denial of guilt, by placing before him, in the stereoscope, the actual scene of his atrocity the familiar walls, the charpoy, the ghastly faces as they last appeared to his reeling vision the sight which haunted his brain every hour since the act was done while he believed to certainty, that its reality could never come before his eyes again. Here photography, incarnated three-dimensionally through the stereoscope, serves as the ultimate simulacram. In Chevers fantasy, a half-century long visual practice which through panoramas and dioramas18 conjured a virtuallyreal India available for incorporation into the knowledge/power registers of colonialism, was now to be turned back onto the actual terrain of the country as a pragmatic tool of police power. The two images of the stereoscope, combining to produce effects so heightened as to produce an appearance of reality which cheats the senses with its seeming truth19 re-animated past time and distant space with an ineluctable potency.
16 17
Norman Chevers, 2nd edition, 1870, p. 74. Chevers, Manual 2nd edition 1870, p. 74-5. 18 Carol A. Breckenridges The Aesthetics and Politics of Colonial Collecting Comparative Studies in Society and History 31(2) April 1989, pp. 195-216, traces a history of the visual display of India from Robert Kerr Porters 200 feet long Taking of Seringapatam displayed at Somerset House in 1800 to Robert Burfords Fall of Delhi shown at the panorama in Leicester Square in 1858. 19 Oliver Wendell Holmes. The Stereoscope and Stereograph in The Atlantic Monthly 1859
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The most striking example of this prosthetic ambition is actually imported into the 1863 Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society from the British Journal of Photography but reported with such glee by the Bengal journal that we are left with a clear sense of how this resonated with ambitions for photography in India. The news item was headed Photography and Murder and reproduced a letter from W. H. Warner, the Metropolitan Police Photographer at Scotland Yard who had written to a Detective investigating the murder of one Emma Jackson. The letter alerted the Detective to the fact that if the eyes of a murdered person [are] photographed, upon the retina will be found the last thing that appeared before them, and that in the present case the features of the murderer would probably be found thereon. Warner also noted that four years ago he had taken a negative of the eye of a calf a few hours after death, and upon microscopic examination of the same. [he had] found depicted thereon the lines of the pavement of the slaughterhouse.20 Chevers 1857 work made explicit the un-knowability of the limits of the cameras prosthesis. Photographys power appeared so great that it might be able to reach back in time just as it might reach out in other ways. Maria Antonella Pelizzari has termed this memory-retrieval21 a strategy which she detects at work in photographs showing the arch at Seringapatam, where Tipu Sultans body was discovered. The Fourth Mysore wars unfortunate destiny, however, was to have occurred before the advent of photography: photographs of the Seringapatam arch, and of Tipus son enabled the recuperative deployment of this redemptive technology into a past which predated it. Just as one might apply a microscope to images and reveal what the human eye itself could not see, so there was also a palpable sense that photographic scrutiny might be able to reach other domains as yet un-explored, its optical unconscious. Cheevers recognition of the prosthetic potential of the photograph its ability to transport data would find a moment of technical bliss in 1907 when the first transmission of a photography by telegraphy was achieved.
20
Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society Vol II No5 July 1863 p. 39. These images are referred to in a European context as optograms. See Georges Didi-Huberman, Photography Scientific and Pseudo-scientific in Jean-Claude Lemagny and Andr Rouille eds. A History of Photography: Social and Cultural Perspectives (Cambridge, 1987), p. 74. 21 Pelizzari p. 45.
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However, the two technical practices were closely linked as early as1874 in a system designed to aid the identification of escaped convicts. Prisoners were routinely photographed from 1869 [Lahore slide] but in 1874 prisoners transported to the Andaman Islands were photographed before their departure from the mainland. Six copies were made and distributed to the police in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, the Inspector General of Prisons, the Superintendent at the Tanna Jail, and one kept in Port Blair. The photographs were to be numbered consecutively, and on the back of each will be given the name, residence, a brief description of the prisoner, and other important details. By this arrangement, one official argued much time and expense could be saved in case of an escape, for it would be sufficient to telegraph photograph number and name to ensure the three Presidency Police Commissioners being enabled at once to take steps for the recapture of a convict. A telegram to this Office or the Tanna Jail would elicit particulars as to the convicts previous history, and enable the local authorities at the place of conviction to be at once communicated with.22 Photographs become almost an adjunct of the telegram, inhabiting a networked space, a de-territorialised informational matrix, cross-referenced by the mobility of the code. These new dromological and dromographic networks provoked anxiety among many Indian intellectuals. Syed Ahmed Khan, the leading Indian Muslim intellectual of his time would famously after seeing the massive photographic project The People of India in the Indian Offcie in London call for the destruction of what he saw as a blot on the honour of the natives of Hindustan. I have argued elsewhere that what perturbed him was photographys aesthetics of the same, and the sense of an encroaching network of informational flows. Syed Ahmed had placed great emphasis in his account of the origins of the 1857 Uprising on the fear that a circular issued in 1855 by a missionary called E. Edwards had caused. The circular had argued that [in Syed Ahmeds paraphrase] since to the effect that all Hindustan was now under one rule, that the telegraph had so connected all parts of the country that they were as one; that the railroad had brought them so near that all towns
22
J. Cruickshank in No. 3078, National Archives of India, Home Department Port Blair A December 1874 Nos 52-57 Proposal for photographing convicts sentenced to transportation for life
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were as one; the time had clearly come when there should be but one faith.23 Copies of Edmunds circular were issued to all the principal officials of the Government, Syed Ahmed notes. Its very circulation acted as an embodiment of the rule of one which it prefigured: The native officials were so ashamed of the circular that those to whom it had been sent, used to hide the fact from fear of being ridiculed and abused, and would deny having ever received it. They used to say It has not been sent to us. And the answer used to be Well, Well: Be sure that it will come24 I have already briefly alluded to Rabindranath Tagores repugnance of Calcutta where Each of its days comes forth like a coin from a mint, clear cut and glittering, Ah! Those dreary, deadly days, so preciously equal in weight. Roland Barthes description of cameras as clocks for seeing,25 helps us conjoin Tagores horror of colonial modernitys temporal homogeneity with Syed Ahmeds apprehension of photographys optical homogeneity. Through this metaphor Barthes evoked, in an affirmative manner, the way in which early photographic equipment was related to techniques of cabinet making and the machinery of precision.26 Preceding this is a more sombre declaration that Death is the eidos of the Photograph and that the photographers organ is not his eye, but his finger: what is linked to the trigger of the lens.27 Willoughby Wallace Hooper, perhaps more than any other photographer in India during the nineteenth century, was pre-occupied with the trigger of the lens. In 1886 his experiments with the eidos of death during the Third Burma War would provoke extreme opposition and concern. Hooper was Provost Marshal of the Burma Expeditionary Force from November 1885, charged with the mainte-
23
Syed Ahmed Khan, Causes, p. 22. Edmunds circular, reproduced as Appednix no. 1 in Syed Khans text opens with the following words: The time appears to have come when earnest consideration should be given to the subject, whether or not all men should embrace the same system of Religion. Railways, Steam Vessels and the Electric Telegraph, are rapidly uniting all the nations of the earth; the more they are brought together, the more certain does the conclusion become, that all have the same wants, the same nature and the same origin. Causes,p. 55. 24 Syed Ahmed Khan, Causes, pp. 22-3 25 Barthes, Camera Lucida, p 15 26 Barthes, Camera Lucida p. 15. 27 Barthes, Camera Lucida p. 15
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nance of civil order in occupied territories. In his battle with a Burmese civil insurgency, Hooper used executions as a routinized response and on 15th January 1886 took two photographs of three hooded Burmese being executed by a party of nine sepoys under the command of Lieutenant Oswald.28 This event, together with the protestations of the Reverend Colbeck of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel formed the basis for a lurid account by a disgruntled journalist Edward Kyran Moylan published in The Times on January 21. Moylan reported Colbecks condemnation at a public meeting of the grave public scandals of Hoopers love of ghastly executions. He continued that The Provost Marshall, who is an ardent amateur photographer, is desirous of securing views of the persons executed at the precise moment when they are struck by the bullet. To secure this result, after the orders ready, present have been given to the firing party, the Provost Marshal fixed his camera on the prisoners, who at times are kept waiting several minutes in that position The officer commanding the firing party is then directed by the Provost Marshal to give the order to fire at the moment when he exposes his plates. So far no satisfactory negative has been obtained, and the experiments are likely to be continued.29 Photography s That-has-been (as Barthes terms its preservation of an earlier time in the present) was always a key element of its magical power. As Barthes notes of Alexander Gardners 1865 Portrait of Lewis Payne , a thwarted assassin depicted in his cell, his wrists shackled, prior to his execution, He is dead and he is going to die. This is the uncomfortable double time of this will be and this has been.30 Hooper engaged this quality of the image, perhaps hoping to stall time through his investigation of the astonishing and unimaginable space between he is dead and he is going to die. In doing so he succumbed to the logic of photographys mortiferous eidos: the camera as trigger and a ballistic photographic image, hitting the spectator like a bullet as Walter Benjamin would later write. But he also, through this very publicly argued scandal contributed significantly to the sinister dimensions of the dromosphere.
28
My account of Hoopers activities is entirely indebted for its empirical substance to John Falconers Willoughby Wallace Hooper: a craze about photography, The Photographic Collector 4 (Winter 1983), pp. 258-285. 29 Cited by Falconer, Willoughby Wallace Hoooper, p. 263. 30 Barthes, Camera Lucida, p.95-6.
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The destruction of hetereogenity and the emergence of a singular time were all, as we have started to see, part of the colonial dromosphere. Tagore was a fine early analyst of the threat to distance and aura posed by speed but it was Gandhi, in Hind Swaraj written on the slow boat between South Africa and England in 1909 who would most forcefully articulate the critique of speed. Railways, together with doctors and lawyers are blamed for the ruination of India. The telegraph we should note went hand in hand with the railway: the techno-ecology of both was similar and the coincidence of the two sets of straight line made them easier to protect from attack Railways, Gandhi argues have become a distributing agency for the evil one only. They have secured British control of India and have lead to increased famine. This is because of greater market integration: because of locomotion people will sell their grain, and it is sent to the dearest markets. The railways have also spread the bubonic plague. Formerly, Gandhi continues, we had natural segregation because the masses could not move from place to place, but railways have now become the carriers of germs. Gandhis position here echoes rather unexpectedly Rudyard Kiplings remarkable story The Bridge Builder in which Shitala, the goddess of smallpox appears in the opium induced dream of a British bridge engineer to argue for the preservation of a railway bridge threatened by floods on the ground that without the railways, smallpox will not spread. These are dimensions of what we might think of as the railways circulatory aspect, but Gandhi reserves his greatest disquiet for the question of speed. Railways he writes accentuate the evil nature of man. Bad men fulfil their evil designs with greater rapidity. Earlier forms of travel were inherently more dialogical. He writes of leading men travelling through the country on foot or in bullock carts, proceeding at such a leisurely pace that they were able to learn each others languages. There was he concludes no aloofness between them. Speed destroys this: whereas Good travels at a snails pace and those who want to do good are not in a hurry [since] they know that to impregnate people with good takes a long time, evil, by contrast, has wings. In 1917, in a letter from Ranchi Gandhi reflected on his two and a half years of travelling in Third Class on Indian railways, bemoaning the overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a third-class booking office in Calcutta which was BlackHole fit only to be destroyed. Was it any wonder that plague had become endemic he asked, and demanded the removal of this gigantic evil.
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The ubiquity of the railways, telegraphy and the potential of photography as a vehicle of telepresence were forces which propelled Curzon to announce the staging of the 1903 Delhi Durbar. Participants would arrive by train, would perform according to the data stream logic of telegraphy and be projected to an international audience by photography and film. The 1903 Durbar was staged to avail of the increased facilities of communication with Europe and with foreign countries, and Curzon noted in the same speech in September 1902 that a good many eyes in a good many parts of the globe will be directed upon Delhi. The Durbar was India as intentional spectacle, a pre-figuration of the staging of the Nuremburg Rally as an object for Leni Riefenstahls film cameras a mere thirty years later in 1934. Mysterious India was staged as a slow-motion photo-opportunity. Its entire formal structure was grounded in the possibility of being seen: the spatiality of persons and ordering of persons making sense only in terms of the logic of a stationary observer. The performative event of the durbar was designed to inculcate a pedagogy of precedence, of the ordering of units within a consensual hierarchy, within a data stream. However, obeisance obedience, homage and subordination could not be produced in isolation. The group photographs in the durbar auditorium or the individual portraits of sundry rulers were incapable of performing this work since they invoked no normalization, no point of comparison between higher and lower. It was the physical line of the procession, weighted with a positive and negative polarity, which established the structure of the event. Each ruler as an individual had no identity: they were invited to participate in the durbar simply in order to become the other of others, pulses within a data stream, and give form to the hierarchy of the line. A concatenation of chiefs, in themselves signifying nothing, would be assembled in a procession as the other of others, all affirming their subordination to Curzon and the British King. But a legible line did not appeal to the aesthetics of the assembled photographers. It worked filmically, for the procession provided the ideal unfolding within the framing and diegesis of moving pictures. But the still photograph demanded a different kind of shape, a different kind of code, a greater optical density, or as Virilio might say depth of field. James Ricalton was positioned, as were many other photographers, by the Jama Masjid, which was to prove the prime position for the documentation of the procession, a position which would undo much of the clarity of precedence that Curzon
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sought. As Stephen Wheeler describes in some detail, it was here that the procession turned: for the space of two hours, might be watched the column advancing from the direction of the Fort, on the one hand, and winding towards the heart of the city on the other. It was here that the line (characterised by syntax and legibility) became a curve. It was here that the line became illegible from a lexical, semiotic, or data point of view, but where, as inchoate curve, spectacle presented itself most richly and most photogenically. Wheeler provided one of the most incisive analyses of how the line here became a curve, how clarity gave way to affecting immersion: it seemed to the spectator that what he beheld must be, not so much a series of Indian Chiefs, mounted in their pride, to be scanned, as each went by, like the portraits in a picture gallery; but rather a resplendent vision of Asiatic pomp, interminably changing, in colour and arrangement, like the tints in a kaleidoscopeto be viewed not with sober discrimination, but with sheer bewilderment. The suspended images of the picture gallery, or sequential frames of moving, or linear pulses of telegraphy, film dissolve in the chaos of the kaleidoscope and the sobriety of a language-based semiotics gives way to figural excess. Dorothy Menpes, the wife of painter Mortimer Menpes, who was positioned at the same location, invokes something akin to the Burkean sublime infused with a sense of obscurity, terror, excess and optical pain. All these emerge as counters to transparency-the clear idea: It was almost like looking at the sun. Yellow spots danced in front of ones eye; one had to turn away into the gray courtyardto get relief. Menpes distances and modifies this optical disturbance (another Burkean motif) through the haze of dust that the procession created: one felt grateful to the dust, the dust that at times rose in clouds and hid portions of these marvellous colour schemes from our sight, as with a curtain of yellow gauze Once the procession passed, Menpes describes how she rushed back to the Jama Masjid and in a final epiphany watched the great pageant like a spangled serpent glimmering through zones of light and shadow into the opalescent distance, scrumbled with eternal dust. She continues: you could not see the procession in a continuous way because of the blinding colourMost people gazed and gazed, and gazed and were blinded, exhausted: they lost all feeling for colour. Responses to the Durbarthe victory of the curve over the lineexemplify colonial practices inherent instability and ambivalence. We see here that
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disfiguration inherent in colonial presences ambivalent split between its appearance as original and authoritative and its articulation as repetition and difference to recall Homi Bhabha. Asked to stage an authoritative pedagogy of hierarchy, the data stream, performed as a repetition of Curzons fantasy, ineluctably becomes the curve. In both a speech and a memo shortly afterwards, Curzon seemed to acknowledge the coruscating curve rather than the clarity of the line. On March 25th 1903 in Calcutta he assessed the durbars effect on the Princes and people of the Asiatic Empire as the inculcation that they were one and that they were not scattered atoms in a heterogeneous and cumbersome mass, but co-ordinate units in a homogenous and majestic whole. Two months later in a memo (No. 58 of 1903, 7 May), Curzon noted that the state for the first time in history has succeeded in moulding into a single whole the scattered and often warring atoms, which hitherto formed the congeries of countries and peoples included within the Indian continent. This was not what Curzon had originally hoped for: the linearity, modeled on the telegraph wire and the railway line whose trajectory or vector Curzon had hoped to replicate were deformed into co-ordinate unites nucleated around an emergent political community for whom the idea of the Indian people as a single whole was a major step forward. A similar deformation or reconfiguration of data is also apparent within certain Indian practices around the camera. Photography brought with it a potentially radically new aesthetic. Amongst its possibilities we might note what Walter Benjamin referred to as its dynamite of the tenth of a second (feeding into the optical unconscious) and what Andr Bazin described as its screening rather than framing of subject matter. Its screen-like border created a cut-off-ness which European and north American elite practitioners would celebrate for its revolutionary optical potentiality. Indian vernacular photographic practitioners for whom as Ashish Rajadhyaksha has argued the screen posed a formal ethical problem sought a reassertion of value and hierarchy, and one of the chief modes of this was symmetry whose most obvious marker was the arch, a theatrical and architectural device that permitted the partial suspension of the screen in favour of the frame. The painting of the surface of the image was another strategy which facilitated the restoration of a temporal extension and of a hierarchy abolished by dromographic instantaneity. Paint usually applied meticulously by former members of miniature painting ateliers reinserts that very heterogeneity that the camera has banished.
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Let us consider two images (from the Alkazi Collection) which form an intriguing pair and can help lead us towards a clarification of the logic of photography and the logic of painting. One of the images shows three men from Rajasthan and the other from the 1920s-40s shows six Swetambara Jain monks with three attendants. You will notice that some of the figures are overpainted and some of them are not. In the case of the three Rajasthani men the two we assume higher status Shaivaite figures on the right are heavily overpainted, while their Vaishnava attendant on the left is not. Photography deposits the three figures equivalently, unable to impose a hierarchy between them. The painter however wields his brush selectively, demonstrating through the time and precious substances invested in the figures on the right their differential value. The ratio is inverted in the image of Jain monks whose status claims proceed from their renunciation of the life of the householder. The camera again was unable to register difference between these various figures and certainly not able to understand the claim made through the absence of ornament. Only the painter can impose these gradings, signalling through the opulence of the attendants how much the monks have left behind. In other images we see the complexity of attempts to resist the trajectories of the dromosphere with its vertiginous perspectival forcelines. Framing (in the Bazin sense) though desired, was not always easily achieved. In its iteration, its actual deployment in practice, it was subject to displacement and disfiguration. This is what we can see an artist struggling to overcome in a heavily palimpsestic photo-paint image which places an unidentified Raja at the centre of two small foregrounded jalis and between a scalloped curtain on the left and its mirror image semi-arch on the right. The tussle in this image between paint and albumen, between linearity and a baroque aesthetic which (to co-opt Alejo Carpentiers words flees from geometrical arrangements) draws our attention to the stresses between the dromospheric potential of photography and Indian attempts to control this. Tagore, Gandhi and a host of other Indian philosophical objectors to what Paul Virilio calls the dromosphere appear from the hindsight of the 21st century to have been blessed with a remarkable perspicacity. Telepresence which I have here examined through telegraphy, photography and the railroad those intimately linked prostheses threatened a diminishment of depth of field (Virilio p.22). The deep horizon of our collective imagination which Indian cultural theorists recognized as essential to their projects for cultural autonomy
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was threatened by the transparent horizon of telepresence, a product of theoptoelectronic and acoustical magnification of mans natural domain. Virilio theorizes the problem of telepresence as a dromospheric consequence of the much earlier technology of linear perspective with its vertigo and rush of perception. He exemplifies this with the narrative of a free-fall parachuter who describes the optical and corporeal sensation experienced at between 800 and 600 metres above the ground with ground rush, the ground rushing up at you. The apparent diameter of objects increases faster and faster and you suddenly have the feeling that you are not seeing them get closer but seeing them move apart suddenly, as though the ground were splitting open. This dramatic account which for Virilio exemplifies the the fractal nature of vision which results from high speed eye adaptation finds an echo in the many anxieties provoked by early cinema in India. Gandhi himself 31famously refused to give evidence to the 1927-8 Cinematograph Inquiry because of the evil which cinema was doing, and several testimonies to that Commission expressed grave concern about the impact of what Susan Buck-Morss calls cinemas prosthetic screen on the youth of the countrys eyesight. The various regional Cinematograph Acts were also excessively concerned with the dangers of optical impairment. 32 But the most remarkable materialization of anxieties about perspectival vertigo and cinemas rush of perception would appear twenty years later in a self-published pamphlet Diseases Caused by Cinema and their Control by an Agrabased Doctor Srivastava which focused all its anxieties on the symmetrical reflection of the vanishing point: the body of the viewer and the seat in which it sat.
31
M.K. Gandhis famous response when asked to contribute evidence to the 1927-8 Indian Cinematograph Committee provides an introduction to some of the moral condemnations that circled around cinema. He responded on 12th November 1927 from his ashram in Sabarmati that:Even if I was so minded, I should be unfit to answer your questionnaire, as I have never been to a cinema. But even to an outsider, the evil that it has done and is doing is patent. The good, it has done any at all, remains to be proved. 32 (Madras Presidency) decreed that the following rules shall be observed in providing seating accommodation: (1) the angle of elevation, subtended at the eye of any person seated in the front row by the length of the vertical line dropped from the centre of the top edge of the picture to the horizontal plane, passing through the observers eyeball not exceed 35, the height of the eye of the person so seated above the floor by 3 6.
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Srivastavas solution to the problem of cinematically induced neurasthenia lay in the design of a new seat of which he helpfully supplies an illustration. The new Srivastava design separated the backs of each seat by at least four inches which helps prevent bodily contact while sitting. Comfortable side rests protect against peoples arms projecting beyond the chair as a lot of mischief is committed between the projecting hands of the people. Furthermore the chair should be closed from the sides by cane [to] prevent the hand going from one chair to the other, stealthily, but deliberately, and yet unseen by the people at large owing to the semi-darkness inside the hall, and also due to the fact that such hands always creep under some carefully thrown garment, or under some such piece as a shawl(1946: 66-7). Doctor Srivastava facilitates the leap from 1927 to 1946, but my very firm conclusion is that his specially constructed chair demarcates a space of anxiety and possibility that is still very much alive. No matter how much we may be offended by the terms of Frederic Jamesons theory of third world national allegory as postcolonial burden, the recent history of a country such as India testifies again and again to the tenacity of that allegory. From 1946 it is easy to make the leap via the moralising cinema of the 1950s (and its unexpected echoes in more recent decades) to the power of a nostalgic aesthetic which in the 2004 elections defeated the dromospheric claims of the BJP coalition government to be part of a globalized competition. My argument here, the subject for a different paper, perhaps to a different audience, is that the shiny India competing globally for investment on the grounds of velocity and trajectory disaffected a domestic electorate for whom such lines of flight epitomized a hubristic desire to inhabit the global dromosphere. The line was turned into a curve, subject to a different aesthetics and different politics. In this sense, Doctor Srivastavas provincially imagined seat of anxiety remains a very tangible location. If the various telepresences on which I have focused were concerned, as Virilio puts it with the eradicat[ion of ] all duration, any extension of time in the transmission of messages [and] images, then Doctor Srivastavas seat, anxiously intent on the reinstatement of distance between viewing subject, can also be seen as an ethical micro-space emblematic of a wider spectrum of resistances in which a new bodily politics was asserted, one free from the cinemas, photographys and telegraphys collapse of distance.
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Exhibiting the Empire: Then and Now

Maria Emlia Fonseca
Exhibiting the Empire: Then and Now
Introduction
As a result of the study that I made for my MA dissertation on the poetics and politics of exhibiting the Tree of Life, a sculpture chosen to be the symbol of the Africa 2005 season of cultural events celebrating African art and cultures, which took place that year mainly in London, but also at various places throughout the United Kingdom, my academic interest and curiosity were aroused to analyse and compare the exhibitionary practices of the Great Exhibitions, promoted by the Empire to celebrate its power and glory, and the present-day occurrence of wide-ranging events, such as the above-mentioned Africa 2005, taking place in the global arena in the 21st-century. As Stuart Hall (Representation 8) explains, the politics of exhibiting is mainly concerned with the connections established between representation and museums as seats of institutional power, endowed with the authority to appropriate and display objects for certain ends. Museums as well as exhibitions then become arbiters of meaning through their particular choices of which objects to exhibit, and trigger discursive formations in the Foucaultian sense. Consequently, different meanings are produced within the various frameworks of knowledge that institutions nurture in order to represent other cultures and unveil them to their audiences (Foucault, Power 149). This power/ knowledge relationship involved in the activity of exhibiting is particularly relevant in making certain cultures visible to the world (Lidchi 184-5, 198) and in serving the purposes of the organising institutions, thus making exhibitions an important and interesting part of economic, social, political and cultural life. The Great Exhibitions of the 19th-century brought a breath of fresh air to the exhibitionary complex of that time by providing space for temporary,
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dynamic representations at the service of specific hegemonic strategies (Bennett 80). One of the main changes introduced by those exhibitions was the notion of the supranational concepts of empire and race, which have nowadays been replaced by a different transnational concept launched by globalisation, namely that which refers to a far-reaching change in the nature of social space, in the sense that when the map of society changes, its culture, politics, economics or social psychology also change (Scholte 85). Moreover, whereas the universal exhibitions were connected to the empires, thus heralding the idea of a power that was spread worldwide based on duly explored and maintained inequalities between the powerful and the subjugated, the new trend produced by globalisation highlights the qualities of transworld concurrence and coordination (Scholte 88). With time, however, the world exhibitions would also change their discourse into a more modern one, according to which the future held in store a promise of harmony and the removal of tensions, to be achieved by a general distribution of the benefits of progress (Bennett 82). Having adapted this idea to the present-day reality of a globalising world, exhibitions now seem to be organised very much in line with the principles governing the great 19th-century exhibitions, removing, however, any evidence of racism or a dependent relationship between peoples (Bennett 82) and introducing the idea of inclusiveness, since present-day globalisation implies the already mentioned transworld concurrence. On the other hand, the challenges brought by 21st-century audiences have been pushing museums and exhibitionary events into different territories, where the scope of their representational concerns can expand thus making them more inclusive and their exhibits can be encoded into new contexts in order to represent the values of the groups to which they relate rather than those of the dominant culture (Bennett 103), as was the case with the great imperial exhibitions. Evoking the idea that linking current political events and community concerns to the content of exhibitions can enhance the visitors sense of involvement and public action (Davalos 529), Africa 2005 was deliberately timed to coincide with the United Kingdoms presidency of the G8 group of nations and of the European Union, when the future of Africa was one of the most prominent items on the international agenda and Tony Blairs Commission for Africa published its report on what was needed to save Africa from the scourge of poverty. In fact, on Friday 11 March, 2005, this Commissions
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report, published under the title Our Common Interests, was launched at the British Museum and a declaration was made that stated:
The great nations of the world, in alliance with their African neighbours, must now move together, in our common interest. How they may proceed will be determined by each nations need and desires. But all must immediately begin the journey that leads us to the ultimate common destination of a more equitable world http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/africa05/comm.html.
This discourse, therefore, functioned as a backdrop to the Africa 2005 event, being meant to convey knowledge based on socially constructed models grounded in the power relations set within society (Hall, Encoding 171), and it sought to introduce the above-mentioned concept of inclusiveness. In my view, great care was taken in planning this event in order to break away from the 19th and early 20th-century exhibitions designed to champion the power of the Empire by shifting its focus to the idea of inclusiveness, a concept that is now altogether different from the one heralded by the discourse of 19th-century exhibitions. Mention of the concepts of inclusiveness and imperial power invites us to reflect on the new set of relationships that has been established. The Arts Council of Englands report mentions that the objective of Africa 2005 was to introduce changes within the arts sector in order to draw African culture into the mainstream where it belonged, and to create an infrastructure that could make those changes permanent. Implicit here is the idea that the UK functions as the centre which holds the power to take upon itself the mission of bringing the margins into the mainstream, acknowledging them and endowing them with the necessary value to be accepted as part of that same mainstream. On the other hand, bearing in mind the opening words of the declaration issued by the Commission for Africa, the great nations of the world the former empires we are inevitably led to consider to what extent an instance of hegemonic power is at work here. In effect, it can be argued that these great exhibitions claiming to celebrate other cultures can even make them more insidious and dangerous, unless their ideological basis is exposed in open debate (Roome 82). Questions could thus be asked about the reasons for staging such group exhibitions centred mainly on certain parts of the world and not on others, such as Europe or America, for instance. To my mind, this is an implicit acknowledgement of the superiority and potency of those great nations of the world to perpetuate the asymmetrical power
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relations between rich and poor countries and regions, even after the dissolution of empires. Considering all this, let us now turn to a brief analysis of two examples of exhibitionary apparatuses: the Great Imperial Exhibition of 1851 and Africa 2005.
The Great Imperial Exhibition of 1851
The origins of exhibitions organised to celebrate artistic and industrial achievements seem to date back to 1797 in France, when an exhibition was held with the aim of selling French products to the French themselves, since, at that time, the English blockade was making it very difficult for France to export their goods anywhere. This led the authorities to devise an exhibition of this nature with the specific intention of boosting French trust in their own capacity to manufacture industrial products of quality. Other such exhibitions followed, culminating in the highly successful massive exhibition of 1849, which attracted enormous international attention. This trend was soon to be followed on a greater or lesser scale in several other countries, although they all adhered to the same educational and propagandistic purpose. In the UK, what would later become the Royal Society of Arts also organised a number of small exhibitions whose motivations ranged from the commercial to the encouragement of learning about the new scientific and industrial developments flourishing at that time. Also noteworthy was the common feature displayed by most of these exhibitions, particularly the National Imperial Exhibitions, in defining as their purpose the defence of the idea of Empire and the affirmation of the UK as a civilizing, colonial power. In this sense, they were strongly imperialist and racist. The Great Exhibition of 1851, however, seems to have encompassed all of the above-mentioned motives, together with the added advantage of providing entertainment, so as to serve all the purposes of all the people. In this sense, it can be said that it was intended to be inclusive as far as the construction of a British national identity was concerned an inclusiveness which was, however, different from the present-day meaning that globalisation has attached to this word. And herein lies one of the interesting areas deserving our attention and research: culturally speaking, the mutation of the meaning of words over time carries with it the subsequent transformation of the associated concepts. A further and vital innovation introduced by this Great Exhibition was
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that it was not only nationally based, but it also welcomed foreign exhibitors, who flocked to the event in great numbers, making it a benchmark among all the events of this kind and setting a standard for all subsequent exhibitions. In fact, it can be regarded as the predecessor of the World and Universal Exhibitions that are held nowadays throughout the globe. Particular attention should also be paid to the site of this exhibition: the spectacular cast-iron and glass Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton. This building was erected for this very purpose in Hyde Park and later removed and re-erected in Sydenham (South London), clearly evoking the greenhouse structures in which its architect already had significant experience. Besides this groundbreaking aspect of the exhibitionary architecture developed in the 19th-century, emphasis should also be placed on the organisation of the space inside it. In fact, in keeping with the objectives proposed for this exhibition, namely that it should be educational, civically instructive and class inclusive, the inner space was organised in a network of galleries and elevated colonnades, promoting mutual visibility and allowing for a panoptic surveillance of citizens that could help in the regulation of human conduct (Bennett 47-49). The actual materials out of which the Crystal Palace was built glass and cast-iron can be seen as a metaphor for the principles of transparency and social regulation. Moreover, they could be closely associated with the industrial process in opposition to traditional buildings made of stone and wood. The above-described architecture of this exhibitionary apparatus further served the hegemonic purposes of the Empire, insofar as it created a space within which a heterotopia of the whole Empire could be encompassed. In effect, as Foucault puts it, with heterotopias being counter-sites in which the real sites, all other real sites that can be found within the culture, are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted (Foucault, Of Other 231), the exhibition could be regarded as a heterotopia of the Empire with the added advantage of reinforcing its civilizing and hegemonic power. By the mid-19th-century, Britain had more connections with different parts of the world than ever before, so that the representations of foreigners in the Great Exhibition reflect the British fear of and fascination with the Other. They were represented in a manner that made them seem exotic and with radically different customs and cultures to the British, so that those images contrasted sharply with the achievements of British industry on display and fostered the idea of racial superiority among the local population. Signs of
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racism were also evident in the way that exhibits from British colonies and imperial possessions were chosen and organised. It is interesting to note that, at the time, all colonies were referred to as possessions, a term which unequivocally stresses the hegemonic position of Britain, simultaneously defining the Empire as a source of profit. The most relevant and largest imperial section of the Great Exhibition was the area dedicated to the East India Company. Particular features of the way in which this collection was displayed deserve our attention. On the one hand, all the gold, gems, weapons, jewels and furniture on show enhanced the idea of India as a vast source of wealth dominated by a handful of despotic rulers over whom the liberating and civilizing role of Britain was justified. On the other hand, the fact that a large number of items could be brought to this exhibition for the admiration of all those visiting it made India seem closer and more easily manageable, turning it in the eyes of the British into a tamed, domesticated territory fittingly referred to as a possession. Moreover, India was thus seen as useful, with great disregard being shown towards all the people who inhabited it and who, quite naturally, had different views on their territory. All these factors helped to give the British people the feeling that they should and could control and rule India. The Great Exhibition of 1851, therefore, epitomised some of the most relevant features of mid 19th-century Britain, insofar as it drew attention to the rising middle class of Victorian times; it was the showcase for the enterprise of British industry and the British support of free trade and empire; it revealed the deep divisions between classes and between the population of London and that of the rest of Britain, which it tried to bridge by means of the already mentioned aim of being inclusive; and, finally, the Great Exhibition helped to foster a stronger sense of British national identity and contributed towards bridging some of these divisions.
Africa 2005
As mentioned in the introduction to this paper, this cultural event was conceived to be the greatest ever celebration of African art produced in the United Kingdom, involving more than one hundred and fifty organisations ranging from national museums and galleries, such as the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern or the South Bank Centre, to galleries funded by the Arts Council, such as the Whitechapel Gallery and the
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Camden Arts Centre, as well as many other small community facing organisations. Institutions, such as the BBC, Christian Aid, the Commission for Africa and many other partners, joined forces to celebrate the cultural diversity of the continent in an interconnected network of efforts aiming to give it visibility, to contribute to a better understanding of that area of the world, and to stimulate a new perspective on the cultures of the continent <http:// www.christianaid.org.uk>. These combined efforts to draw awareness to Africa, its art and heritage, as well as its problems and its role in the world in the 21st-century, not only illustrate how global networks can be created and work, but also reinforce the idea expressed in the 1999 UNDP Report (Held and McGrew 423-429) that global solidarity can only make peoples lives better everywhere, and that the growing interdependence of peoples throughout the world, brought about by globalisation, calls for common values and a shared commitment, so as to produce human development. Actually, this was heralded as the aim for the Africa 2005 event, which, in the words of the programme director Augustus Casely-Hayford, was a major event, meant not only to be a series of exhibitions, but also designed to change the current perception of Africa <http://www. pressureworks.org/lifestyle/features/africa2005> inherited from 19th-century evolutionary theory and colonial times, according to which non-whites were regarded as inferior and not fully developed. In my view, this discourse illustrates the decision of the steering bodies of this event to finally allow Africa to come of age, to set it free from the grip of the Empire, a discourse which does, however, still acknowledge the UK as the holder of the power to do so. It further reinstates the hegemonic position that the UK has always held, now with renewed functions within a globalised world, among which is that of bringing the margins to the centre by giving them visibility. Through the auspices of the Greater London Authority and other organisations, a wide range of community groups, schools and the general public were involved in this major project, turning London into the stage for an event which would have had difficulty going unnoticed by all those who visited the capital that year. London could, therefore, have been seen as a heterotopia of Africa in the Foucaultian sense of the word, according to which, as stated earlier, these are places where the real sites, all other real sites that can be found within the culture, are simultaneously represented, contested, and
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inverted (Foucault, Of Other 231). The city transfigured itself into a great stage like the theatre in Foucaults example for his third principle for heterotopias where representations of several places which are foreign to each other (Africa in London) offered themselves to the gaze of spectators, thus encompassing within the great capital several sites/sights which would otherwise be incompatible (Foucault, Of Other 233-234). This introduces an interesting avenue for research, since both the Great Exhibition of 1851 (and others in the 19th-century) and events like Africa 2005 have created heterotopias. These do, however, display different characteristics. Whereas the Great Exhibition of 1851 produced a heterotopia encapsulated in one single building adapted to the specificities of the 19th-century British situation and needs, the Africa 2005 event brought about a new, subtle, widespread kind of heterotopia, which, in itself, transformed London and turned it into its stage. To my mind, this is an instance of a different kind of heterotopia made possible by globalisation: a sprawling, ambitious event comprising numerous exhibitions and projects and spreading through some of the most important venues in town, as well as through smaller communities, in an interwoven network of local and global concurrence befitting 21st-century society. It could be said that, while exhibitionary events of the 21st-century tend to be organised more in a circular network with a widespread form, 19th-century exhibitions adopted the pyramid structure, thus evoking Benthams ideas of the panopticon and the associated concepts of regulation and surveillance through power/knowledge connected to seeing/telling. This, in turn, further emphasises the differences introduced into the concept of inclusiveness that was connected with each of the two events. The Great Exhibition was intended to be inclusive in terms of social classes, and the notion of Britishness, tentacularly including the British possessions in an affirmation of supranational, imperial superiority and power under the form of a pyramid, as mentioned earlier. Africa 2005, like, I believe, other subsequent events of this nature fittingly connected to the idea of a globalised world, adopted the motto of inclusiveness in the sense of a unifying magnet, bringing the margins to the mainstream in which Britain still seems to claim the central position under the configuration of a two-dimensional network. This apparently erases the inequalities of the imperial representations, whose hierarchy represented a verticality crowned by the domination of Britain, and stresses a horizontality suggesting greater equality. Nonetheless, such a
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situation is not devoid of injustice since the centre still remains the centre and margins still remain margins which need the recognition of the great nations and Britain to become visible and to gain transworld respect.
Bibliography
Bennett, T. The Birth of the Museum. New York: Routledge, 1995. Davalos, K.M. Exhibiting Mestizaje: The Poetics and Experience of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. Museum Studies. Ed. Bettina Messias Carbonnel. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. 521-540. Foucault, M. Power and Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. Ed. Collin Gordon. Harlow: Longman, 1980. ____. Of Other Places. The Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff. London and New York: Routledge, 2004. 229-236. Hall, S., ed. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage, 1997. ____. Encoding/Decoding. Media and Cultural Studies. Eds. M.G. Durham and D.M. Kellner. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. 166-176. Lidchi, H. The Poetics and the Politics of Exhibiting Other Cultures. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage, 1997. 151-222. Roome, K. The Art of Liberating Voices: Contemporary South African Art Exhibited in New York. African Cultures, Visual Arts, and the Museum: Sights/Sites of Creativity and Conflict. Ed. Tobias Dring. Amsterdam and New York: Editions Rodopi, 2002. 73-100. Scholte, L.S. Whats Global about Globalization?. The Global Transformations Reader. Eds. David Held and Andrew McGrew. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. 84-91. UNDP Report 1999, Patterns of Global Inequality. The Global transformations Reader. Eds. David Held and Andrew McGrew. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. 423-429.
Internet Sites [Available until June 2006]
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/africa05/comm.html
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Colonial Photography. Raj, Identities and Authority

Cristina Baptista
Colonial Photography. Raj, Identities and Authority
epresentations of empire, landscapes, architecture, technology and people: the coloniser and the colonised engaged in their daily practices introduce us to the Raj. When studying colonial photography, one finds oneself in the realms of popular culture, reaching the public through newspapers, books and exhibitions. Images that helped to construct a discourse of authority by the photographers, both British and Indian, conveying information about a distant land India and nourishing the Victorian imagination with images of a world different from the one at home. The selected photos,1 which allow us to explore the relationship between the development of photography and the empire, appeared as a form of justification for colonialism and the European in this case, British colonial rule in India, as a civilising mission, consisting of a visual version of the arguments in favour of colonialism found mainly in Minute on Education (1835), by Thomas Babington Macaulay, a British statesman, legislator and historian, India Calling (1934/2004) and India Recalled (1936), by Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman barrister in India, approaching issues such as cultural superiority, the colonial encounter and the British rule in India. The American author Katherine Mayo is also quoted, as her controversial Mother India can be used as an argument in favour of foreign colonial rule.
This paper was initially presented together with a large set of photographs, taken by different photographers and chosen from different archives. Unfortunately, problems relating to the permission for their publication do not allow me to print them all. Links to online sites where the photos can be seen are, therefore, given in the footnotes, contributing towards a better understanding of the papers argument.
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In British society, the centre of the empire in the Victorian era, democracy and the right of the population to choose its own government were fairly consensual notions. As Metcalf asks: By what right, the Victorian British had to ask themselves, could a liberal democracy assert a claim to imperial dominion based on conquest?. (Metcalf x). Nevertheless, I will argue that, in the 19th-century and the first quarter of the 20th-century, India provided grounds for the justification of colonialism. Therefore, the contradiction noted between 19th-century liberal political thought and the existing colonial rule disappeared, faced with the lack of institutions, in particular in the form of healthcare, transport and communication systems, or, to put it more bluntly, the Indian populations incapacity for self-rule. These arguments derived from the western sense of cultural superiority, as pointed out by Macaulay. They also included the lack of modern institutions and the immaturity of the population, as pointed out by Sorabji, and serious problems of public health, as pointed out by Mayo. This latter author also mentions child marriage and primitive religious rituals, including the slaughter of animals and superstition, as being rife in Indian society during her travels and interviews.
Photography updates visual culture
After painting and illustration, photography was a technology that first appeared and was perfected during the 19th-century. As a result of this, the public were able to register the colonial encounter, together with images of the empire, like those of India, among other colonies. One can find these pictures in two large collections that document this period: the British Library and the Howard and Jane Ricketts Collection,2 both institutions being pioneers of photography collections in Britain. Hence, the work of countless photographers from different corners of the world American, German, British and also Indian has been made public and acclaimed. These photographers captured both natural landscapes and the organised landscape, such as the local architecture in different places in India, monuments and temples, large and small towns. Queen Victoria,
Part of this latter collection was shown in an exhibition at the British Library in late 2001.
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herself an icon of the time, posed for a photographer, acknowledging the importance of photography as a means of representation.3 They also represented people, rich and poor, civilian and military; and they captured the arrival of the new technologies, among which the railway was perhaps the most relevant. Some of these photographers managed to cause their names to be remembered, becoming authors, due to the collections of images they left to contemporary archives. These people were not professionals, but amateurs equipped with the proper technology, who acted as collectors of images. They behaved in the same way that the conquerors of territories had, travelling to and around the colonised territories. Their purpose was to later exhibit their photographs to a public eager to see the images that helped them to become familiar with geographical and human landscapes which, up to then, had been unknown to them. They had the media at their disposal: the press and books, as well as exhibitions. An important event like the Great Exhibition of 1851, in London, included a photography section, contributing to the growing popularity of the new practice. As other institutions dedicated to the new technologies started to appear, The Photographic Society of London (1853) was founded, bearing witness to the interest in photography. This practice updated the Victorian visual culture, previously concerned with other forms of representation, such as painting and illustration. The relevance of photography in society has been stressed by Susan Sontag, who explores the way in which we look at photographs and the way they shape our perception of the world. She states: In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe. They are a grammar, and more importantly, an ethics of seeing. (Sontag 3). As we look at the selected images, we wonder who these people are, and why they let themselves be photographed.4 I found out that a group of
Image accessed at URL: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/crownandcamera/resources/rb_crown. pdf. 4 Group of photographers (circa 1860). Unknown author. Accessed at URL: http:// www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/india/tour_01_enlarge.html.
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photographers chose to be photographed in a wide open space, a common enough practice that enabled them to authenticate their travels in a given territory; this exposure also allowed them, on the other hand, to show the equipment they owned. Such a practice, therefore, made it possible to construct an authority and authenticity for the images that would be displayed. This also points to an alliance between photography and empire, as far India is concerned, insofar as that colony had become a vanguard for the development of photography, during the second half of the 19th-century (i.e. the Victorian era, corresponding to the period between 1837 and 1901), providing the public with a visual heritage never seen before and revealing Orientalism in images. But also revealing the Other, in his identity and ethnicity, in the space that he inhabited and in his daily practices. The collection enables us to distinguish between different identities, such as the entity either institutional or private that represents the coloniser, and the colonised, mostly in a position of subalternity. This leads us once again to Susan Sontag, who sees the taking and collecting of images in photography as an appropriation of the territory, as if there were an act of power: To collect photographs is to collect the world. (Sontag 7). We can find images of daily practices, scenes of intimacy, as well as labour, or both: the first allows us to see a white man, who is being attended by two servants, with the former sitting and the latter kneeling, engaged in his task, while the employer reads a newspaper, making us believe the scene is a normal and daily event. One might find it curious that there are two servants for just one white man, their employer, one believes, due to the setting.5 This image leads us to believe in European and, as is the case here, British cultural superiority, an idea that can be found in the writings of Thomas Babington Macaulay, a statesman, who was responsible for the teaching of English in India. For Macaulay, cultural superiority began with literature. He believed that in the East there is no such referential literature as there is in the West.
A throwback from the Raj: A British man gets a pedicure from an Indian servant. Accessed at URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_india_ then/html/ 2.stm.
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This author went so far as to try to convince Parliament of his convictions, stating as follows: I have never found one among them [Orientalists] who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. (Macaulay 91). Furthermore: And I certainly never met with any Orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanskrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations. And he continued: But, when we pass from the works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and general principles investigated, the superiority of Europeans becomes absolutely immeasurable. (Macaulay 92). In another photograph, European ladies enjoy their privacy, apart from the other (non-European) population, expressing a sort of guarantee that, when you travel to distant and unknown lands, your security is assured. One might also take note of the words used by Sorabji, an Anglicised Indian educated at Oxford, in her memoirs, India Calling. The author believed, as Macaulay had done seventy years earlier, that the Indian people needed British rule and, more than this, that they even desired it. As Boehmer and Grew state, in their Introduction to India Calling, this pioneering woman
Sorabji () embodied some of the most potent contradictions of her time () Brought up English, and grateful to the English ruling classes, with whom she formed close personal ties, because of the doors they opened for her, she remained throughout her life a Tory imperialist in her values, an admirer of imperial effort, and a follower of English high society. (Boehmer, Grew ix).
What distinguishes Sorabjis positions from Macaulays is the formers interest and belief in the value of India, as Boehmer and Grew again point out:
With her conservative beliefs yet respect for Indian traditions, both Hindu and Muslim, and with her anti-nationalist and yet relatively progressive woman-centred values, Cornelia Sorabji can probably be seen as one of the most successful if internally divided Indian mediators of her time. (Boehmer, Grew ix).
In her memoirs, Sorabji stresses the superiority of the Parsee community, an Anglicised minority, in India. One of the examples she stresses is the behaviour of the Parsee community within the family, quite different from that of the Hindus, and she remembers her mother: She [Sorabjis mother, Francina] was proud of having seven daughters, in a country where the birth
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of a daughter was considered a calamity. (Sorabji, India Calling 16). It would be pertinent to ask where, as an Anglicised Indian, Sorabji would sit in such a setting: among European ladies, or apart from them? Another photograph shows two men riding in a hand-car, being pushed along a set of rails on which the train was to circulate in the near future, in an expressive portrayal of technological innovation.6 As Sorabji stressed in her books India Calling and India Recalled, India lacked a system of communications, roads or trains, as well as institutions of the most varied kind, such as the British had known for a long time at home, and which it would be impossible to live without in a modern democracy. This author wrote about her travels in India: The fun of cross-country journeys by palanquin or elephant, in canoe or dug-out. (Sorabji, India Calling 5). In fact, in Sorabjis memoirs, which take us back to her early days in the late 19th-century, or her time as a civil servant in the first quarter of the 20th-century in India, there is no mention of trains. But she praised the British rule, in India, as follows:
India, under the Crown, was in the throes of reconstruction: the English machinery of administration, of education, of development of the resources of the Country, was not only being set up, but was in working order. (Sorabji, India Calling 9).
In this picture, again, we have the same servant/master ratio as seen before in the pedicure photo: four people to push two men, in a representation of subalternity. In both pictures, there is a display of colonial authority and power, conferred by social rank, professional and institutional status. In fact, the railway changed India, just as it had changed Great Britain earlier, running across the territory like blood vessels and allowing for a desirably efficient control of the country by the colonising power.7 The railway was one of the benefits of modernity, in a technologically backward territory lacking cultural referents, relevant institutions, or even a unifying language, such as English is today.
Four turbanned natives pushing Pangborn in hand-car in Bolan Pass [Baluchistan]. William Henry Jackson. Hand-coloured photograph, 1895. Accessed at URL: http://www.harappa.com/magic/7.html. Photo 1. 7 The locomotive Akbar being ferried across the Jumna during construction of the railway bridge at Kalpi, 14 January 1887. Unknown photographer . Accessed at URL: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/india/tour_19_raft.html.
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This photograph is also an example of the frequent practice of colouring pictures by hand after printing them on paper, which became common in the 19th-century. Dress codes were a form of colonial mimicry, if we consider that some subjects preferred to dress as Europeans, whereas others did not.8 Delving again into the memoirs of the Anglicised Sorabji, we are reminded of the Parsee mimicry of the British: The houses of my Parsee friends were furnished English (and early Victorian). We ate in the English manners off English plates, and with English adjuncts, and our diet included meat (Sorabji, India Calling 13). Cultural superiority is to be found on the side of the Europeans, in everyday practices and behaviour, such as the way they eat and dress, or the way the workplace is organised. The last pictures depict adventures in faraway places, with travellers displaying their trophies, a very common theme in photography.9 There are pictures of landscapes and local architecture, representing collective experience, which was different from the European references.10 Or even photographs documenting the economy of the country.11 As Amitav Gosh stresses, in his recent novel Sea of Poppies, the opium trade financed the Raj. Representing princely India,12 the empire is seen as an extension of home, feeding the Victorian imagination, with a photo of Fatehsingh Rao Gaekwad of Baroda, a princely state, by Raja Deen Dayal. From Sorabjis gentle discourse, we now move on to Katherine Mayos striking account in her controversial Mother India, (1937), in which she relates her travels to and around India, initially centred upon questions of public
Exhibition in Chennai, organised by the local Goethe Institute, including images of the city, barely known in the West, by two German photographers, E.U.F. Wiele and Theodor Klein. Accessed at URL: http://www.german-info.com/ press_shownews.php?pid=360. Photos 2 and 3. 9 Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, and wife. Accessed at URL: http://www.theage.com.au/ ffximage/2005/06/03/wbempire_narrowweb__200x270.jpg 10 The Memorial Well with Cawnpore Church in the distance, 186369. Samuel Bourne. Accessed at URL: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/crownandcamera/resources/rb_crown.pdf 11 Accessed at URL: fullmoonfever.wordpress.com/2008/06. 12 Accessed at URL: http://www.harappa.com/bazaar/books/princelyindia.html.
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health, but later covering other issues. According to Mayo, India had no means whatsoever for governing the country, and no mature institutions. Mayos representation of India is one that gives the impression of a backward place, where people give themselves up to barbarous practices, unaware of the need to care for their health, dominated by superstition and engaging in inhuman rituals. Her description of a visit to a temple in Calcutta, a city that could be mistaken for an American city (if you stood in the rich part of town), is impressive. As she says in the first chapter, The Bus to Mandalay:
Of a sudden, a piercing outburst of shrill bleating. We turn the corner of the edifice to reach the open courtyard at the end opposite the shrine. Here stand two priests, one with a cutlass in his hand, the other holding a young goat. The goat shrieks, for in the air is that smell that all beasts fear. A crash of sound, as before the goddess drums thunder. The priest who holds the goat swings it up and drops it, stretched by the legs, its screaming head held fast in a cleft post. The second priest with a single blow of his cutlass decapitates the little creature. The blood gushes forth on the pavement, the drums and the gongs before the goddess burst out wildly. Kali! Kali! Kali! shout all the priests and the suppliants together, some flinging themselves face downward on the temple floor. (Mayo 1937. Accessed at URL:http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300811h.html).
But this is not all:

Meantime, and instantly, a woman who waited behind the killers of the goat has rushed forward and fallen on all fours to lap up the blood with her tongue in the hope of having a child. And now a second woman, stooping, sops at the blood with a cloth, and thrusts the cloth into her bosom, while half a dozen sick, sore dogs, horribly misshapen by nameless diseases, stick their hungry muzzles into the lengthening pool of gore. (Mayo 1937. Accessed at URL: http://gutenberg.net.au/ ebooks03/0300811h.html).
Last but not least, Mr. Haldar [the guide] leads us through a lane down which, neatly arranged in rows, sit scores of more or less naked holy men and mendicants, mostly fat and hairy and covered with ashes, begging.
All are eager to be photographed. Saddhus reverend ascetics spring up and pose. One, a madman, flings himself at us, badly scaring a little girl who is being towed past by a young man whose wrist is tied to her tiny one by the two ends of a scarf. Husband and new wife, says Mr. Haldar. They come to pray for a son. (Mayo 1937. Accessed at URL: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks 03/0300811h.html).
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Bibliography
Boehmer, Elleke and Naelle Grew. Introduction. India Calling, Cornelia Sorabji. Trent Editions, 1934/2004. Gosh, Amitav. Sea of Poppies. John Murray: London, 2008. Mayo, Katherine. Mother India. Available at: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/ 0300811h.html Melcalf, Thomas R. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Macaulay, Thomas Babington. Minute on Education. Indian Musalmns. Ed. Nassau Lees. London: Williams and Norgate. 87-102, 1835/1871 Sontag, Susan. On Photography. London: Penguin Books, 1979. Sorabji, Cornelia. India Calling. Eds. Elleke Boehmer and Naelle Grew. Nottingham: Trent Editions, 1934/2004. ____. India Recalled. London: Nisbet & Co. 1936.
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Re-Imagining Authentic India

Teresa de Atade Malafaia
Re-Imagining Authentic India
n looking back from our standpoint in time, i.e. from the beginning of the 21st-century, on Britains involvement in India, especially over the so-called period of the Empire (roughly from the 1850s to 1947), it is only natural that we should think about the diverse ways in which Indian cultures have been presented. To start with, the various exhibitions which took place during the Victorian age, where such matters were displayed, are of momentous interest to us. Indeed, such exhibitions aimed at the representation of what was then regarded as the real India, in other words the original and genuine one. In fact, they captured what they deemed to be the(se) potentially dangerous subjects and reproduced them in a safe, contained and yet accessible and supposedly open environment. (Coombes 233). Then, in 2001, the exhibition India: Pioneering Photographers, 1850-1900, curated by John Falconer and considered the first major exhibition in London of early photographers of India, showed, in spite of its documentary dimension, a special concern with exotic issues, namely ethnic ones.1 Actually, in the last few decades, the western appropriation of British India has mainly been carried out in accordance with postcolonial perspectives. These ways of perceiving (seeing) this reality also began to be applied to visual
John Falconer, the curator of the exhibition, was at the time Curator of Photographs in The British Librarys Oriental and India Office Collections and is the author of several books on the history of photography in South and South-East Asia. The exhibition included a wide range of images, many of which had never been seen in public before. The photographs displayed were drawn from two of the most important collections of Indian photography: the British Library and the Howard and Jane Ricketts Collection. See http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/india/overview.html (Accessed on 30.12.2009).
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representations considered essential for a complete understanding of cultural issues, namely in our present-day society of the spectacle (if we may use Debords concept2), which continues to re-imagine India in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways. As a matter of fact, in many respects, Britains Empire, like much in the Victorian age, had the atmosphere and aesthetic charge of a grand spectacle as Queen Victorias iconic place at the hub of the Empire so expressively shows (Ryan 15, 14). Following on from this, according to Stuart Hall, the construction of the colonised, i.e. the Other, was essential for the definition of colonial identities (Hall 136). This implied difference was set up (constructed) not only through the narratives of the specific communities, but also through typical British discourses on the Others, both in written and visual forms. The contrasting ways of representing Indian cultures clearly helped to mould todays perceptions of India. Furthermore, as Edward Said points out, the Occident constructed the Orient as a counterpart, a fiction of the Other, who continuously justifies the relations of power and their various discourses, and creates conceptual dilemmas. (Said 1-2). This expanding interest in different cultures is, as a matter of fact, an ongoing process which also helps bring into the world of academia not only women prose writers, such as Annie Besant, Mary Carpenter, Flora Annie Steel, Maud Diver and Cornelia Sorabji, among others, but also diverse ways of representing visual otherness, as Julia Camerons photographs of Ceylon so clearly show. Yet, in E. M. Forsters A Passage to India or in the film version by David Lean, authenticity issues were high on the agenda and thus India became visible in the cultural marketplace, a reality that has lasted to our day. Yet, with some exceptions, namely Christopher Pinneys approaches, we are constantly coming across western perspectives, and the truth is that no popular photographic practices in India are really considered.3 I cannot resist including Julia Margaret Cameron as an example of a woman photographer, which was indeed a fairly uncommon situation in India at the time. According to my research in the India Office Records of the British
See Guy Debord, La Socit du Spectacle, Gallimard, Paris, 1967/1992. 3 See Christopher Pinney, Camera Indica: The Social Life of Indian Photographs, Reaktion Books/Chicago: University of Chicago Press, London, 1997 .
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RE-IMAGINING AUTHENTIC INDIA
Library, female photographers tended, in their work, to represent mostly monuments and landscapes and very few people. In this way, although she took photographs of Ceylonese peasants and kept on defending the idea of a performative photography, Cameron was effectively aware not only of the documentary dimension of her art, but also of its exotic potentialities, as we recognise in Girl, Ceylon.4 The body of work produced during her stay in Ceylon shows us Cameron as the memsahib, the white woman reproducing the colonial template. Despite disregarding class5 differences in England when choosing her own models and frequently portraying servants as Madonnas or the Virgin Mary, as is the case with Mary Hillier (Wolf 221), Cameron did not follow the same principle when it came to ethnicity.6 In fact, it was not until Cameron moved to Ceylon that she took her first portraits of non-white women, which were, nevertheless, always confined to their social and cultural status.7 Even though the subjects she portrayed do not seem ever to smile, we become aware that the English women of the lower classes present a potential for change whereas the natives of Ceylon are depicted solely in realistic settings where they are part and parcel of the social group they belong to. It is as if they were living in a culturally
Julia Margaret Cameron (1875). Girl, Ceylon. Albumen silver print 9 15/16 x 7 7/16 in. 86.XM.636.2 Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California. http:// www.getty.edu/museum/. (Accessed 30.12.2009). According to the Museums explanation, Cameron made this photograph near the end of her life, when she lived in what is now Sri Lanka. This Tamil child may have been the daughter of a worker on her familys estate. Although Cameron had a benevolent attitude toward the Ceylonese, she supported the British Empires civilising mission in Asia, as was typical of her time. This picture appears to blend an ethnographic point of view with Camerons more intimate approach to portraiture of family and friends. 5 Class understood as the socioeconomic differences between groups of individuals that create differences in their material prosperity and power. (Giddens 738) 6 Ethnicity understood as the cultural values and norms that distinguish the members of a given group from others. An ethnic group is one whose members share a distinct awareness of a common cultural identity, separating them from other groups around them. (Giddens 741). 7 See, for instance, Stephanie Lipscombs list of Camerons subjects in Julia Margaret Camerons Women, which only includes white British women, from various social strata. (Wolf 219-227).
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timeless and unchangeable world totally swayed by forces far beyond their control. For instance, A Group of Kalutara Peasants8 (1878) is one of the last photographs to be taken by Cameron. In it we can see three characters, two males and one young female, seemingly leaning against a tree and occupying the central space in the portrait. As colonised subjects, they do not appear to possess a definite identity. In this case, the camera is positioned at a distance somewhat removed from its subjects. Thus, if, on the one hand, we may take it as a sign that Cameron could not attain the same degree of closeness with these specific subjects, on the other hand, this technique, i.e. resulting in a greater distance but an expanded representation of the whole body, was similarly employed by the nature painter Marianne North, as Camerons photograph illustrates.9 Besides the aforementioned aspects, in Ceylon, Cameron used mostly outdoor settings for her photographs, which in themselves do not present a definite symbolism. Many have vague titles such as a group, a group of peasants, plantation workers or a gathering of natives, and to this day no copyright records of them have been found (Cox, Ford 483-494). In any case, of the ones taken in Ceylon, the number of photographs still extant is minimal: around twenty-six in total.10 In A Group of Kalutara Peasants, we realise that Cameron paid special attention to the choice of lighting, so as to create a flowing atmosphere with blurred edges. The use of the out-of-focus technique is clear in the representation of the two men, for they are both blurry, thus enhancing the
A Group of Kalutara Peasants (1878). Albumen print, 34.3 x 27.2 cm. Royal Photographic Society, currently at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, England. http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Collections/ (Accessed on 30.12.2009). 9 Julia Cameron made four portraits of Marianne North, of which the most interesting is the representation of her subject at work, i.e. North painting at Camerons house. 10 We may add that Julia Cameron did not publicly show these photographs, never displaying them in the exhibitions held during the same period. This was probably due to practical constraints that would interfere with the act of photographing: (...) the harsh subtropical heat created problems of collodion lifting from the plate, the sticky varnishes were insect friendly, and there was a lack of readily available fresh water for washing prints (). (Cox, Ford 2003: 483).
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female figures centricity.11 Despite the fact that Camerons approach seems predominantly ethnographic, in that it represents the inhabitants of the fishing village of Kalutara (her own handwriting is, however, to be found in the captions of Girl, Ceylon and on the back of the other photograph, which significantly reads: A group of Kalutara peasants, the girl being 12 years of age & the old man saying he is her Father & stating himself to be a hundred years of age), this representation and its caption can be read according to gendered issues as I suggested in a previous paper. (Malafaia 594). And even if Christopher Pinney argues that visual history tells us about repressed histories,12 the history of British womens roles as photographers in India remains to be told. As is well known, in the 19th-century, India was at the forefront of photographic development and gender13 pressure led British women to express themselves mostly in writing, namely essays, autobiographies, letters, diaries, housekeeping and cookery books, etc., and much less in visual terms, although an indispensable record of progress and achievements of Empire was provided by photography. (Ryan 11).
The traditional history of art tends to be the history of men. This is a complex and, indeed, controversial issue, but there is no doubting the overwhelming number of men, as opposed to women, who appear in traditional histories of art. We have all heard of the Old Masters. Why do we not speak of the Old Mistresses? [] It is important to remember that Western culture has traditionally assigned very different roles to men and women. Women have typically been involved with domestic and child-raising tasks, while business, the professions, the church and the military (to say nothing of the arts and sciences) have been the domain of men. [] More recently, however, feminist art historians have offered an alternative
Camerons emphasis on the blurry effects has connected her style to Pre-Raphaelite painting rather than to the photography of the Victorian period, which aimed at so-called technical perfection. As a result, her connoted messages laden with the unsaid could only be read by a very particular, restricted audience. 12 See Visual history tells us about repressed histories, Tehelka Magazine. Vol. 5, Issue 37, September 20, 2008. 13 Gender understood as social expectations about behaviour regarded as appropriate for the members of each sex. Gender does not refer to the physical attributes in terms of which men and women differ, but to socially formed traits of masculinity and femininity. (Giddens 742).
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explanation: women have always been active in art, but their contributions have been undervalued or overlooked by traditionally male art historians. These male historians have automatically assumed that art history is a history made by men. (Howells 60-61).
Actually, by the 1860s, commercial photography had become wellestablished in India and this growing market attracted several male photographers from the metropolis, whereas women had no professional access to the medium. Samuel Bourne, the young Nottingham photographer, who took thousands of pictures of landscapes and architectural views, should very deservedly be regarded as an example.14 Others could be mentioned, such as Herzog & Higgins, Shepherd & Robertson, etc. Yet, Bournes fame and the success of his studio rest primarily on the results of three arduous photographic expeditions undertaken to Kashmir and the Himalayas. My research at the India Office Library has given me the arguments to assert that British women photographers in India were mainly amateurs and generally excluded from the world of commerce.15 In fact, with the exception of Harriet C. Tytler16, many women participated in formally arranged and informal exchange clubs for photographers who made non-commercial images. (Marien 93). Commercial activities were male-dominated, but it is unquestionable that in India many English women had an important role to play in education, healthcare, missionary work and pleading on behalf of Indian women in general, as is proven by the visual documents available. Most of them were amazed by the cultural pluralism and cross-cultural identities, through which they greatly emphasised the exotic dimension. Yet, in the majority of cases, what is represented is a replica of British society as in
See, for example, Dhobis House and Tank, from Views of Calcutta and Barrackpore taken in the 1860s by Samuel Bourne. A view looking across the village tank (water reservoir) towards a group of dhobies (washermen and women), with a substantial mud-and-thatch hut beyond. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/d/019pho0000000 29u00036000.html (Accessed on 30.12.2009). 15 Amateur in this sense does not mean unskilled, but simply signifies that women made non-commercial images and exhibited them only in exchange clubs. 16 Harriet C. Tytler (1828-1907), married to a British officer in India, Robert Christopher Tytler (1818-1872), made about 300 photographs; she exhibited them in India and they can now be found at the India Office Library in London.
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A couple in the Punjab,17 Esme Hamiltons wedding to Captain MacRae18 or the photograph from the Ardag album.19 Unfortunately, behaving as the dutiful wife and mother was the only role assigned to the women of the Raj. And though this same social system which produced this ideology of domesticity, embraced and made vivid by millions of women, also generated the feminist revolt with a different set of definitions of womens possibilities and ambitions (Pollock 10), they were not able to give visibility to their own visual representations of India and thereby engage in this new field of cultural production. In this part of the world, Indira Ghose stresses, women were allowed to visit the harem, or zenana, a no-entry zone for male travellers (Ghose 10). Nevertheless, since photography was forbidden in those places, only their written accounts could be of interest to publishers. As a matter of fact, these documents show a certain ambivalence in the white womens ways of perceiving (seeing) and representing India, and as race provided them with the empowerment that they did not, in fact, have in the metropolis, many of them simply objectified their subjects.
After a long period during which India was seen as a diverse and multicultural society, the last ten years have emphasised an interest in the exotica, namely the ways in which India has been re-imagined. As Ghose points out, if subjectivity is accepted to be the site of different, contradictory identifications, however, there can be no coherent, authentic other but only a plurality of voices. (Ghose 146).
In Photography: A Cultural History, Mary Marien points out how difficult it is to study photography nowadays. Indeed, photography has expanded and is present all over our visual world. Yet, in the 19th-century, it already played a seminal role with its commercial and propagandistic uses, as photographers increasingly accompanied troops from the major powers, both to record military exploits and to picture foreign countries for audiences back home. (Marien 132). The events in India, in May 1857, which symbolised the beginning of the Indian Mutiny or the first war of independence (depending
A couple in the Punjab (c. 1885). Unknown photographer. India Office Library, London. 18 Esme Hamiltons wedding to Captain MacRae (March 1914). National Army Museum, London. 19 Thoby Prinsep, Lady Florence Streatfield, Mrs Prinsep and Colonel Ardagh in Calcutta. Ardagh Album, 1890. India Office Library, London.
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on whether one adopted an imperial or national perspective), were documented by many photographers, thus eventually shaping the imperial imagination for many years to come. Part of the portfolio of photographs taken by Major Robert Tytler and his wife Harriet deserve further research and are significant representations of those terrible moments they experienced.
Robert and Harriet Tytler (1858). General view of the ruins of the Residency Building at Lucknow.20
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http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/n/019pho000000032u000120 00.html (Accessed on 30.12.2009). General view of the ruins of the Residency at Lucknow, photographed by Robert and Harriet Tytler in 1858. The Residency Building, built c. 1800 for the British Resident in Lucknow, was a key site of the Siege of Lucknow during the Uprising of 1857. The Residency Complex was occupied by Sir Henry Lawrence (1806-1857), Chief Commissioner of Awadh at the outbreak of the Uprising. Approximately 3000 British inhabitants took refuge within the complex. The square tower on the right, partly in view, is the one in which Lawrence was wounded during the siege and defence of the Residency. He died shortly afterwards. The surviving ruins of the Residency convey the grandeur of the original structure and provide an insight into the events of 1857.
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Robert and Harriet Tytler (1858). Mosque on ridge of Delhi, held by the mutineers.21
As Gernsheim points out the most important contribution of photography as an art form lies () in its unique ability to chronicle life. Photography is the only language understood in all parts of the world, and, bridging all nations and cultures, it links the family of man. Independent of political influences where people are free it reflects truthfully life and events, allows us to share in the hopes and despair of others, and illuminates political and social conditions. (Gernsheim 229) As this paper is drawing to its close, I should just like to say that the idea for this paper first came to me from a series of readings I had undertaken on
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http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/n/019pho000000032u000040 00.html. (Accessed on 30.12.2009). General view of the mosque on the Delhi Ridge, a sharp outcrop north-west of the city, photographed by Robert and Harriet Tytler in 1858, in the aftermath of the Uprising of 1857. The Uprising lasted thirteen months, from the rising of Meerut on 10 May 1857 to the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. There were violent reprisals on both sides, focusing on the cities of Kaunpur, Lucknow and Delhi. The mosque shows evidence of bombardment which occurred during the Uprising of 1857. Part of the caption accompanying this photograph may be missing, and the last section should perhaps give the sense of ...in the foreground where the ground appears now to be levelled.
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British India, intertwined with some research periods at the British Library. The documents I had the opportunity of reading and seeing confirmed that the West and the East were viewed as two different entities, the former considering itself superior and, therefore, assigning itself its role as a civilising power. Thus, when the Anglicists decided to impose English as the official language, education became a means of domination and, consequently, of exclusion. In my opinion, photography has the unique ability to chronicle life. As such, this amounts to saying that observation means interaction. So, we have to recognise that, when considering the case of colonial India, we are faced with a gendered photography and what we analyse is tantamount to the viewpoint of the coloniser who contributed towards the construction of what he or she thought the real India was.
Bibliography
Coombes, Annie E. Museums and the Formation of National and Cultural Identities. Ed. Carbonell, Bettina Messias (2004). Museum Studies. An Anthology of Contexts. Oxford: Blackwell , 1998, 231-246. Cox, Julian and Colin Ford, (eds.). Julia Margaret Cameron. The Complete Photographs. Bradford, London: Thames & Hudson in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 2003. Debord, Guy. La Socit du Spectacle. Paris: Gallimard. Gernsheim, Helmut. Creative Photography, Aesthetic Trends 1839-1960. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Ghose, Indira. Women Travellers in Colonial India. The Power of the Female Gaze. New Delhi, Oxford: Oxford India Paperbacks, 2000. Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Oxford: Polity Press, 1993. Hall, Stuart. Minimal selves. Eds. Ann Gray and Jim McGuigan, (1993). Studying Culture. An Introductory Reader. London: Edward Arnold, 1987, 134-138. Howells, Richard. Visual Culture. Cambridge, Oxford (U.K.) and Malden (U.S.A.): Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Malafaia, Teresa de Atade. Olhares de Julia Cameron sobre o Ceilo. And gladly wolde (s)he lerne and gladly teche. Homenagem a Jlia Dias Ferreira. Lisboa: Org. Comisso Executiva do Departamento de Estudos Anglsticos da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, 2007, 589-598. Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A Cultural History. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2002/2006.
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Pinney, Christopher. Camera Indica: The Social Life of Indian Photographs. London, Chicago: Reaktion Books/ University of Chicago Press, 1997. Pollock, Griselda. Vision and Difference. London, New York: Routledge, 1-2, 10, 1998. Pomeroy, Jordana. Intrepid Women: Victorian Artists Travel. London: Ashgate, 2006. Ryan, James R. Picturing Empire. Photography and the Visualisation of the British Empire. London: Reaktion Books, 1997. Said, Edward. Orientalism. London: Vintage Books, 1978. Wolf, Sylvia. Julia Margaret Camerons Women. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1998.
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In the Canons Mouth: Shakespeare Wallah and the English book

Ana Cristina Mendes
In the Canons Mouth: Shakespeare Wallah and the English book
The distributed copies of the Bible, which even in translation remains the English book, are not read but willingly received to be sold or bartered, and to be used as waste or wrapping paper. Homi Bhabha 122
The Siege of Krishnapur, a pastiche Victorian novel (Binns 65) written by J. G. Farrell in 1973, depicts the siege of an imaginary Indian town during the Uprising of 1857 from the point of view of the British community occupying a secluded Victorian outpost. As the Uprising spreads across the subcontinent, in fictional Krishnapur, British officials disregard the rumours of civil unrest unfolding elsewhere. Until they inevitably find themselves under siege, the officials remain undaunted, counting on their military (and cultural) supremacy against an army of sepoys. As the novel reaches its epilogue, the narrator details how, when ammunition becomes too scarce to defend the besieged garrison, the British decide to make makeshift weapons out of the heads of electroplated statuettes of great men of literature, of Dr Johnson, of Molire, Keats, Voltaire, and, of course, Shakespeare (Farrell 16). The circumstances of the siege thus force the Collector, the owner of these statuettes, and the character who commands the British occupancy in the town and presides over the Krishnapur Poetry Society, to extend his belief in the civilising power of the European cultural heritage, epitomised by these great men of literature,
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to a confidence in the efficiency of the statuettes heads for serving as cannonballs:

Without a doubt the most effective missiles in this matter of improvised ammunition had been the heads of his [the Collectors] electro-metal figures. And of the heads, perhaps not surprisingly, the most effective of all had been Shakespeares; it had scythed its way through a whole astonished platoon of sepoys advancing in single file through the jungle. The Collector suspected that the Bards success in this respect might have a great deal to do with the ballistic advantages stemming from his baldness. The head of Keats, for example, wildly festooned with metal locks (...) had flown very erratically indeed, killing only a fat moneylender and a camel standing at some distance from the action. (304)
This passage from Farrells postmodern and postcolonial encounter with Victorian fiction deconstructs and satirically dramatises the assumption that English literature, with Shakespeare at its head, was instrumental to the exercise of imperial power. Following Homi Bhabhas theorisation of the English book as an insignia of colonial authority and a signifier of colonial desire and discipline (102), the Shakespearean text in particular was as much a sign taken for wonders as the Bible, in the sense that both were emblematic of those ideological correlatives of the Western sign empiricism, idealism, mimeticism, monoculturalism () that sustain a tradition of English cultural authority (105). Recent decades have witnessed an amplified interest in the colonial and postcolonial variations of the Bards texts. In this respect, studies by the critics Ania Loomba (1989), Jyotsna Singh (1989) and Nandi Bhatia (2004) on the intricacies of Shakespearean production in the subcontinent highlight the fact that, even if the English book remains a hallowed entity in postcolonial India, as Singh noted in 1989 (457), authority is never without ambiguity or double-edgedness. As Benita Parry phrases it, a textual insurrection against the discourse of colonial authority is located in the natives interrogation of the English book within the terms of their own system of cultural meanings (25); or, in Bhabhas own words, [t]o the extent to which discourse is a form of defensive warfare, then mimicry marks those moments of civil disobedience within the discipline of civility: signs of spectacular resistance (172). Indeed, Bhabhas pivotal and exhaustively rehearsed argument is that the English book, read as a fetishised sign that magnifies western hegemony, is paradoxically a marker of the colonial ambivalence that renders colonial discourse vulnerable to mimetic subversion.
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IN THE CANONS MOUTH: SHAKESPEARE WALLAH AND THE ENGLISH BOOK
In the study The Booker Prize and the Legacy of Empire (2002), Luke Strongman contends that Booker-winning novels reinvent, both individually and collectively, the colonial hangover in the aftermath of the British Empire by dealing with the emergence of hybrid cultural formations at a time of transition to a post-imperial stage.1 Even if [n]ot all the winning novels are actively engaged in de-scribing or dismantling of empire, Strongman argues that all are part of the after-text of empire (xii) and, in this sense, contribute to the constant reinterpretation of imperial legacies. The critic forcefully adds:
Commonwealth writers increasingly concern themselves with the re-inscription of new and hybridized identities, amalgamations of indigenous, colonial and postcolonial influences; the Booker has acknowledged the variety of those reinscriptions in the range of novels it has selected. () I argue that Booker novels collectively provide a form of reference to Britains postimperial, and the former Empires postcolonial, development, and that they are indexed to imperial development and crises of identity. (xii)
Not unrelatedly, the Merchant-Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah (1965), the focus of this essay, depicts the reception of the Bards texts in India after the end of the British Raj, and plays precisely on the idea of the fracturing of the English text as it is rearticulated in the cultural context of both post-imperial Britain and post-independence India. In this film, the representation of theatrical performances by a group of Shakespearean actors in India and of the unexpected (because unappreciative) audience responses to them allow for a refashioning of a monolithic colonial cultural heritage into a multilithic construct in a postcolonial setting. If critics have demonstrated the influence of Shakespeare (whose name is identified as being one and the same with high art and elite culture) on Bollywood cinema, the epitome of Indian popular culture, Shakespeare Wallah displays this productive tension in illuminating ways.
Grouping Booker prize-winning novels into categories such as Novels of the Raj and Postcolonial Pessimisms, Strongman charts an albeit ambivalent Orientalism and nostalgia for the Raj in novels such as Farrells The Siege of Krishnapur, Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas Heat and Dust (1975) and Paul Scotts Staying On (1977), disaffection and malaise in V.S. Naipauls In A Free State (1971), Nadine Gordimers The Conservationist (1974), J.M. Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K (1983), Keri Hulmes The Bone People (1985) and Peter Careys Oscar and Lucinda (1988), as well as post-imperial insularities or narratives of the Empires twilight in Kazuo Ishiguros The Remains of the Day (1989).
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To put Shakespeare Wallah into a nutshell, the film portrays the erosion of British cultural power at a particular point in time when the old order, the British Raj, overlaps with a new order, that of the aftermath of Indian independence. Some critics posit that the film is nostalgic for an empire in which Shakespeare performed a crucial role, given that the playwright was enlisted as an edifying agent in the educational system of the British Empire. Lubna Chaudhry and Saba Khattak contend that Shakespeare Wallah betrays an underlying nostalgia for the colonial period that makes the political stance represented in the film problematic (21). This essay is interested in the re-articulation (not without the internal contradictions and ambiguities noted by Chaudhry and Khattak) of the relationship between colonial cultural hierarchies, epitomised by Shakespeare, and peripheral subjects who perform back using alternative discursive practices in post-independence India. As such, this essay attempts a nuanced approach to Shakespeare Wallah, beyond binary oppositions, an approach which relies on the idea of transcultural negotiations and contestations, and is attentive to the ways through which the film appropriates the western canon and the Bards plays as productive sites of cultural conflict in a postcolonial milieu. Released in 1965 by the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory production team, with a screenplay by Ruth P. Jhabvala, Shakespeare Wallah is usually lauded for its attention to visual details, a characteristic we have come to associate with Merchant-Ivory heritage films. The film is loosely based on actor-manager Geoffrey Kendals diary of the tour across the country in 1947 of his troupe, Shakespeareana. Actually, the films casting relies heavily on performers from the Shakespeareana theatrical company Kendal and Laura Liddell, his wife, play the Buckinghams, the fictionalised version of themselves, while their daughter, Felicity, plays the character of Lizzie. Even though the Kendals triumphantly toured with Shakespeare productions in India for nearly two decades, Shakespeare Wallahs mostly British troupe, the Buckingham Players, are now facing difficulties prompted by the political transition. Independence, accompanied by the burgeoning popularity of the countrys film industry, has led to a change in taste among audiences who had previously received Shakespearean theatre (apparently) with excitement. As Tony, Mr. Buckingham, confides to Carla, his wife, We should have gone home in 47 when the others did. In the same vein, another character grumbles about how the Indians are insensitive to Shakespeares plays and
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react to their texts with complete disregard: Its not like the old days. What do these people know about our theatre? Shakespeare and all that? According to director James Ivory, the film was meant to be seen as a metaphor for the end of the British Raj (87). It should come as no surprise, then, that the adaptation of the Kendals experience was politicised: actual events were remade and the audience reception of plays performed by the Buckingham Players was deliberately represented as resistive and disruptive. The Indian response to Shakespeares plays after independence is thus reshaped in the text of the film by having the performances often interrupted. If, in Kendals autobiography/ /diary, Indians are depicted as the most rewarding audiences in the world (Kendal and Clovin 107), in the film, Buckingham rethinks his favourable opinion of them and laments the loss of the audiences that laughed at all the jokes, cried in all the right places. In Shakespeare Wallah, the cultural struggle between the former British colonisers and the newly independent subjects is framed from the outset as a clash between so-called high culture, exemplified by Shakespeares plays, and indigenous popular culture, typified by Bollywood films. In this context, Satyajit Rays involvement in the musical score of Merchant-Ivorys work is consistent with the Indian filmmakers recurrent sharp critiques of Bollywoods reliance on nonrealist and melodramatic codes of representation. Even though theatre and popular cinema are, to some extent, put into dialectical conflict in Shakespeare Wallah, the film is riddled with ambivalence in its questioning of the place of the privileged Shakespearean text in post-colonial Indian culture. Indeed, the film goes far beyond a sharp contrast between cultural matrices, or even between high culture and mass culture. Such ambiguity is embodied by the character of the young playboy, Sanju. During the film, Sanju is expected to choose between two women who act as representatives of antithetic media and cultures. He has long been romantically involved with the film star Manjula, but now he also feels drawn to Lizzie, the Buckinghams daughter. Clearly, Sanjus interest in Lizzie is related to both his reverence for the world of Shakespeare and his contempt for popular Bombay cinema. Shakespeare Wallah draws a line between the talented English actress and the Orientalist femme fatale. The latter, the calculating and seductive Manjula, is the personification, so the film seems to convey, of the crassness and debauchery of Indian mass culture. Her cultural upper hand and the indisputable star power she possesses as a Bollywood actress are overtly contrasted with the now
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retrograde Shakespearean troupe. Indeed, what the Buckingham Players struggle against is their ousting by popular Indian cinema, a displacement which Shakespeare Wallah satirises and exposes as a depressing, but still inevitable outcome of independence (Lanier 46). The film exacerbates the division between the Indian audiences and the British performers. Merchant-Ivorys cinematic text uses the device of textual juxtaposition, de-contextualising scenes from various Shakespearean plays in order to achieve an effect of narrative fracturing that amplifies the cultural demise of the British Empire (Kapadia 45). A particularly telling scene in this respect depicts the performance by the Shakespeareana of Desdemonas murder in Othello: Manjula, the Bollywood celebrity, in her efforts to deflect Sanjus attention away from Lizzie (who plays the role of Desdemona), arrives late, poses for pictures and gladly signs autographs, thus disrupting the English text. At this point, Buckingham loses control over the text by attempting to recoup the gaze of the audience: he steps out of his role as Othello and reproaches the audience for their distraction, trying somewhat pathetically to re-assert Shakespeares idealised authority in the early days of post-independence India (Wayne 98-100). Nonetheless, the lines of us and them, Bollywood and Shakespeare, are not as strictly drawn as this scene seems to suggest. The oppositions on which the film rests, as suggested by its title, between Shakespearean theatre and Indian cinema, high and low culture, British and Indian, are historically not as sharply differentiated as might at first appear. In fact, Shakespeare Wallah does not offer any easy solution to Sanjus split loyalties. Even if he is asked to choose between Lizzie and Manjula, he is ultimately unable to do so, given that he is constructed as an uneasy hybrid of eastern and western cultural identifications. While he is attracted to a foreign actress and her cultural heritage, he also inhabits the conflicting subject position of an Indian aware of the alien character of the British Raj.
Bibliography
Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994. Bhatia, Nandi. Acts of Authority / Acts of Resistance: Theatre and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial India. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. Binns, Ronald. J. G. Farrell. London: Methuen, 1986. Chaudhry, Lubna, and Saba Khattak. Images of White Women and Indian Nationalism:
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Ambivalent Representations in Shakespeare Wallah and Junoon. Gender and Culture in Literature and Film East and West: Issues of Perception and Interpretation. Eds. Nitaya Masavisut, George Simson, and Larry E. Smith. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1994. 19-25. Kapadia, Parmita. Shakespeare Transposed: the British Stage on the Post-Colonial Screen. Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television. Eds. James R. Keller and Leslie Stratyne. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2004. 42-56. Kendal, Geoffrey and Clare Colvin. The Shakespeare Wallah. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1986. Ivory, James. Savages, Shakespeare Wallah: Two Films by James Ivory. New York: Grove Press, 1973. Lanier, Douglas. Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture. New York: OUP, 2002. Loomba, Ania. Gender, Race, Renaissance Drama. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1989. Parry, Benita. Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique. Routledge: New York, 2004. Singh, Jyotsna. Different Shakespeares: The Bard in Colonial/Postcolonial India. Theatre Journal 41 (1989): 445-458. Strongman, Luke. The Booker Prize and the Legacy of Empire. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2002. Wayne, Valerie. Shakespeare Wallah and Colonial Specularity. Shakespeare, the Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and Video. Eds. Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt. London: Routledge, 1997. 95-102.
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Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions

Organizao J. Carlos Viana Ferreira Teresa de Atade Malafaia

THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions

Teresa de Atade Malafaia J. Carlos Viana Ferreira

Jos Duarte Maria Emlia Fonseca

Ins Mateus l [email protected]

The East Offering Her Riches to Britannia, East India House

Centro de Estudos Anglsticos da Universidade de Lisboa

978-972-8886-13-4 313 088/10

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Court of Directors of East India Company

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Henceforth On Liberty will be referred to as OL when used with quotations.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE. IDEOLOGY, PERSPECTIVES, PERCEPTIONS

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Ideology, Perspectives, Perceptions, Lisboa, 2010

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Fig. 1: John Dee (1527 1608)