Monday, April 18, 2022

Who said "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs"?

No, it wasn't Stalin. It was Joseph Chamberlain, the hero of Theresa May's right-hand man while she was prime minister, Nick Timothy.

In his speech to the annual dinner of the Royal Colonial Institute, "The true conception of empire", in London on 31 March 1897, Chamberlain said:

You cannot have omelettes without breaking eggs, you cannot destroy the practices of barbarism, of slavery, of superstition, which for centuries have desolated the interior of Africa, without the use of force; but if you will fairly contrast the gain to humanity with the price which we are bound to pay for it, I think you may well rejoice in the result of such expeditions as those which may have, and indeed have, cost valuable lives, but as to which we may rest assured that for one life lost a hundred will be gained, and the cause of civilisation and the prosperity of the people will in the long run be eminently advanced.

I wondered if I was being unfair to Chamberlain, but you will see that he was happy to contemplate taking human life for the greater good.

The Royal Colonial Institute, incidentally, was renamed The Royal Empire Society in 1928 and The Royal Commonwealth Society in 1958.

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3 comments:

  1. A Rambling Ducky18 April, 2022 19:00

    Campbell-Bannerman echoed Chamberlain's "practices of barbarism" in his "methods of barbarism" speech in 1901.

    One thing we must always remember about Chamberlain is that through the family firm Kynoch's he had a direct financial interest in military action - in the Boer War as well as supplying the British Army they sold 12 million rounds of rifle ammunition to the Boers.

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  2. Richard Barbrook29 April, 2022 00:22

    The link is broken. :-(

    Here's one that works: http://www.historymuse.net/readings/ChamberlainTRUECONCEPTIONOFEMPIRE1897.htm

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  3. Jonathan Calder29 April, 2022 21:12

    Thanks Richard, I have added the correct link.

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