This study of the rise of free trade imperialism grew out of two previous studies of later periods in the history of England, in which, as in this effort, the themes of empire-building and the threat of revolution come together. In this work, I have attempted to uncover certain of the intellectual origins of the ‘imperialism’—indeed, of the two ‘imperialisms’—of the ‘classic period’, with which I have dealt in my first book, as well as the sources from which later theories of imperialism were constructed; I also wished to consider from a different perspective the character of the ‘ideology’ which underlay the dismantling of the old colonial system, and the construction of the Victorian Pax Britannica, which formed the background of my second book. The present study discusses the development and diffusion of a number of the central arguments of the ‘science’ of political economy—from the standpoint of a historian rather than an economist—which were crucial not only to the construction of theories of capitalist imperialism, but also served as a spur both to the efforts at colonization, and to those of establishing a British Workshop of the World, during the period considered in this study and afterward.

This book has been a long time in the making, and I should like to acknowledge the help of a number of people who read drafts, in whole or in part, in various stages, or with whom I spoke about its ideas.