The Sun Ever Sets on the British Empire Like the U.S., nations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe celebrate ‘British Leaving Day.’by Walter Russell Mead
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sun-ever-sets-on-the-british-empire-11594076187?mod=opinion_lead_pos9
Sometimes life throws you a metaphor. As my neighbors and I stood, masked and socially distanced, to watch Washington’s fireworks Saturday, a thick plume of smoke spread from the staging area to obscure part of the display. Similarly, the doom and gloom hanging over American life this year clouded but didn’t quite kill the joy of the most glorious day in our civic calendar. Even in a bad year, independence is good.
Nothing is more American than Independence Day, yet from a broader perspective, the Fourth of July is merely our local version of the world’s most widespread political festival. Think of it as British Leaving Day, a holiday celebrated from Ireland to Brunei. In some places it celebrates the happy day when the Brits, civil and well-intentioned though they may be, finally packed it in and went home. In Trinidad, Tonga and Tanzania it’s one of the highlights of the year.
In other places, as in the U.S., it isn’t the day they hauled down the Union Jack and sailed away. For us, and for the Irish (who celebrate the 1916 Easter Rising), it’s the day when the colonial rulers got served an eviction notice that, after some unpleasantness and delay, they eventually obeyed.
Our forebears were so glad to see the backs of the British that some localities had British Leaving Days of their own. Boston and New York held Evacuation Day celebrations into the 20th century on the dates the British fleet left their harbors, March 17 and Nov. 25, respectively. Before the Civil War, New Orleans celebrated the anniversary of Andrew Jackson’s defeat of the British invaders on Jan. 8, 1815.
World-wide, British Leaving Day is never out of season. From Jan. 4 (Burma) to Dec. 16 (Bahrain), it occurs somewhere in every month of the year. In Kenya, British Leaving Day falls on Dec. 12. It’s Aug. 6 in Jamaica. In Belize, Sept. 21 is the climax of 10 days of national celebration and carnival. The British Raj in India came to an end at midnight on Aug. 15, 1947; Pakistan celebrates a day earlier. It’s Oct. 10 in Fiji.
The British were efficient and benign, as imperialists go, and their departure didn’t always lead to improvements. In many cases, the governments that followed the British were ineffective or worse. Naive new rulers obsessed by crackpot (often socialist) economic theories wasted scarce resources in poorly designed, poorly administered development schemes. In some countries, corruption became a way of life. In others, the parliamentary systems the British left behind succumbed to military rule. In some, tribal, ethnic and religious rivalries led to civil wars and dictatorships.
Yet for all the incompetence and corruption, nobody rejoined the British Empire. Hong Kong people may be feeling more than a little nostalgic this week, but independent peoples have managed to keep their longing for restored colonial rule well in check. Incorruptible British civil servants and impeccably educated British technocrats are all very well, but people seem to like ruling themselves even if they don’t do it in the British way.
There is a lesson here for those who assume that bad experiences with populism must sooner or later lead voters back to the elites. Populism, whether from the left or from the right, and anticolonialism are strikingly similar. Overwhelming majorities of people all over the world would rather be indifferently or even badly governed by people who speak their language, understand their cultural traditions, and share their religious beliefs than by alien overlords, even if they are well-behaved, incorruptible technocrats from the finest schools.
British Leaving Day isn’t only a time to celebrate. It is also a time to think. People often want to govern themselves more than they want to be well-governed, but without good government no people can thrive for long.
The rise of populism in so many countries today highlights an alienation between leaders and led that’s comparable in some ways to the gap that once existed between the British and the peoples they ruled. The enduring global popularity of British Leaving Day suggests that the gap won’t be closed by a chastened, forelock-tugging populace begging its erstwhile rulers to forgive its temerity and restore their benevolent guidance.
Americans were lucky. The leaders of our Brits Out movement were statesmen, not demagogues. In these days of panic and pandering from political, corporate, intellectual and media leaders, it is tempting to despair that our luck has run out. But the Fourth of July is still worth celebrating.
America’s mix of democratic self-governance, religious and social tolerance, and economic freedom has built the wealthiest and most powerful country in world history. Though Americans are arguing today, as we have throughout our history, about the meaning of our system and how to preserve it, a large majority wants to improve the American system rather than burn it down.
In America, British Leaving Day isn’t only about sending the Redcoats home; it is about celebrating what we accomplished after they left. There is much still to be done to fulfill the ideals Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration expressed; may each succeeding Fourth find us that much closer to realizing the American Dream. Independence is a great and good thing whether or not we have the sense to use it well.
Comments are closed.
