William Morris Quotes
Look how the whole capitalist world is stretching out long arms towards the barbarous world and grabbing and clutching in eager competition at countries whose inhabitants don't want them; nay, in many cases, would rather die in battle, like the valiant men they are, than have them
At the time, many of the European powers were seizing African and Asian colonies.
William Morris, 1834-1896, English Craftsman, Designer, Writer, Typographer, and Political Philosopher, Justice, May 1, 1896
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Hobson, like Mark Twain in America, was a major critic of imperialism.
When the British first colonized South Africa, the area they used was not inhabited or very sparcely so. However, some Black tribes (including the Zulus) were moving from the north and themselves were colonizing or annexing the sparcely populated areas to their kingdom. The British were most interested in Trading so did not have large land asperations. The Dutch white Boer Africanners, in contrast, wanted to farm the lands and use the range for their cattle. They wanted the land. The English policy was that there would be friendly relations with the Black tribes surrounding their Cape Colony and no one should take their land. However the Boers started attacking the Black areas and seizing their farms and villages. At first, the English assumed that the Blacks would easily be able to ward off the invasion as the Afrikanners had no professional troops like the British. However, the neighboring native tribes were not very warlike or good fighters. They were being overrun by the Zulus coming from the North and the Boers from the South. The British Government had a real problem in that they would have to have British soldiers fight the white Afrikanners if they wanted to stop the illegal white invasions. This was the root of the Boer War where the British would be fully at war with the Africanners.
The speech was never actually delivered, but instead the Bishop published it. It received wide distribution including in America where it was published by the Maryland Gazette on September 29, 1774.
There had been an era whereby the French military had conquered much of Africa without the approval of the civilian authorities.
The word, “filibusters” is a noun referring to irregular mercenaries. The term took on a more specific meaning in Parker’s day. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the term as “Americans engaged in stirring up rebellions in Latin America in the mid-19th century.” This is the meaning in the Parker quotation.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Elizabeth Kangshu Chow
Executed by the English for his part in the Easter Uprising. He was criticizing his fellow Irish. During the English conquest, Gaelic was often prohibited and almost totally disappeared. Since independence there have been various movements to revitalize the old Gaelic language but this have not gotten very far.
William Morris was a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he helped win acceptance of socialism in fin de siècle Great Britain.
