The British Splendid Isolation
Splendid Isolation is a popular conception of the foreign policy pursued by Britain during the late 19th century, under the Conservative premierships of Benjamin Disraeli and the Marquess of Salisbury. The term was actually coined by a
Canadian politician to praise
Britain's lack of involvement in European affairs. There has been much debate between historians over whether this policy was intentional or whether Britain was simply forced into the position by contemporary events. Some historians, such as John Charmley, have argued that Splendid Isolation was a fiction for the period prior to the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1892, and only something forced on them against their will following it. [1] Origin of the phrase As descriptive of British foreign policy, the phrase was most famously used by Lord Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, during a speech at Lewes , Sussex, on 26 February 1896, when he said: "We have stood here alone in what is called isolation – our splendid isolation, as one of our colonial friends was good enough to call it." The phrase had appeared in a headline in The Times a few weeks earlier, on 22 January 1896, paraphrasing a comment by Canadian
Finance Minister George Eulas Foster (1847–1931) to the Parliament of Canada on 16 January 1896: "In these somewhat troublesome days when the great Mother
Empire stands splendidly isolated in Europe..." The ultimate origin of the phrase is suggested in Robert
M. Hamilton's Canadian
Quotations and Phrases:
Literary and Historical (Hull,
Que.: McClelland and Stewart, 1952), which places the Foster quotation beneath the following passage from the
Introduction to Robert
Cooney's Compendious
History of New Brunswick, published in 1832: "Never did the 'Empress Island' appear so magnificently grand, – she stood by herself, and there was a peculiar splendour in the loneliness of her glory." Foster began his career as an educator in New Brunswick , [2] where he would
Canadian politician to praise
Britain's lack of involvement in European affairs. There has been much debate between historians over whether this policy was intentional or whether Britain was simply forced into the position by contemporary events. Some historians, such as John Charmley, have argued that Splendid Isolation was a fiction for the period prior to the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1892, and only something forced on them against their will following it. [1] Origin of the phrase As descriptive of British foreign policy, the phrase was most famously used by Lord Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, during a speech at Lewes , Sussex, on 26 February 1896, when he said: "We have stood here alone in what is called isolation – our splendid isolation, as one of our colonial friends was good enough to call it." The phrase had appeared in a headline in The Times a few weeks earlier, on 22 January 1896, paraphrasing a comment by Canadian
Finance Minister George Eulas Foster (1847–1931) to the Parliament of Canada on 16 January 1896: "In these somewhat troublesome days when the great Mother
Empire stands splendidly isolated in Europe..." The ultimate origin of the phrase is suggested in Robert
M. Hamilton's Canadian
Quotations and Phrases:
Literary and Historical (Hull,
Que.: McClelland and Stewart, 1952), which places the Foster quotation beneath the following passage from the
Introduction to Robert
Cooney's Compendious
History of New Brunswick, published in 1832: "Never did the 'Empress Island' appear so magnificently grand, – she stood by herself, and there was a peculiar splendour in the loneliness of her glory." Foster began his career as an educator in New Brunswick , [2] where he would