EUROPEAN EXPANSION AND WORLD POLITICS 
” 
This development has been accompanied in nearly every 
state by a growth in the power of the Federal or Central 
authority and by a thorough organization of the work of the 
executive. Within the United States, where the labors 
of the cabinet departments have been so carefully and sys- 
tematically developed, the Federal Government has been 
steadily taking unto itself duties and responsibilities of 
which none would have dreamed fifty years ago. In Ger- 
many the Imperial Government had increased steadily in 
strength since its organization in 1871, while its ruler had 
elaborated his theory of divine right. In France the growth 
of the Central Government in power and efficiency had been 
steady, until French premiers and cabinets were able to direct 
the affairs of state with a firmness and decision unknown in 
the days of Guizot and Thiers. And in England the strength 
of the cabinet, which became a fixture under Queen Victoria, 
had increased until it secured a control over the House of 
Lords nearly equal to that which it enjoys in the House of 
Commons. 
Equally important changes were taking place in the colo- 
nial activities of European states, as well as in their general 
attitude towards colonization. By 1830 the old “mercantile 
system” had served its day; and the powers realized that 
colonial monopolies and the uncontrolled rule of governors 
from the home country were no longer an unmixed blessing, 
either for the colonies or for the mother country. Great 
Britain — the greatest of the colonial states — was the first 
to move; and between 1830 and 1860 a complete reversal 
of her whole colonial policy took place. The adoption of the 
free-trade policy at home brought about the emancipation 
of the colonies, and was the source of as much benefit abroad 
as it was to the British Isles themselves. This was accom- 
panied, through the influence of Mr. Wakefield and of the 
Colonization Society founded in 1830, by the granting of