0 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
confidence in the policy of responsible government. Lord 
Blachford, who was a leading factor in directing the colonial 
policy from 1860 to 1870, wrote, “I have always believed 
— and the belief has so confirmed and consolidated itself 
that I can hardly realize the possibility of any one seriously 
thinking the contrary — that the destiny of our Colonies is 
independence; and that in this point of view the function 
of the Colonial Office is to secure that our connection, while 
it lasts, shall be as profitable as possible.” 
Some acquisitions, like New Zealand in 1840, Natal in 
1843, the Transvaal in 1852, Basutoland in 1871, and the 
Fiji Islands in 1874, were forced upon Great Britain by 
unexpected and serious developments. But in no case was 
the extension of territory due to any preconceived policy of 
expansion. The almost universal sentiment of the British 
statesmen was that none of the new acquisitions would in 
any way fairly compensate the Home Government for the 
expense and trouble of caring for them. It was felt that 
there should be no further expansion except through com- 
mercial enterprises. By 1860 Parliament had entered upon 
a policy of retrenchment; and in 1865 a Committee of the 
House of Commons composed of Cardwell, C. Fortescue, 
Lord Stanley, Adderley, and W. E. Forster, recommended 
that any further extension of territory was inexpedient and 
that England should withdraw as rapidly as possible from 
all her holdings on the west coast of Africa, except Sierra 
Leone. 
Moreover, Great Britain was too poor to embark seriously 
upon great colonial undertakings. In the majority of cases 
where she was compelled by force of circumstances to take 
over new lands, financial reasons forced her to entrust the 
development and control of those countries to commercial 
companies, such as the New Zealand Company from 1835 
to 1850, the South Australian Company from 1835, and the