GRANDE-BRETAGNE ET DOMINIONS BY
R.
COUPLAND,
W.
HlLL,
EvANS
LEWIN,
ET
A.
P.
NEWTON
A REVIEW OF THE MORE IMPORTANT BOOKS ON BRITISH COLONIAL HISTORY
I.
1.
INTRODUCTION
It might almost be said that British Colonial History is a product of the twentieth century. The publication of Seely's brilliant lectures in 1883 had created a new public interest in the history of the British Empire without attracting other historians to the intensive cultivation of the field. It was not till the closing years of the century that the opening volumes of G. 0. Trevelyan's American Revolution appeared and H. E. Egerton's Short History of British Colonial Policy revealed the range and interest of the historical materials awaiting fuller treatment. British Colonial History was still regarded not as a distinct branch of study, deeply interesting and highly instructive on its own account, but merely as a minor appendage to the history of England ; and the new methods of scientific research had left still almost untouched the rich 1. Excluding the works of Canadian historians which is treated separately.