# The Colonial Policy

> Gentlemen, we must speak more loudly and more honestly! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races ....

> I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races .... In the history of earlier centuries these duties, gentlemen, have often been misunderstood (…) But, in our time, I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty.

> ... this policy of colonial expansion was inspired by... the fact that a navy such as ours cannot do without safe harbors, defenses, supply centers on the high seas ....

> ... the need to have places of supply, shelters, ports for defense and provisioning.... And that is why we needed Tunisia; that is why we needed Saigon and Indochina; that is why we need Madagascar...

> Jules Ferry,1884From Jules François Camille Ferry, "Speech Before the French Chamber of Deputies, March 28, 1884," Discours et Opinions de Jules Ferry, ed. Paul Robiquet (Paris: Armand Colin & Cie., 1897)Translated by Ruth Kleinman in Brooklyn College Core Four Sourcebook

French statesman promoter of colonial expansion

# Think About It

- Here you have an extract of one of the most famous speeches in the 19th century supporting imperialism.
- Which kind of arguments does Ferry use to defend colonial expansion?

# Feedback

racist ideas: the right and the duty to civilize the inferior races.

the need to have starategic points for the navy

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 4.0