The reluctant obedience of distant provinces generally costs more than it The Territory is worth. Empires which branch out widely are often more flourishing for a little timely pruning. – Thomas Babington Macaulay

We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind. – Sir John Robert Seeley

If Germany is to become a colonizing power, all I say is, God speed her! She becomes our ally and partner in the execution of the great purposes of Providence for the advantage of mankind. – William Ewart Gladstone