Images of Ireland, 1170-1600: The Origins of English Imperialism
'Beyond the pale' - the imperialists' vision of the Irish as ignoble savages originated in the attitudes and writings of medieval Englishmen.
Implicit in the imperialism of the English is that attitude of mind which led Lord Rosebery, in 1893, to declare that it was 'our responsibility to see that the world should be made as Anglo-Saxon as possible'. Implicit also are the sorts of activity which went hand-in-hand with that attitude, in particular territorial expansion justified by an assumption of English cultural and moral superiority over those peoples whose lands were invaded and taken over.
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