Source a
9th jan. 1896. the german emperor has telegraphed his congratulations to kruger [the leader of a group of anti-british rebels], and this seems to have produced great anger in england. we [the british] have now managed in the last six months to quarrel violently with china, turkey, belgium, ashanti, france, venezuela, america, and germany. this is a record performance, and if it does not break up the british empire nothing will. for myself i am glad of it all, for the british empire is the greatest engine of evil for the weak races now existing in the world — not that we are worse than the french or italians or americans — indeed, we are less actively destructive — but we do it over a far wider area and more successfully. i should be delighted to see england stripped of her whole foreign possessions. we are better off and more respected in queen elizabeth's time, the "spacious days," when we had not a stick of territory outside the british islands, than now, and infinitely more respectable. the gangrene of colonial rowdyism is infecting us, and the habit of repressing liberty in weak nations is endangering our own. i should be glad to see the end. . 2
source b
it is sufficient to reiterate here that, as long as our [british] policy is one of free trade, we are compelled to seek new markets; for old ones are being closed to us by hostile tariffs, and our great dependencies, which formerly were the consumers of our goods, are now becoming our commercial rivals. it is inherent in a great colonial and commercial empire like ours that we go forward or go backward. to allow other nations to develop new fields, and to refuse to do so ourselves, is to go backward; and this is the more deplorable, seeing that we have proved ourselves notably capable of dealing with native races and of developing new countries at a less expense than other nations. we owe to the instincts of colonial expansion of our ancestors those vast and noble dependencies which are our pride and the outlets of our trade today; and we are accountable to posterity that opportunities which now present themselves of extending the sphere of our industrial enterprise are not neglected, for the opportunities now offered will never recur again. 3
a. they disagree about whether the british empire is more successful than other historical empires. b. they disagree about whether to build the british empire quickly or slowly. c. they disagree about whether to expand the british empire or end it. d. they disagree about whether great britain has a moral duty to protect the people living in the colonie