Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

136 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

ABELINCOLN'SLASTCARD;OR,ROUGE-ET-N01R

Thesharedheritageofthe"nonconformistconscience"intheU.S.and

Britainhasnotalwaysbroughtthetwocountriesclosertogether.As

this 1862 PunchmagazinecartoonbySirJohnTenniel(themost

famousBritishpoliticalcartoonistofhistime,chieflyremembered

todayastheillustratorofLewisCarroll'sAliceinWonderland)reminds

us,manyidealisticBritonssympathizedwiththeConfederacy,believ-

ingthatSouthernwhitesshouldhavetherightofself-determination.

TheEmancipationProclamationisshownhereasthelast,desperate

throwofa losinggambler(playingagainstJeffersonDavis).

SirJohnTenniel.LibraryofCongress,PrintsandPhotographsDivision,LC-USZ62-1973

sciousnessandnationalismamongtheEmpire'sthirdworldsubjects,and
ignoringtheimpactoftherise ofotherindustrialpowersonBritain's
relativeeconomicandmilitarypower,wentsofarastoblameLiberal
wimpishnessforthefalloftheEmpire.Churchill,forone,wasconvinced
thata showofdeterminationwouldhavecrushedGandhi'smovement
andcementedBritain'sholdovertheIndian subcontinent.
TheEmpireisgone,buttheBritishLiberalconscienceisstillondis-
playtoday.PrimeMinisterTonyBlairwasthesolestronganduncondi-
tionaladvocateoftheuse ofgroundtroopsinthe 1999 warbetween
YugoslaviaandNATO.MorebroadlythenewLabourgovernmenthehas