Comment by flir
20 days ago
One could argue that they privatized the profits and socialized the costs. The costs being the army, navy and to a lesser extent an army of colonial administrators. You can see a similar shape in the decision to end slavery in 1833 by, essentially, buying it out. The money for that buyout had to come from somewhere.
(I'm not a historian, I've no idea how well this idea would stand up to scrutiny).
You seem to be implying that the landed gentry financially benefited from the Empire?
Mammon and the Pursuit of Empire by Lance E. Davis and Robert A. Huttenback.
But like I said, I'm not a historian.