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A Connecticut Yankee in Saddam’s Court: Mark Twain on Benevolent Imperialism
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While the first interpretation has much textual evidence, later critics have
generally emphasized the anti-imperialist overtones in Connecticut Yankee. This trend has been based partly on textual evidence, and partly on Twain’s subsequent opposition to imperialist efforts in Africa, Asia, and the Philippines. On this second interpretation, Hank’s good intentions blind him to the intrinsic value and nobility of the society he so crudely tries to reshape. Far from being a book about the virtues of American democracy and capitalism, Connecticut Yankee is a veiled attack on Americans for their uncritical faith in their own system, and their exuberance in spreading their values overseas.
Twain was widely known for his castigation of American rule over the
Philippines, following the war with Spain; and of the race to divide Africa and Asia among the European powers. Joining the Anti-Imperialist League in 1900, he soon issued “A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth”:
I bring you the stately matron called CHRISTENDOM—returning bedraggled, besmirched and dishonored from pirate raids in Kiaochow, Manchuria, South Africa and the Philippines; with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her soap and a towel, but hide the looking-glass.
10
Twain argued that America’s actions with regard to the Philippines made her part of the “Society of Sceptred Thieves.” The “stupendous joke of the century” came when the United States paid twenty million dollars to Spain for islands it had just conquered, and to which Spain had no right in the first place—all for the sake of being recognized by Europe as a bona fide imperial power.
11
What made things worse was the method in
which American troops attempted to “pacify” the islands, in the face of Aguinaldo’s insurrection. Twain continually hammered General Frederick Funston, outraged at his treacherous method for capturing Emilio Aguinaldo, and at significant evidence that American soldiers were executing wounded prisoners.
12
Twain aimed plenty of shots at
European imperialists, as well. “The Czar’s Soliloquy” takes Nicolas II to task for his oppression of the Russian peasantry,
13
and Leopold II receives especial scorn in “King
Leopold’s Soliloquy” for his depredations in the Congo. Even Christian missionaries found themselves targeted by Twain for supposedly extorting punitive damages from the Chinese people.
14
Whereever Twain scented imperial designs, he quickly exposed them.
It is no surprise, then, that Twain has been invoked in recent months to decry
American involvement in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq. Mark Engler and Norman Solomon, for example, have both drawn close analogies between Iraq and Twain’s Philippines. Engler notes that
10
Mark Twain, “A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth,” New York
Herald, December 30, 1900.
11
Mark Twain, “The Society of Sceptred Thieves,” Baltimore News, May 10, 1907.
12
Mark Twain, “A Defence of General Funston,” North American Review, May 1902.
13
Mark Twain, “The Czar's Soliloquy,” North American Review, March 1905.
14
Mark Twain, “To My Missionary Critics,” North American Review, April 1901.
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While the first interpretation has much textual evidence, later critics have
generally emphasized the anti-imperialist overtones in Connecticut Yankee. This trend
has been based partly on textual evidence, and partly on Twain’s subsequent opposition
to imperialist efforts in Africa, Asia, and the Philippines. On this second interpretation,
Hank’s good intentions blind him to the intrinsic value and nobility of the society he so
crudely tries to reshape. Far from being a book about the virtues of American democracy
and capitalism, Connecticut Yankee is a veiled attack on Americans for their uncritical
faith in their own system, and their exuberance in spreading their values overseas.
Twain was widely known for his castigation of American rule over the
Philippines, following the war with Spain; and of the race to divide Africa and Asia
among the European powers. Joining the Anti-Imperialist League in 1900, he soon
issued “A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth”:
I bring you the stately matron called CHRISTENDOM—returning bedraggled,
besmirched and dishonored from pirate raids in Kiaochow, Manchuria, South
Africa and the Philippines; with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of
boodle and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her soap and a towel, but
hide the looking-glass.
Twain argued that America’s actions with regard to the Philippines made her part of the
“Society of Sceptred Thieves.” The “stupendous joke of the century” came when the
United States paid twenty million dollars to Spain for islands it had just conquered, and to
which Spain had no right in the first place—all for the sake of being recognized by
Europe as a bona fide imperial power.
What made things worse was the method in
which American troops attempted to “pacify” the islands, in the face of Aguinaldo’s
insurrection. Twain continually hammered General Frederick Funston, outraged at his
treacherous method for capturing Emilio Aguinaldo, and at significant evidence that
American soldiers were executing wounded prisoners.
Twain aimed plenty of shots at
European imperialists, as well. “The Czar’s Soliloquy” takes Nicolas II to task for his
oppression of the Russian peasantry,
and Leopold II receives especial scorn in “King
Leopold’s Soliloquy” for his depredations in the Congo. Even Christian missionaries
found themselves targeted by Twain for supposedly extorting punitive damages from the
Chinese people.
Whereever Twain scented imperial designs, he quickly exposed them.
It is no surprise, then, that Twain has been invoked in recent months to decry
American involvement in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq. Mark Engler and Norman
Solomon, for example, have both drawn close analogies between Iraq and Twain’s
Philippines. Engler notes that
10
Mark Twain, “A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth,” New York
Herald, December 30, 1900.
11
Mark Twain, “The Society of Sceptred Thieves,” Baltimore News, May 10, 1907.
12
Mark Twain, “A Defence of General Funston,” North American Review, May 1902.
13
Mark Twain, “The Czar's Soliloquy,” North American Review, March 1905.
14
Mark Twain, “To My Missionary Critics,” North American Review, April 1901.
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