The British Empire

A world map, highlighting the British Empire as of 1886. The map was sponsored by the Imperial Federation League. The League, founded in 1884, sought to create a unified federation government amongst the colonies of the British Empire, rather than the individual colonized governments of British imperialism. Despite some support, the movement failed to gain real traction for the most part, and seriously declined with World War I.  Source

A key outpost of British Imperialism was India, which came by British hands by the spice trading endeavors British East India Company, whose coat of arms can be seen above. Source

The following is an excerpt from an 1858 article on the end of the East India Company's  powerful influence on Indian affairs. It comes from the British magazine Bentley's Miscellany.

  "We had confidently believed, from certain semi-official announcements in the columns of the leading journal of the day, that the Queen's speech on the opening of the session would have announced, in clear and unequivocal language, the impending fall of the double government for India, and the consequent extinction of the East India Company. The document which is supposed to dimly reveal the ministerial future, and set forth the programme of the parliamentary year, disclosed, however very little of the policy of the government on this vital and absorbing subject. It is now understood that considerable difference of opinion for some time existed in the cabinet on the form which was to be given to our future administration of India. A sufficient degree of unanimity appears to have been subsequently attained to enable the government to give formal notice to the Court of Directors of the intention of the ministry to bring in a bill for the extinction of their functions; but nothing more definite can be inferred from what has already been done, and it is questionable whether the administration is even yet agreed upon the principles of a measure which must, before long, excite very general discussion. The reconstruction of the Indian government will soon form the subject of earnest debate, and, doubtless, of practical legislation, and it is one that will tax to the utmost the patience and wisdom of parliament. Let it not, however, be forgotten, that while the British arms are employed in reasserting our supremacy in the plains and cities of Hindostan, a work of equal urgency and importance is to be done at home. We have to watch the development, sift the principles, and, scrutinise the details of this forthcoming measure, which may be destined to work immense changes both in India and England—to prevent, by the exercise of free discussion, a scheme framed for the better government of our great dependency from becoming a mere bureaucratic institution, and to guard against such a deviation from a noble plan of political improvement as shall convert the intended erection into a colossal edifice of parliamentary jobbery and corruption. We propose, therefore, to consider the present position of the question; but we must, in the first place, briefly pass in review a few of the changes which the government of India has undergone, from our first connexion with it as simple traders until the final consolidation of its wide-spread and magnificent territories under the imperial say or protection of Great Britain.

The East India Company is, or rather was, an anomaly without a parallel in the history of the world. It originated from sub-scriptions, trifling in amount, of a few private individuals. It gradually became a commercial body with gigantic resources, and by the force of unforeseen circumstances assumed the form of a sovereign power, while those by whom its affairs were directed continued, in their individual capacities, to be without power or political influence. This extraordinary commercial body was first formed in London in 1599. In the following year it [111/112] obtained a charter from the Crown, and was formed into a corporation for fifteen years under the title of "The Governor and Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies." The clear profits of the trade were said to have reached, in a few years, from 100 to 200 per cent. In 1611 the Company obtained permission from the Mogul to establish factories on several parts of the coast of India, in consideration of a moderate export duty upon its shipments. The success of its commerce was so great, that its capital was from time to time augmented, and its exclusive privileges renewed, for which the state received due equivalents in the shape of large pecuniary payments and loans without interest, and many leading statesmen, it is believed, more direct advantages. A Duke of Leeds, who was charged in the reign of Charles II with receiving five thousand pounds from the Company, was impeached by the House of Commons, and it is said that the prorogation of parliament, which occurred immediately afterwards, was caused by the tracing of the sum of ten thousand pounds to a much higher quarter." Source

Soldiers in the British Indian Army, 1895. 

British authority in India did not come without its opponents. The results of an 1857 Indian rebellion are discussed in the following by Professor Peter Marshall:

"After the rebellion had been put down, the new royal government of India that replaced that of the East India Company promised that it had no intention of imposing 'our convictions on any of our subjects'. It distanced itself further from the Christian missionaries. A stop was put to the deposing of princes, and greater care was shown to the rights of landlords. The major part of the army was in future to be drawn from so-called 'martial races'. The huge parades, or durbars, at which the new empress of India received the allegiance of the hierarchies of traditional India through her viceroy, seemed to symbolise the new conservatism of the regime." Source 

A political cartoon from 1878 illustrating what's known as the Great Game, the struggle for Afghanistan and other territory in Central Asia between the British and the Russians. In the cartoon we see the Russian bear and the British lion ready to pounce from either on the Afghan leader Sher Ali Khan. The caption satirizes the claims of both sides that they were truly his friends. Source

Another political cartoon, this one depicting John Bull, equivalent to our American Uncle Sam character, along with the second character in the back representing the French's attempts to keep hold on Egypt. The text reads "'Hold on!' 'An allegory on the banks of the Nile.'" Source

A well-known 1888 political cartoon with John Bull  as an octopus, almost over extending himself by laying claim to too many colonial territories and about to place another arm on Egypt. Source

For an modern satirical look back on the British Empire, let's look to Caryl Churchill's weirdly awesome play Cloud 9. The first act takes place in British Colonial Africa. Clive is a colonial administrator, Joshua is a servant of his family. The character of Joshua is black, but, ironically, the actor playing Joshua is meant to be white. 

ALL (sing).  Come gather, sons of England, come gather in your pride. 

Now meet the world united, now face it side by side;

Ye who the earth's wide corners, from veldt to prarie, roam.

From bush and jungle muster all who call old England 'home'.

Then gather round for England,

Rally to the flag,

From North and South and East and West 

Come one and all for England!

CLIVE.  This is my family. Though far from home

We serve the Queen wherever we may roam.

I am a father to the natives here,

And father to my family so dear.

My boy's a jewel. Really has the knack.

You'd hardly notice that the fellow's black.

JOSHUA. (black servant, played by a  white) My skin is black but oh my soul is white.

I hate my tribe. My master is my light.

I only live for him. As you can see,

What white men want is what I want to be.

Churchill, Caryl. Cloud 9. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2010. Print