The City of London Rallied Around Macdonaldian Canada, but the (Classical) Liberals John Bright and Richard Cobden Advocated a "Little England" Position to Challenge State Cronyism and the Military Expenses of Colonies

Investment capital poured into the colony because it was British enough to seem as safe as Britain itself for investors but with the higher returns commonly found outside Britain. But the more that the City of London rallied around Macdonaldian Canada, the more the City's British enemies gravitated to the attack. Liberals John Bright and Richard Cobden advocated an anti-imperial "Little England" position because colonies augmented military expenses and state cronyism. For British fiscal hawks, Macdonaldian governance did not just exemplify the problem; it exacerbated it in Britain.

--E.A. Heaman, Tax, Order, and Good Government: A New Political History of Canada, 1867-1917, Carleton Library Series 240 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017), 24