This book brings two lines of investigation together. One investigation is into what might be called the decline and fall of the British empire. The book seeks to analyse the nature of Britain's influence in the world at the height of its power in the nineteenth century and the reasons for its decline. It is particularly concerned with the attitudes that Britain developed, which affected its approach to the interests of other powers and to the emergence of nationalism. The other investigation the book undertakes is into the policies the British adopted in South-East Asia from the late eighteenth century onwards. Most historians of the British empire have concentrated on India, Africa, or the settler dominions. The author aims to bring South-East Asia into that discourse, and he believes that doing so will also make for a fuller understanding of the emergence of new South-East Asian states in the twentieth century. The book will be of interest to historians of the British empire and South-East Asia. More generally it may also interest students of imperialism and world politics.