Rule, Britannia! is not a celebration of imperialism. It’s too early. But its celebration of national identity has a political theme. It was first performed in 1740 at Cliveden, Buckinghamshire, the home of the Prince of Wales, for a masque based on the life of King Alfred.
The Anglo-Saxon king was invoked by the Patriot Opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, in effect Britain’s first prime minister, and George II, Prince Frederick’s father. Walpole sought peace with Europe even at the cost of Britain’s commercial ambitions and only reluctantly declared war on Spain in 1739. To the opposition, Frederick was the model for a future king.
When Britain first, at heaven’s command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land . . .
By referring to the azure main, the lyrics emphasise Britain’s pre-eminent role as a naval power. It is this link between the sea and national territory on land that distinguishes Britain from other empires, and its exceptionalism is determined by a deliberate decision of divine favour.
The nations not so blest as thee Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall, While thou shalt flourish great and free
Continuing the theme of British distinctiveness, the ode stresses heavenly blessings and liberty. It’s an allusion to Protestantism, as opposed to Catholic Europe, and to the curbing of royal powers leading to the Bill of Rights of 1689, in contrast to French and Spanish absolutism.
Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful from each foreign stroke . . .
Everyone in the initial audience will have known what the foreign strokes were: the supposed humiliations imposed by Spanish vessels on Britain’s merchant shipping in the Caribbean. It was a commercial dispute in which Spain believed it was cutting off illegal trade with its colonies, whereas Britain saw the matter in loftier terms of the freedom of navigation.
Thee haughty tyrants ne’er shall tame; All their attempts to bend thee down Will but arouse thy generous flame . . .
Once you grasp the import of the preceding stanza, this becomes a little overblown. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht had put Britain in a commanding trading position, not least in acquiring Gibraltar. The Patriot Opposition laments that Walpole’s strategy has caused this power to diminish.
The Muses, still with freedom found, Shall to thy happy coasts repair. Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned, And manly hearts to guard the fair.
In the Battle of Portobello of 1739, British ships claimed victory. The commander, Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon, became a hero and the manly heart the audience would be recalling was bound to be his. The war became a disaster.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
The conclusion alludes to a complaint that Spanish traders had kept seized British sailors in conditions akin to slavery. The conflict begun in 1739 was known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear, after Captain Robert Jenkins had his ear cut off by Spaniards for illegal trading. Note it is “rule” rather than “rules”. Britain does not have an empire. That will come later.