Although Rudyard Kipling was not the first Englishman to use the phrase: 'carrying the white man's burden," Kipling was one of the most eloquent British spokesmen in defense of the British Empire. Kipling is now regarded an apologist for the British Empire. He advocated the idea that colonization was a benefit to the "new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child" of Africa and Asia. Kipling stated in no uncertain terms that the West was a civilizing influence upon backward, inferior cultures that would be locked in previous stages of human development, were it not for imperialism. The West would "veil the threat of terror" of savage native leaders through its benevolent governing, selflessly fight "savage wars of peace" against oppressive native rulers, and finally "fill full the mouth of Famine/And bid the sickness cease."
             According to Kipling, the act of colonialization was not primarily done for the benefit of the colonizers (the fact that they would economically benefit from the ivory trade or creating markets for surplus goods to exports goes unnoticed in the poem), hence the idea of the burden to bring civilization to the non-white peoples of the world. Rather, colonization would benefit the colonized, even more than the colonizer. Joseph Conrad took a far more negative view of the impact of colonization upon the colonizing nation in his novel The Heart of Darkness. Conrad takes a similarly negative view of the ability of native peoples to govern their own lands, echoing Kipling's ideas. However, rather than fostering the desire of native persons for good, that is a white and colonizing government, the tribes eagerly embrace the godlike Kurtz as their leader and Kurtz styles himself as a new native chief. In other words, the white man's burden is truly a burden, because it infects members of the Mother Country with native influence.
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