Read the passage and answer the questions :
The emotional appeal of imperialism never completely stilled the British conscience. Homever, ** thinkers throughout the nineteenth century argued that democracy was incompatible with the maintenance of authoritarian rule over foreign people. To think imperially was to think in terms of restrictive and protective measures; in defiance of the revealed truths of classical economics. Thus, when the British government took over responsibility for India from the East India Company in 1858, many politicians were conscious of saddling Britain with a heavy burden. In the first seventy years of the nineteenth century, enlightened British liberals looked forward to the day when India would stand on its own feet. Even in the heyday of colonialism British *** continued to protest that self-proclaimed imperialists, however honourable their motives, would place fait accomply before the country and commit blunders of incalculable consequency.
Which class of the British society had a vested interest in imperial expansion ?
(a) middle class
(b) officer class
(c) labour class
(d) aristocracy
