This was only imperial cant to justify the rapaciousness of their exploits. Morality had no place when it came to decisions in the empire. Rather, it was profitability that held the golden key to all decision making. In this way, capitalism directed the foreign policy of empires, transmogrifying local populations and economies into cogs of an imperial mechanism. No, there is no evil emperor who through malicious conspiracy actively sought the oppression of the non-European world.
Empire is the foreign policy of the capitalist.
The same guises and mask seem to be employed today as they were years ago with the European imperial predecessors.