The old British Empire was hardly a an exemplar of free market economics. There were many independent companies but there were also chartered monopolies and price controls. We take basic economics for granted today but back then many leaders literally didn't understand the basics of how it worked.

Many people don’t realise that Adam Smith’s most famous work was a criticism of the prevailing economic policies of the era.

The government that governs best governs least.

Sounds like at least a modicum of good governance to me.

The approach from most of the others (especially Belgian) more closely resembled strip mining.