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in the Chamber of Deputies.
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It included men like the informal group of explorers and geographers
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who met every week in Paris at the Petite Vache brasserie
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to share their fascination with exotic places,
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and to talk about how the government might be able to
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better promote and support these voyages of exploration.
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The colonial lobby included shipbuilders,
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and railway magnates, and factory owners,
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people who believed that the colonies were the way to--
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were the path to untold material wealth.
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It included missionaries who saw in the, quote/unquote,
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"heathen races" of Africa and Asia a potential source for converts