Chamberlain used the Colonial Office to gain international recognition amidst European competition for territory and popular imperialism. He wanted to expand the British Empire in Africa, the Americas and Asia, reorder imperial trade and resources, and foster closer relations between Britain and the settler colonies. He envisioned a remodelled empire as a federation of Anglo-Saxon nations; in this he had support from Conservative backbenchers. Chamberlain had once been an outspoken anti-imperialist but now he reversed course. In 1887 he declared that "I should think our patriotism was warped and stunted indeed if it did not embrace the Greater Britain beyond the seas". Much had been proposed with regard to an imperial federation, a more coherent system of imperial defence and preferential tariffs, yet by 1895 when Chamberlain arrived at the Colonial Office, little had been achieved. His own proposals met resistance from Canada and other settler colonies and went nowhere.