It is evident that St. John wants Jane to accompany him to England out of selfish goals. He wants Jane to go with him to India not so much because she will serve God”s will or help the natives, but because she will be helpful to him. If St. John’s goal was purely to spread God”s glory and bring salvation to India, he would have happily allowed Jane to accompany but not marry him.
At first, this seems to be the case. St. John asks, “Jane, come with me to India: come as my helpmeet and fellow-laborour.” (570) His selfish intentions become apparent when he tells Jane, “your assistance to me will be invaluable.” (573) If John’s intentions were truly selfless, Jane’s assistance would be invaluable to God and the Indians, not to St. John himself.
The selfishness of St. John’s own “long cherished scheme” becomes even more obvious as the conversation continues. (580) St. John proposes a loveless marriage to Jane and then commands her: “a missionary”s wife you must be.” He then childishly goes on: “You shall be mine: I claim you.” (571) St. John is not asking Jane to giver herself to God, he wants her for himself alone.
Jane denies his marriage proposal, but offers that “[she] is ready to go to India, if [she] may go free.” (575) However, this “would not do” for John, because a part of Jane must belong to him, “otherwise the whole bargain is void.” (575,579)
I believe that John’s primary motivation for missionary work in India is his Romantic longings for the exotic. He is bored with the quiet life and domestic work of England and dreams of nights when he will “sleep by the Ganges.” (569)
As far as imperialism, I see no evidence that John is traveling to India to colonize the land as part of England. However, missionary work could be called “intellectual imperialism” because a missionary seeks to change the natives to think and worship as he does. I think that St. John is partially interested in engaging in this intellectual imperialism, but mostly, he is motivated by selfish Romantic desires to seek the exotic and escape the mundane boredom of England.