Cecil Rhodes - Man and Empire-Maker

Catherine Radziwill

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• Publié par: shean
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cecil
Rhodes, by Princess Catherine Radziwill
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Title: Cecil Rhodes
Man and Empire-Maker
Author: Princess Catherine Radziwill
Release Date: August 26, 2005 [eBook #16600]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE RT. HON. CECIL RHODESPhoto: E. H. Mills
THE RT. HON. CECIL RHODES
CECIL RHODES
MAN AND EMPIRE-MAKER
BY
PRINCESS CATHERINE RADZIWILL
(CATHERINE KOLB-DANVIN)
With Eight Photogravure Plates
CASSELL & COMPANY, LTD
London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
1918CONTENTS
1. CECIL RHODES AND SIR ALFR1ED MILNER
2. THE FOUNDATIONS OF FORT1U 7NE
3. A COMPLEX PERSONALITY 28
4. MRS. VAN KOOPMAN 40
5. RHODES AND THE RAID 50
6. THE AFTERMATH OF THE RA6ID9
7. RHODES AND THE AFRIKAND8E2R BOND
8. THE INFLUENCE OF SIR ALF1R0E4D MILNER
9. THE OPENING OF THE NEW 1C 2E0NTURY
10. AN ESTIMATE OF SIR ALFRE 1D3 0MILNER
11. CROSS CURRENTS 144
12. THE CONCENTRATION CAM1P5S7
13. THE PRISONERS' CAMPS 170
14. IN FLIGHT FROM THE RAND191
15. DEALING WITH THE REFUGE2E02S
16. UNDER MARTIAL LAW 214
CONCLUSION
INDEXLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE RT. HON. CECIL RHOFrDoEntSispiece
THE RT. HON. W.P. SCHREINER 32
PRESIDENT KRUGER 68
THE HON. J.H. HOFMEYR 86
THE RT. HON. SIR W.F. HELY-HUTCH9IN8SON
VISCOUNT MILNER 132
THE RT. HON. SIR LEANDER STARR 1 J4A8MESON
THE RT. HON. SIR JOHN GORDON S2P2R4IGG[ix]
INTRODUCTION
The recent death of Sir Starr Jameson reminded the public of the South
African War, which was such an engrossing subject to the British public at the
close of the 'nineties and the first years of the present century. Yet though it may
seem quite out of date to reopen the question when so many more important
matters occupy attention, the relationship between South Africa and England is
no small matter. It has also had its influence on actual events, if only by proving
to the world the talent which Great Britain has displayed in the administration of
her vast Colonies and the tact with which British statesmen have contrived to
convert their foes of the day before into friends, sincere, devoted and true.
No other country in the world could have achieved such a success as did
England in the complicated and singularly difficult task of making itself popular
among nations whose independence it had destroyed.
The secret of this wonderful performance lies principally in the care which
England has exercised to secure the welfare of the annexed population, and to
do nothing likely to keep them in remembrance of the subordinate position into
[x] which they had been reduced. England never crushes those whom it subdues.
Its inbred talent for colonisation has invariably led it along the right path in
regard to its colonial development. Even in cases where Britain made the
weight of its rule rather heavy for the people whom it had conquered, there still
developed among them a desire to remain federated to the British Empire, and
also a conviction that union, though it might be unpleasant to their personal
feelings and sympathies, was, after all, the best thing which could have
happened to them in regard to their material interests.
Prosperity has invariably attended British rule wherever it has found scope
to develop itself, and at the present hour British patriotism is far more
demonstrative in India, Australia or South Africa than it is in England itself. The
sentiments thus strongly expressed impart a certain zealotism to their feelings,
which constitutes a strong link with the Mother Country. In any hour of national
danger or calamity this trait provides her with the enthusiastic help of her
children from across the seas.
The Englishman, generally quiet at home and even subdued in the
presence of strangers, is exuberant in the Colonies; he likes to shout his
patriotism upon every possible occasion, even when it would be better to
refrain. It is an aggressive patriotism which sometimes is quite uncouth in its[xi]
manifestations, but it is real patriotism, disinterested and devoid of any
mercenary or personal motives.
It is impossible to know what England is if one has not had the opportunity
of visiting her Dominions oversea. It is just as impossible to judge of
Englishmen when one has only seen them at home amid the comforts of the
easy and pleasant existence which one enjoys in Merrie England, and only
there. It is not the country Squires, whose homes are such a definite feature of
English life; nor the aristocratic members of the Peerage, with their influence
and their wealth; nor even the political men who sit in St. Stephen's, who have
spread abroad the fame and might and power of England. But it is these
modest pioneers of "nations yet to be" who, in the wilds and deserts of South
Africa, Australia and Asia, have demonstrated the realities of English
civilisation and the English spirit of freedom.
In the hour of danger we have seen all these members of the great Mother
Country rush to its help. The spectacle has been an inspiring one, and in the
case of South Africa especially it has been unique, inasmuch as it has been
predicted far and wide that the memory of the Boer War would never die out,
and that loyalty to Great Britain would never be found in the vast African veldt.Facts have belied this rash assertion, and the world has seldom witnessed a[xii]
more impressive vindication of the triumph of true Imperialism than that
presented by Generals Botha and Smuts. As the leader of a whole nation,
General Botha defended its independence against aggression, yet became the
faithful, devoted servant and the true adherent of the people whom he had
fought a few years before, putting at their disposal the weight of his powerful
personality and the strength of his influence over his partisans and countrymen.
CATHERINE RADZIWILL.
December, 1917.
[1]CECIL RHODES
CHAPTER I.
CECIL RHODES AND SIR ALFRED MILNER
The conquest of South Africa is one of the most curious episodes in English
history. Begun through purely mercenary motives, it yet acquired a character of
grandeur which, as time went on, divested it of all sordid and unworthy
suspicions. South Africa has certainly been the land of adventurers, and many
of them found there either fame or disgrace, unheard-of riches or the most
abject poverty, power or humiliation. At the same time the Colony has had
amongst its rulers statesmen of unblemished reputation and high honour,
administrators of rare integrity, and men who saw beyond the fleeting interests
of the hour into the far more important vista of the future.
When President Kruger was at its head the Transvaal Republic would have
crumbled under the intrigues of some of its own citizens. The lust for riches
which followed upon the discovery of the goldfields had, too, a drastic effect.
The Transvaal was bound to fall into the hands of someone, and to be that
Someone fell to the lot of England. This was a kindly throw of Fate, because
England alone could administer all the wealth of the region without its
becoming a danger, not only to the community at large, but also to the[2]
Transvaalers.
That this is so can be proved by the eloquence of facts rather than by words.
It is sufficient to look upon what South Africa was twenty-five years ago, and
upon what it has become since under the protection of British rule, to be
convinced of the truth of my assertion. From a land of perennial unrest and
perpetual strife it has been transformed into a prosperous and quiet colony,
absorbed only in the thought of its economic and commercial progress. Its
population, which twenty years ago was wasting its time and energy in useless
wrangles, stands to-day united to the Mother Country and absorbed by the sole
thought of how best to prove its devotion.
The Boer War has still some curious issues of which no notice has been
taken by the public at large. One of the principal, perhaps indeed the most
important of these, is that, though brought about by material ambitions of certain
people, it ended by being fought against these very same people, and that its
conclusion eliminated them from public life instead of adding to their influence
and their power. The result is certainly a strange and an interesting one, but it is
easily explained if one takes into account the fact that once England as a
nation—and not as the nation to which belonged the handful of adventurers
through whose intrigues the war was brought about—entered into the
possession of the Transvaal and organised the long-talked-of Union of South
[3] Africa, the country started a normal existence free from the unhealthy symptoms
which had hindered its progress. It became a useful member of the vast BritishEmpire, as well as a prosperous country enjoying a good government, and
launched itself upon a career it could never have entered upo