Queen Victoria's Empire
: The Changing
Empire : Rhodes

Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes
Hulton Getty Picture
Archive

"Why should we not form a secret society with
but one object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the
whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for
making the Anglo Saxon race but one Empire? What a dream, but yet it is
probable, it is possible." Cecil Rhodes wrote this in his "Confession of Faith"
when he was 23. It provides an insight into his insurmountable belief that with
willpower and application anything was possible. Circumstances prevented Rhodes
from taking a global stage, so he made southern Africa his stamping ground,
planting it with Union Jacks and settlers of British stock.

Rhodes plans for the advancement of British interests in southern Africa were
made possible by his vast wealth. He had come by his fortune through his
precocious activities as a diamond miner and entrepreneur. Rhodes had taken over
his brother Herbert's three claims in the de Beers mine in Kimberley when he was
17. He proved an outstanding businessman and in 1872 when the other miners felt
they had hit rock bottom and there were no further diamonds to mine, Rhodes
purchased as many claims from despairing miners as he could in the Kimberley
mines. Such bold decisions were to become his hallmark. He was not frightened to
buck the trend and he believed that there were more diamonds as they were forced
up from below. His gamble paid off.

Rhodes' mines went from strength to strength and in 1888, through a combination
of persuasion, bullying and sharp business practice he convinced the owners of
the other Kimberley mining companies to amalgamate and form Rhodes De Beers
Consolidated Mines. It was the leading diamond company in the world, owning all
the South African mines and thus 90% of global diamond production. This added to
the major share Rhodes had acquired in the gold industry after the Witwatersrand
gold strike in Transvaal in 1886.

Rhodes on Veldt
De Beers

Such
wealth was the means to a glorious end for Rhodes. In 1881 he became a member of
the Cape Parliament. Rhodes had stated, "Africa is still lying ready for us. It
is our duty to take it." By 1890 he was Prime Minister of Cape Colony and his
ambitions for the Anglo Saxon rule of southern Africa had moved towards
Zambesia. Rhodes' British South Africa Company obtained mining ad farming rights
in Mashonaland, having successfully duped the Matabele King, Lobengula. By 1896
Rhodes' company forces had put down all resistance to his advances and a new
addition to the British Empire was aptly named Rhodesia after its founder.

The
only stumbling block to Rhodes' dream of British supremacy in South Africa was
the protectionist Boer Republic of Transvaal. Following the discovery of a vast
gold reef on the Witwatersrand Transvaal was becoming increasingly wealthy and
powerful. Rhodes answer to this problem was a coup de main in which Rhodesian
and Bechuanaland gendarmerie would enter Transvaal in support of an uitlander
uprising in Johannesburg. What became known as the Jameson Raid was botched from
the start and the raiders were easily intercepted and captured by the Boers.
Rhodes' shady part in the fiasco led to his retirement from public life. The
ramifications of the raid were far reaching as it was seen as the first round of
a contest between Britain and Transvaal, which ultimately culminated in the Boer
War between 1899 and 1902.

Rhodes death led to prolonged mourning. He was ruthless, amoral and
instinctively acquisitive yet he had single-mindedly followed his plan "to make
the world English." He had added Northern and Southern Rhodesia to the Empire
and he was a truly useful instrument for the preservation and extension of
Britain's influence in southern Africa at a time when it was in jeopardy. "So
little done. So much to do," were the words falsely attributed as Rhodes last.
However, the sentiments were entirely appropriate to this most resourceful and
visionary icon of Empire.

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