THE HON. CECIL J. RHODES, THE DIAMOND KING.
We get a good insight into the character of Mr Rhodes from all his utterances and public acts; and an anecdote about him when busy with the work that made him famous as the 'Diamond King,' the amalgamation of the diamond-mines, shows up the man. He was looking at a map of Africa hung in the office of a Kimberley merchant. After looking at it closely for some time, he placed his hand over a large part of Southern and Central Africa, right across the continent, and turning to a friend at his side, said, 'There, all that British! That is my dream.' 'I give you ten years,' said his friend. When he was in power at the Cape, and the times were ripe, his dream was realised, and the shield of the great White Queen was thrown over North and South Zambesia, and railway and telegraphic communication was being pushed on towards the equator.
The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes is the fourth son of a clergyman, of Bishop Stortford, where he was born in 1853. He was educated at the local school, but his health being far from good, he was sent to Natal to join his elder brother, a planter there. Both brothers made for Kimberley at the first diamond rush, Cecil going into partnership as a diamond digger with Mr C. D. Rudd, who had also gone out to South Africa for his health. While at Kimberley, young Rhodes read sufficiently to enable him to pass at Oxford. His crowning achievement of the union of the De Beers Company and the Kimberley Central Company was not the work of a day, but it was accomplished largely through Mr Rhodes's financial skill, and became known as the De Beers Consolidated Mines, of which he was elected chairman and one of the life governors. The capital valuation of the company now stands at about twenty-five millions. Regular dividends of twenty-five per cent. have been paid for some years. It was natural that an influential man like Mr Rhodes should be sent to the Cape Parliament, and in 1889 he rose to be a member of the Cabinet. Another successful attempt at company promoting was his association with Mr Rudd in the Transvaal gold-fields. At first their mines on the Witwatersrandt did not turn out well; but it is long since they began to pay enormously, the net profits of 1894 being over two millions, while the market value of the concern is ten millions sterling.
Several gold prospectors had dealings with and concessions from Lobengula, in Matabeleland, before Mr Rudd and Mr Rhodes joined forces in 1888 and secured mineral concessions covering the whole of his kingdom. Then came the launching of the Chartered Company, incorporated in October 1889, with a capital of one million, which has since been raised to two and a half millions. Then Mashonaland was prospected, and forts built and roads were made, and the telegraph was carried on to Salisbury, giving connection with the Cape. When it was found that the settlers could not live in peace with Lobengula, a force under Dr Jameson, the administrator, broke the power of the Matabele in the autumn of 1893. The only serious affair was the deaths of forty-nine men of Wilson's column. Since that time the country has been slowly settled, and the railway is being pushed on to Buluwayo. Mr Rhodes has interested himself also in pushing on the telegraph system towards the Great Central African lakes, by way of Zumbo, in the Central African Protectorate, under the capable rule of Sir H. H. Johnston. Matabeleland is an excellent pastoral country, and if a sufficient number of agricultural emigrants could be got to remain and develop the territory, its future would be secured. Unfortunately, this class of emigrant has hitherto been lacking in South Africa—the gold and diamond fields have been too tempting—but in time, doubtless, the slow and sure sort of emigrant will find it to his interest to develop the land.
The residence of Mr Rhodes is at Groote Schnur, Rondebosch, near Cape Town. In the twelve hundred acres which surround the house there are charming views, and a natural Zoo, upon which he is said to have spent at least one hundred thousand pounds. He has thrown this place open to pleasure-seekers from the Cape for all time coming. He enjoys riding over his estate, and watching the visitors enjoying themselves. Lord Salisbury once termed him a 'remarkable man.' This is well borne out by all who have come in contact with him. 'He presents,' says the African Review, 'a character that is well worthy of analysis—that is a curious compound of generosity and almost repellent cynicism, of disinterestedness and ambition, of large aims that are dependent on things that are essentially trivial; the keen, hard-tempered character of a self-made man who has carved a career out of Kimberley finance and Cape Colonial politics.... Of giant force of mind and will, with practised judgment that nearly amounts to intuitive perception, with a grasp of cause and effect that is founded upon a microscopic observation of the laws of nature, he is decidedly a big man. He is a rarely accurate critic of his fellow-mortals.'
Dr Jameson prophesied, when in this country in 1895, that the annexation and occupation of Matabeleland and Mashonaland meant more than mere annexation of territory, but would lead to a commercial union, amalgamation, or federation of South African states. In Rhodesia, a country nearly as large as Europe, white men and women could live, and white children could be reared in health and vigour. Gold was to be found there, and coal and iron. The country has been settled since the power of Lobengula was broken, and the road and railway are doing their beneficent work. The revenue for 1894 nearly balanced the expenditure.
When Mashonaland and Matabeleland needed the railway, Mr Rhodes was still the key of the position. 'Krüger will not let us take the Kimberley line into his country? Very well,' in effect said Mr Rhodes, 'we will take it round him, and beyond, on the way to the Transvaal of the Zambesi.' And so the matter was arranged between the Imperial and Colonial government and the Chartered Company. So much land was to be given for taking the line to Vryburg, so much to Mafeking, in connection with the main trunk line from the Cape.
Dr Jameson's raid into Transvaal territory, early in 1896, ostensibly taken for the purpose of helping the people of Johannesburg, who complained of their treatment by the Boer government, and the complications which ensued, led to the resignation of Mr Rhodes as a member of the Cape government, when he turned his attention to the development of Rhodesia, the new and promising territory, which has been so named after him.
African Village.
CHAPTER VI.
BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION.
Woolwich Arsenal—Enfield Small-arms Factory—Lord Armstrong and the Elswick Works—Testing Guns at Shoeburyness—Hiram S. Maxim and the Maxim Machine Gun—The Colt Automatic Gun—Ironclads—Submarine Boats.