Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-02-09
HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES.

AOOA
quired an interest in one of the richest of
these mines, the De Beers, and in a few
years rose to the presidency. The period
from 1882 to 1889 was a time of great activ-
aty at Kimberley. In the former year the
famous Bultfontein diggings were first de-
veloped, and from that time forward the
great Du Toit's Pan, De Beers and Kim
berley mines, together with the smaller dig
gings in the neighborhood, were worked to
their full capacity. The output was enor-
nous. The markets of the world were
Hooded with precious stones, prices de-
cllned, and the shareholders noted an ap-
probable diminution in their dividends.
Now, a decline in dividends call. for he
rolc remedies. A diamond trust was de-
manded. Then Cecil Rhodes stepped to
the front and accomplished what other and
better known fnanciers had been unable to
perform. He reconciled conflicting claims
and consolidated the mines in one grand
syndicate with a capital of $40, ESQ, 600. The
syndicate controlled the diamond market,
and the dividends were saved. An idea of
the princely character Of those dividends
may be obtained from the fact that in Is
months $40, 600,0W worth of diamonds were
taken from the mines.
Cecil Rhodes became the hero of the hour,
The King Of Diamonds, people called him,
and the glitter of the gems shed a halo over
his fame. His services in the consolidation
were literally rewarded, and his fortune
has waxed as only a diamond kings fortune
can. Its extent is now ~variously estimated
at from $50, 000, 600 to 5000, 900.
His fortune assured, Cecil Rhodes turned
his attention to politics. The %sojourner in
South Africa can readily understand the
affinity between diamond mining and law
making. The entire code of the COLONY
seems to be c2ntrived in the interest of the
dlamond kings. The whole force of the gov
rnmen is employed in conserving and pro-
tecting the mining industry. The newspa-
pers and telegraphs are managed in its IA
vor, n public opinion is deity manip-
ulated in it's behalf.
In politics, as in business, Cecil Rhodes
succeeded where others had failed. His
talents for organization and Cancellation
were again brought into play, and harmony
between the Beers and English settlers-a
contamination which older statesmen had
deemed impossible-was effected. Cecil
Rhodes became premier and practical ruler
of Cape Colony.
But his genius was hot restricted to the
ordinary channels of business and state
craft. While at work in Kimberley and
Cape Town he nourished visions of an i'm
perial province in that mysterious Eldorado
north of the Transvaal which the eyes of
few white men had ever beheld. Frederick
Selous. the veteran hunter and explorer,
told hin IN enthusiastic phrases of the fab
ulous wealth OF Mashonaland. Rhodes re-
solved to carry the British flag to the Fam
bezi. IG
He prepared to England. With the prestige
OF his coup at Kimberley and his supremacy
in Cape Colony he had no difficulty in in
teresting s~certsin influential capitalists in
his scheme. File secured a charter from the
crown and organized the Imperial British
South5Africa company, with the Duke of
Abercorn as chairman, Duke of Fife deputy
chairman and Hon. Cecil John Rhodes as
managing director. Certain half forgott< n
concessions granted by King Lobengula in
an incautiOus hour to men now dead and
gone were revived and CONSOLIDATED und r
imperial authority" These Anticipated con-
c~essions were repudiated by the savage mon
arch. but they gave the color Of legality to
the invasion of the whites which was pre-
sently organized. :.
'Lobengula meant to resist the pioneer ex-
petition Of 1890, but he was ou~tmahneuvered
by Selous, and the party reached Mashona-
land in safety. Then the Matabele king
deemed it cxpedient to compromise, and
peace was purchased. But the propinquity
of the warlike Matabele was a constant
to the settlers in Mashonaland.
Moreover, the gold deposits of Matabeleland
we're of SURPRISING richness, and the dig
gers cast lustful looks toward Buluwayo.
b company, too, was in straitened cir
cumstances and needed to strengthen it's
hold on Zambezia. So when Lobengula's
young bloods clamored for war the chal-
lenge was eagerly accepted, and the machine
gun prevailed over, the assegai. The char
tered company's flag waves over Buluwayo
and $4,000 square miles have been added
to the British dominions.
Verify, Cecil Rhodes is the man Of the
hour. Scipio Africanus was a pygmy COM
pared with this modern hero Of Africa.
c. G. HUNT.